Events
of the day
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 NankaidĹŤ, 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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