October 11 is the 284th day of the year (285th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 81 days remaining until the end of the year.
Up to 1900
- 1138 – 1138 Aleppo earthquake: A massive earthquake destroys much of Aleppo, Syria.
- 1142 – A peace treaty between the Jin Dynasty and Southern Song Dynasty is formally ratified when a Jin Dynasty envoy arrives at the Song court.
- 1531 – Huldrych Zwingli is killed in battle with the Roman Catholic cantons of Switzerland.
- 1634 – A flood disaster kills 15,000 people in North Friesland, Denmark and Germany.
- 1649 – After a 10-day siege, the English New Model Army under Oliver Cromwell storms the town of Wexford, Ireland - 2,000 Irish troops and 1,500 civilians are killed.
- 1727 – King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach are crowned king and queen.
- 1737 – Calcutta is struck by an earthquake, killing around 300,000 people.
- 1746 – War of Austrian Succession: The French defeat an army consisiting of Austrians, Dutch and British troops.
- 1767 – Surveying for the Mason–Dixon line, separating Maryland and Pennsylvania, is completed.
- 1776 – American War of Independence: In the Battle of Valcou, British forces destroy most United States Navy ships.
- 1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: The Royal Navy captures eleven Dutch Navy ships without any losses in the Battle of Camperdown.
- 1809 – Along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, explorer Meriwether Lewis dies in mysterious circumstances.
- 1833 – A big demonstration at the gates of the legislature of Buenos Aires forces the ousting of governor Juan Ramon Balcarce and his replacement with Juan Jose Viamonte.
- 1852 – The University of Sydney, Australia is inaugurated.
- 1864 – Campina Grande, Brazil becomes a city.
- 1890 – In Washington, DC, the group Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.
- 1899 – The Second Boer War erupts between the United Kingdom and the Boers of Transvaal and the Orange Free State in present-day South Africa.
1901 – 2000
- 1906 – The San Francisco school board orders Japanese students to be taught in racially segregated schools (different schools from White American students), sparking a diplomatic crisis between the United States and Japan.
- 1910 – Former President Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first President of the United States to fly in an airplane.
- 1912 – First Balkan War: The Greek army liberates the city of Kozani.
- 1918 – The San Fermin earthquake hits Puerto Rico.
- 1941 – Beginning of the National Liberation War of Macedonia.
- 1942 – World War II: Battle of Cape Esperance - In northwest Guadalcanal, US troops intercept and defeat a Japanese fleet on their way to reinforce troops on the island.
- 1949 – Wilhelm Pieck is elected the first, and only, President of East Germany.
- 1954 – Frist Indochina War: The Viet Minh takes control of North Vietnam.
- 1957 – M.I.T. scientists calculate Sputnik's booster rocket's orbit.
- 1958 – NASA launches the Pioneer 1 lunar probe, which falls back to Earth and burns up.
- 1963 – West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, aged 87, submits his resignation.
- 1968 – NASA launches the Apollo 7 mission; Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham on board.
- 1975 – Saturday Night Live is first broadcast.
- 1982 – The Tudor warship Mary Rose, which sank in 1545, is salvaged near Portsmouth, England.
- 1984 – On board the Space Shuttle Challenger, Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a spacewalk.
- 1984 – An Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-54 airplane crashes into maintenance vehicles in Omsk, Siberia, killing 178 people.
- 1986 – Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan meet for talks in Reykjavik, Iceland.
- 1987 – German politician Uwe Barschel is found dead in his hotel room in Geneva, Switzerland.
- 1996 – A wood lorry and a school bus collide in Jogeva County, Estonia, killing 8 children.
- 2000 – The 100th Space Shuttle mission launches, with the Space Shuttle Discovery.
From 2001
- 2002 – 7 people are killed in a bomb attack on a shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland.
- 2006 – A small aircraft piloted by baseball player Cory Lidle crashes into a residential building (a building where people live) in New York City, killing both Lidle and his flight instructor, with 21 people being injured.
- 2008 – Austrian far-right politician Jörg Haider is killed in a car crash.
- 2012 – The UN designates this the first International Day of the Girl Child.
- 2013 – The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons wins the Nobel Peace Prize, the second time in a row that an organization has won the prize outright.
- 2013 – At least 30 people die when a boat carrying them from North Africa gets into trouble off Lampedusa, in the Mediterranean Sea, just over a week after over 300 people are killed in a similar accident there.
- 2014 – Charles Michel becomes Prime Minister of Belgium, replacing Elio Di Rupo.
