Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 31
August 31: Independence Day for Malaysia (1957), Trinidad and Tobago (1962), Kyrgyzstan (1991)
- 1876 – Abdul Hamid II (pictured) became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire when his brother Murad V was deposed.
- 1888 – Mary Ann Nichols' body was found on the ground in front of a gated stable entrance in Buck's Row, London, allegedly the first victim of the unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper.
- 1986 – After a collision with a freighter, the Soviet ocean liner Admiral Nakhimov sank in the Tsemes Bay area of the Black Sea within 7 minutes, killing over 400 on board.
- 1992 – The one-party Marxist rule in the Republic of the Congo officially ended when Pascal Lissouba was inaugurated as its president after a multi-party election.
- 1997 – Princess Diana, her companion Dodi Fayed, and their driver Henri Paul were killed in a high speed car accident in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris.
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