Events Pre-1600 250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution. 1156 – Finnish peasant Lalli kills English clergyman Henry, the Bishop of Turku, on the ice of Lake Köyliö. 1265 – The first English parliament to include not only Lords but also representatives of the major towns holds its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster, now commonly known as the "Houses of Parliament". 1320 – Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland. 1356 – Edward Balliol surrenders his claim to the Scottish throne to Edward III in exchange for an English pension. 1401 – The Taula de canvi (Catalan: "Table of change"), described as Europe's first-ever public bank, began operations inside Barcelona's Llotja de Mar. 1523 – Christian II is forced to abdicate as King of Denmark and Norway. 1567 – Battle of Rio de Janeiro: Portuguese forces under the command of Estácio de Sá definitively drive the French out of Rio de Janeiro. 1576 – The Mexican city of León is founded by order of the viceroy Don Martín Enríquez de Almanza.
1601–1900 1649 – The High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I begins its proceedings. 1726 – J. S. Bach leads the first performance of his cantata (My sighs, my tears), BWV 13, for the second Sunday after Epiphany. 1783 – The Kingdom of Great Britain signs preliminary articles of peace with the Kingdom of France, setting the stage for the official end of hostilities in the American Revolutionary War later that year. 1785 – Invading Siamese forces attempt to exploit the political chaos in Vietnam, but are ambushed and annihilated at the Mekong river by the Tây Sơn in the Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút. 1788 – The third and main part of First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay, beginning the British colonization of Australia. Arthur Phillip decides that Port Jackson is a more suitable location for a colony. 1839 – In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats an alliance between Peru and Bolivia. 1841 – Hong Kong Island is occupied by the British during the First Opium War. 1874 – The Treaty of Pangkor is signed between the British and Sultan Abdullah of Perak, paving the way for further British colonization of Malaya. 1877 – The last day of the Constantinople Conference results in agreement for political reforms in the Balkans. 1887 – The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
1901–present 1909 – Newly formed automaker General Motors (GM) buys into the Oakland Motor Car Company, which later becomes GM's long-running Pontiac division. 1921 – The British K-class submarine HMS K5 sinks in the English Channel; all 56 on board die. 1921 – The first Constitution of Turkey is adopted, making fundamental changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty. 1923 – During the Irish Civil War the Irish Free State Army executes 10 members of the anti-treaty Irish Republican Army 1941 – A German officer is killed in Bucharest, Romania, sparking a rebellion and pogrom by the Iron Guard, killing 125 Jews and 30 soldiers. 1942 – World War II: At the Wannsee Conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, senior Nazi German officials discuss the implementation of the "Final Solution to the Jewish question". 1945 – World War II: The provisional government of Béla Miklós in Hungary agrees to an armistice with the Allies. 1945 – World War II: Germany begins the evacuation of 1.8 million people from East Prussia, a task which will take nearly two months. 1954 – In the United States, the National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations. 1972 – Pakistan launches its nuclear weapons program, a few weeks after its defeat in the Bangladesh Liberation War, as well as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. 1973 – Amílcar Cabral, leader of the independence movement in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, is assassinated in Conakry, Guinea. 1974 – China gains control over all the Paracel Islands after a military engagement between the naval forces of China and South Vietnam. 1981 – Twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States of America, Iran releases 52 American hostages. 1986 – In the United States, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time. 1986 – Leabua Jonathan, Prime Minister of Lesotho, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by General Justin Lekhanya. 1990 – Protests in Azerbaijan, part of the Dissolution of the Soviet Union. 1991 – Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south. 1992 – Air Inter Flight 148, an Airbus A320-111, crashes into a mountain near Strasbourg, France, killing 87 of the 96 people on board. 2001 – President of the Philippines Joseph Estrada is ousted in a nonviolent four-day revolution, and is succeeded by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. 2009 – A protest movement in Iceland culminates as the 2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests start. 2018 – A group of four or five gunmen attack The Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, sparking a 12-hour battle. The attack kills 40 people and injures many others. 2018 – Syrian civil war: The Government of Turkey announces the initiation of the Afrin offensive and begins shelling Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions in Afrin Region.
