Hurricane Ike makes landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast of the United States, causing heavy damage to Galveston Island, Houston and surrounding areas.

The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.

Civilian aircraft traffic resumes in the U.S. after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Ulysses probe passes the Sun's south pole.

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shakes hands with PLO chairman Yasser Arafat at the White House after signing an accord granting limited Palestinian autonomy.

Public unveiling of the Oslo Accords, an Israeli-Palestinian agreement initiated by Norway.

Largest anti-Apartheid march in South Africa, led by Desmond Tutu.

Hurricane Gilbert is the strongest recorded hurricane in the Western Hemisphere, later replaced by Hurricane Wilma in 2005 (based on barometric pressure).

Goiânia accident: A radioactive object is stolen from an abandoned hospital in Goiânia, Brazil, contaminating many people in the following weeks and causing some to die from radiation poisoning.

Nintendo creates the game Super Mario Bros.

South Africa grants independence to the "homeland" of Venda (not recognised outside South Africa).

People's Republic of China: Chairman Mao Zedong's second in command and successor Marshal Lin Biao flees the country via plane after the failure of alleged coup against Mao. The plane crashes in Mongolia, killing all aboard.

State police and National Guardsmen storm New York's Attica Prison to end a prison revolt.

Albania leaves the Warsaw Pact.

South Vietnamese Generals Lam Van Phat and Duong Van Duc fail in a coup attempt against General Nguyen Khanh.

IBM introduces the first computer disk storage unit, the RAMAC 305.

The dike around the Dutch polder East Flevoland is closed.

Nikita Khrushchev is appointed secretary-general of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Margaret Chase Smith is elected senator, and becomes the first woman to serve in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the United States Senate.

The Municipal Theatre of Corfu is destroyed during an aerial bombardment by Luftwaffe.

Chiang Kai-shek elected President of the Republic of China.

World War II: Second day of the Battle of Edson's Ridge in the Guadalcanal campaign. U.S. Marines successfully defeated attacks by the Imperial Japanese Army with heavy losses for the Japanese forces.

World War II: German bombs damage Buckingham Palace.

Rockslide near Whirlpool Rapids Bridge ends the International Railway (New York – Ontario).

Elizabeth McCombs becomes the first woman elected to the New Zealand Parliament.

Following a military coup in Spain, Miguel Primo de Rivera takes over, setting up a dictatorship.

The final act of the Greco-Turkish War, the Great Fire of Smyrna, commences.

The temperature (in the shade) at Al 'Aziziyah, Libya reaches a world record {{Convert|57.8|°C|°F}}.

World War I: The Battle of Aisne begins between Germany and France.

World War I: South African troops open hostilities in German south-west Africa (Namibia) with an assault on the Ramansdrift police station.

First flight of a fixed-wing aircraft in Europe.

Filipino resistance fighters defeat a small American column in the Battle of Pulang Lupa, during the Philippine-American War.

Mackinder, Ollier and Brocherel make the first ascent of Batian (5,199 m – 17,058 ft), the highest peak of Mount Kenya.

Henry Bliss is the first person in the United States to be killed in an automobile accident.

Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film.

The Battle of Tel el-Kebir is fought in the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War.

American Civil War: Union soldiers find a copy of Robert E. Lee's battle plans in a field outside Frederick, Maryland. It is the prelude to the Battle of Antietam.

First ascent of Piz Bernina, the highest summit of the eastern Alps.

Vermont railroad worker Phineas Gage survives a {{convert|3|ft|m|adj=on}}-plus iron rod being driven through his head; the reported effects on his behavior and personality stimulate thinking about the nature of the brain and its functions.

Mexican-American War: Six teenage military cadets known as Niños Héroes die defending Chapultepec Castle in the Battle of Chapultepec. American General Winfield Scott captures Mexico City in the Mexican-American War.

Francis Scott Key writes The Star-Spangled Banner

In a turning point in the War of 1812, the British fail to capture Baltimore, Maryland.

War of 1812: A supply wagon sent to relieve Fort Harrison is ambushed in the Attack at the Narrows.

Finnish War: In the Battle of Jutas, Swedish forces under Lieutenant General Georg Carl von Döbeln beat the Russians, making von Döbeln a Swedish war hero.

King Louis XVI of France accepts the new constitution.

The Philadelphia Convention sets the date for the first presidential election in the United States, and New York City becomes the country's temporary capital.

Battle of the Plains of Abraham: British defeat French near Quebec City in the Seven Years' War, known in the United States as the French and Indian War.

Great Britain, Austria and Savoy-Sardinia sign the Treaty of Worms.

Henry Hudson reaches the river that would later be named after him – the Hudson River.

San Lorenzo del Escorial Palace in Madrid is finished.

Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand issue a ''Royal Warrant'' for the construction of a Royal Chapel (Capilla Real) to be built.

Michelangelo begins work on his statue of David.

Gilles de Rais is finally taken into custody upon an accusation brought against him by the Bishop of Nantes.

Ögedei Khan was proclaimed Qaghan of the Mongol Empire in Kodoe Aral, Khentii: Mongolia.

End of Battle of Muret, during the Albigensian Crusade to destroy the Cathar heresy.

General Belisarius of the Byzantine Empire defeats Gelimer and the Vandals at the Battle of Ad Decimium, near Carthage, North Africa.

Construction of Hadrian's Wall begins.