Events Pre-1600 661 – The Rashidun Caliphate is effectively ended with the assassination of Ali, the last caliph. 1531 – The 6.4–7.1 Lisbon earthquake kills about thirty thousand people. 1564 – The Council of Trent establishes an official distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.Jackson, Samuel Macauley, ed. (1914). "Trent, Council of" . New Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls. 1564 – The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Tsardom of Russia in the Battle of Ula during the Livonian War.
1601–1900 1641 – Reapers' War: Battle of Montjuïc, decisive victory of the Catalan army (with French support) over the Spanish army. 1699 – For the first time, the Ottoman Empire permanently cedes territory to the Christian powers. 1700 – The 8.7–9.2 Cascadia earthquake takes place off the west coast of North America, as evidenced by Japanese records. 1765 – A British naval expedition arrives at and names Port Egmont in the Falkland Islands, founding a settlement there eight days later. (Arrival was 15 January 1765 O.S.); ; 1788 – The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sails into Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on Australia. Commemorated as Australia Day. 1808 – The Rum Rebellion is the only successful (albeit short-lived) armed takeover of the government in New South Wales. 1837 – Michigan is admitted as the 26th U.S. state. 1841 – Gordon Bremer takes formal possession of Hong Kong Island at what is now Possession Point, establishing British Hong Kong.Base closure to end Royal Navy's Far East presence , Associated Press, 4 November 1997 1855 – Point No Point Treaty is signed in Washington Territory. 1856 – First Battle of Seattle: Marines from the drive off Native American attackers after all-day battle with settlers.Walt Crowley and David Wilma, Native Americans attack Seattle on January 26, 1856 , HistoryLink.org, February 15, 2003. Retrieved November 2, 2006. 1861 – American Civil War: The state of Louisiana secedes from the Union.The text of Louisiana's Ordinance of Secession . 1863 – American Civil War: General Ambrose Burnside is relieved of command of the Army of the Potomac after the disastrous Fredericksburg campaign. He is replaced by Joseph Hooker. 1863 – American Civil War: Governor of Massachusetts John Albion Andrew receives permission from the Secretary of War to raise a militia organization for men of African descent. 1870 – Reconstruction Era: Virginia is readmitted to the Union. 1885 – Troops loyal to The Mahdi conquer Khartoum, killing the Governor-General Charles George Gordon.
1901–present 1905 – The world's largest diamond ever, the Cullinan, which weighs , is found at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South Africa. 1915 – The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of the U.S. Congress. 1918 – Finnish Civil War: A group of Red Guards hangs a red lantern atop the tower of Helsinki Workers' Hall to symbolically mark the start of the war. 1926 – The first demonstration of the television by John Logie Baird. 1930 – The Indian National Congress declares 26 January as Independence Day or as the day for Poorna Swaraj ("Complete Independence") which occurred 17 years later. 1934 – The Apollo Theater reopens in Harlem, New York City. 1934 – German–Polish declaration of non-aggression is signed. 1939 – Spanish Civil War: Catalonia Offensive: Troops loyal to nationalist General Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.Preston, Paul. Doves of War. Four women of Spain. Harper Collins. London. 2002. p. 374 1942 – World War II: The first United States forces arrive in Europe, landing in Northern Ireland. 1945 – World War II: Audie Murphy displays valor and bravery in action for which he will later be awarded the Medal of Honor. 1949 – The Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory sees first light under the direction of Edwin Hubble, becoming the largest aperture optical telescope (until BTA-6 is built in 1976). 1950 – The Constitution of India comes into force, forming a republic. Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as the first President of India. Observed as Republic Day in India. 1952 – Black Saturday in Egypt: rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. 1956 – Soviet Union cedes Porkkala back to Finland. 1959 – The Chain Island is listed for sale by the California State Lands Commission, with a minimum bid of $5,226. 1962 – Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon. The space probe later misses the Moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km). 1966 – The three Beaumont children disappear from a beach in Glenelg, South Australia, resulting in one of the country's largest-ever police investigations. 1972 – JAT Flight 367 is destroyed by a terrorist bomb, killing 27 of the 28 people on board the DC-9. Flight attendant Vesna Vulović survives with critical injuries. 1974 – Turkish Airlines Flight 301 crashes during takeoff from Izmir Cumaovası Airport (now İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport), killing 66 of the 73 people on board the Fokker F28 Fellowship. 1986 – The Ugandan government of Tito Okello is overthrown by the National Resistance Army, led by Yoweri Museveni. 1991 – Mohamed Siad Barre is removed from power in Somalia, ending centralized government, and is succeeded by Ali Mahdi. 1998 – Lewinsky scandal: On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.Clinton, Bill. Response to the Lewinsky Allegations , Miller Center of Public Affairs, January 26, 1998. 2001 – The 7.7 Gujarat earthquake shakes Western India, leaving 13,805–20,023 dead and about 166,800 injured. 2001 – Diane Whipple, a lacrosse coach, is killed in a dog attack in San Francisco. The resulting court case clarified the meaning of implied malice murder. 2009 – Rioting breaks out in Antananarivo, Madagascar, sparking a political crisis that will result in the replacement of President Marc Ravalomanana with Andry Rajoelina. 2009 – Nadya Suleman gives birth to the world's first surviving octuplets. 2015 – An aircraft crashes at Los Llanos Air Base in Albacete, Spain, killing 11 people and injuring 21 others. 2015 – Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) recaptures the city of Kobanî from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), marking a turning point in the Siege of Kobanî. 2020 – A Sikorsky S-76B flying from John Wayne Airport to Camarillo Airport crashes in Calabasas, 30 miles west of Los Angeles, killing all nine people on board, including five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant. 2021 – Protesters and farmers storm the Red Fort near Delhi, clashing with police. One protester is killed and more than 80 police officers are injured.
