Events
457
– Majorian is crowned emperor of the Western Roman
Empire and recognized by pope Leo I.
484 – Alaric II succeeds his father Euric and
becomes king of the Visigoths. He establishes
his capital at Aire-sur-l'Adour (Southern Gaul).
893 – An earthquake destroys the city of Dvin,
Armenia.
1065 – Westminster Abbey is consecrated.
1308 – The reign of Emperor Hanazono, emperor
of Japan, begins.
1612 – Galileo Galilei becomes the first astronomer
to observe the planet Neptune, although he mistakenly
catalogued it as a fixed star.
1768 – King Taksin's coronation achieved through
conquest as a king of Thailand and established
Thonburi as a capital.
1795 – Construction of Yonge Street, formerly
recognized as the longest street in the world,
begins in York, Upper Canada (present-day Toronto,
Ontario).
1832 – John C. Calhoun becomes the first Vice
President of the United States to resign.
1835 – Osceola leads his Seminole warriors in
Florida into the Second Seminole War against the
United States Army.
1836 – South Australia and Adelaide are founded.
1836 – Spain recognizes the independence of Mexico.
1846 – Iowa is admitted as the 29th U.S. state.
1867 – United States claims Midway Atoll, the
first territory annexed outside Continental limits.
1879 – The Tay Bridge Disaster: The central part
of the Tay Rail Bridge in Dundee, Scotland collapses
as a train passes over it, killing 75.
1885 – Indian National Congress a political party
of India is founded in Bombay, British India.
1895 – The Lumière brothers perform for their
first paying audience at the Grand Cafe in Boulevard
des Capucines, marking the debut of the cinema.
1895 – Wilhelm Röntgen publishes a paper detailing
his discovery of a new type of radiation, which
later will be known as x-rays.
1908 – A magnitude 7.2 earthquake rocks Messina,
Sicily killing over 75,000.
1912 – The first municipally owned streetcars
take to the streets in San Francisco, California.
1918 – Constance Markievicz while detained in
Holloway prison, became the first woman to be
elected MP to the British House of Commons.
1935 – Pravda publishes a letter by Pavel Postyshev,
who revives New Year tree tradition in the Soviet
Union.
1943 – World War II – After eight days of brutal
house-to-house fighting, the battle of Ortona
concludes with the victory of the 1st Canadian
Infantry Division over the German 1st Parachute
Division and the capture of the Italian town of
Ortona.
1944 – Maurice Richard becomes the first player
to score 8 points in one game of NHL ice hockey.
1948 – The DC-3 airliner NC16002 disappears 50
miles south of Miami, Florida.
1956 – Chin Peng, David Marshall and Tunku Abdul
Rahman meet in Baling to try and resolve the Malayan
Emergency situation.
1958 – "Greatest Game Ever Played" –
Baltimore Colts defeat the New York Giants in
the first ever National Football League sudden
death overtime game at New York's Yankee Stadium.
1972 – Kim Il-sung, already Prime Minister of
North Korea and General Secretary of the Workers'
Party of Korea, became the first President of
North Korea.
1973 – The Endangered Species Act is passed in
the United States.
1974 – Senegalese marxist group Reenu-Rew founds
the political movement And-Jëf at a clandestine
congress.
1978 – With the crew investigating a problem with
the landing gear, United Airlines Flight 173 runs
out of fuel and crashes in Portland, Oregon, killing
10. As a result, United Airlines instituted the
industry's first crew resource management program.
1989 – A magnitude 5.6 earthquake hits Newcastle,
New South Wales, Australia, killing 13 people.
2000 – U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announces
it is going out of business after 128 years.
2008 – War in Somalia: The militaries of Somalia's
Transitional Federal Government and Ethiopian
troops capture Mogadishu unopposed.
2009 – 43 people die in a suicide bombing in Karachi,
Pakistan, where Shia Muslims are observing the
Day of Ashura.
2010 – Arab Spring: Popular protests begin in
Algeria against the government.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Abel (Coptic Church)
Caterina Volpicelli
Feast of the Holy Innocents or Childermas. In
Spain and Latin American countries the festival
is celebrated with pranks (inocentadas), similar
to April Fools' Day. (Roman Catholic Church, Church
of England, Lutheran Church)
King Taksin Memorial Day (Thailand)
Proclamation Day, celebration started on the day
following Christmas. (South Australia)
The fourth day of Christmas. (Western Christianity)
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