- 2019 – Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
Up to 1900
- 1335 – Taejo of Joseon, ruler of Korea (d. 1408)
- 1616 – Andreas Gryphius, German poet (d. 1664)
- 1661 – Melchior de Polignac, French diplomat (d. 1742)
- 1671 – King Frederick IV of Denmark (d. 1730)
- 1672 – Pylyp Orlyk, Ukrainian diplomat (d. 1742)
- 1675 – Samuel Clarke, English philosopher (d. 1729)
- 1738 – Arthur Phillip, British admiral, Governor of New South Wales (d. 1814)
- 1739 – Grigory Potemkin, Russian military leader and statesman (d. 1791)
- 1755 – Fausto Elhuyar, Spanish chemist (d. 1833)
- 1758 – Hermann Wilhelm Olbers, German physician and astronomer (d. 1840)
- 1788 – Simon Sechter, Austrian music teacher (d. 1867)
- 1806 – Alexander Karadordevic, Prince of Serbia (d. 1886)
- 1814 – Jean Baptiste Lamy, first Archbishop of Santa Fe (d. 1888)
- 1815 – Pierre Napoléon Bonaparte, Italian-born adventurer (d. 1881)
- 1821 – George Williams, English founder of the YMCA (d. 1905)
- 1844 – Henry Heinz, American food manufacturer (d. 1916)
- 1846 – Carlos Pellegrini, President of Argentina (d. 1906)
- 1863 – Louis Cyr, famous Canadian strongman (d. 1912)
- 1865 – Hans E. Kinck, Norwegian philologist and author (d. 1926)
- 1871 – Johan Oscar Smith, Norwegian religious leader (d. 1943)
- 1872 – Harlan F. Stone, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1946)
- 1872 – Emily Davison, British Women's Rights activist (d. 1913)
- 1876 – Paul Masson, French cyclist (d. 1944)
- 1879 – Ernst Mally, Austrian philosopher (d. 1944)
- 1881 – Hans Kelsen, Austrian legal theorist
- 1881 – Lewis Fry Richardson, British meteorologist (d. 1953)
- 1884 – Friedrich Bergius, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1949)
- 1884 – Eleanor Roosevelt, American human rights activist, First Lady of the United States (d. 1962)
- 1884 – Sig Ruman, American actor (d. 1967)
- 1885 – François Mauriac, French writer (d. 1970)
- 1885 – Alfred Haar, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1933)
- 1887 – Willie Hoppe, American billiards champion (d. 1959)
- 1891 – Kim Seong-Su, Korean journalist and politician (d. 1955)
- 1895 – Jakov Gotovac, Croatian composer (d. 1982)
- 1899 – Eddie Dyer, American baseball player (d. 1964)
1901 – 1950
- 1902 – Jayaprakash Narayan, Indian freedom fighter (d. 1979)
- 1905 – Jean-Marie Villot, French cardinal (d. 1979)
- 1905 – Fred Trump, American businessman, father of Donald Trump (d. 1999)
- 1911 – Juan Carlos Zabala, Argentine long-distance runner (d. 1983)
- 1913 – Joe Simon, American comic book artist and writer (d. 2011)
- 1918 – Jerome Robbins, choreographer (d. 1998)
- 1919 – Art Blakey, American jazz drummer (d. 1990)
- 1919 – Kader Firoud, Algerian footballer (d. 2005)
- 1919 – Jean Vander Pyl, voice of Wilma Flintstone in The Flintstones cartoon (d. 1999).
- 1920 – James Aloysius Hickey, American cardinal (d. 2004)
- 1920 – Edgar Negret, Colombian sculptor (d. 2012)
- 1924 – Mal Whitfield, American runner (d. 2015)
- 1925 – Elmore Leonard, American novelist (d. 2013)
- 1926 – Jean Alexander, English actress (d. 2016)
- 1926 – Thich Nhat Wanh, Vietnamese author, monk and poet
- 1926 – Neville Wran, former Premier of New South Wales (d. 2014)
- 1927 – Princess Joséphine Charlotte of Belgium (d. 2005)
- 1927 – William Perry, former United States Secretary of Defense
- 1927 – Jim Prior, English politician (d. 2016)
- 1928 – Marquis Alfonso de Portago, Grand Prix driver (d. 1957)
- 1929 – Curtis Amy, American saxophonist (d. 2002)
- 1929 – Raymond Moriyama, Canadian architect
- 1929 – Liselotte Pulver, Swiss actress
- 1930 – Ronnie Simpson, Scottish footballer (d. 2004)
- 1932 – Dottie West, country music singer (d. 1991)
- 1936 – C. Gordon Fullerton, American astronaut (d. 2013)
- 1937 – Bobby Charlton, English footballer
- 1937 – Jaan Kundla, Estonian politician
- 1939 – Maria Bueno, Brazilian tennis player (d. 2018)
- 1940 – Pouri Banayi, Iranian actress
- 1942 – Amitabh Bachchan, Indian actor, singer, producer, UNICEF Ambassador.
