Today in History: Sept. 24

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622 – Muhammad and his followers completed their Hijra from Mecca to Medina to escape religious persecution. 787 – Second Council of Nicaea: The council assembled at the church of Hagia Sophia. 1180 – Manuel I Komnenos, last Emperor of the Komnenian restoration dies. The Byzantine Empire slips into terminal decline. 1645 – Battle of Rowton Heath, Parliamentarian victory over a Royalist army commanded in person by King Charles. 1664 – The Dutch Republic surrenders New Amsterdam to England. 1674 – Second Tantrik Coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. 1780 – Benedict Arnold flees to British Army lines when the arrest of British Major John André exposes Arnold's plot to surrender West Point. 1789 – The United States Congress passes the Judiciary Act which creates the office of the United States Attorney General and the federal judiciary system, and orders the composition of the Supreme Court of the United States. 1830 – Belgian Revolution: A revolutionary committee of notables forms the Provisional Government of Belgium. 1841 – The Sultan of Brunei cedes Sarawak to the United Kingdom. 1846 – Mexican–American War: General Zachary Taylor captures Monterrey. 1852 – The first airship powered by (a steam) engine, created by Henri Giffard, travels 17 miles (27 km) from Paris to Trappes. 1853 – Admiral Despointes formally takes possession of New Caledonia in the name of France. 1869 – "Black Friday": Gold prices plummet after Ulysses S. Grant orders the Treasury to sell large quantities of gold after Jay Gould and James Fisk plot to control the market. 1873 – Establishment of "Satyashodhak Samaj", (Truth-seeker Movement) at Pune, Maharashtra, India by Mahatma Jyotirao Phule. 1877 – Battle of Shiroyama, decisive victory of the Imperial Japanese Army over the Satsuma Rebellion 1890 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially renounces polygamy. 1906 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims Devils Tower in Wyoming as the nation's first National Monument. 1911 – His Majesty's Airship No. 1, Britain's first rigid airship, is wrecked by strong winds before her maiden flight at Barrow-in-Furness. 1914 – World War I: The Siege of Przemyśl (present-day Poland) begins. 1932 – Gandhi and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar agree to the Poona Pact, which reserved seats in the Indian provincial legislatures for the "Depressed Classes" (Untouchables). 1935 – Earl and Weldon Bascom produce the first rodeo ever held outdoors under electric lights at Columbia, Mississippi. 1946 – Cathay Pacific Airways is founded in Hong Kong. 1946 – Clark Clifford and George Elsey, military advisers to U.S. President Harry S. Truman, present him with a top-secret report on the Soviet Union that first recommends the containment policy. 1948 – The Honda Motor Company is founded. 1950 – Forest fires black out the sun over portions of Canada and New England. A blue moon is seen as far away as Europe. 1957 – Camp Nou, the largest stadium in Europe, is opened in Barcelona. 1957 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends 101st Airborne Division troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation. 1960 – USS Enterprise, the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is launched. 1962 – United States court of appeals orders the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith. 1968 – 60 Minutes debuts on CBS. 1968 – Swaziland joins the United Nations. 1972 – Japan Airlines Flight 472, operated Douglas DC-8-53 landed at Juhu Aerodrome instead of Santacruz Airport in Bombay, India. 1973 – Guinea-Bissau declares its independence from Portugal. 1975 – Dougal Haston and Doug Scott on the Southwest Face expedition become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest by any of its faces. 1979 – CompuServe launches the first consumer internet service, which features the first public electronic mail service. 1991 – Nirvana releases the Nevermind album 1993 – The Cambodian monarchy is restored, with Norodom Sihanouk as king. 1996 – Representatives of 71 nations sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty at the United Nations. 2005 – Hurricane Rita makes landfall in the United States, devastating portions of southwestern Louisiana and extreme southeastern Texas. 2007 – Between 30,000 and 100,000 people take part in anti-government protests in Yangon, Burma, the largest in 20 years. 2009 – The G20 summit begins in Pittsburgh with 30 global leaders in attendance. It marks the first use of LRAD in U.S. history. 2013 – A 7.7-magnitude earthquake strikes southern Pakistan, killing more than 327 people. 2014 – The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), a Mars orbiter launched into Earth orbit by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), successfully inserted into orbit of Mars. 2015 – At least 1,100 people are killed and another 934 wounded after a stampede during the Hajj in Saudi Arabia.