May 9

September 20

622 After receiving his first revelations, Muhammad's preaching met with much opposition in Mecca. The founder of Islam decided to move his base from city of birth to the predominantly agricultural settlement of Medina, arriving there on September 20, 622. On his arrival in Medina, Muhammad's sole companions were 75 followers and his faithful Father in Law, Abu Bekr. Here, unlike Mecca, there was a favorable response to Muhammad's message and he was able to make it his headquarters.

Old depiction of Medina during Ottoman times

1519 Ferdinand Magellan and his 270 shipmates set sail on September 20, 1519 from San Lucar, near Seville on his expedition to to try to get to the East Indies by sailing westwards. Magellan was killed in The Philippines, but three years later his 18 surviving companions having sailed 30,700 miles, arrived back in Seville having completed the first ever circumnavigation of the world.

1673 James, The Duke of York, (later James II of England) married the Catholic Mary of Modena, a fifteen-year-old Italian princess in a Catholic ceremony on September 20, 1673. Many British people, distrustful of Catholicism, regarded the new Duchess of York as an agent of the Pope and there was much opposition to James' potential succession to the English crown.

Mary of Modena. Portrait by Simon Pietersz Verelst, 1680

1793 UK Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger decided to take advantage of a slave revolt in the French colony of St. Domingue (modern Haiti) to seize the richest French colony in the world, The British landed in St. Domingue on September 20, 1793. However, the heavy death toll caused by yellow fever made conquering the colony impossible.

1870 By 1861, much of the Papal States' territory had been conquered by the Kingdom of Italy. Only Lazio, including Rome, remained under the Pope's temporal control. On September 20, 1870, the army of Italian patriot Garibaldi entered the city of Rome through a breach opened in the walls at Porta. The pope acknowledged defeat and retired into the Vatican.

1881 On September 20, 1881, one day after President James A. Garfield died of a gunshot wound, Chester A. Arthur was sworn in as the 21st president of the United States. Arthur took up the cause of reform, supporting the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act. He presided over the rebirth of the U.S. Navy but was criticized for failing to alleviate a growing federal budget surplus.

1897 The emergence of mature ragtime is usually dated to 1897, the year in which several important early rags were published. Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" which was was published on September 20, 1899. demonstrated more depth and sophistication than earlier ragtime; it became the model for ragtime compositions by subsequent composers.


1957 Finnish composer Jean Sibelius died of a brain hemorrhage at Ainola, Järvenpää, on September 20, 1957 and is buried in a garden there. Since 2011, Finland has celebrated a Flag Day on December 8th, Sibelius' birthday, also known as the "Day of Finnish Music".

1963 During a September 20, 1963 speech before the United Nations General Assembly, President John Kennedy proposed that the United States and the Soviet Union join forces in their efforts to reach the Moon. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev's son Sergei claimed Khrushchev was poised to accept Kennedy's proposal at the time of Kennedy's assassination. The Soviets did not trust Vice President Johnson, so Khrushchev rejected the plan.

1970 The Russian space probe Luna 16 landed on the Moon on September 20, 1970 to collect samples from its surface. It was the first unmanned probe to bring objects back from space, returning home with 100g of soil and rock.


1971 Having weakened after making landfall in Nicaragua, Hurricane Irene re-strengthened after reaching the Pacific and was rebranded Hurricane Olivia on September 20, 1971. It was the first known hurricane to be successfully tracked from the Atlantic basin into the eastern Pacific Ocean.

2010 Jacksonville, Florida, high school gym teacher and basketball coach Leonard Skinner died on September 20, 2010. The rock music group Lynyrd Skynyrd is named after him as Skinner famously suspended students for having long hair.

Leonard Skinner

2014 The largest tea bag weighs 250 kg (551 lb 2.56 oz) and was created by Ahmed Mohamed Saleh Baeshen & Co., owner of Rabea Tea, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on September 20, 2014.

2016 Angelina Jolie filed for divorce from Brad Pitt on September 20, 2016. The pair started a relationship in the mid 2000s and got married in 2014. They have six children (four adopted, plus twins Knox Léon and Vivienne Marcheline).

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