Today is Sept. 3. On this date:
1609
English explorer Henry Hudson and his crew aboard the Half Moon entered present-day New York Harbor and began sailing up the river that now bears his name. (They reached present-day Albany before turning back.)
1783
Representatives of the United States and Britain signed the Treaty of Paris, which officially ended the Revolutionary War.
1943
Allied forces invaded the Italian peninsula during World War II, the same day Italian officials signed a secret armistice with the Allies.
1976
America’s Viking 2 lander touched down on Mars to take the first close-up, color photographs of the red planet’s surface.
1978
Pope John Paul I was installed as the 264th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church.
1995
The online auction site eBay was founded in San Jose, California, by Pierre Omidyar under the name “AuctionWeb.”
1999
A French judge closed a two-year inquiry into the car crash that killed Princess Diana, dismissing all charges against nine photographers and a press motorcyclist, and concluding the accident was caused by an inebriated driver.
2003
Paul Hill, a former minister who said he murdered an abortion doctor and his bodyguard to save the lives of unborn babies, was executed in Florida by injection, becoming the first person put to death in the United States for anti-abortion violence.
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