Historical Events on Monday, 13th October

13/10/2019

Kenyan Brigid Kosgei sets a new world record for a woman runner with a time of 2:14:04 at the 2019 Chicago Marathon.

Brigid Jepchirchir Kosgei is a Kenyan long-distance runner who specialises in the marathon. She won the 2018 and 2019 Chicago Marathons, the 2019 and 2020 London Marathons and the 2021 and 2026 Tokyo Marathons. Kosgei was the marathon world record holder for women running in a mixed-sex race, with a time of 2:14:04 achieved on 13 October 2019 at the Chicago Marathon. She won the silver medal in the marathon event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

---

13/10/2016

The Maldives announces its decision to withdraw from the Commonwealth of Nations.

The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an archipelagic country in South Asia, located in the Indian Ocean, near the southeastern boundary of the Arabian Sea. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about 750 kilometres from the Asian continent's mainland. The Maldives' chain of 26 atolls stretches across the equator from Ihavandhippolhu Atoll in the north to Addu Atoll in the south.

---

13/10/2013

A stampede occurs in India during the Hindu festival Navratri, killing 115 and injuring more than 110.

On 13 October 2013, during the Hindu festival of Navratri, a stampede broke out on a bridge near the Ratangarh Mata Temple in Datia district, Madhya Pradesh, India, killing 115 people and injuring more than 110.

---

13/10/2010

The mining accident in Copiapó, Chile ends as all 33 trapped miners arrive at the surface after a record 69 days underground.

A mining accident began on 5 August 2010 with a cave-in at the San José copper–gold mine in the Atacama Desert, 45 kilometers (28 mi) north of the regional capital of Copiapó, in northern Chile. Thirty-three men were trapped 700 meters (2,300 ft) underground and 5 kilometers (3 mi) from the mine's entrance. They were rescued 69 days later.

---

13/10/1993

At least 60 people die in eastern Papua New Guinea when a series of earthquakes rock the Finisterre Range, triggering massive landslides.

The 1993 Finisterre Range earthquakes began on October 13 with a Mw  6.9 mainshock, followed by Mw  6.5 and 6.7 earthquakes. These earthquakes struck beneath the Finisterre Range, north of Markham Valley in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. The complex earthquake sequence seriously damaged many villages in the rural Eastern Papua New Guinea region, generating landslides and killing at least 60 people.

---

13/10/1990

Syrian forces attack free areas of Lebanon, removing General Michel Aoun from the presidential palace.

Michel Naim Aoun is a Lebanese politician and former general who served as the 13th president of Lebanon from 31 October 2016 to 30 October 2022.

---

13/10/1983

Ameritech Mobile Communications launches the first US cellular network in Chicago.

Ameritech Mobile Communications, LLC was the first telecommunications company in the U.S. to provide cellular mobile phone service to the general public. Cell service became publicly available in Chicago on October 13, 1983. The company was a division of Ameritech which, as of January 1, 1984, was the holding company of Illinois Bell, Michigan Bell, Wisconsin Bell, Ohio Bell, and Indiana Bell, which provide landline service to the Great Lakes region. From around 1986, Cincinnati Bell held a 45% stake in the company. Originally named Ameritech Mobile Communications, it later became known as Ameritech Cellular.

---

13/10/1977

Hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 181 by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Lufthansa Flight 181, a Boeing 737-230C jet airliner named Landshut, was hijacked on 13 October 1977 by four militants of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine while en route from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, to Frankfurt am Main, West Germany. The hijacking aimed to secure the release of eleven notorious Red Army Faction leaders held in West German prisons and two Palestinians held in Turkey. This event was part of the so-called German Autumn, intended to increase pressure on the West German government. The hijackers diverted the flight to several locations before ending in Mogadishu, Somalia, where the crisis concluded in the early morning hours of 18 October 1977 under the cover of darkness. The West German counter-terrorism unit GSG 9, with ground support from the Somali Armed Forces, stormed the aircraft, rescuing all 87 passengers and four crew members. The captain of the flight was killed by the hijackers earlier in the ordeal.

---

13/10/1976

The first electron micrograph of an Ebola virus is taken at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by Dr. F. A. Murphy.

A micrograph is an image, captured photographically or digitally, taken through a microscope or similar device to show a magnified image of an object. This is opposed to a macrograph or photomacrograph, an image which is also taken on a microscope but is only slightly magnified, usually less than 10 times. Micrography is the practice or art of using microscopes to make photographs. A photographic micrograph is a photomicrograph, and one taken with an electron microscope is an electron micrograph.

---

A Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano Boeing 707 crashes after takeoff from El Trompillo Airport in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, killing 91.

Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano (LAB), internationally known as LAB Bolivian Airlines, was the flag carrier and principal airline of Bolivia for much of the 20th century. It was founded on 15 September 1925 by a consortium of German-Bolivian residents and began commercial flights on 24 September between Cochabamba and Santa Cruz using a Junkers F 13.

---

13/10/1972

Aeroflot Flight 217 crashes outside Moscow, killing 174.

Aeroflot Flight 217 was a non-scheduled international passenger flight from Orly Airport in Paris to Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, with a stopover at Shosseynaya Airport in Leningrad. On 13 October 1972, the Ilyushin Il-62 airliner operating the flight crashed on approach to Sheremetyevo, with the loss of all 164 passengers and crew of 10. At the time, it was the world's deadliest civil aviation disaster, until it was surpassed by the Kano air disaster in Nigeria in 1973. As of 2026, the crash of Flight 217 remains the second-deadliest accident involving an Il-62, after LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055, and the second-deadliest on Russian soil, after Aeroflot Flight 3352.

---

Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashes in the Andes mountains. Twenty-eight survive the crash. All but 16 succumb before rescue on December 23.

Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 was the chartered flight of a Fairchild FH-227D from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile, that crashed in the Andes mountains in Argentina on 13 October 1972. The accident and subsequent survival became known as both the Andes flight disaster and the Miracle of the Andes.

---

The flag of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, was officially adopted.

The flag of Okinawa Prefecture is a white field charged in the center with the prefectural emblem, which consists of three circles stacked on top of each other. The two inner circles are positioned upwards; the outermost and innermost circles are red and the middle circle is white. The emblem was adopted on May 15, 1972, when the United States ended its administration of the Ryukyu Islands and returned Okinawa Prefecture to Japan. The flag was adopted shortly afterward on October 13, 1972.

---

13/10/1962

The Pacific Northwest experiences a cyclone the equal of a Category 3 hurricane, with winds above 150 mph. Forty-six people die.

The Columbus Day storm of 1962 was a Pacific Northwest windstorm that struck the West Coast of Canada and the Pacific Northwest coast of the United States on October 12, 1962. Typhoon Freda was the twenty-eighth tropical depression, the twenty-third tropical storm, and the eighteenth typhoon of the 1962 Pacific typhoon season. Freda originated from a tropical disturbance over the Northwest Pacific on September 28. On October 3, the system strengthened into a tropical storm and was given the name Freda, before becoming a typhoon later that day, while moving northeastward. The storm quickly intensified, reaching its peak as a Category 3-equivalent typhoon on October 5, with maximum 1-minute sustained winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 948 millibars (28.0 inHg). Freda maintained its intensity for another day, before beginning to gradually weaken, later on October 6. On October 9, Freda weakened into a tropical storm, before transitioning into an extratropical cyclone on the next day. On October 11, Freda turned eastward and accelerated across the North Pacific, before striking the Pacific Northwest on the next day. On October 13, the cyclone made landfall on Washington and Vancouver Island, and then curved northwestward. Afterward, the system moved into Canada and weakened, before being absorbed by another developing storm to the south on October 17.

---

13/10/1946

France adopts the constitution of the Fourth Republic.

A constitutional referendum was held in France on 13 October 1946. Voters were asked whether they approved of a new constitution proposed by the Constituent Assembly elected in June. Unlike the May referendum, which saw a previous constitutional proposal rejected, the new Constitution of 27 October 1946 was accepted by 53% of voters, and brought the Fourth Republic into existence. Voter turnout was 68%.

---

13/10/1944

World War II: The Soviet Riga Offensive captures the city.

The Riga offensive was part of the larger Baltic offensive on the Eastern Front during World War II. It took place late in 1944, and drove German forces from the city of Riga.

---

13/10/1943

World War II: Marshal Pietro Badoglio announces that Italy has officially declared war on Germany.

Pietro Badoglio, 1st Duke of Addis Abeba, 1st Marquess of Sabotino, was an Italian general during both world wars and the first viceroy of Italian East Africa. With the fall of the Fascist regime, he became Prime Minister of Italy.

---

13/10/1923

Ankara becomes the capital of Turkey.

Ankara is the capital city of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of over 5.3 million residents in its urban center, out of 6 million residents in Ankara Province. Ankara is Turkey's second-largest city by population after Istanbul.

---

13/10/1921

Soviet republics sign the Treaty of Kars to formalize the borders between Turkey and the South Caucasus states.

The Treaty of Kars was a treaty that established the borders between Turkey and the three Transcaucasian Soviet republics, which are now the independent republics of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. The treaty was signed in the city of Kars on 13 October 1921.