Births
Pre-1600 225 – Gordian III, Roman emperor (died 244) 1029 – Alp Arslan, Seljuk sultan (probable; (died 1072) 1292 – Elizabeth of Bohemia, queen consort of Bohemia (died 1330) 1436 – Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shōgun (died 1490) 1488 – Sebastian Münster, German scholar, cartographer, and cosmographer (died 1552) 1499 – Sebastian Franck, German humanist (probable; (died 1543) 1500 – Jean Quintin, French priest, knight and writer (died 1561) 1502 – Sebastian de Aparicio, Spanish-Mexican rancher and missionary (died 1600) 1526 – Rafael Bombelli, Italian mathematician (died 1572) 1554 – Sebastian, King of Portugal (died 1578) 1569 – Heribert Rosweyde, Jesuit hagiographer (died 1629) 1573 – Simon Marius, German astronomer and academic (died 1624) 1586 – Johann Hermann Schein, German composer (died 1630)
1601–1900 1664 – Giovanni Vincenzo Gravina, Italian lawyer and jurist (died 1718) 1703 – Joseph-Hector Fiocco, Flemish violinist and composer (died 1741) 1716 – Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, French archaeologist and numismatist (died 1795) 1716 – Charles III of Spain (died 1788) 1732 – Richard Henry Lee, American lawyer and politician, President of the Continental Congress (died 1794) 1741 – Carl Linnaeus the Younger, Swedish botanist and author (died 1783) 1755 – Sir Albemarle Bertie, 1st Baronet, English admiral (died 1824) 1762 – Jérôme-Joseph de Momigny, Belgian-French composer and theorist (died 1842) 1775 – André-Marie Ampère, French physicist and mathematician (died 1836) 1781 – Joseph Hormayr, Baron zu Hortenburg, Austrian-German historian and politician (died 1848) 1783 – Friedrich Dotzauer, German cellist and composer (died 1860) 1799 – Anson Jones, American physician and politician, 5th President of the Republic of Texas (died 1858) 1812 – William Fox, English-New Zealand politician, 2nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (died 1893) 1812 – Thomas Meik, Scottish engineer (died 1896) 1814 – David Wilmot, American politician, sponsor of Wilmot Proviso (died 1868) 1819 – Göran Fredrik Göransson, Swedish merchant, ironmaster and industrialist (died 1900) 1834 – George D. Robinson, American lawyer and politician, 34th Governor of Massachusetts (died 1896) 1855 – Ernest Chausson, French composer (died 1899) 1856 – Harriot Stanton Blatch, American suffragist and organizer (died 1940) 1865 – Yvette Guilbert, French singer and actress (died 1944) 1865 – Wilhelm Ramsay, Finnish geologist and professor (died 1928) 1870 – Guillaume Lekeu, Belgian pianist and composer (died 1894) 1873 – Johannes V. Jensen, Danish author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1950) 1874 – Steve Bloomer, English footballer and coach (died 1938) 1876 – Josef Hofmann, Polish-American pianist and composer (died 1957) 1878 – Finlay Currie, Scottish-English actor (died 1968) 1879 – Ruth St. Denis, American dancer and educator (died 1968) 1880 – Walter W. Bacon, American accountant and politician, 60th Governor of Delaware (died 1962) 1882 – Johnny Torrio, Italian-American mob boss (died 1957) 1883 – Enoch L. Johnson, American mob boss (died 1968) 1883 – Forrest Wilson, American journalist and author (died 1942) 1888 – Lead Belly, American folk/blues musician and songwriter (died 1949) 1889 – Allan Haines Loughead, American engineer and businessman, founded the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company (died 1969) 1891 – Mischa Elman, Ukrainian-American violinist (died 1967) 1893 – Georg Åberg, Swedish triple jumper (died 1946) 1894 – Harold Gray, American cartoonist, created Little Orphan Annie (died 1968) 1894 – Walter Piston, American composer, theorist, and academic (died 1976) 1895 – Gábor Szegő, Hungarian mathematician and academic (died 1985) 1896 – George Burns, American actor, comedian, and producer (died 1996) 1898 – U Razak, Burmese educator and politician (died 1947) 1899 – Clarice Cliff, English potter (died 1972) 1899 – Kenjiro Takayanagi, Japanese engineer (died 1990) 1900 – Dorothy Annan, English painter, potter, and muralist (died 1983) 1900 – Colin Clive, English actor (died 1937)
1901–present 1902 – Leon Ames, American actor (died 1993) 1902 – Kevin Barry, Irish Republican Army volunteer (died 1920) 1906 – Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (died 1975) 1907 – Paula Wessely, Austrian actress and producer (died 2000) 1909 – Gōgen Yamaguchi, Japanese martial artist (died 1989) 1910 – Joy Adamson, Austria-Kenyan painter and conservationist (died 1980) 1915 – Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Pakistani businessman and politician, 7th President of Pakistan (died 2006) 1918 – Juan García Esquivel, Mexican pianist, composer, and bandleader (died 2002) 1918 – Nevin Scrimshaw, American scientist (died 2013) 1920 – Federico Fellini, Italian director and screenwriter (died 1993) 1920 – DeForest Kelley, American actor (died 1999) 1920 – Thorleif Schjelderup, Norwegian ski jumper and author (died 2006) 1921 – Telmo Zarra, Spanish footballer (died 2006) 1922 – Ray Anthony, American trumpeter and bandleader 1922 – Don Mankiewicz, American author and screenwriter (died 2015) 1923 – Slim Whitman, American country and western singer-songwriter and musician (died 2013) 1924 – Yvonne Loriod, French pianist and composer (died 2010) 1925 – Jamiluddin Aali, Pakistani poet, playwright, and critic (died 2015) 1925 – Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaraguan priest, poet, and politician (died 2020) 1926 – Patricia Neal, American actress (died 2010) 1926 – David Tudor, American pianist and composer (died 1996) 1927 – Qurratulain Hyder, Indian-Pakistani journalist and academic (died 2007) 1928 – Antonio de Almeida, French conductor and musicologist (died 1997) 1929 – Arte Johnson, American actor and comedian (died 2019) 1929 – Masaharu Kawakatsu, Japanese biologist 1929 – Fireball Roberts, American race car driver (died 1964) 1930 – Buzz Aldrin, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut 1931 – David Lee, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1931 – Hachidai Nakamura, Japanese pianist and composer (died 1992) 1932 – Lou Fontinato, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2016) 1934 – Hennie Aucamp, South African poet, author, and academic (died 2014) 1934 – Tom Baker, English actor 1935 – Dorothy Provine, American actress, singer, and dancer (died 2010) 1937 – Bailey Howell, American basketball player 1938 – Derek Dougan, Irish-English footballer and journalist (died 2007) 1939 – Paul Coverdell, American captain and politician (died 2000) 1939 – Chandra Wickramasinghe, Sri Lankan-English mathematician, astronomer, and biologist 1940 – Carol Heiss, American figure skater and actress 1940 – Krishnam Raju, Indian actor and politician (died 2022)