Today in History in 1781 Los Angeles is founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula (the City of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula) by a group of 44 Spanish settlers.

Our on this day in history archives contain over 200,000 events, birthdays and deaths from 6,000 years of history. Here is a roundup of a few of them:

September 4 is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 118 days remaining until the end of the year.

EVENTS

476 – Romulus Augustus, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, is deposed when Odoacer proclaims himself King of Italy.

626 - Li Shimin, known after his death as Emperor Taizong of Tang, assumes the throne over the Tang Dynasty in China.

1260 – The forces of King Manfred of Sicily, in league with the Ghibellines, defeat the Guelphs at Monte Aperto.

1618 - A rock fall in the Val Bregaglia in the north of present-day Italy kills 2,430 people.

1666 - The most destructive damage of the Great Fire of London occurs.

1774 - Members of James Cook's expedition become the first Europeans to sight New Caledonia (presently part of France) in the Pacific Ocean, and name it after Scotland, for which Caledonia is another name.

1781 – Los Angeles is founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula (the City of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula) by a group of 44 Spanish settlers.

1800 - The French garrison of Valletta surrenders to British troops who had been called at the invitation of the Maltese. The islands of Malta and Gozo become the Malta protectorate.

1812 - War of 1812: The Siege of Fort Harrison begins when the fort is set on fire.

1857 - Ernst Rietschl's Goethe-Schiller Monument in Weimar is unveiled.

1862 - American Civil War: Maryland campaign - General Robert E. Lee takes the army of Northern Virginia, and the war, into the North.

1870 – Emperor Napoleon III of France is deposed and the Third Republic is declared.

1882 - Thomas Edison flips the switch on the first-ever commercial electrical power plant, which lights up a square mile of Lower Manhattan.

1886 – Indian Wars: After almost 30 years of fighting, Apache leader Geronimo surrenders with his last band of warriors to General Nelson Miles at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona.

1888 – George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak, and receives a patent for his camera which uses roll film.

1890 - The now-Greek city of Thessaloniki is heavily damaged by fire, making 20,000 people homeless.

1894 – In New York City, 12,000 tailors strike against sweatshop working conditions.

1912 - Albanian rebels are successful in their revolt when the Ottoman Empire agrees to fulfill their demands.

1923 – In Lakehurst, New Jersey, the first American airship, the USS Shenandoah, takes to the sky for the first time.

1940 – World War II: The USS Greer becomes the first United States ship fired upon by a German submarine in the war, even though the United States is a neutral power. Tension heightens between the two nations as a result.

1941 - World War II: A German submarine carries out the first attack on a United States ship, the USS Greer.

1944 - World War II: Finland ends its state of war with the Soviet Union.

1944 – World War II: The British 11th Armored Division liberate the city of Antwerp in Belgium.

1945 – World War II: Japanese forces surrender on Wake Island after hearing word of their nation's surrender.

1948 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicates for health reasons.

1950 – Beetle Bailey comic strip started.

1951 – The first live transcontinental television broadcast takes place in San Francisco, California from the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference.

1957 – Civil Rights Movement: Little Rock Crisis – Orval Faubus, governor of Arkansas, calls out the National Guard to prevent black students from enrolling in Central High School in Little Rock.

1957 – Ford Motor Company introduces the Edsel.

1962 - The 4th Asian Games in Jakarta end.

1963 – Swissair Flight 306 crashes near Dürrenäsch, Switzerland killing all on board.

1964 – Forth Road Bridge, near Edinburgh, is officially opened.

1967 – The last new episode of the television sitcom Gilligan's Island airs on CBS-TV.

1967 – Vietnam War: Operation Swift begins – The United States Marines launch a search-and-destroy mission in Quang Nam and Quang Tin Provinces. The ensuing 4-day battle in Que Son Valley kills 114 Americans and 376 North Vietnamese.

1970 - Salvador Allende is elected President of Chile.

1970 - The 6th Asian Games in Bangkok end.

1971 – A Boeing 727 carrying Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 crashes into the side of a mountain near Juneau, Alaska killing all 111 people on board.

1971 – The Lawrence Welk Show airs its last show.

1972 – Mark Spitz wins his seventh swimming gold medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, becoming the first Olympian to win seven gold medals.

1972 – The Price Is Right, hosted by Bob Barker, returns to television with a new format on CBS. Over three decades later, it continues to air and give away prizes galore.

1984 - Brian Mulroney is elected Prime Minister of Canada.

1985 - Discovery of Buckminsterfullerene, the first fullerene molecule of carbon.

1989 - In Leipzig, then-East Germany, the first of the so-called Monday Demonstrations takes place, calling for opposition groups to be allowed.

1995 – The Fourth World Conference on Women opens in Beijing with over 4,750 delegates from 181 countries in attendance.

1996 – War on Drugs: Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) attack a military base in Guaviare, Colombia starting three weeks of guerrilla warfare that will claim the lives of at least 130 Colombians.

1997 – In Lorain, Ohio, the last Ford Thunderbird rolls off the assembly line.

1997 – A U.S. Air Force C-141 cargo plane and a German TU-154 collide in mid-air over southwest Africa killing 33.

1998 - Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University.

2006 – Australian naturalist and TV presenter Steve Irwin (Crocodile Hunter) is killed by a stingray off the Queensland coast.

2007 - Three terrorists are arrested in Germany on suspicion of being part of Al-Qaeda and allegedly planning attacks on Frankfurt International Airport and US military installations.

2009 – An airstrike in Kunduz, Afghanistan kills 142 people.

2010 – 2010 Canterbury earthquake: A magnitude 7.1 earthquake strikes New Zealand's South Island, causing widespread damage and power outages, particularly in Christchurch. No deaths are reported.

2014 - NATO leaders meet in South Wales to discuss conflicts in Ukraine and Iraq.

2016 - Canonization of Mother Teresa by Pope Francis.

2017 - The Queensferry Crossing, linking Fife and Lothian in Scotland, is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II, exactly 53 years to the day after the opening of the nearby Forth Road Bridge.

2018 - Japan is hit by one of its strongest-ever typhoons.