Events Pre-1600 587 – Treaty of Andelot: King Guntram of Burgundy recognizes Childebert II as his heir.' 936 – Shi Jingtang is enthroned as the first emperor of the Later Jin by Emperor Taizong of Liao, following a revolt against Emperor Fei of Later Tang. 1443 – Skanderbeg and his forces liberate Kruja in central Albania and raise the Albanian flag. 1470 – Champa–Đại Việt War: Emperor Lê Thánh Tông of Đại Việt formally launches his attack against Champa. 1520 – After 38 days, an expedition under the command of Ferdinand Magellan completes the first passage through the Strait of Magellan and enters the Pacific Ocean. 1582 – In Stratford-upon-Avon, William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway pay a bond in lieu of posting wedding banns, which enables them to marry immediately.
1601–1900 1627 – The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Navy has its greatest and last naval victory in the Battle of Oliwa. 1660 – At Gresham College, twelve men, including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, and Sir Robert Moray decide to found what is later known as the Royal Society. 1666 – At least 3,000 men of the Royal Scots Army led by Tam Dalyell of the Binns defeat about 900 Covenanter insurgents led by James Wallace of Auchens in the Battle of Rullion Green. 1785 – The first Treaty of Hopewell is signed, by which the United States acknowledges Cherokee lands in what is now East Tennessee. 1798 – Trade between the United States and modern-day Uruguay begins when John Leamy's frigate John arrives in Montevideo. 1811 – Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, premieres at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig. 1814 – The Times of London becomes the first newspaper to be produced on a steam-powered printing press, built by the German team of Koenig & Bauer. 1821 – Panama Independence Day: Panama separates from Spain and joins Gran Colombia. 1843 – Ka Lā Hui (Hawaiian Independence Day): The Kingdom of Hawaii is officially recognized by the United Kingdom and France as an independent nation. 1861 – American Civil War: The Confederate States of America accept a rival state government's pronouncement that declares Missouri to be the 12th state of the Confederacy. 1862 – American Civil War: In the Battle of Cane Hill, Union troops under General James G. Blunt defeat General John Marmaduke's Confederates. 1862 – Notts County F.C. is founded in Nottingham, England, making it the oldest professional Association football club in the world. 1885 – Bulgarian victory in the Serbo-Bulgarian War preserves the Unification of Bulgaria. 1893 – Women's suffrage in New Zealand concludes with the 1893 New Zealand general election. 1895 – The first American automobile race takes place over the 54 miles from Chicago's Jackson Park to Evanston, Illinois. Frank Duryea wins in approximately 10 hours. 1899 – The Second Boer War: A British column is engaged by Boer forces at the Battle of Modder River; although the Boers withdraw, the British suffer heavy casualties.
1901–present 1905 – Irish nationalist Arthur Griffith founds Sinn Féin as a political party with the main aim of establishing a dual monarchy in Ireland. 1908 – A mine explosion in Marianna, Pennsylvania, kills 154 men, leaving only one survivor. 1912 – Albania declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire. 1914 – World War I: Following a war-induced closure in July, the New York Stock Exchange re-opens for bond trading. 1917 – The Estonian Provincial Assembly declares itself the sovereign power of Estonia. 1918 – The Soviet Forces move against Estonia when the 6th Red Rifle Division strikes the border town of Narva, marking the beginning of the Estonian War of Independence.Karl Kimmel VR II/3, "Koolipoisist kuperjanovlaseks", Kultuur ja Elu. (in Estonian) 1919 – Lady Astor is elected as a Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. She is the first woman to sit in the House of Commons. (Countess Markievicz, the first to be elected, refused to sit.) 1920 – FIDAC (The Interallied Federation of War Veterans Organisations), the first international organization of war veterans is established in Paris, France. 1920 – Irish War of Independence: Kilmichael Ambush: The Irish Republican Army ambush a convoy of British Auxiliaries and kill seventeen. 1925 – The Grand Ole Opry begins broadcasting in Nashville, Tennessee, as the WSM Barn Dance. 1942 – In Boston, Massachusetts, a fire in the Cocoanut Grove nightclub kills 492 people. 1943 – World War II: Tehran Conference: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin meet in Tehran, Iran, to discuss war strategy. 1958 – Chad, the Republic of the Congo, and Gabon become autonomous republics within the French Community. 1958 – First successful flight of SM-65 Atlas; the first operational intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), developed by the United States and the first member of the Atlas rocket family.SM-65 Atlas 1960 – Mauritania becomes independent of France. 1964 – Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 4 probe toward Mars. 1964 – Vietnam War: National Security Council members agree to recommend that U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson adopt a plan for a two-stage escalation of bombing in North Vietnam. 1965 – Vietnam War: In response to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson's call for "more flags" in Vietnam, Philippine President-elect Ferdinand Marcos announces he will send troops to help fight in South Vietnam. 1966 – Michel Micombero overthrows the monarchy of Burundi and makes himself the first president. 1967 – The first pulsar (PSR B1919+21, in the constellation of Vulpecula) is discovered by two astronomers Jocelyn Bell Burnell and Antony Hewish. 1971 – Fred Quilt, a leader of the Tsilhqot'in First Nation suffers severe abdominal injuries allegedly caused by Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers; he dies two days later. 1971 – Wasfi al-Tal, Prime Minister of Jordan, is assassinated by the Black September unit of the Palestine Liberation Organization. 1972 – Last executions in Paris: Claude Buffet and Roger Bontems are guillotined at La Santé Prison. 1975 – Timor-Leste declares its independence from Portugal. 1979 – Air New Zealand Flight 901, a DC-10 sightseeing flight over Antarctica, crashes into Mount Erebus, killing all 257 people on board. 1980 – Iran–Iraq War: Operation Morvarid: The bulk of the Iraqi Navy is destroyed by the Iranian Navy in the Persian Gulf. (Commemorated in Iran as Navy Day.) 1983 – Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-9, the first mission to carry the European Space Agency's Spacelab module. 1987 – South African Airways Flight 295 crashes into the Indian Ocean, killing all 159 people on board. 1989 – Cold War: Velvet Revolution: In the face of protests, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announces it will give up its monopoly on political power. 1990 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher resigns as leader of the Conservative Party and, therefore, as Prime Minister. She is succeeded in both positions by John Major. 1991 – South Ossetia declares independence from Georgia. 2002 – Suicide bombers blow up an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa, Kenya; their colleagues fail in their attempt to bring down Arkia Israel Airlines Flight 582 with surface-to-air missiles. 2014 – Gunmen set off three bombs at the central mosque in the northern Nigerian city of Kano killing at least 120 people. 2016 – LaMia Flight 2933 crashes near Medellín, Colombia, killing 71 of 77 people on board, including members of the Brazilian football club Chapecoense 2020 – Over seven hundred civilians are massacred by the Ethiopian National Defense Force and Eritrean Army in Aksum, Ethiopia.
