September 7: Independence Day in Brazil (1822)

• 1191 – Third Crusade: Forces under Richard I of England defeated Ayyubid troops under Saladin in Arsuf, present-day Israel.
• 1812 – Napoleonic Wars: The French Grande Armée forced the Russians to withdraw at the Battle of Borodino.
• 1901 – With Peking occupied by foreign troops from the Eight-Nation Alliance, Qing China was forced to sign the Boxer Protocol, an unequal treaty ending the Boxer Rebellion.
• 1936 – The last thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) died in captivity in Hobart Zoo in Australia.
• 1940 – World War II: The German Luftwaffe changed their strategy in the Battle of Britain and began bombing London and other British cities and towns for over 50 consecutive nights.
• 1986 – Desmond Tutu (pictured) became the first black person to lead the Church of the Province of Southern Africa.

More anniversaries: September 6 – September 7 – September 8