December
21
Events
December 21
69 – The
Roman Senate declares Vespasian as Roman emperor, the last in
the Year of Four Emperors.
1140 – Conrad III of Germany besieged Weinsberg.
1598 – Battle of Curalaba: The revolting Mapuche, led by cacique
Pelentaru, inflict a major defeat on Spanish troops in southern
Chile.
1620 – Plymouth Colony: William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims
land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
1826 – American settlers in Nacogdoches, Mexican Texas, declare
their independence, starting the Fredonian Rebellion.
1832 – Egyptian–Ottoman War: Egyptian forces decisively defeat
Ottoman troops at the Battle of Konya.
1844 – The Rochdale Pioneers commence business at their cooperative
in Rochdale, England, starting the Cooperative movement.
1861 – Medal of Honor: Public Resolution 82, containing a provision
for a Navy Medal of Valor, is signed into law by President Abraham
Lincoln.
1872 – Challenger expedition: HMS Challenger, commanded by Captain
George Nares, sails from Portsmouth.
1879 – World première of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House at the
Royal Theatre in Copenhagen.
1883 – The first Permanent Force cavalry and infantry regiments
of the Canadian Army are formed: The Royal Canadian Dragoons
and The Royal Canadian Regiment.
1907 – The Chilean Army commits a massacre of at least 2,000
striking saltpeter miners in in Iquique, Chile.
1910 – An underground explosion at the Hulton Bank Colliery
No. 3 Pit in Over Hulton, Westhoughton, England, kills 344 miners.
1913 – Arthur Wynne's "word-cross", the first crossword
puzzle, is published in the New York World.
1919 – American anarchist Emma Goldman is deported to Russia.
1937 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world's first full-length
animated feature, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theater.
1941 – World War II: A formal treaty of alliance between Thailand
and Japan is signed in the presence of the Emerald Buddha in
Wat Phra Kaew.
1946 – An 8.1 Mw earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Nankaidō,
Japan, kill over 1,300 people and destroy over 38,000 homes.
1962 – Rondane National Park is established as Norway's first
national park.
1967 – Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a heart transplant,
dies in Cape Town, South Africa, after living for 18 days after
the transplant.
1968 – Apollo program: Apollo 8 launched from the Kennedy Space
Center, placing its crew on a lunar trajectory for the first
visit to another celestial body by humans.
1969 – The United Nations adopts the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
1973 – The Geneva Conference on the Arab-Israeli conflict opens.
1979 – Lancaster House Agreement: An independence agreement
for Rhodesia is signed in London by Lord Carrington, Sir Ian
Gilmour, Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo, Bishop Abel Muzorewa and
S.C. Mundawarara.
1988 – A bomb explodes on board Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie,
Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, killing 270.
1992 – A Dutch DC-10, flight Martinair MP 495, crashes at Faro
Airport, killing 56 people.
1994 – Mexican volcano Popocatepetl, dormant for 47 years, erupts
gases and ash.
1995 – The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian
control.
1999 – The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with
950 kg of explosives that ETA intended to use to blow up Torre
Picasso in Madrid.
2004 – Iraq War: A suicide bomber killed 22 at the forward operating
base next to the main U.S. military airfield at Mosul, the single
deadliest suicide attack on American soldiers.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
O Oriens
Petrus Canisius
Thomas the apostle (pre-1970 Roman Calendar)
Divalia, in honour of Angerona, (Roman Empire)
Earliest date for the winter solstice:
Earliest date for Yule in the northern hemisphere, and Midsummer
in the southern hemisphere. (Neopagan Wheel of the Year)
Sanghamitta Day
Ziemassvētki (ancient Latvia)
Forefathers' Day (Plymouth, Massachusetts)
The first day of Pancha Ganapati, celebrated until December
25 (India)
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