1 September

462 – Possible start of first Byzantine indiction cycle.
1355 – King Tvrtko I of Bosnia writes In castro nostro Vizoka vocatum from the old town of Visoki.
1529 – The Spanish fort Sancti Spiritu, the first one built in modern Argentina, is destroyed by natives.
1532 – Lady Anne Boleyn is made Marquess of Pembroke by her fiancé, King Henry VIII of England.
1604 – Adi Granth, now known as Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of Sikhs, was first installed at Harmandir Sahib.
1644 – Battle of Tippermuir: James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose defeats the Earl of Wemyss's Covenanters, reviving the Royalist cause.
1715 – King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years – the longest of any major European monarch.
1763 – Catherine II of Russia endorses Ivan Betskoy's plans for a Foundling Home in Moscow
1772 – The Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa is founded in San Luis Obispo, California.
1774 – Massachusetts colonists rise up in bloodless Powder Alarm.
1804 – Juno, one of the largest main belt asteroids, is discovered by German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding.
1836 – Narcissa Whitman, one of the first English-speaking white women to settle west of the Rocky Mountains, arrives at Walla Walla, Washington.
1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Chantilly – Confederate forces attack retreating Union troops in Chantilly, Virginia.
1864 – American Civil War: Confederate General John Bell Hood evacuates Atlanta, Georgia after a four-month siege by General Sherman.
1870 – Franco-Prussian War: the Battle of Sedan is fought, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory.
1873 – Cetshwayo ascends to the throne as king of the Zulu nation following the death of his father Mpande.
1878 – Emma Nutt becomes the world's first female telephone operator when she is recruited by Alexander Graham Bell to the Boston Telephone Dispatch Company.
1894 – More than 400 people die in the Great Hinckley Fire, a forest fire in Hinckley, Minnesota.
1897 – The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground rapid transit system in North America.
1902 – A Trip to the Moon, considered one of the first science fiction films, is released in France.
1905 – Alberta and Saskatchewan join the Canadian confederation.
1906 – The International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys is established.
1911 – The armored cruiser Georgios Averof is commissioned into the Greek Navy. It now serves as a museum ship.
1914 – St. Petersburg, Russia, changes its name to Petrograd.
1914 – The last passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, dies in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo.
1920 – The Fountain of Time opens as a tribute to the 100 years of peace between the United States and Great Britain following the Treaty of Ghent.
1923 – The Great Kantō earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama, killing about 105,000 people.
1928 – Ahmet Zogu declares Albania to be a monarchy and proclaims himself king.
1934 – SMJK Sam Tet is founded by Father Fourgs from the St. Michael Church, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany and Slovakia invade Poland, beginning World War II.
1939 – George C. Marshall becomes Chief of Staff of the United States Army.
1939 – The Wound Badge for Wehrmacht, SS, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe soldiers is instituted. The final version of the Iron Cross is also instituted on this date.
1939 – Switzerland mobilizes its forces and the Swiss Parliament elects Henri Guisan to head the Swiss Army (an event that can happen only during war or mobilization).
1939 – Adolf Hitler signs an order to begin the systematic euthanasia of mentally ill and disabled people.
1951 – The United States, Australia and New Zealand sign a mutual defense pact, called the ANZUS Treaty.
1958 – Iceland expands its fishing zone, putting it into conflict with the United Kingdom, beginning the Cod Wars.
1961 – The Eritrean War of Independence officially begins with the shooting of the Ethiopian police by Hamid Idris Awate.
1969 – A coup in Libya brings Muammar al-Gaddafi to power.
1969 – Tran Thien Khiem became Prime Minister of South Vietnam under President Nguyen Van Thieu.
1970 – Attempted assassination of King Hussein of Jordan by Palestinian guerrillas, who attacked his motorcade.
1972 – In Reykjavík, Iceland, American Bobby Fischer beats Russian Boris Spassky to become the world chess champion.
1974 – The SR-71 Blackbird sets (and holds) the record for flying from New York to London in the time of 1 hour, 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds at a speed of 1,435.587 miles per hour (2,310.353 km/h).
1979 – The American space probe Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi).
1980 – Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope ends near Thunder Bay, Ontario.
1980 – Major General Chun Doo-hwan becomes president of South Korea, following the resignation of Choi Kyu-hah.
1981 – A coup d'état in the Central African Republic overthrows President David Dacko.
1982 – The United States Air Force Space Command is founded.
1983 – Cold War: Korean Air Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace. All 269 on board die, including Congressman Lawrence McDonald.
1985 – A joint American–French expedition locates the wreckage of the RMS Titanic.
1991 – Uzbekistan declares independence from the Soviet Union
2004 – The Beslan school hostage crisis commences when armed terrorists take children and adults hostage in Beslan in North Ossetia, Russia.

Holidays and observances

First day of school in many countries in Asia, Europe and the Americas.
Anniversary of the Start of the Armed Struggle (Eritrea)
Christian Feast Day:
Giles
The beginning of the new liturgical year (Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Church)
September 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Constitution Day (Slovakia)
Disaster Prevention Day (Japan)
Earliest day on which Father's Day can fall, while September 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday in September. (Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea)
Earliest day on which Labor Day can fall, while September 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in September. (United States, Canada, Palau)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Uzbekistan from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Journalist Day (Republic of China)
Knowledge Day (Russia)
Revolution Day (Libya)
Teachers' Day (Singapore)