27 September

World Tourism Day 2010 takes place under the theme 'Tourism and Biodiversity', an issue that is especially timely with 2010 being celebrated around the world as the UN International Year of Biodiversity. Official celebrations will be hosted by China on 27 September, with many other events taking place around the world.

Within the framework of the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity, this year’s World Tourism Day theme will raise awareness of the close relationship between tourism development, biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction. Through this year’s campaign, UNWTO draws attention to the two most pressing global challenges of our time: the sustainable use of environmental resources and the eradication of extreme poverty.

Events

1066 – William the Conqueror and his army set sail from the mouth of the Somme River, beginning the Norman Conquest of England.
1331 – The Battle of Płowce between the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Order is fought.
1422 – after the brief Gollub War the Teutonic Knights sign the Treaty of Melno with the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania
1529 – The Siege of Vienna begins when Suleiman I attacks the city.
1540 – The Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) receives its charter from Pope Paul III.
1590 – Pope Urban VII dies 13 days after being chosen as the Pope, making his reign the shortest papacy in history.
1605 – The armies of Sweden are defeated by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Battle of Kircholm.
1669 – The Venetians surrender the fortress of Candia to the Ottomans, thus ending the 21-year long Siege of Candia.
1777 – Lancaster, Pennsylvania is the capital of the United States, for one day.
1821 – Mexico gains its independence from Spain.
1822 – Jean-François Champollion announces that he has deciphered the Rosetta stone.
1825 – The Stockton and Darlington Railway opens, and begins operation of the world's first service of locomotive-hauled passenger trains.
1854 – The steamship SS Arctic sinks with 300 people on board. This marks the first great disaster in the Atlantic Ocean.
1903 – Wreck of the Old 97, a train crash made famous by the song of the same name.
1905 – The physics journal Annalen der Physik received Albert Einstein's paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", introducing the equation E=mc².
1908 – The first production of the Ford Model T automobile was built at the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan.
1916 – Iyasu is proclaimed deposed as ruler of Ethiopia in a palace coup in favor of his aunt Zauditu.
1922 – King Constantine I of Greece abdicates his throne in favor of his eldest son, King George II.
1928 – The Republic of China is recognised by the United States.
1930 – Bobby Jones wins the U.S. Amateur Championship to complete the Grand Slam of golf. The old structure of the grand slam was the U.S. Open, British Open, U.S. Amateur, and British Amateur.
1937 – Balinese Tiger declared extinct.
1938 – Ocean liner Queen Elizabeth launched in Glasgow.
1940 – World War II: The Tripartite Pact is signed in Berlin by Germany, Japan and Italy.
1941 – The SS Patrick Henry is launched becoming the first of more than 2,700 Liberty ships.
1942 – Last day of the September Matanikau action on Guadalcanal as United States Marine Corps troops barely escape after being surrounded by Japanese forces near the Matanikau River.
1944 – The Kassel Mission results in the largest loss by a USAAF group on any mission in World War II.
1949 – The first Plenary Session of the National People's Congress approves the design of the Flag of the People's Republic of China.
1954 – The nationwide debut of Tonight! (The Tonight Show) hosted by Steve Allen on NBC.
1956 – USAF Captain Milburn G. Apt becomes the first man to exceed Mach 3 while flying the Bell X-2. Shortly thereafter, the craft goes out of control and Captain Apt is killed.
1959 – Nearly 5000 people die on the main Japanese island of Honshū as the result of a typhoon.
1961 – Sierra Leone joins the United Nations.
1962 – The Yemen Arab Republic is established.
1964 – The British TSR-2 aircraft XR219 makes its maiden flight from Boscombe Down in Wiltshire.
1968 – The stage musical Hair opens at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, where it played 1,998 performances until its closure was forced by the roof collapsing in July 1973.
1979 – The United States Department of Education receives final approval from the U.S. Congress to become the 13th US Cabinet agency.
1983 – Richard Stallman announces the GNU project to develop a free Unix-like operating system.
1993 – The Sukhumi massacre takes place in Abkhazia.
1995 – The Government of the United States unveils the first of its redesigned bank notes with the $100 bill featuring a larger portrait of Benjamin Franklin slightly off-center.
1996 – In Afghanistan, the Taliban capture the capital city Kabul after driving out President Burhanuddin Rabbani and executing former leader Mohammad Najibullah.
1996 – The Julie N. tanker ship crashes into the Million Dollar Bridge in Portland, Maine spilling thousands of gallons of oil.
1997 – Communications are suddenly lost with the Mars Pathfinder space probe.
1998 – The Google internet search engine retrospectively claims this as its birthday.
2001 – Zug massacre: In Zug, Switzerland, Friedrich Leibacher shoots 18 citizens, killing 14 and then kills himself.
2002 – Timor-Leste (East Timor) joins the United Nations.
2003 – Smart 1 satellite is launched.
2008 – CNSA astronaut Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese person to perform a spacewalk while flying on Shenzhou 7.

Holidays and observances

Christian Feast Days:
Adheritus
Vincent de Paul
September 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
End of Independence War (Mexico)
French Community Holiday (French community of Belgium)
Meskel (Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Church, following Julian calendar)
World Tourism Day (International)