7 October

Events

Pre-1600

* 3761 BC – The epoch reference date (start) of the modern Hebrew calendar.
*1403 – Venetian–Genoese wars: The Genoese fleet under a French admiral is defeated by a Venetian fleet at the Battle of Modon.
*1477 – Uppsala University is inaugurated after receiving its corporate rights from Pope Sixtus IV in February the same year.
*1513 – War of the League of Cambrai: Spain defeats Venice.
*1571 – The Battle of Lepanto is fought, and the Ottoman Navy suffers its first defeat.

1601–1900

*1691 – The charter for the Province of Massachusetts Bay is issued.
*1763 – King George III issues the Royal Proclamation of 1763, closing Indigenous lands in North America north and west of the Alleghenies to white settlements.
*1777 – American Revolutionary War: The Americans defeat British forces under general John Burgoyne in the Second Battle of Saratoga, also known as the Battle of Bemis Heights, compelling Burgoyne's eventual surrender.
*1780 – American Revolutionary War: American militia defeat royalist irregulars led by British major Patrick Ferguson at the Battle of Kings Mountain in South Carolina, often regarded as the turning point in the war's Southern theater.
*1800 – French corsair Robert Surcouf, commander of the 18-gun ship ''La Confiance'', captures the British 38-gun ''Kent''.
*1826 – The Granite Railway begins operations as the first chartered railway in the U.S.
*1828 – Morea expedition: The city of Patras, Greece, is liberated by the French expeditionary force.
*1840 – Willem II becomes King of the Netherlands.
*1864 – American Civil War: A US Navy ship captures a Confederate raider in a Brazilian seaport.
*1868 – Cornell University holds opening day ceremonies; initial student enrollment is 412, the highest at any American university to that date.
*1870 – Franco-Prussian War: Léon Gambetta escapes the siege of Paris in a hot-air balloon.
*1879 – Germany and Austria-Hungary sign the "Twofold Covenant" and create the Dual Alliance.

1901–present

*1912 – The Helsinki Stock Exchange sees its first transaction.
*1913 – Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving vehicle assembly line.
*1916 – Georgia Tech defeats Cumberland University 222–0 in the most lopsided college football game in American history.
*1919 – KLM, the flag carrier of the Netherlands, is founded. It is the oldest airline still operating under its original name.
*1924 – Andreas Michalakopoulos becomes prime minister of Greece for a short period of time.
*1929 – Photius II becomes Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
*1933 – Air France is inaugurated, after being formed by a merger of five French airlines.
*1940 – World War II: The McCollum memo proposes bringing the United States into the war in Europe by provoking the Japanese to attack the United States.
*1944 – World War II: During an uprising at Birkenau concentration camp, Jewish prisoners burn down Crematorium IV.
*1949 – The communist German Democratic Republic (East Germany) is formed.
*1950 – Mother Teresa establishes the Missionaries of Charity.
*1958 – The 1958 Pakistani coup d'état inaugurates a prolonged period of military rule.
* 1958 – The U.S. manned space-flight project is renamed to Project Mercury.
*1959 – The Soviet probe Luna 3 transmits the first-ever photographs of the far side of the Moon.
*1961 – A Douglas Dakota IV operated by Derby Aviation (later renamed to British Midland International) crashes in Canigou, France, killing 34 people.
*1963 – President Kennedy signs the ratification of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
*1963 – Buddhist crisis: Amid worsening relations, outspoken South Vietnamese First Lady Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu arrives in the US for a speaking tour, continuing a flurry of attacks on the Kennedy administration.
*1977 – The Fourth Soviet Constitution is adopted.
*1985 – The Mameyes landslide kills almost 200 people in Puerto Rico.
* 1985 – Four men from the Palestine Liberation Front hijack the off the coast of Egypt.
*1987 – Sikh nationalists declare the independence of Khalistan from India; it is not internationally recognized.
*1988 – A hunter discovers three gray whales trapped under the ice near Alaska; the situation becomes a multinational effort to free the whales.
*1991 – Croatian War of Independence: Bombing of Banski dvori in Zagreb, Croatia.
*1993 – The flood of '93 ends at St. Louis, Missouri, 103 days after it began, as the Mississippi River falls below flood stage.
*1996 – Fox News Channel begins broadcasting.
*1998 – Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, is found tied to a fence after being savagely beaten by two young adults in Laramie, Wyoming. He dies five days later.
*2000 – Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Hezbollah militants capture three Israeli Defense Force soldiers in a cross-border raid.
*2001 – The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan begins with an air assault and covert operations on the ground, starting the longest war in American history.
*2002 – The Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' launches on STS-112 to continue assembly of the International Space Station.
*2008 – Asteroid 2008 TC3 impacts the Earth over Sudan, the first time an asteroid impact is detected prior to its entry into earth's atmosphere.
* 2008 – Qantas Flight 72 experiences an in-flight upset near Learmonth, Victoria, Australia, injuring 112.
*2016 – In the wake of Hurricane Matthew, the death toll rises to over 800.
*2022 – 10 people die and 8 are injured in an explosion at petrol station in Creeslough.
*2022 – Ales Bialiatski, along with two organisations; Memorial & Center for Civil Liberties are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Births