- 1942 – Richard Wilson, Baron Wilson of Dinton, British academic and politician
- 1943 – John Nettles, British actor
- 1943 – Ilmar Reepalu, Swedish politician
- 1946 – Sawao Kato, Japanese gymnast
- 1946 – Oba Chandler, American convicted murderer (d. 2011)
- 1947 – Lucas Papademos, Greek economist and former Prime Minister of Greece
- 1947 – Al Atkins, English singer-songwriter (Judas Priest)
- 1948 – Cecilia, Spanish singer (d. 1976)
- 1948 – Peter Turkson, Ghanaian cardinal
- 1949 – Daryl Hall, musician
- 1950 – Robert Pugh, Welsh actor
1951 – 1975
- 1951 – Jean-Jacques Goldman, French pop singer, songwriter
- 1951 – Kim Ja-ok, South Korean actress (d. 2014)
- 1951 – Charles Shyer, American director, producer and writer
- 1953 – David Morse, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter
- 1955 – Hans-Peter Briegel, German footballer
- 1956 – Nicanor Duarte Frutos, former President of Paraguay
- 1957 – Dawn French, British comedienne
- 1958 – Gregory Dudek, Canadian computer scientist and academic
- 1959 – Allan Little, Scottish BBC correspondent
- 1961 – Steve Young, American football player
- 1962 – Joan Cusack, American actress
- 1962 – Andy McCoy, Finnish-Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
- 1963 – Jordi Villacampa, Spanish basketball player
- 1963 – Prince Faisal bin Al-Hussein of Jordan
- 1963 – Ronny Rosenthal, Israeli footballer
- 1965 – Sean Patrick Flanery, American actor
- 1965 – Juan Ignacio Cirac, Spanish physicist
- 1966 – Luke Perry, American actor (d. 2019)
- 1966 – Todd Snider, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1967 – Daniel Razon, Filipino TV host, singer and minister
- 1968 – Claude Lapointe, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1969 – Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands
- 1969 – Merieme Chadid, Moroccan astronomer
- 1972 – Cherokee Parks, American basketball player
- 1973 – Steven Pressley, Scottish footballer
- 1975 – Orlando Maturana, Colombian footballer
From 1976
- 1976 – Emily Deschanel, American actress
- 1976 – Dominic Aitchison, Scottish bass player and songwriter
- 1976 – Raivo Kotov, Estonian architect
- 1976 – Claudia Black, Australian actress
- 1977 – Ty Wigginton, American baseball player
- 1979 – Bae Doona, South Korean model and actress
- 1979 – Andy Douglas, American professional wrestler
- 1980 – Juan José Ribera, Chilean footballer
- 1981 – Beau Brady, Australian actor
- 1982 – Jermaine V. Mitchell, Rap musician
- 1983 – Bradley James, British actor
- 1983 – Ruslan Ponomariov, Ukrainian chess player
- 1985 – Michelle Trachtenberg, actress
- 1985 – Alvaro Fernandez, Uruguayan footballer
- 1985 – Margaret Berger, Norwegian singer
- 1987 – Mike Conley, Jr., American basketball player
- 1988 – Cinthia Fernandez, Argentine acrobat-dancer, actress and model
- 1988 – Omar Gonzalez, American soccer player
- 1988 – Seamus Coleman, Irish footballer
- 1989 – Michelle Wie, American golfer
- 1991 – Jack Garratt, English singer and songwriter
- 1992 – Cardi B, American rapper
- 1992 – Emilia Bottas, Finnish swimmer
- 1993 – Sean Murray, Irish footballer
- 2001 – Daniel Maldini, Italian footballer
Up to 1900
- 1188 – Robert I, Count of Dreux (b. 1123)
- 1303 – Pope Boniface VIII
- 1347 – Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1282)
- 1424 – Jan Zizka, Czech general (b. 1360)
- 1531 – Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss Protestant leader (b. 1484)
- 1705 – Guillaume Amontons, French physicist and instrument maker (b. 1663)
- 1708 – Ehrenfried Walter von Tschirnhaus, German mathematician, physicist and physician and philosopher (d. 1651)
- 1779 – Casimir Pulaski, Polish fighter for American independence (b. 1745)
- 1809 – Meriwether Lewis, American explorer (suicide) (b. 1774)
- 1811 – Johann Conrad Ammann, Swiss physician and naturalist (b. 1724)
- 1813 – Robert Kerr, Scottish physician, writer and zoologist (b. 1757)
