Events Pre-1600 1327 – The teenaged Edward III is crowned King of England, but the country is ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer. 1411 – The First Peace of Thorn is signed in Thorn (Toruń), Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights (Prussia).
1601–1900 1662 – The Chinese general Koxinga seizes the island of Taiwan after a nine-month siege. 1713 – The Kalabalik or Skirmish at Bender results from the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed III's order that his unwelcome guest, King Charles XII of Sweden, be seized. 1793 – French Revolutionary Wars: France declares war on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. 1796 – The capital of Upper Canada is moved from Newark to York. 1814 – Mayon in the Philippines erupts, killing around 1,200 people, which was the most devastating eruption of the volcano. 1835 – Slavery is abolished in Mauritius. 1861 – American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States and joins the Confederacy a week later. 1864 – Second Schleswig War: Prussian forces crossed the border into Schleswig, starting the war. 1865 – President Abraham Lincoln signs the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. 1884 – The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary is published. 1893 – Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria in West Orange, New Jersey. 1895 – Fountains Valley, Pretoria, the oldest nature reserve in Africa, is proclaimed by President Paul Kruger. 1896 – La bohème premieres in Turin at the Teatro Regio (Turin), conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini. 1897 – Shinhan Bank, the oldest bank in South Korea, opens in Seoul. 1900 – Great Britain, defeated by Boers in key battles, names Lord Roberts commander of British forces in South Africa.
1901–present 1908 – Lisbon Regicide: King Carlos I of Portugal and Infante Luis Filipe are shot dead in Lisbon. 1924 – Russia–United Kingdom relations are restored, over six years after the Communist revolution. 1942 – World War II: Josef Terboven, Reichskommissar of German-occupied Norway, appoints Vidkun Quisling the Minister President of the National Government. 1942 – World War II: U.S. Navy conducts Marshalls–Gilberts raids, the first offensive action by the United States against Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater. 1942 – Voice of America, the official external radio and television service of the United States government, begins broadcasting with programs aimed at areas controlled by the Axis powers. 1942 – Mao Zedong makes a speech on "Reform in Learning, the Party and Literature", which puts into motion the Yan'an Rectification Movement. 1946 – Trygve Lie of Norway is picked to be the first United Nations Secretary-General. 1946 – The Parliament of Hungary abolishes the monarchy after nine centuries, and proclaims the Hungarian Republic. 1950 – The first prototype of the MiG-17 makes its maiden flight. 1957 – Northeast Airlines Flight 823 crashes on Rikers Island in New York City, killing 20 people and injuring 78 others. 1960 – Four black students stage the first of the Greensboro sit-ins at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. 1964 – The Beatles have their first number one hit in the United States with "I Want to Hold Your Hand". 1968 – Vietnam War: The execution of Viet Cong officer Nguyễn Văn Lém by South Vietnamese National Police Chief Nguyễn Ngọc Loan is recorded on motion picture film, as well as in an iconic still photograph taken by Eddie Adams. 1968 – Canada's three military services, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force, are unified into the Canadian Forces. 1968 – The New York Central Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad are merged to form Penn Central Transportation. 1972 – Kuala Lumpur becomes a city by a royal charter granted by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia. 1974 – A fire in the 25-story Joelma Building in São Paulo, Brazil kills 189 and injures 293. 1979 – Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran after nearly 15 years of exile. 1981 – The Underarm bowling incident of 1981 occurred when Trevor Chappell bowls underarm on the final delivery of a game between Australia and New Zealand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). 1982 – The Intel 80286 is released, which introduced protected mode memory. The IBM PC/AT and its clones used this CPU. 1991 – A runway collision between USAir Flight 1493 and SkyWest Flight 5569 at Los Angeles International Airport results in the deaths of 34 people, and injuries to 30 others. 1991 – A magnitude 6.8 earthquake strikes the Hindu Kush region, killing at least 848 people in Afghanistan, Pakistan and present-day Tajikistan. 1992 – The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal court declares Warren Anderson, ex-CEO of Union Carbide, a fugitive under Indian law for failing to appear in the Bhopal disaster case. 1996 – The Communications Decency Act is passed by the U.S. Congress. 1998 – Rear Admiral Lillian E. Fishburne becomes the first female African American to be promoted to rear admiral. 2002 – Daniel Pearl, American journalist and South Asia Bureau Chief of The Wall Street Journal, kidnapped on January 23, is beheaded and mutilated by his captors. 2003 – Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during the reentry of mission STS-107 into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard. 2004 – Hajj pilgrimage stampede: In a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, 251 people are trampled to death and 244 injured. 2004 – Double suicide attack in Erbil on the offices of Iraqi Kurdish political parties by members of Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad 2005 – King Gyanendra of Nepal carries out a coup d'état to capture the democracy, becoming Chairman of the Councils of ministers. 2007 – The National Weather Service in the United States switches from the Fujita scale to the new Enhanced Fujita scale to measure the intensity and strength of tornadoes. 2009 – The first cabinet of Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was formed in Iceland, making her the country's first female prime minister and the world's first openly gay head of government. 2012 – Seventy-four people are killed and over 500 injured as a result of clashes between fans of Egyptian football teams Al Masry and Al Ahly in the city of Port Said. 2013 – The Shard, the sixth-tallest building in Europe, opens its viewing gallery to the public. 2021 – A coup d'état in Myanmar removes Aung San Suu Kyi from power and restores military rule. 2022 – Five-year-old Moroccan boy Rayan Aourram falls into a 32-meter (105 feet) deep well in Ighran village in Tamorot commune, Chefchaouen Province, Morocco, but dies four days later, before rescue workers reached him.
