Independence
day
Finland
Events
of the day
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)
For details, contact Datacentre
