September 5 is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 117 days remaining until the end of the year.
Events:
917 – Liu Yan declares himself emperor, establishing the Southern Han state in southern China, at his capital of Panyu.
1590 – Alexander Farnese's army forces Henry IV of France to lift the siege of Paris.
1661 – Fall of Nicolas Fouquet: Louis XIV Superintendent of Finances is arrested in Nantes by D'Artagnan, captain of the king's musketeers.
1666 – Great Fire of London ends: Ten thousand buildings including St Paul's Cathedral are destroyed, but only six people are known to have died.
1697 – War of the Grand Alliance : A French warship commanded by Captain Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville defeated an English squadron at the Battle of Hudson's Bay.
1698 – In an effort to Westernize his nobility, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards for all men except the clergy and peasantry.
1725 – Wedding of Louis XV and Maria Leszczyńska.
1774 – First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia.
1781 – Battle of the Chesapeake in the American Revolutionary War: The British Navy is repelled by the French Navy, contributing to the British surrender at Yorktown.
1793 – French Revolution: The French National Convention initiates the Reign of Terror.