---

13/10/1917

The "Miracle of the Sun" is witnessed by an estimated 70,000 people in the Cova da Iria in Portugal.

The Miracle of the Sun, also known as the Miracle of Fátima, is a series of events reported to have occurred miraculously on 13 October 1917, attended by a large crowd who had gathered in Fátima, Portugal, in response to a prophecy made by three shepherd children, Lúcia Santos and Francisco and Jacinta Marto. The prophecy was that the Virgin Mary would appear and perform miracles on that date. Newspapers published testimony from witnesses who said that they had seen extraordinary solar activity, such as the Sun appearing to "dance" or zig-zag in the sky, advance towards the Earth, or emit multicolored light and radiant colors. According to these reports, the event lasted approximately ten minutes.

---

13/10/1915

First World War: The Battle of the Hohenzollern Redoubt marks the end of the Battle of Loos.

The Actions of the Hohenzollern Redoubt took place on the Western Front in World War I from 13 to 19 October 1915, at the Hohenzollern Redoubt near Auchy-les-Mines in France. In the aftermath of the Battle of Loos, the 9th (Scottish) Division captured the strongpoint and then lost it to a German counter-attack. The British attack on 13 October failed and resulted in 3,643 casualties, mostly in the first few minutes. In the History of the Great War, James Edmonds wrote that "The fighting [from 13 to 14 October] had not improved the general situation in any way and had brought nothing but useless slaughter of infantry".

---

13/10/1911

Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, becomes the first Governor General of Canada of royal descent.

Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, was the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He served as Governor General of Canada, the tenth since Canadian Confederation and the only British prince to do so.

---

13/10/1908

Margaret Travers Symons bursts into the UK parliament and becomes the first woman to speak there.

Margaret Ann Travers Symons was a British suffragette. On 13 October 1908, she became the first woman to speak in the House of Commons when she broke away from her escort into the debating chamber and made an exclamation to the assembly.

---

13/10/1903

The Boston Red Sox win the first modern World Series, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the eighth game.

The 1903 World Series was the first modern World Series to be played in Major League Baseball. It matched the American League (AL) champion Boston Americans against the National League (NL) champion Pittsburgh Pirates in a best-of-nine series, with Boston prevailing five games to three, winning the last four. This was the first major professional sports championship ever won by a Boston-based team. The first three games were played in Boston, the next four in Allegheny, and the eighth (last) game in Boston.

---

13/10/1892

Edward Emerson Barnard is first to discover a comet by photographic means.

206P/Barnard–Boattini was the first comet to be discovered by photographic means. First observed by Edward Emerson Barnard in 1892, it was subsequently lost for 116 years until it was rediscovered by Andrea Boattini in 2008.

---

13/10/1885

The Georgia Institute of Technology is founded in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the largest student enrollment of the University System of Georgia institutions, with satellite campuses in Savannah, Georgia, and Metz, France.

---

13/10/1881

First known conversation in modern Hebrew by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and friends.

The revival of the Hebrew language took place in Europe and the Southern Levant toward the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century, through which the language's usage changed from the purely sacred language of Judaism to a spoken and written language used for daily life among the Jews in Palestine, and later Israel. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda is often regarded as the "reviver of the Hebrew language" having been the first to raise the concept of reviving Hebrew and initiating a project known as the Ben-Yehuda Dictionary. The revitalization of Hebrew was then ultimately brought about by its usage in Jewish settlement in Ottoman Palestine that arrived in the waves of migration known as the First Aliyah and the Second Aliyah. In Mandatory Palestine, Modern Hebrew became one of three official languages and after the Israeli Declaration of Independence in 1948, one of two official languages of Israel, along with Modern Arabic. In July 2018, a new law made Hebrew the sole national language of the State of Israel, while giving Arabic a "special status".

---

13/10/1843

In New York City, B'nai B'rith, the oldest Jewish service organization in the world, is founded.

B'nai B'rith International is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit Jewish service organization and was formerly a cultural association for German Jewish immigrants to the United States. B'nai B'rith states that it is committed to the security and continuity of the Jewish people and the State of Israel and combating antisemitism and other forms of bigotry.

---

13/10/1821

The Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire is publicly proclaimed.

The Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire is the document by which Mexico declared independence from Spain's Spanish Empire. This founding document of the Mexican nation was drafted in the National Palace in Mexico City on 28 September 1821, by Juan José Espinosa de los Monteros, secretary of the Provisional Governmental Board.

---

13/10/1812

War of 1812: Sir Isaac Brock's British and native forces repel an invasion of Canada by General Rensselaer's United States forces.

