On This Day, September 5: Slavko Leovac dies, Russo-Japanese War ends, Mother Teresa dies

September 5 has marked a series of turning points, from imperial expansion to political upheaval and major developments in philosophy, music and diplomacy.

In 1600, Queen Elizabeth of England granted a charter establishing the East India Company, giving it a monopoly on trade with the East. The move began Britain’s commercial and later colonial expansion on the Indian subcontinent. In 1774, representatives of 13 American colonies opened the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia to oppose British influence in North America, a prelude to the American War of Independence.

The date also marks the 1905 end of the Russo-Japanese War. Under the Treaty of Portsmouth, brokered by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, Russia ceded Port Arthur to Japan and recognized Japanese interests in Korea.

Among the notable figures associated with September 5 are Italian philosopher Tommaso Campanella, German composer Giacomo Meyerbeer, French philosopher and mathematician Auguste Comte, Indian philosopher and statesman Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, and Serbian statesman and historian Jovan Ristić. The chronology also records the death of Mother Teresa and the completion of other historical events.