December 6

Independence Day
Finland : December 6 1917

Events December 6

1060 – Béla I of Hungary is crowned king of Hungary.
1240 – Mongol invasion of Rus': Kiev under Danylo of Halych and Voivode Dmytro falls to the Mongols under Batu Khan.
1534 – The city of Quito in Ecuador is founded by Spanish settlers led by Sebastián de Belalcázar.
1648 – Colonel Pride of the New Model Army purges the Long Parliament of MPs sympathetic to King Charles I of England, in order for the King's trial to go ahead; came to be known as "Pride's Purge".
1704 – Battle of Chamkaur.
1745 – Charles Edward Stuart's army begins retreat during the second Jacobite Rising.
1768 – The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica is published.
1790 – The U.S. Congress moves from New York City to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1865 – The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, banning slavery.
1877 – The first edition of the Washington Post is published.
1877 – Thomas Edison, using his new phonograph, makes one of the earliest recordings of a human voice, reciting "Mary Had a Little Lamb".
1884 – The Washington Monument in Washington D.C. is completed.
1897 – London becomes the world's first city to host licensed taxicabs.
1904 –Theodore Roosevelt announced his "Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the United States would intervene in the Western Hemisphere should Latin American governments prove incapable or unstable.
1907 – A coal mine explosion at Monongah, West Virginia kills 362 workers.
1916 – World War I: The Central Powers capture Bucharest.
1917 – Finland declares independence from Russia.
1917 – Halifax Explosion: In Canada, a munitions explosion kills more than 1,900 people and destroys part of the City of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
1917 – World War I: USS Jacob Jones is the first American destroyer to be sunk by enemy action when it is torpedoed by German submarine SM U-53.
1921 – The Anglo-Irish Treaty is signed in London by British and Irish representatives.
1922 – One year to the day after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the Irish Free State comes into existence.
1928 – The government of Colombia sends military forces to suppress a month-long strike by United Fruit Company workers, resulting in an unknown number of deaths.
1933 – U.S. federal judge John M. Woolsey rules that the James Joyce's novel Ulysses is not obscene.
1941 – World War II: The United Kingdom declares war on Finland in support of the Soviet Union during the Continuation War.
1947 – The Everglades National Park in Florida is dedicated.
1956 – A violent water polo match between Hungary and the USSR takes place during the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, against the backdrop of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.
1957 – Project Vanguard: A launchpad explosion of Vanguard TV3 thwarts the first United States attempt to launch a satellite into Earth orbit.
1965 – Pakistan's Islamic Ideology Advisory Committee recommends that Islamic Studies be made a compulsory subject for Muslim students from primary to graduate level.
1967 – Adrian Kantrowitz performed the first human heart transplant in the United States.
1969 – Meredith Hunter is killed by the Hells Angels during a The Rolling Stones's concert at the Altamont Speedway in California.
1971 – Pakistan severs diplomatic relations with India following New Delhi's recognition of Bangladesh.
1973 – The Twenty-fifth Amendment: The United States House of Representatives votes 387 to 35 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States (on November 27, the Senate confirmed him 92 to 3).
1975 – Balcombe Street Siege: An IRA Active Service Unit takes a couple hostage in Balcombe Street, London.
1977 – South Africa grants independence to Bophuthatswana, although it is not recognized by any other country.
1978 – Spain approves its latest constitution in a referendum.
1982 – Droppin Well bombing: The Irish National Liberation Army detonate a bomb in Ballykelly, Northern Ireland, killing eleven British soldiers and six civilians.
1988 – The Australian Capital Territory is granted self-government.
1989 – The École Polytechnique Massacre (or Montreal Massacre): Marc Lépine, an anti-feminist gunman, murders 14 young women at the École Polytechnique in Montreal.
1991 – In Croatia, forces of the Yugoslav People's Army bombard Dubrovnik after laying siege to the city since May.
1992 – The Babri Mosque in Ayodhya, India is demolished, leading to widespread riots causing the death of over 1500 people.
1997 – A Russian Antonov An-124 cargo plane crashes into an apartment complex near Irkutsk, Siberia, killing 67.
2001 – The Canadian province of Newfoundland is renamed Newfoundland and Labrador.
2005 – Several villagers are shot dead during protests in Dongzhou, China.
2005 – An Iranian Air Force C-130 military transport aircraft crashes into a ten-floor apartment building in a residential area of Tehran, killing all 84 on board and 44 more civilians.
2006 – NASA reveals photographs taken by Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of liquid water on Mars.
2008 – The 2008 Greek riots break out upon the killing of a 15-year-old boy, Alexandros Grigoropoulos, by a police officer.

Holidays and observances

Anniversary of the Founding of Quito (Ecuador)
Christian Feast Day:
Abraham of Kratia
Aemilianus (Roman Catholic Church)
Nicholas of Myra
Christkind traditionally gives Christmas gifts on this day. (Central and Southern Europe)
Constitution Day (Spain)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Finland from Russia in 1917.
National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women (Canada)
Saint Nicholas Day, where St. Nicholas/Santa Claus leaves little presents in children's shoes. (International)

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