page_title: October
section_title: Selection of Historical Events
hierarchical_section_title: October / Selection of Historical Events
caption_attribution_description: The Statue of Liberty front shot, on Liberty Island.
context_page_description: October is the tenth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar, coming between September and November. It has 31 days. The name comes from the Latin octo for "eight". It was the eighth month of the year before January and February were added to the beginning of the year.
  October begins on the same day of the week as January in common years, but doesn't begin on the same day of the week as any other month in leap years. October always ends on the same day of the week as February, and additionally, January in common years.
context_section_description: October 1, 1890 – Yosemite National Park is created by United States Congress.
  October 1, 1946 – The Nuremberg Trials of leading Nazis ends.
  October 1, 1949 – The People's Republic of China is declared by Mao Zedong.
  October 1, 1960 – Nigeria becomes independent.
  October 1, 1961 – British and French Cameroon merge.
  October 1, 1978 – Tuvalu becomes independent.
  October 1, 1994 – Palau becomes independent from a UN Trusteeship, though remains dependent on US aid.
  October 2, 1958 – Guinea declares independence.
  October 3, 1990 – Germany is officially re-united.
  October 4, 1957 – The Soviet Union launches the Sputnik 1 probe into orbit.
  October 4, 1966 – Lesotho becomes independent.
  October 5, 1910 – Portugal becomes a Republic.
  October 6, 1973 – The Yom Kippur war begins as Egypt and Syria launch an attack on Israel.
  October 6, 1981 – President of Egypt Anwar Sadat is shot dead at a military parade.
  October 6, 1987 – Fiji becomes a Republic.
  October 7, 1949 – East Germany is founded.
  October 9, 1962 – Uganda becomes independent.
  October 10, 1780 – The Great Hurricane of 1780 kills 20,000 to 30,000 people in the Caribbean.
  October 10, 1928 – Chiang Kai-shek becomes leader of the Republic of China.
  October 10, 1970 – Fiji becomes independent.
  October 10, 2010 – The Netherlands Antilles are split up.
  October 12, 1492 – Christopher Columbus reaches the Caribbean.
  October 12, 1968 – Equatorial Guinea becomes independent.
  October 12, 1999 – The population of the world is said to have officially reached six billion.
  October 13, 2010 – Successful rescue of 69 miners trapped underground near Copiapo, Chile.
  October 14, 1066 – The Battle of Hastings results in William the Conqueror taking over England.
  October 14, 1964 – Martin Luther King, Jr. wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
  October 14, 1981 – Hosni Mubarak becomes President of Egypt.
  October 14, 1991 – Aung San Suu Kyi wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
  October 15, 1917 – Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari is executed for espionage in France.
  October 16, 1582 – Spain, Portugal, Italy and Poland switch from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.
  October 16, 1978 – Pope John Paul II becomes Pope, remaining in this position until 2005.
  October 17, 1989 – The Loma Prieta earthquake strikes the San Francisco Bay Area.
  October 18, 1867 – Alaska officially changes from Russian to US control.
  October 18, 1898 – The US takes control of Puerto Rico.
  October 18, 1989 – Leader of East Germany Erich Honecker resigns.
  October 20, 1973 – Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia, is officially opened.
  October 20, 2011 – 2011 Libyan civil war: Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi is killed.
  October 21, 1805 – The naval Battle of Trafalgar ends in British victory, although Admiral Horatio Nelson is killed.
  October 22, 1962 – The Cuban Missile Crisis begins.
  October 23, 1956 – The Hungarian Uprising begins.
  October 24, 1945 – The UN is officially founded.
  October 24, 1964 – Zambia becomes independent.
  October 26, 1905 – Norway becomes independent from Sweden.
  October 26, 1955 – Austria declares 'Permanent Neutrality'.
  October 27, 1962 – The Cuban Missile Crisis ends.
  October 27, 1979 – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines becomes independent.
  October 27, 1991 – Turkmenistan becomes independent from the Soviet Union.
  October 28, 1886 – The Statue of Liberty is officially dedicated near New York City, as a gift to the United States from France.
  October 29, 1923 – The Republic of Turkey is officially declared by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
  October 29, 1929 – The Wall Street crash occurs, starting the Great Depression.
  October 29, 1998 – Hurricane Mitch causes much destruction in Central America.
  October 31, 1517 – Protestant Reformation: Martin Luther is believed to have nailed his 95 theses to Wittenberg Castle Church in Germany on this date.
  October 31, 1984 – Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi is shot dead by two Sikh security guards. Riots against the Sikh population start soon after.
  October 31, 2011 – The population of the world is said to have officially reached seven billion on this date.
caption: The Statue of Liberty, which was opened on October 28, 1886.
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