- 1830 – José de La Mar, President of Peru (b. 1778)
- 1852 – Ferdinand Eisenstein, mathematician (b. 1823)
- 1889 – James Prescott Joule, English physicist (b. 1818)
- 1896 – Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer (b. 1824)
- 1896 – Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1829)
1901 – 2000
- 1915 – Jean-Henri Fabre, French writer, poet and naturalist (b. 1823)
- 1916 – King Otto of Bavaria (b. 1848)
- 1940 – Lluís Companys, Spanish President of Generalitat of Catalonia, (shot) (b. 1882)
- 1940 – Vito Volterra, Italian mathematician and physicist (b. 1860)
- 1961 – Chico Marx, American comedian (b. 1887)
- 1963 – Édith Piaf, French singer (b. 1915)
- 1963 – Jean Cocteau, French writer (b. 1889)
- 1965 – Dorothea Lange, American photographer (b. 1895)
- 1965 – Walther Stampfli, Swiss politician (b. 1884)
- 1971 – Tamanoumi Masahiro, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1944)
- 1976 – Alfredo Bracchi, Italian writer (b. 1897)
- 1977 – MacKinlay Kantor, American writer (b. 1904)
- 1987 – Uwe Barschel, German politician (b. 1944)
- 1989 – M. King Hubbert, American geophysicist (b. 1904)
- 1991 – Redd Foxx, American comedian and actor (b. 1902)
- 1993 – Jess Thomas, American tenor (b. 1927)
- 1996 – Lars Ahlfors, Finnish mathematician (b. 1907)
- 1996 – Renato Russo, Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1940)
- 1998 – Richard Denning, American actor (b. 1914)
- 2000 – Donald Dewar, main writer of the Scotland Act and initial First Minister of the Scottish Parliament (b. 1937)
From 2001
- 2003 – Edward Breathitt, Governor of Kentucky (b. 1924)
- 2004 – Keith Miller, Australian sportsman (b. 1919)
- 2005 – Edward Szczepanik, Polish economist and Prime Minister-in-exile (b. 1915)
- 2006 – Cory Lidle, American baseball player (b. 1972)
- 2007 – Werner von Trapp, one of the von Trapp family singers (b. 1915)
- 2007 – Sri Chinmoy, Indian spiritual teacher (b. 1931)
- 2008 – Jörg Haider, Austrian far-right politician (car crash) (b. 1950)
- 2012 – Helmut Haller, German footballer (b. 1939)
- 2012 – Edgar Negret, Colombian sculptor (b. 1920)
- 2013 – María de Villota, Spanish racing driver (b. 1980)
- 2013 – Erich Priebke, German Nazi war criminal (b. 1913)
- 2014 – Carmelo Simeone, Argentine footballer (b. 1933)
- 2014 – Tanhum Cohen-Mintz, Israeli basketball player (b. 1939)
- 2015 – Steve Mackay, American saxophonist (b. 1949)
- 2016 – Patricia Barry, American actress (b. 1922)
- 2017 – James R. Ford, American politician (b. 1925)
- 2017 – Clifford Husbands, Governor-General of Barbados (b. 1926)
- 2018 – Doug Ellis, English businessman (b. 1924)
- 2018 – Labinot Harbuzi, Swedish footballer (b. 1986)
- 2018 – Dieter Kemper, German cyclist (b. 1937)
- 2018 – Pran Nevile, Indian art historian (b. 1922)
- 2018 – Yoshito Sengoku, Japanese politician (b. 1946)
- 2018 – Hege Skjeie, Norwegian political scientist and columnist (b. 1955)
- 2018 – Greg Stafford, American game designer (b. 1948)
- 2018 – Hebe Uhart, Argentine novelist and columnist (b. 1936)
- 2019 – Sam Bobrick, American television writer (b. 1932)
- 2019 – Robert Forster, American actor (b. 1941)
- 2019 – John Giorno, American poet and performance artist (b. 1936)
- 2019 – Kadri Gopalnath, Indian saxophonist and composer (b. 1949)
- 2019 – Alexei Leonov, Soviet-Russian cosmonaut (b. 1934)
- 2020 – Hugo Arana, Argentine actor and comedian (b. 1943)
- 2020 – Harold Betters, American jazz trombonist (b. 1928)
- 2020 – Gary F. Jones, American racehorse trainer (b. 1944)
- 2020 – Terry McBrayer, American politician (b. 1937)
- 2020 – Ilya Moiseev, Russian chemist (b. 1929)
- 2020 – Joe Morgan, American baseball player (b. 1943)
- 2020 – John A. Ruthven, American wildlife artist (b. 1924)
- International Day of the Girl Child
- National Coming Out Day in some countries
- Revolution Day (Republic of Macedonia)
- Old Michaelmas (Christianity)
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