October 13 is the 286th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 79 days remaining until the end of the year.
AD 54 – Roman emperor Claudius dies from poisoning under mysterious circumstances.
409 – Vandals and Alans cross the Pyrenees and appear in Hispania.
1269 – The present church building at Westminster Abbey is consecrated.
1307 – Hundreds of Knights Templar in France are arrested at dawn by King Phillip the Fair, and later confess under torture to heresy.
1332 – Rinchinbal Khan becomes the Khagan of the Mongols and Emperor of the Yuan dynasty, reigning for only 53 days.
1644 – A Swedish–Dutch fleet defeats the Danish fleet at Fehmarn and captures about 1,000 prisoners.
1710 – Port Royal, the capital of French Acadia, falls in a siege by British forces.
1775 – The Continental Congress establishes the Continental Navy (predecessor of the United States Navy).
1792 – In Washington, D.C., the cornerstone of the United States Executive Mansion (known as the White House since 1818) is laid.
1793 – French Revolutionary Wars: Austro-Prussian victory over Republican France at the First Battle of Wissembourg
1812 – War of 1812: Sir Isaac Brock's British and native forces repel an invasion of Canada by General Rensselaer's United States forces.
1821 – The Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire is publicly proclaimed.
1843 – In New York City, B'nai B'rith, the oldest Jewish service organization in the world, is founded.
1881 – First known conversation in modern Hebrew by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and friends.
1884 – The International Meridian Conference establishes the meridian of the Greenwich Observatory as the prime meridian.
1885 – The Georgia Institute of Technology is founded in Atlanta, Georgia.
1892 – Edward Emerson Barnard discovers first comet discovered by photographic means.
1903 – The Boston Red Sox win the first modern World Series, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates in the eighth game.
1908 – Margaret Travers Symons bursts into the UK parliament and became the first woman to speak there.[1]
1911 – Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, becomes the first Governor General of Canada of royal descent.
1915 – First World War: The Battle of the Hohenzollern Redoubt marks the end of the Battle of Loos.
1917 – The "Miracle of the Sun" is witnessed by an estimated 70,000 people in the Cova da Iria in Portugal]].
1921 – Soviet republics sign the Treaty of Kars to formalize the borders between Turkey and the South Caucasus states.
1923 – Ankara becomes the capital of Turkey.
1943 – World War II: The new government of Italy sides with the Allies and declares war on Germany.
1944 – World War II: The Soviet Riga Offensive captures the city.
1946 – France adopts the constitution of the Fourth Republic.
1962 – The Pacific Northwest experiences a cyclone the equal of a Cat 3 hurricane, with winds above 150 mph. 46 people die.
1972 – Aeroflot Flight 217 crashes outside Moscow, killing 174.
1972 – Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashes in the Andes mountains. 28 survive the crash. All but 16 succumb before rescue on December 23[2]
1976 – The first electron micrograph of an Ebola virus, by Dr. F. A. Murphy, is taken at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]]
1983 – Ameritech Mobile Communications launches the first US cellular network in Chicago.
1990 – Syrian forces attack free areas of Lebanon, removing General Michel Aoun from the presidential palace.
2010 – The mining accident in Copiapó, Chile ends as all 33 trapped miners arrive at the surface after a record 69 days underground.
2013 – A stampede occurs in India during the Hindu festival Navratri, killing 115 and injuring more than 110.
2016 – The Maldives announces its decision to withdraw from the Commonwealth of Nations.
