Events
537
– The Hagia Sophia is completed.
1512 – The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of
Burgos, governing the conduct of settlers with
regard to native Indians in the New World.
1655 – Second Northern War/the Deluge: Monks
at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa are
successful in fending off a month-long siege.
1657 – The Flushing Remonstrance is signed.
1703 – Portugal and England sign the Methuen
Treaty which gives preference to Portuguese
imported wines into England.
1814 – War of 1812: The American schooner USS
Carolina is destroyed. It was the last of Commodore
Daniel Patterson's makeshift fleet that fought
a series of delaying actions that contributed
to Andrew Jackson's victory at the Battle of
New Orleans.
1831 – Charles Darwin embarks on his journey
aboard the HMS Beagle, during which he will
begin to formulate the theory of evolution.
1836 – The worst ever avalanche in England occurs
at Lewes, Sussex, killing 8 people.
1845 – Ether anesthetic is used for childbirth
for the first time by Dr. Crawford Williamson
Long in Jefferson, Georgia.
1911 – "Jana Gana Mana", the national
anthem of India, is first sung in the Calcutta
Session of the Indian National Congress.
1918 – The Great Poland Uprising against the
Germans begins.
1922 – Japanese aircraft carrier Hōshō becomes
the first purpose built aircraft carrier to
be commissioned in the world.
1923 – Namba Daisuke, a Japanese student, tries
to assassinate the Prince Regent Hirohito.
1927 – Show Boat, considered to be the first
true American musical, opens at the Ziegfeld
Theatre on Broadway.
1939 – Erzincan, Turkey is hit by an earthquake,
killing 30,000.
1939 – Winter War: Finland holds off a Soviet
attack in the Battle of Kelja.
1942 – The Union of Pioneers of Yugoslavia is
founded.
1945 – The World Bank and International Monetary
Fund are created with the signing of an agreement
by 29 nations.
1949 – Indonesian National Revolution: The Netherlands
officially recognizes Indonesian independence.
End of the Dutch East Indies.
1966 – The Cave of Swallows, the largest known
cave shaft in the world, is discovered in Aquismón,
San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
1968 – Apollo Program: Apollo 8 splashes down
in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital
manned mission to the Moon.
1978 – Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years
of dictatorship.
1978 – The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station
in the South Pole recorded temperatures of 7.5
°F (−13.6 °C), making it the highest temperature
to ever be recorded in the South Pole.
1979 – The Soviet Union invades the Democratic
Republic of Afghanistan.
1985 – Palestinian guerrillas kill eighteen
people inside Rome and Vienna airports.
1996 – Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram
air base which solidifies their buffer zone
around Kabul.
1997 – Protestant paramilitary leader Billy
Wright is assassinated in Northern Ireland,
United Kingdom.
2001 – The People's Republic of China is granted
permanent normal trade relations with the United
States.
2002 – Two truck bombs kill 72 and wound 200
at the pro-Moscow headquarters of the Chechen
government in Grozny, Chechnya.
2002 – The company Clonaid announces that it
has successfully cloned a human being, although
it has never presented any verifiable evidence.
2004 – Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar
SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth. It is the brightest
extrasolar event known to have been witnessed
on the planet.
2007 – Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir
Bhutto is assassinated in a shooting incident.
2007 – Riots erupt in Mombasa, Kenya, after
Mwai Kibaki is declared the winner of the presidential
election, triggering a political, economic,
and humanitarian crisis.
2008 – Israel launches 3-week operation on Gaza
- Operation Cast Lead.
2009 – Iranian election protests: On the Day
of Ashura in Tehran, government security forces
fire upon demonstrators.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Fabiola
John the Apostle
Nicarete
Constitution Day (North Korea)
St. Stephen's Day (Eastern Orthodox Church;
a public holiday in Romania)
The third day of Christmas (Western Christianity)
For details, contact Datacentre
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