Template:On this day - September 21

Francisco Abad Moreno

• 672 – In the Valladolid town of Gérticos (Spain), Wamba is elected king of the Visigoths. The village is called Wamba in his honor.
• 1177 – In Spain, the Christian troops of Alfonso VIII conquer Cuenca from the Muslims after besieging the town.
• 1248 – In the Province of Seville, the Christian troops of Ferdinand III conquer the town of Alcalá de Guadaíra from the Muslims.
• 1526 – In the northwest of the present-day Republic of Ecuador, a group of Spaniards under Bartolomé Ruiz found the village of San Mateo (present-day city of Esmeraldas, capital of Esmeraldas Province).
• 1561 – The city of Valladolid (Spain) is razed by a fire.
• 1706 – The Bourbon troops, thanks to their victory in the Combat of Albujón during the War of the Spanish Succession, isolate the Austracist stronghold of Cartagena.
• 1721 – In Cuba, the Dominicans found the University of Havana on the site of the old Convent of San Juan de Letrán, under the name Real y Pontificia Universidad de San Gerónimo de La Habana.
• 1810 – In Mérida (Venezuela), the Royal University of San Buenaventura of Mérida (the present-day University of the Andes) is founded.
• 1821 – In El Salvador, the Act of Independence of the Intendancy of San Salvador is signed.
• 1827 – Francisco Abad Moreno, Spanish guerrilla fighter and liberal military officer, is executed (b. 1788).
• 1843 – The schooner Ancud hoists the Chilean flag at Puerto del Hambre and takes possession of the Strait of Magellan in the name of its country.
• 1863 – In Madrid, the Queen of Spain finally recognizes the independence of the Argentine Republic (which it had proclaimed 47 years earlier).
• 1910 – In Mexico, the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) is founded.
• 1940 – An explosion at an Army powder magazine south of Valladolid (Spain) kills more than a hundred people.
• 1949 – In the city of Salta (Argentina), the first issue of the newspaper El Tribuno comes out.
• 1956 – In the city of León, the Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza García is mortally wounded after being shot by the poet Rigoberto López Pérez.
• 1972 – In the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos signs Proclamation No. 1081, placing the whole country under martial law.
• 1976 – In Washington, D.C., the former Chilean foreign minister Orlando Letelier (whom Pinochet had stripped of his Chilean citizenship eleven days earlier) is murdered together with his secretary by mercenaries.
• 1979 – The last passenger train of the Transandine Railway leaves Mendoza (Argentina) bound for Los Andes (Chile).
• 1992 – The Holy See and Mexico establish diplomatic relations, broken off for a century.
• 2007 – The government of Guatemala expresses its satisfaction at the arrival in the country of the official replica of the Dresden Codex, an invaluable piece of the millennia-old Maya civilization, provided by academic authorities in Germany.
• 2009 – The deposed Honduran president Manuel Zelaya returns to Honduras and takes up residence in the Embassy of Brazil.
• 2012 – In Acámbaro (Mexico), the Third International Bread Fair opens, with Belize and Jalisco as guests of honor.
• 2021 – Death of La Prieta Linda, Mexican singer and actress (b. 1933).