Births
Pre-1600 1261 – Walter de Stapledon, English bishop and politician, Lord High Treasurer (died 1326) 1435 – Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy (died 1472) 1447 – Eberhard II, Duke of Württemberg (died 1504) 1459 – Conrad Celtes, German poet and scholar (died 1508) 1462 – Johannes Trithemius, German lexicographer, historian, and cryptographer (died 1516) 1552 – Edward Coke, English lawyer, judge, and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (died 1634) 1561 – Henry Briggs, British mathematician (died 1630)
1601–1900 1635 – Marquard Gude, German archaeologist and scholar (died 1689) 1648 – Elkanah Settle, English poet and playwright (died 1724) 1659 – Jacob Roggeveen, Dutch explorer (died 1729) 1663 – Ignacia del Espíritu Santo, Filipino nun, founded the Religious of the Virgin Mary (died 1748) 1666 – Marie Thérèse de Bourbon, Princess of Conti and titular queen of Poland (died 1732) 1687 – Johann Adam Birkenstock, German violinist and composer (died 1733) 1690 – Francesco Maria Veracini, Italian violinist and composer (died 1768) 1701 – Johan Agrell, Swedish-German pianist and composer (died 1765) 1761 – Christiaan Hendrik Persoon, South African-French mycologist and academic (died 1836) 1763 – Thomas Campbell, Irish minister and theologian (died 1854) 1796 – Abraham Emanuel Fröhlich, Swiss minister, poet, and educator (died 1865) 1801 – Émile Littré, French lexicographer and philosopher (died 1881) 1820 – George Hendric Houghton, American clergyman and theologian (died 1897) 1836 – Emil Hartmann, Danish organist and composer (died 1898) 1844 – G. Stanley Hall, American psychologist and academic (died 1924) 1851 – Durham Stevens, American lawyer and diplomat (died 1908) 1858 – Ignacio Bonillas, Mexican diplomat (died 1942) 1859 – Victor Herbert, Irish-American cellist, composer, and conductor (died 1924) 1866 – Agda Meyerson, Swedish nurse and healthcare activist (died 1924) 1868 – Ștefan Luchian, Romanian painter and illustrator (died 1917) 1870 – Erik Adolf von Willebrand, Finnish physician (died 1949) 1872 – Clara Butt, English opera singer (died 1936) 1872 – Jerome F. Donovan, American lawyer and politician (died 1949) 1873 – John Barry, Irish soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (died 1901) 1874 – Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Austrian author, poet, and playwright (died 1929) 1878 – Alfréd Hajós, Hungarian swimmer and architect, designed the Grand Hotel Aranybika (died 1955) 1878 – Milan Hodža, Slovak journalist and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia (died 1944) 1881 – Tip Snooke, South African cricketer (died 1966) 1882 – Vladimir Dimitrov, Bulgarian artist (died 1960) 1882 – Louis St. Laurent, Canadian lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Canada (died 1973) 1884 – Yevgeny Zamyatin, Russian journalist and author (died 1937) 1884 – Candy Jim Taylor, American baseball player (died 1948) 1887 – Charles Nordhoff, English-American lieutenant, pilot, and author (died 1947) 1890 – Nikolai Reek, Estonian general and politician, 11th Estonian Minister of War (died 1942) 1894 – John Ford, American director and producer (died 1973) 1894 – James P. Johnson, American pianist and composer (died 1955) 1895 – Conn Smythe, Canadian businessman (died 1980) 1897 – Denise Robins, English journalist and author (died 1985) 1898 – Leila Denmark, American pediatrician and author (died 2012)
1901–present 1901 – Frank Buckles, American soldier (died 2011) 1901 – Clark Gable, American actor (died 1960) 1902 – Therese Brandl, German concentration camp guard (died 1947) 1902 – Langston Hughes, American poet, social activist, novelist, and playwright (died 1967) 1904 – S. J. Perelman, American humorist and screenwriter (died 1979) 1905 – Emilio Segrè, Italian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1989) 1906 – Adetokunbo Ademola, Nigerian lawyer and jurist, 2nd Chief Justice of Nigeria (died 1993) 1907 – Günter Eich, German author and songwriter (died 1972) 1907 – Camargo Guarnieri, Brazilian pianist and composer (died 1993) 1908 – George Pal, Hungarian-American animator and producer (died 1980) 1908 – Louis Rasminsky, Canadian economist and banker (died 1998) 1909 – George Beverly Shea, Canadian-American singer-songwriter (died 2013) 1910 – Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, Chinese general and politician (died 2009) 1915 – Stanley Matthews, English footballer and manager (died 2000) 1917 – José Luis Sampedro, Spanish economist and author (died 2013) 1917 – Eiji Sawamura, Japanese baseball player and soldier (died 1944) 1918 – Muriel Spark, Scottish novelist (died 2006) 1918 – Ignacy Tokarczuk, Polish archbishop (died 2012) 1920 – Zao Wou-Ki, Chinese-French painter (died 2013) 1921 – Teresa Mattei, Italian feminist partisan and politician (died 2013) 1922 – Renata Tebaldi, Italian soprano and actress (died 2004) 1923 – Ben Weider, Canadian businessman, co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness (died 2008) 1924 – Emmanuel Scheffer, German-Israeli footballer, coach, and manager (died 2012) 1926 – Vivian Maier, American street photographer (died 2009) 1927 – Galway Kinnell, American poet and academic (died 2014) 1928 – Sam Edwards, Welsh physicist and academic (died 2015) 1928 – Tom Lantos, Hungarian-American academic and politician (died 2008)