The Battle of Queenston Heights was the first major engagement of the War of 1812. The battle took place on 13 October 1812, at Queenston in Upper Canada and was a decisive British victory. United States regulars and New York militia led by Major General Stephen Van Rensselaer crossed the Niagara River from Lewiston and engaged British regulars and Canadian militia led by Major General Isaac Brock. Major General Roger Hale Sheaffe took command of British forces after Brock was killed. Mohawk warriors led by John Norton supported the British during the battle.

---

13/10/1793

French Revolutionary Wars: Austro-Prussian victory over Republican France at the First Battle of Wissembourg.

In the First Battle of Wissembourg an Allied army commanded by Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser attacked the French Army of the Rhine under Jean Pascal Carlenc. After an ineffectual resistance, the French army abandoned its fortified line behind the Lauter River and retreated toward Strasbourg in confusion. This engagement of the War of the First Coalition occurred on the eastern border of France about 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Strasbourg.

---

13/10/1792

In Washington, D.C., the cornerstone of the United States Executive Mansion (known as the White House since 1818) is laid.

The White House is the official residence and workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800 when the national capital was moved from Philadelphia. The White House is also a metonym for the Executive Office of the President.

---

13/10/1775

The Continental Congress establishes the Continental Navy (predecessor of the United States Navy).

The Continental Navy was the navy of the United Colonies and United States from 1775 to 1785. It was founded on October 13, 1775 by the Continental Congress to fight against British forces and their allies as part of the American Revolutionary War. In 1776, Commodore Esek Hopkins was appointed by Congress to command the navy. Due to the efforts of several prominent patrons such as John Adams, the Continental Navy eventually developed into a substantial force, though it never replicated the successes of the Continental Army.

---

13/10/1710

Port Royal, the capital of French Acadia, falls in a siege by British forces.

The siege of Port Royal, also known as the Conquest of Acadia, was a military siege conducted by British regular and provincial forces under the command of Francis Nicholson against a French Acadian garrison and the Wabanaki Confederacy under the command of Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, at the Acadian capital, Port Royal. The successful British siege marked the beginning of permanent British control over the peninsular portion of Acadia, which had been referred to as Nova Scotia by the British since 1621. It was the first time the British permanently took and held a French colonial possession. After the French surrender, the British occupied the fort in the capital with all the pomp and ceremony of having captured one of the great fortresses of Europe, and renamed it Annapolis Royal.

---

13/10/1644

A Swedish–Dutch fleet defeats the Danish fleet at Fehmarn and captures about 1,000 prisoners.

The Battle of Fehmarn (1644) took place north-west of the island of Fehmarn, now part of Germany, in the Baltic Sea. A combined Swedish fleet, with a large element of hired Dutch ships, defeated a Danish-Norwegian fleet and took 1,000 prisoners, including Ulfeldt, Grabov and von Jasmund. The Danish admiral Pros Mund was killed in the battle.

---

13/10/1399

Coronation of Henry IV of England at Westminster Abbey.

Henry IV, also known as Henry Bolingbroke, was King of England from 1399 to 1413, Lord of Ireland and duke of Aquitaine. Henry was the son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and a grandson of King Edward III.

---

13/10/1332

Rinchinbal Khan becomes the Khagan of the Mongols and Emperor of the Yuan dynasty, reigning for only 53 days.

Rinchinbal, also known by his temple name as the Emperor Ningzong of Yuan, was a son of Kuśala who was briefly installed to the throne of the Yuan dynasty of Mongol, but died soon after he was installed to the throne. Apart from Emperor of China, he is also considered the 14th Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, although it was only nominal due to the division of the empire.

---

13/10/1307

Hundreds of the Knights Templar in France are arrested at dawn by King Philip the Fair, and later confess under torture to heresy.

The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a military order of the Catholic faith, and one of the most important military orders in Western Christianity. They were founded in 1118 to defend pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem, with their headquarters located there on the Temple Mount, and existed for nearly two centuries during the Middle Ages.

---

13/10/1269

The present church building at Westminster Abbey is consecrated.

Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British monarchs and a burial site for 18 English, Scottish, and British monarchs. At least 16 royal weddings have taken place at the abbey since 1100.

---

13/10/0409

Vandals and Alans cross the Pyrenees and appear in Hispania.

The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first mentioned in the written records as the inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the 5th century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vandal kingdoms, first within the Iberian Peninsula, and then in the western Mediterranean islands and North Africa.

---

13/10/0054

Roman emperor Claudius dies from poisoning under mysterious circumstances. He is succeeded by his adopted son Nero, rather than by Britannicus, his son with Messalina.

AD 54 (LIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lentulus and Marcellus. The denomination AD 54 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

---