Births Pre-1600 1118 – Manuel I Komnenos, Byzantine emperor (died 1180) 1293 – Yesün Temür, Chinese emperor (died 1328) 1470 – Wen Zhengming, artist during the Ming dynasty (died 1559) 1489 – Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland, wife of James IV of Scotland, daughter of Henry VII of England (died 1541) 1570 – James Whitelocke, English judge and politician, Chief Justice of Chester (died 1632) 1592 – Hong Taiji, Emperor of China (died 1643) 1598 – Hans Nansen, Danish lawyer and politician (died 1667)
1601–1900 1628 – John Bunyan, English preacher, theologian, and author (died 1688) 1631 – Abraham Brueghel, Flemish Baroque painter (died 1690) 1632 – Jean-Baptiste Lully, Italian-French composer and manager (died 1687) 1640 – Willem de Vlamingh, Flemish captain and explorer (died 1698) 1661 – Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon, English soldier and politician, 14th Colonial Governor of New York (died 1723) 1681 – Jean Cavalier, French rebel leader (died 1740) 1682 – Betty Parris, woman from Salem in Massachusetts who accused others of being witches (died 1760)Brooks, Rebecca B. Elizabeth Parris: First Afflicted Girl of the Salem Witchcraft Trials. June 10, 2013. Profile, historyofmassachusetts.org; accessed December 23, 2014. 1694 – Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen (died 1728) 1700 – Nathaniel Bliss, English astronomer and mathematician (died 1764) 1700 – Sophie Magdalene of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (died 1770) 1757 – William Blake, English poet and painter (died 1827) 1760 – Maria Teresa Poniatowska, Polish noblewoman (died 1834) 1772 – Luke Howard, English chemist and meteorologist (died 1864) 1774 – Maria Antonia of Parma (died 1841) 1785 – Victor de Broglie, French lawyer and politician, 9th Prime Minister of France (died 1870) 1792 – Victor Cousin, French philosopher and academic (died 1867) 1793 – Carl Jonas Love Almqvist, Swedish poet, composer, and critic (died 1866) 1804 – William Weston, English-Australian politician, 3rd Premier of Tasmania (died 1888) 1805 – John Lloyd Stephens, American archaeologist and explorer (died 1852) 1810 – William Froude, English engineer and architect (died 1879) 1820 – Friedrich Engels, German-English philosopher, economist, and journalist (died 1895) 1829 – Anton Rubinstein, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1894) 1837 – John Wesley Hyatt, American engineer (died 1920) 1853 – Helen Magill White, American academic (died 1944) 1857 – Alfonso XII of Spain (died 1885) 1861 – Adina Emilia De Zavala, American teacher, historian and preservationist of Texas history (died 1955) 1864 – James Allen, English author and poet (died 1912) 1864 – Lindley Miller Garrison, American lawyer and politician, 46th United States Secretary of War (died 1932) 1866 – Henry Bacon, American architect, designed the Lincoln Memorial (died 1924) 1876 – Bert Vogler, South African cricketer (died 1946) 1880 – Alexander Blok, Russian poet and playwright (died 1921) 1881 – Stefan Zweig, Austrian author, playwright, and journalist (died 1942) 1887 – Ernst Röhm, German soldier and politician (died 1934) 1891 – Gregorio Perfecto, Filipino journalist, jurist, and politician (died 1949) 1891 – Mabel Alvarez, American painter (died 1985) 1894 – Brooks Atkinson, American theatre critic (died 1984) 1894 – Henry Hazlitt, American economist and philosopher (died 1993) 1895 – José Iturbi, Spanish pianist and conductor (died 1980) 1896 – Dawn Powell, American author and playwright (died 1965) 1896 – Lilia Skala, Austrian-American actress (died 1994) 1898 – İhap Hulusi Görey, Turkish graphic artist (died 1986) 1900 – Mary Bothwell, Canadian classical vocalist and painter (died 1985)
1901–present 1903 – Gladys O'Connor, English-Canadian actress (died 2012) 1904 – James Eastland, American planter and politician (died 1986) 1904 – Nancy Mitford, English journalist and author (died 1973) 1906 – Henry Picard, American golfer (died 1997) 1907 – Rose Bampton, American soprano and educator (died 2007) 1907 – Alberto Moravia, Italian journalist and author (died 1990) 1908 – Michael Adekunle Ajasin, Nigerian educator and politician, 3rd Governor of Ondo State (died 1997) 1908 – Claude Lévi-Strauss, Belgian-French anthropologist and ethnologist (died 2009) 1910 – Elsie Quarterman, American ecologist and academic (died 2014)