Today in History in 1715 King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years — longer than any major European monarch.

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 1 is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 121 days remaining until the end of the year.

EVENTS

5509 BC – The world was created, according to the Byzantine Empire.

327 – Start of first indiction cycle.

717 – Siege of Constantinople: The Muslim armada, with 1,800 ships, is defeated by the Byzantine Empire's Navy through the use of Greek fire.

1271 – Pope Gregory X is elected.

1532 – Anne Boleyn is made Marquess of Pembroke by her future husband, King Henry VIII of England.

1598 – Boris Godunov is crowned Tsar of Russia.

1604 – Adi Granath, now known as Gupta Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of Sikhism, is first installed at Harmandir Sahib.

1644 – Battle of Tippermuir, Montrose defeats Elcho's Covenanters, reviving Royalist cause

1715 – King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years — longer than any major European monarch.

1772 – Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa founded in San Luis Obispo, California.

1804 – Juno, one of the largest main belt asteroids, was discovered by German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding.

1807 – Former US Vice President Aaron Burr is acquitted of treason. He had been accused of plotting to annex parts of Louisiana and Mexico to become part of an independent republic.

1818 – At London's St. Guy's Hospital, James Blundell carries out the first blood transfusion on a human. His patient, however, dies.

1836 – Narcissa Whitman, one of the first white women to settle west of the Rocky Mountains, arrives at Walla Walla, Washington.

1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Chantilly – Confederate General Robert E. Lee leads his forces in an attack on retreating Union troops in Chantilly, Virginia, driving them away.

1864 – American Civil War: Confederate General John Bell Hood evacuates Atlanta, Georgia after a four-month siege mounted by Union General William T. Sherman.

1870 – Franco-Prussian War: Prussian victory in the Battle of Sedan.

1873 – Cetshwayo ascends to the throne of the Zulu Nation.

1875 – A murder conviction effectively forces the violent Irish anti-owner coal miners, the "Molly Maguires", to disband.

1878 – Emma Nutt becomes the first female telephone operator.

1894 – Great Hinckley Fire: A forest fire in Hinckley, Minnesota kills more than 400 people.

1897 – The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground metro in North America.

1902 – A Trip to the Moon, directed by Georges Méliès and considered one of the first science fiction movies, is released in France.

1905 – Alberta and Saskatchewan join the Canadian confederation.

1906 – the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys (FICPI) is established.

1914 – St. Petersburg, Russia changes its name to Petrograd.

1914 – The last Passenger Pigeon, a female named Martha, dies in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo.

1923 – An earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama killing about 100,000 people. See Great Kantō earthquake for details.

1928 – Ahmet Zogu declares Albania to be a monarchy and proclaims himself king.

1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany attacks Poland, beginning the war. (See Polish September Campaign.)

1939 – George Marshall becomes Chief of Staff of the United States Army.

1951 – The United States, Australia and New Zealand all sign a mutual defense pact, called the ANZUS Treaty (for "Australia, New Zealand, United States").

1952 – The Old Man and the Sea, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Ernest Hemingway, is published.

1954 – Paul "Bear" Bryant opens his infamous 10-day football mini-camp in Junction, Texas. The "survivors" of the ordeal will go down in football lore as The Junction Boys.

1958 – Iceland expands its fishing zone, putting it into conflict with the United Kingdom, and starting the Cod Wars.

1960 – Disgruntled railroad workers effectively halt operations of the Pennsylvania Railroad, marking the first shutdown in the history of the company.

1961 – The Eritrean War of Independence begins.

1962 – Channel Television launches to 54,000 households in the Channel Islands.

1962 – An earthquake in Qazvin, Iran, kills more than 12,000 people.

1969 – A coup in Libya brings Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi to power, ousting King Idris I.

1969 – Tran Thien Khiem becomes Prime Minister of South Vietnam under Nguyen Van Thieu.

1970 – The last episode of the television sitcom I Dream of Jeannie airs on NBC. The show premiered on September 18, 1965.

1972 – In Reykjavík, Iceland, American Bobby Fischer beats Russian Boris Spassky and becomes the world chess champion.

1974 – The SR-71 Blackbird plane sets the record for the time it takes to fly from New York City to London, doing so in an hour and 55 minutes. The record has not yet been beaten.

1979 – The American Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 km.

1980 – Chun Doo-hwan becomes president of South Korea after the resignation of Choi Kyu-ha.

1980 – Terry Fox is forced to abandon his "Marathon of Hope" across Canada at Thunder Bay, Ontario.

1981 – In the Central African Republic, David Dacko is removed in a military coup.

1983 – Cold War: Korean Air Flight KAL-007 shot down by a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft entered Soviet airspace. All 269 on board die.

1984 – An attack on Kabul Airport kills 42 people.

1985 – A joint American-French expedition locates the wreck of the RMS Titanic.

1986 – Soviet passenger steamer Admiral Nakhimov sinks in the Black Sea, after a collision, killing 398 people.

1991 – The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is released in North America.

1991 – Uzbekistan declares independence from the Soviet Union.

1992 – Slovakia's Constitution is ratified.

1995 – The PlayStation videogame system is released in North America.

1999 – A LAPA Boeing 737-200 crashes during takeoff from Jorge Newbury Airport in Buenos Aires, killing 74, including 10 on the ground.

2001 – In the largest media market change in North American television history, every single commercial television station in Vancouver, British Columbia switches network affiliations after a round of ownership changes in 2000.

2004 – The Beslan school siege begins, when armed terrorists take children and adults hostage at a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, southern Russia. The siege ends in a massacre two days later.

2005 – Then-Governor of Louisiana Kathleen Blanco gives a "Shoot to Kill" order against looters following Hurricane Katrina.

2006 – Luxembourg completes the move to all-digital broadcasting.

2016 – A SpaceX rocket explodes on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

2017 – Vladimir Putin's decision to expel 755 diplomats from Russia, in response to United States sanctions, takes effect.

2018 – The funeral of United States Senator John McCain takes place at Washington National Cathedral.

2019 – Hurricane Dorian hits the Bahamas as a Category 5 (the strongest measurement) storm.