Births Pre-1600 183 – Lady Zhen, wife of Cao Pi (died 221)(魏書曰： ... 后以漢光和五年十二月丁酉生。) Wei Shu annotation in Sanguozhi vol. 5. 1541 – Florent Chrestien, French poet and translator (died 1596) 1549 – Jakob Ebert, German theologian (died 1614)Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz (1975). "EBERT, Jakob". In Bautz, Friedrich Wilhelm (ed.). Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL) (in German). Vol. 1. Hamm: Bautz. col. 1446. . 1582 – Giovanni Lanfranco, Italian painter (died 1647)
1601–1900 1657 – William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1737) 1714 – Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, French sculptor and educator (died 1785) 1715 – Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (died 1771) 1716 – George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, English general and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (died 1785) 1722 – Alexander Carlyle, Scottish minister and author (died 1805) 1763 – Charles XIV John of Sweden (died 1844) 1781 – Ludwig Achim von Arnim, German poet and author (died 1831) 1813 – Juan Pablo Duarte, Dominican philosopher and poet, founding father of the Dominican Republic (died 1876) 1824 – Emil Czyrniański, Polish chemist (died 1888) 1832 – George Shiras Jr., American lawyer and Supreme Court justice (died 1924) 1842 – François Coppée, French poet and author (died 1908) 1852 – Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, Italian-French explorer (died 1905) 1861 – Louis Anquetin, French painter (died 1932) 1863 – Charles Wade, Australian politician, 17th Premier of New South Wales (died 1922) 1864 – József Pusztai, Slovene-Hungarian poet and journalist (died 1934) 1866 – John Cady, American golfer (died 1933) 1877 – Kees van Dongen, Dutch painter (died 1968) 1880 – Douglas MacArthur, American general, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1964) 1885 – Harry Ricardo, English engineer and academic (died 1974) 1885 – Per Thorén, Swedish figure skater (died 1962) 1887 – François Faber, French-Luxembourgish cyclist (died 1915) 1887 – Marc Mitscher, American admiral and pilot (died 1947) 1891 – Frank Costello, Italian-American mob boss (died 1973) 1891 – August Froehlich, German priest and martyr (died 1942) 1891 – Wilder Penfield, American-Canadian neurosurgeon and academic (died 1976) 1892 – Bessie Coleman, American pilot (died 1926) 1893 – Giuseppe Genco Russo, Italian mob boss (died 1976) 1899 – Günther Reindorff, Russian-Estonian graphic designer and illustrator (died 1974) 1900 – Karl Ristenpart, German conductor (died 1967)
1901–present 1902 – Menno ter Braak, Dutch author (died 1940) 1904 – Ancel Keys, American physiologist and nutritionist (died 2004) 1904 – Seán MacBride, Irish lawyer and politician, Irish Minister for External Affairs Nobel Prize laureate (died 1988) 1905 – Charles Lane, American actor and singer (died 2007) 1905 – Maria von Trapp, Austrian-American singer (died 1987) 1907 – Rex Connor, Australian politician (died 1977) 1907 – Dimitrios Holevas, Greek priest and philologist (died 2001) 1908 – Jill Esmond, English actress (died 1990) 1908 – Rupprecht Geiger, German painter and sculptor (died 2009) 1908 – Stéphane Grappelli, French violinist (died 1997) 1908 – Robert Halperin, American yachtsman (died 1985) 1910 – Jean Image, Hungarian-French animator, director, and screenwriter (died 1989) 1911 – Polykarp Kusch, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1993) 1911 – Norbert Schultze, German composer and conductor (died 2002) 1913 – Jimmy Van Heusen, American pianist and composer (died 1990) 1914 – Dürrüşehvar Sultan, Imperial Princess of the Ottoman Empire (died 2006) 1915 – William Hopper, American actor (died 1970) 1917 – Louis Zamperini, American runner and captain (died 2014) 1918 – Philip José Farmer, American author (died 2009) 1919 – Valentino Mazzola, Italian footballer (died 1949) 1919 – Bill Nicholson, English footballer and manager (died 2004) 1919 – Hyun Soong-jong, South Korean politician, 24th Prime Minister of South Korea (died 2020) 1920 – Hans Holzer, Austrian-American paranormal researcher and author (died 2009) 1921 – Eddie Barclay, French record producer, founded Barclay Records (died 2005) 1921 – Akio Morita, Japanese businessman, co-founded Sony (died 1999) 1921 – Veikko Uusimäki, Finnish actor and theater councilor (died 2008) 1922 – Michael Bentine, English actor and screenwriter (died 1996) 1922 – Seán Flanagan, Irish footballer and politician, 7th Irish Minister for Health (died 1993) 1922 – Gil Merrick, English footballer (died 2010) 1923 – Patrick J. Hannifin, American admiral (died 2014) 1923 – Anne Jeffreys, American actress and singer (died 2017) 1924 – Alice Babs, Swedish singer and actress (died 2014) 1924 – Anahid Ajemian, American violinist (died 2016) 1924 – Annette Strauss, American philanthropist and politician, Mayor of Dallas (died 1998) 1925 – David Jenkins, English bishop and theologian (died 2016) 1925 – Joan Leslie, American actress (died 2015) 1925 – Paul Newman, American actor, activist, director, race car driver, and businessman, co-founded Newman's Own (died 2008) 1925 – Ben Pucci, American football player and sportscaster (died 2013)