September 12

490 BC – Battle of Marathon: The conventionally accepted date for the Battle of Marathon. The Athenians and their Plataean allies defeat the first Persian invasion force of Greece. 372 – Sixteen Kingdoms: Jin Xiaowudi, age 10, succeeds his father Jin Jianwendi as Emperor of the Eastern Jin dynasty. 1213 – Albigensian Crusade: Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, defeats Peter II of Aragon at the Battle of Muret. 1229 – Battle of Portopí: The Aragonese army under the command of James I of Aragon disembarks at Santa Ponça, Majorca, with the purpose of conquering the island. 1309 – The First Siege of Gibraltar takes place in the context of the Spanish Reconquista pitting the forces of the Kingdom of Castile against the Emirate of Granada resulting in a Castilian victory. 1609 – Henry Hudson begins his exploration of the Hudson River while aboard the Halve Maen. 1634 – A gunpowder factory explodes in Valletta, Malta, killing 22 people and damaging several buildings. 1683 – Austro-Ottoman War: Battle of Vienna: Several European armies join forces to defeat the Ottoman Empire. 1762 – The Sultanate of Sulu ceded Balambangan Island to the British East India Company 1814 – Battle of North Point: an American detachment halts the British land advance to Baltimore in the War of 1812. 1846 – Elizabeth Barrett elopes with Robert Browning. 1847 – Mexican–American War: the Battle of Chapultepec begins. 1848 – A new constitution marks the establishment of Switzerland as a federal state. 1857 – The sinks about 160 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, drowning a total of 426 passengers and crew, including Captain William Lewis Herndon. The ship was carrying 13–15 tons of gold from the California Gold Rush. 1885 – Arbroath 36–0 Bon Accord, a world record scoreline in professional Association football. 1890 – Salisbury, Rhodesia, is founded. 1897 – Tirah Campaign: In the Battle of Saragarhi, ten thousand Pashtun tribesmen suffer several hundred casualties while attacking 21 Sikh soldiers in British service.