FRIDAY,Sept. 4, 2026

476-Romulus Augustulus, the last Western Roman Emperor, abdicates after forces led by Odoacer invade Rome, the traditional date for the end of the Western Roman Empire

1609-Navigator Henry Hudson is the first European to discover the island of Manhattan [or September 11]

1781-Los Angeles is founded by 44 Spanish-speaking mestizos in the Bahía de las Fumas (Bay of Smokes)

1862-General Lee begins the Maryland Campaign, invading the North with 50,000 Confederate troops (U.S. Civil War)

1957-Governor of Arkansas, Orval Faubus, calls out the National Guard to prevent nine Black students from entering Little Rock Central High School

1968-Nigerian troops conquer the city of Aba, Biafra, during the Nigerian Civil War

1998-Google is formally incorporated by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University