Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/January
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| << | Selected anniversaries for January | >> | ||||
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| An archive of historical anniversaries that appeared on the Main Page 2007 day arrangement |
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- 1801 - Giuseppe Piazzi discovers the dwarf planet Ceres.
- 1801 - The Kingdom of Ireland merged with the Kingdom of Great Britain, adding St. Patrick's saltire to the Union Flag.
- 1818 - Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, a novel by Mary Shelley (pictured), was first published in London.
- 1863 - Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation, which "freed" slaves in the south.
- 1901 - The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia federated as the Commonwealth of Australia.
- 1959 - Cuban Revolution: President Fulgencio Batista of Cuba fled to the Dominican Republic as forces under Fidel Castro took control of Havana.
- 1999 - The euro, the official currency of the European Union, was introduced.
Recent days: December 31 – December 30 – December 29
- 366 - The Alamanni crossed the frozen Rhine in large numbers to invade the Roman Empire.
- 533 - Mercurius became Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a new name upon elevation to the papacy.
- 1492 - Reconquista: Catholic Monarchs expelled Boabdil of Granada, the last of the Moorish rulers, from the Iberian Peninsula.
- 1949 - Luis Muñoz Marín became the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico.
- 1959 - Luna 1 (pictured), the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon, was launched by the Soviet Union.
Recent days: January 1 – December 31 – December 30
- 1521 - Pope Leo X (pictured) excommunicated Martin Luther from the Roman Catholic Church after Luther refused to retract 41 of his 95 theses.
- 1749 - Benning Wentworth began to issue the New Hampshire Grants on land which was also claimed by New York, and is now Vermont.
- 1958 - Ten former British colonies in the Caribbean joined to form a new self-governing West Indies Federation.
- 1973 - George Steinbrenner and a group of investors bought the New York Yankees for US$8.7 million.
- 1990 - United States invasion of Panama: General Manuel Noriega, the deposed "strongman of Panama", surrendered.
Recent days: January 2 – January 1 – December 31
- 1698 - Most of the Palace of Whitehall (pictured) in London, the main residence of the English monarchs, was destroyed by fire.
- 1884 - The Fabian Society, a socialist intellectual movement, was founded in London.
- 1936 - Billboard magazine published its first music hit parade.
- 1948 - Thakin Nu of the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League presided over the independence of Burma (now Myanmar) from the British Empire.
- 2004 - The NASA Mars Rover Spirit landed successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC.
Recent days: January 3 – January 2 – January 1
January 5: Twelfth Night (Western Christianity)
- 1477 - Charles the Bold (pictured) died at the Battle of Nancy, leading to the annexation of Burgundy by France.
- 1527 - Felix Manz, a leader of the Anabaptist congregation in Zürich, was executed by drowning.
- 1968 - Alexander Dubček came to power in Czechoslovakia, beginning a political reform known as "Socialism with a human face".
- 2005 - Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System, was discovered by the team of Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L. Rabinowitz using images originally taken in 2003 at the Palomar Observatory.
Recent days: January 4 – January 3 – January 2
January 6: Epiphany in Western Christianity.
- 1661 - Thomas Venner and the Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempted to seize control of London from the newly restored government of Charles II.
- 1838 - Samuel Morse (pictured) successfully tested the electrical telegraph for the first time.
- 1907 - Maria Montessori opened her first school and day care center for working class children in Rome.
- 1929 - King Alexander of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes abolished his country's constitution and introduced a dictatorship.
- 1995 - A suspicious fire in a Manila flat led to the foiling of Oplan Bojinka, a precursor to the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Recent days: January 5 – January 4 – January 3
January 7: Christmas (Christianity-Julian calendar).
- 1558 - Francis, Duke of Guise (pictured) retook Calais, England's last continental possession, for France.
- 1610 - Galileo Galilei first observed the Jovian satellites Io, Europa and Callisto through his telescope.
- 1785 - Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries became the first to cross the English Channel by balloon.
- 1975 - OPEC cut production, raising the price of crude oil by 10 percent.
- 1979 - Phnom Penh fell to the People's Army of Vietnam, effectively ending the Democratic Kampuchea regime.
Recent days: January 6 – January 5 – January 4
January 8: Coming-of-Age Day in Japan (2007).
- 1198 - Lotario de Conti became Pope Innocent III (pictured). His first act was the restoration of the papal power in Rome.
- 1815 - War of 1812: The United States Army led by Andrew Jackson won the Battle of New Orleans two weeks after the signing of the Treaty of Ghent.
- 1889 - Herman Hollerith received a patent for his electric tabulating machine.
- 1989 - British Midland Flight 92 crashed onto the embankment of the M1 motorway in the Kegworth air disaster.
- 2004 - RMS Queen Mary 2, the largest ocean liner ever built, was christened by her namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
Recent days: January 7 – January 6 – January 5
- 1768 - Philip Astley staged the first modern circus in London.
