A magnitude-7.1 earthquake (damage pictured) struck the Canterbury Region of New Zealand, causing two deaths and up to NZ$40 billion in damages.
4 September 2117
A Saturday in history
Weekday
Saturday
Season
Autumn (N. Hemisphere)
Century
22nd century
Records
403
- 2010
2007Three terrorists suspected to be part of al-Qaeda were arrested in Germany after planning attacks on Frankfurt Airport and Ramstein Air Base.
1995Three African-American U.S. sea servicemen stationed at Camp Hansen in Okinawa raped a 12-year-old local girl, after kidnapping, beating, and torturing her.
1977The Golden Dragon massacre occurred in Chinatown, San Francisco, leaving five dead and spurring police to end Chinese gang violence in the city.
1957Governor Orval Faubus deployed the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine African-American students from attending Little Rock Central High School (pictured).
1956The final novel of the The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle, was released.
1955A white U.S. soldier raped and murdered a five-year-old local girl in Kadena, Okinawa.
1934Evelyn Waugh's novel A Handful of Dust was first published in full.
- 1920
Peasants in and around Križ began a rebellion to protest economic and conscription policies enacted by the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
1912The Albanian revolt ended when the Ottoman government agreed to meet most of the rebels' demands.
1886After more than 25 years of fighting against the United States Army and the armed forces of Mexico, Geronimo of the Chiricahua Apache surrendered at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona.
1843The state wedding of Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies and Emperor Pedro II of Brazil took place at the Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro.
1839First Opium War: British vessels opened fire on Chinese war junks enforcing a food sales embargo on the British community on the Kowloon Peninsula.
1813Future US President Andrew Jackson was shot and severely injured in a tavern brawl with future US Senator Thomas Hart Benton.
1800French Revolutionary Wars: Facing starvation and a death rate of 100 soldiers per day, the French garrison in Malta surrendered to British forces, ending a two-year siege.
1666The most destructive damage from the Great Fire of London (depicted) occurred.
476Germanic leader Odoacer captured Ravenna and deposed Emperor Romulus Augustus, marking the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
Photo archive
24 historic images from this day — tap to open the gallery.
What was life like?
Prices, jobs, food, music and everyday routine — the world as it felt to live in.
Sources & fact check
Every claim is traced to primary sources, archives, universities and the press — with an explicit confidence rating. Dossiers are generated once and cached permanently.