12 other big things that happened on 9/11

Sept. 11 has gone down in history time and time again. The day the World Trade Center was attacked in 2001 certainly lives in infamy, but so do many other Sept. 11's, it turns out. 

Chilean President Salvador Allende was ousted in a violent coup, bandits stole the Hope Diamond out from Louis XIV's nose and, particularly resonant now, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was born.

Here is GlobalPost's list of 12 other big things that happened on Sept. 11:

Sept. 11, 1609

English explorer Henry Hudson sails up the river that now bears his name, discovering the island of Manhattan on his way up to present-day Albany.

Sir Henry Hudson entering New York Bay, Sept. 11, 1609, with Indian family watching on shore in foreground. Painting by Edward Moran in 1898 via Wikimedia Commons.

Sept. 11, 1792

During the early days of the French revolution, six bandits broke into the store room of King Louis XVI while he was under house arrest, and stole the famous Hope Diamond.

The Hope Diamond via Wikimedia Commons.

Sept. 11, 1857

The Mountain Meadows massacre occurs: Utah residents viciously attack a band of westward-bound settlers from the American South. The militia kills over 100 unarmed people, sparing 17 children who are taken to live with local Mormon families. 

A depiction of the Mountain Meadows Massacre by D. Appleton via Wikimedia Commons.

Sept. 11, 1941 

In Arlington, Va., the groundbreaking ceremony was held for the building that would become known as the Pentagon. Seventy years later, the Pentagon would be struck in the same terrorist attack that brought down the Twin Towers.

Aerial view of the Pentagon by Angela Stafford, US Air Force via Wikimedia Commons.

Sept. 11, 1965

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was born.

Roadside mural of Bashar al-Assad on an Aleppo highway via Wikimedia Commons.

Sept. 11, 1972

The Summer Olympics, which would become known for the killings of 11 Israeli athletes and one German police officer, came to a close in Munich in what was then West Germany.

Olympic Stadium, Munich, in the 1970s via Wikimedia Commons.

Sept. 11, 1973

Chilean President Salvador Allende was killed in a violent military coup led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet. As the armed forces surrounded La Moneda Palace, Allende gave his last speech vowing not to resign before committing suicide.

Salvadore Allende via Wikimedia Commons.

Sept. 11, 1978

US President Jimmy Carter, Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meet secretly at Camp David. Those negotiations yielded the Camp David Accords, which led directly to the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty the following year. 

From left to right: Menachem begin, Jimmy Carter and Anwar El Sadat celebrate the signing of the Camp David Accordsvia Wikimedia Commons.

Sept. 11, 1982

After Israeli forces invaded Lebanon, a multinational force was sent to protect Palestinian refugees. The force left on Sept. 11, 1982. In the following days anywhere from hundreds to thousands of these refugees were slaughtered at the Sabra and Shatila camps in Beirut. 

Aftermath of Shabra and Shatila massacre in Beirut. Robin Moyer for TIMEvia Wikimedia Commons.

Sept. 11, 1988

At least 13 people were killed and 80 more wounded in a three-hour assault by unidentified armed men on Port-au-Prince's St. Jean Bosco Church in Haiti. The target of the attacks may have Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who would later become Haiti's president.

The Iron Market in Port-au-Prince via Wikimedia Commons.

Sept. 11, 1997

Fourteen Estonian soldiers of the Baltic Battalion drowned in the Kurkse Strait during a dangerous training maneuver.

Aerial view of Kurkse Strait and Pakri Islands via Wikimedia Commons.

Sept. 11, 2003

Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, a likely contender for the prime minister spot, was assassinated after being stabbed in the ladies' department of a Stockholm department store.
Anna Lindh via Wikimedia Commons.