- 1839 - The French Academy of Sciences announced the Daguerreotype photographic process, named after its inventor, Louis Daguerre (pictured).
- 1878 - Umberto I became King of Italy.
- 1916 - World War I: In Gallipoli, the Ottoman Empire was victorious in the Battle of Çanakkale.
- 1964 - Martyrs' Day in Panama: A four-day riot erupted over sovereignty of the Canal Zone.
Recent days: January 8 – January 7 – January 6
- 1475 - In the Battle of Vaslui, Stephen the Great and his Moldavian forces successfully repelled an Ottoman attack led by Hadân Suleiman Pasha, the Beylerbeyi of Rumelia.
- 1776 - Thomas Paine published Common Sense, which galvanized the American Revolution among the populace.
- 1810 - Napoleon, childless after 14 years of marriage, divorced his first wife Empress Joséphine (pictured).
- 1927 - The film Metropolis was released. It was the most expensive silent film of the time, costing approximately 7 million Reichsmark to make.
- 1946 - The first General Assembly of the United Nations opened in London's Westminster Central Hall with representatives from fifty-one member states.
Recent days: January 9 – January 8 – January 7
- 1787 - William Herschel discovered the Uranian moons Titania and Oberon.
- 1879 - The Anglo-Zulu War broke out.
- 1922 - Insulin was first administered to a human patient with diabetes in Toronto, Canada.
- 1923 - Troops from France and Belgium invaded the Ruhr Area to force the German Weimar Republic to pay its reparation payments in the aftermath of World War I.
- 1964 - In a landmark report, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry (pictured) issued the warning that smoking may be hazardous for one's health.
Recent days: January 10 – January 9 – January 8
- 1838 - In order to avoid anti-Mormon persecution, Joseph Smith, Jr. (pictured) and his followers fled Ohio for Missouri.
- 1967 - James Bedford became the first person to be cryonically frozen with intent of future resuscitation.
- 1969 - British rock band Led Zeppelin released their first record album, Led Zeppelin.
- 1970 - The self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra in southeastern Nigeria capitulated, ending the Nigerian Civil War.
- 1971 - The American situation comedy All in the Family, starring Carroll O'Connor, was first broadcast on the CBS television network. It became the first show to depict controversial issues previously deemed unsuitable for network television comedy.
Recent days: January 11 – January 10 – January 9
January 13: St. Knut's Day (Christianity-Scandinavia), Old New Year (unofficial Eastern Orthodox Church tradition)
- 1842 - William Brydon, an assistant surgeon in the British Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War, became the sole survivor of an army of 16,500 when he reached the safety of a garrison in Jalalabad.
- 1898 - Émile Zola (pictured) published "J'accuse" to expose the Dreyfus Affair, and accused the French government of anti-Semitism.
- 1968 - American singer Johnny Cash recorded his landmark album At Folsom Prison live at Folsom State Prison in Folsom, California.
- 1986 - A month-long violent struggle began in Aden, South Yemen between supporters of Ali Nasir Muhammad and Abdul Fattah Ismail, resulting in thousands of casualties.
Recent days: January 12 – January 11 – January 10
January 14: Makar Sankranti in India
- 1301 - The Árpád dynasty in Hungary ended with the death of King Andrew III.
- 1639 - The Fundamental Orders, the first written constitution that created a government, was adopted in Connecticut.
- 1900 - Giacomo Puccini's opera Tosca premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome.
- 1972 - Queen Margrethe II (pictured) of Denmark ascended to the throne under a new act of succession.
- 2004 - The national flag of Georgia, the so-called Five Cross Flag, was restored to official use after a hiatus of some 500 years.
Recent days: January 13 – January 12 – January 11
January 15: John Chilembwe Day in Malawi, Korean Alphabet Day in North Korea, Martin Luther King Day in the United States (2007), Pongal in Tamil Nadu (2007).
- 1759 - The British Museum opened to the public.
- 1885 - Wilson Bentley took the first photograph of a snowflake.
- 1919 - Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two prominent socialists in Germany, were tortured and murdered by the Freikorps.
- 1943 - Construction of the world's largest office building, The Pentagon (pictured), was completed.
- 1967 - The Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in the American football championship game now known as Super Bowl I.
Recent days: January 14 – January 13 – January 12
January 16: Teachers' Day in Thailand.
- 27 BC - Gaius Octavianus (pictured) was given the title Augustus by the Roman Senate.
- 929 - Emir Abd-ar-Rahman III of Cordoba declared himself caliph, thereby establishing the Caliphate of Córdoba.
- 1547 - Ivan the Terrible was crowned Tsar of Russia.
- 1909 - The expedition led by Ernest Shackleton located the Magnetic South Pole.
