About October 21

October 21, 2025 is the 294th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 71 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday.

You can browse the full year calendar in case you need it.

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Libra is the sun sign of a person born on this day. Opal is the modern birthstone for this month. Jasper is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 119 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

What Happened On October 21

  • 1096
    People’s Crusade: The Turkish army annihilates the People’s Army of the West.
  • 1392
    Nanboku-chō: Emperor Go-Kameyama abdicates in favor of rival claimant Go-Komatsu.
  • 1520
    Ferdinand Magellan discovers a strait now known as Strait of Magellan.
  • 1520
    João Álvares Fagundes discovers the islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, bestowing them their original name of “Islands of the 11,000 Virgins”.
  • 1774
    First display of the word “Liberty” on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.
  • 1797
    In Boston Harbor, the 44-gun United States Navy frigate USS Constitution is launched.
  • 1805
    Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Trafalgar: A British fleet led by Vice Admiral Lord Nelson defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet off the coast of Spain under Admiral Villeneuve. It signals almost the end of French maritime power and leaves Britain’s navy unchallenged until the 20th century.
  • 1867
    Manifest Destiny: Medicine Lodge Treaty – Near Medicine Lodge, Kansas a landmark treaty is signed by southern Great Plains Indian leaders. The treaty requires Native American Plains tribes to relocate a reservation in western Oklahoma.
  • 1931
    The Sakurakai, a secret society in the Imperial Japanese Army, launches an abortive coup d'état attempt.
  • 1950
    Korean War: heavy fighting begins between British and Australian forces from the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade and the North Korean 239th Regiment during the Battle of Yongju.
  • 1956
    Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is captured by the British Army, signalling the ultimate defeat of the Mau Mau Uprising, and essentially ending the British military campaign.
  • 1966
    Aberfan disaster: A slag heap collapses on the village of Aberfan in Wales, killing 144 people, mostly schoolchildren.
  • 1967
    Vietnam War: More than 100,000 war protesters gather in Washington, D.C. A peaceful rally at the Lincoln Memorial is followed by a march to The Pentagon and clashes with soldiers and United States Marshals protecting the facility. Similar demonstrations occurred simultaneously in Japan and Western Europe.
  • 1969
    A coup d'état in Somalia brings Siad Barre to power.
  • 1973
    Fred Dryer of the then Los Angeles Rams becomes the first player in NFL history to score two safeties in the same game.
  • 1973
    John Paul Getty III’s ear is cut off by his kidnappers and sent to a newspaper in Rome; it doesn't arrive until November 8.
  • 1977
    The European Patent Institute is founded.
  • 1983
    The metre is defined at the seventeenth General Conference on Weights and Measures as the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second.
  • 1986
    In Lebanon, pro-Iranian kidnappers claim to have abducted American writer Edward Tracy (he is released in August 1991).
  • 1994
    North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea and the United States sign an agreement that requires North Korea to stop its nuclear weapons program and agree to inspections.

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