Pre-1600

*14 BC – Drusus Julius Caesar, Roman politician (d. 23 AD)
* 1301 – Grand Prince Aleksandr Mikhailovich of Tver (d. 1339)
*1409 – Elizabeth of Luxembourg (d. 1442)
*1471 – Frederick I of Denmark (d. 1533)
*1474 – Bernhard III, Margrave of Baden-Baden (d. 1536)
*1482 – Ernest, Margrave of Baden-Durlach (d. 1553)
* 1573 – William Laud, English archbishop and academic (d. 1645)
*1576 – John Marston, English poet and playwright (d. 1634)
*1586 – Isaac Massa, Dutch diplomat (d. 1643)
*1589 – Archduchess Maria Maddalena of Austria (d. 1631)
*1591 – Pierre Le Muet, French architect (d. 1669)
*1597 – Captain John Underhill, English settler and soldier (d. 1672)

1601–1900

*1635 – Roger de Piles, French painter (d. 1709)
*1713 – Granville Elliott, English general (d. 1759)
*1728 – Caesar Rodney, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 4th Governor of Delaware (d. 1784)
* 1744 – Sergey Vyazmitinov, Russian general and politician, War Governor of Saint Petersburg (d. 1819)
*1746 – William Billings, American composer and educator (d. 1800)
*1748 – Charles XIII of Sweden (d. 1818)
*1769 – Solomon Sibley, American lawyer, jurist, and politician, 1st Mayor of Detroit (d. 1846)
*1786 – Louis-Joseph Papineau, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1871)
*1798 – Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, French instrument maker and businessman (d. 1875)
*1819 – Ann Eliza Smith, American author and patriot (d. 1905)
*1821 – Richard H. Anderson, American general (d. 1879)
*1832 – Charles Crozat Converse, American lawyer and composer (d. 1918)
*1835 – Felix Draeseke, German composer and educator (d. 1913)
*1836 – Henri Elzéar Taschereau, Canadian scholar and jurist, 4th Chief Justice of Canada (d. 1911)
*1841 – Nicholas I of Montenegro (d. 1921)
*1849 – James Whitcomb Riley, American poet and author (d. 1916)
*1860 – Leonidas Paraskevopoulos, Greek general and politician (d. 1936)
*1866 – Wlodimir Ledóchowski, Polish-Austrian religious leader, 26th Superior General of the Society of Jesus (d. 1942)
*1870 – Uncle Dave Macon, American old-time country banjo player, singer-songwriter, and comedian (d. 1952)
*1876 – Louis Tancred, South African cricketer (d. 1934)
*1879 – Joe Hill, Swedish-born American labor activist and poet (d. 1915)
*1881 – Mikhail Drozdovsky, Ukrainian-Russian general (d. 1918)
*1884 – Harold Geiger, American lieutenant and pilot (d. 1927)
*1885 – Niels Bohr, Danish physicist and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1962)
* 1885 – Claud Ashton Jones, American admiral, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1948)
*1887 – Jack Russell, English cricketer and coach (d. 1961)
*1888 – Henry A. Wallace, American agronomist and politician, 33rd Vice President of the United States (d. 1965)
* 1888 – Edna Meade Colson, American educator and activist (d. 1985)
*1889 – Robert Z. Leonard, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1968)
*1892 – Dwain Esper, American director and producer (d. 1982)
*1893 – Alice Dalgliesh, Trinidadian-American author and publisher (d. 1979)
*1895 – Maurice Grevisse, Belgian linguist and author (d. 1980)
*1896 – Paulino Alcántara, Spanish Filipino football player and manager (d. 1964)
*1897 – Elijah Muhammad, American religious leader (d. 1975)
* 1897 – Thakin Mya, Burmese lawyer and politician (d. 1947)
*1900 – Heinrich Himmler, German commander and politician (d. 1945)

1901–present

*1904 – Armando Castellazzi, Italian footballer and coach (d. 1968)
*1905 – Andy Devine, American actor (d. 1977)
*1907 – Helen MacInnes, Scottish-American librarian and author (d. 1985)
*1909 – Anni Blomqvist