- 2006 - Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was sworn in as President of Liberia, becoming Africa's first female elected head of state.
Recent days: January 15 – January 14 – January 13
- 1893 - The Citizens' Committee of Public Safety led by Lorrin A. Thurston overthrew the government of Queen Liliʻuokalani (pictured) of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
- 1929 - Popeye the Sailor, a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, first appeared in newspaper comic strips.
- 1946 - The United Nations Security Council held its first meeting at Church House in London.
- 1977 - Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore was executed by a firing squad in Utah, ending a four-year moratorium on the death penalty in the United States.
- 1995 - The Great Hanshin Earthquake struck near Kobe, Japan, killing over 6,000 people and causing over ten trillion yen in damage.
Recent days: January 16 – January 15 – January 14
January 18: Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (1st day)
- 1778 - Captain James Cook discovered the Sandwich Islands, now known as Hawaii.
- 1871 - King Wilhelm I of Prussia was proclaimed the first Kaiser of the German Empire (flag pictured), a newly unified nation state.
- 1958 - Willie O'Ree of the Boston Bruins played his first game in the National Hockey League, breaking the color barrier in professional ice hockey.
- 1977 - The mysterious Legionnaires' disease was found to be caused by a novel bacterium now known as Legionella.
- 2003 - The Canberra Firestorm: Bushfires burning out of control began blazing through residential areas of Canberra, Australia.
Recent days: January 17 – January 16 – January 15
- 1839 - The Royal Marines landed at Aden to stop pirates from attacking British shipping to and from India. Aden remained under British control until 1967.
- 1917 - World War I: The Zimmermann Telegram was dispatched.
- 1935 - Coopers Inc. sold the world's first briefs, a new style of men's undergarment.
- 1977 - Iva Toguri, allegedly a Tokyo Rose, was granted a full pardon.
- 1983 - Apple Computer introduced the Apple Lisa (pictured), their first commercial personal computer with a graphical user interface and a computer mouse. It had 1 MB of RAM, and was priced at US $9,995.
Recent days: January 18 – January 17 – January 16
January 20: The Remembrance of Muharram in Shi'a Islam begins (2007, A.H. 1428).
- 1265 - Summoned by Simon de Montfort, the first English parliament held its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster.
- 1320 - After reuniting Poland, Władysław the Short (pictured) was crowned king in Kraków.
- 1885 - LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the roller coaster.
- 1892 - The first official basketball game was played at the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts.
- 1942 - Nazis at the Wannsee conference in Berlin decided the "final solution to the Jewish question", accelerating the Holocaust.
Recent days: January 19 – January 18 – January 17
- 304 - Thirteen-year-old Saint Agnes, the patron saint of young girls, was executed for refusing a marriage proposal.
- 1525 - The first Anabaptists in Switzerland re-baptized each other.
- 1793 - French Revolution: After being found guilty of treason by the National Convention, King Louis XVI was guillotined in front of a cheering crowd.
- 1968 - Vietnam War: The People's Army of Vietnam attacked Khe Sanh Combat Base, a U.S. Marines outpost, starting the Battle of Khe Sanh.
- 1976 - The Concorde supersonic transports (pictured) began commercial flights to London, Paris, Bahrain, and Rio de Janeiro.
Recent days: January 20 – January 19 – January 18
- 1879 - Zulu forces of King Cetshwayo (pictured) routed British forces at the Battle of Isandlwana.
- 1901 - After holding the title Prince of Wales for six decades, King Edward VII became the second oldest man to ascend to the throne in British history.
- 1905 - Russian Revolution: Peaceful demonstrators led by Father Gapon were massacred outside the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg on Bloody Sunday.
- 1973 - The U.S. Supreme Court delivered its landmark legal decision in Roe v. Wade, striking down laws restricting abortion during the first six to seven months of pregnancy.
- 1980 - Andrei Sakharov, a key architect of the Soviet hydrogen bomb and winner of the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize, was arrested in Moscow following his public protests against the Soviet war in Afghanistan and exiled to Gorky.
Recent days: January 21 – January 20 – January 19
- 1556 - The deadliest earthquake in history killed 830,000 people in Shaanxi Province, China.
- 1719 - Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI established Liechtenstein, the only principality in the Holy Roman Empire still remaining today.
- 1912 - Twelve nations signed the International Opium Convention, the first international drug control treaty, to regulate the production and distribution of opiates.
- 1960 - The bathyscaphe Trieste reached the record depth of 10,916 m (35,813 feet) in Challenger Deep of the Mariana Trench.
- 1968 - USS Pueblo was seized by North Korean forces, who claimed that it had violated their territorial waters while spying.
- 2006 - After 12 years of Liberal Party's rule, Stephen Harper's (pictured) Conservative Party won the most seats in the Canadian federal election.
Recent days: January 22 – January 21 – January 20
- 1438 - Pope Eugene IV was suspended by the Council of Basel.
- 1848 - James W. Marshall (pictured) discovered gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California, leading to the California Gold Rush.
- 1891 - Prime Minister John Ballance began his term with his Liberal Party, the first political party in power in New Zealand.
- 1924 - The city of Petrograd, founded by Peter the Great of Russia in 1703, was renamed Leningrad three days after the death of Vladimir Lenin.
- 1984 - The first Apple Macintosh went on sale, as advertised on television two days earlier during Super Bowl XVIII.
Recent days: January 23 – January 22 – January 21
January 25: Burns Night (Scots culture)
- 1327 - Teenaged Edward III became King of England, but the country was ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer.
- 1554 - Jesuit priests José de Anchieta and Manoel da Nóbrega established a mission at São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga, which grew to become São Paulo, Brazil.
- 1924 - The first Winter Olympic Games opened at the foot of Mont Blanc in Chamonix, France.
- 1971 - General Idi Amin seized power from President of Uganda Milton Obote, beginning eight years of military rule.
- 2004 - Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity (artist's concept pictured) landed on Mars and rolled into Eagle crater, a small crater on the Meridiani Planum.
Recent days: January 24 – January 23 – January 22
January 26: Australia Day in Australia (1788), Republic Day in India (1950).
- 1565 - The Deccan sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire in the Battle of Talikota, ending the last Hindu kingdom in India.
- 1700 - The magnitude 9 Cascadia Earthquake took place off the Pacific coast of the American Northwest, as evidenced by Japanese records of tsunamis.
- 1788 - The British First Fleet, led by Captain Arthur Phillip (pictured), landed at Sydney Cove just outside present-day Sydney, establishing the first permanent European settlement in Australia.
- 1950 - President Rajendra Prasad succeeded Rajaji the last Governor General as the head of state of India and the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian armed forces.
- 1983 - The spreadsheet program Lotus 1-2-3 was first released.
Recent days: January 25 – January 24 – January 23
January 27: Holocaust Memorial Day
- 1888 - The National Geographic Society, publisher of the National Geographic Magazine, was founded.
- 1945 - The Soviet Red Army liberated 7,500 prisoners left behind by Nazi personnel in the Auschwitz concentration camp (entrance pictured) in Oświęcim, Poland.
- 1951 - Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site began with a one-kiloton bomb dropped on Frenchman Flats.
- 1967 - The Apollo 1 spacecraft was destroyed by fire at the Kennedy Space Center, killing astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee.
- 1973 - The Paris Peace Accords were signed to put an end to the Vietnam War.
Recent days: January 26 – January 25 – January 24
- 1521 - The Diet of Worms was convened to discuss Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation in the Holy Roman Empire.
- 1820 - A Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen approached the coast of Antarctica.
- 1855 - A locomotive on the Panama Railway made the world's first transcontinental crossing.
- 1921 - A symbolic Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was installed beneath the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
- 1986 - NASA Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated (pictured) 73 seconds into its tenth mission.
Recent days: January 27 – January 26 – January 25
January 29: Ashura in Islam (2007).
- 904 - Sergius III came out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed antipope Christopher.
- 1850 - U.S. Senator Henry Clay introduced the Compromise of 1850, a series of laws designed to balance the interests between the slaveholding Southern United States and the free states of the north.
- 1856 - The Victoria Cross (pictured) was created, originally to recognise acts of valour by British and Commonwealth military personnel during the Crimean War.
- 1886 - Karl Benz filed a patent for the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.
- 2002 - In his State of the Union Address, U.S. President George W. Bush described Iraq, Iran and North Korea as an "axis of evil".
Recent days: January 28 – January 27 – January 26
- 1649 - King Charles I was beheaded for high treason in front of the Banqueting House in London during the English Civil War.
- 1826 - The Menai Suspension Bridge, considered the world's first modern suspension bridge, was opened, connecting the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales.
- 1930 - The world's first radiosonde, a device attached to weather balloons to measure various atmospheric parameters, was launched by meteorologist Pavel Molchanov in Pavlovsk, USSR.
- 1948 - Nathuram Godse shot Mahatma Gandhi (pictured) to death with a Beretta pistol at Birla House in Delhi.
- 1968 - Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces launched the Tết Offensive on Vietnamese New Year's Day.
Recent days: January 29 – January 28 – January 27
January 31: Independence Day in Nauru (1968).
- 1606 - Guy Fawkes (pictured) was executed for his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot against the English Parliament and King James I.
- 1747 - The London Lock Hospital, the first clinic specialising in the treatment of venereal diseases, was opened.
- 1946 - In Yugoslavia, a new constitution established the six constituent republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia.
- 1961 - Aboard Mercury-Redstone 2, Ham the Chimp traveled in outer space.
Recent days: January 30 – January 29 – January 28
