January
15
69 – Otho seizes power in
Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, beginning
a reign of only three months.
1541 –
King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a
commission to settle the province of New France (Canada)
and provide for the spread of the "Holy Catholic faith".
1559 – Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England and Ireland in Westminster Abbey,
London.
1582 – Truce of Yam-Zapolsky: Russia
cedes Livonia to
the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1759 –
The British Museum opens to the
public.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: New Connecticut (present-day Vermont)
declares its independence.
1782 –
Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris addresses
the U.S. Congress to recommend
establishment of a national mint and
decimal coinage.
1815 – War of 1812:
American frigate USS President,
commanded by Commodore Stephen Decatur,
is captured by a squadron of
four British frigates.
1818 –
A paper by David Brewster is read to
the Royal Society, belatedly announcing
his discovery of what we now call the biaxial class of doubly-refracting crystals. On
the same day, Augustin-Jean Fresnel signs a
"supplement" (submitted four days later) on reflection of polarized light.
1822 – Greek War of Independence: Demetrios Ypsilantis is elected
president of the legislative assembly.
1865 – American Civil War: Fort Fisher in North Carolina falls to the Union, thus cutting
off the last major seaport of the Confederacy.
1867 – Forty people die when
ice covering the boating lake at Regent's Park, London,
collapses.
1870 –
A political cartoon for the first
time symbolizes the Democratic Party with
a donkey ("A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion"
by Thomas Nast for Harper's Weekly).
1876 –
The first newspaper in Afrikaans, Die Afrikaanse Patriot,
is published in Paarl.
1889 – The Coca-Cola Company, then known as
the Pemberton Medicine Company, is incorporated in Atlanta.
1892 – James Naismith publishes
the rules of basketball.
1908 –
The Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority becomes
the first Greek-letter organization founded and established by African American college
women.
1910 –
Construction ends on the Buffalo Bill Dam in Wyoming,
United States, which was the highest dam in the world at the time, at 99 m
(325 ft).
1911 – Palestinian Arabic-language Falastin newspaper
founded.
1919 – Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht,
two of the most prominent socialists in
Germany, are tortured and murdered by the Freikorps at
the end of the Spartacist uprising.
1919 – Great Molasses Flood: A wave
of molasses released
from an exploding storage tank sweeps through Boston,
Massachusetts, killing 21 and injuring 150.
1934 –
The 8.0 Mw Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with
a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme),
killing an estimated 6,000–10,700 people.
1936 –
The first building to be completely covered in glass, built for the Owens-Illinois Glass
Company, is completed in Toledo, Ohio.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: Nationalists and Republicans both withdraw
after suffering heavy losses, ending the Second Battle of the Corunna Road.
1943 – World War II:
The Soviet counter-offensive at Voronezh begins.
1943 – The Pentagon is
dedicated in Arlington County, Virginia.
1947 –
The Black Dahlia murder: The dismembered corpse of
Elizabeth Short was found in Los Angeles.
1949 – Chinese Civil War:
The Communist forces take over Tianjin from
the Nationalist government.
1962 –
The Derveni papyrus, Europe's oldest surviving
manuscript dating to 340 BC, is found in northern Greece.
1962 – Netherlands New Guinea Conflict: Indonesian Navy fast
patrol boat RI Macan Tutul commanded by Commodore Yos Sudarso sunk
in Arafura Sea by the Dutch Navy.
1966 –
The First Nigerian Republic, led by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa is overthrown
in a military coup d'état.
1967 –
The first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles.
The Green Bay Packers defeat
the Kansas City Chiefs 35–10.
1969 –
The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 5.
1970 – Nigerian Civil War: Biafran rebels
surrender following an unsuccessful 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria.
1970 – Muammar Gaddafi is
proclaimed premier of Libya.
1973 – Vietnam War:
Citing progress in peace negotiations, President Richard Nixon announces
the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.
1975 –
The Alvor Agreement is signed, ending
the Angolan War of Independence and
giving Angola independence from Portugal.
1976 – Gerald Ford's
would-be assassin, Sara Jane Moore,
is sentenced to life in prison.
1977 – Linjeflyg Flight 618 crashes in Kälvesta near Stockholm Bromma Airport in Stockholm,
Sweden, killing 22 people.
1981 – Pope John Paul II receives
a delegation from the Polish trade union Solidarity at
the Vatican led by Lech Wałęsa.
1991 –
The United Nations deadline for the
withdrawal of Iraqi forces
from occupied Kuwait expires,
preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert
Storm.
1991 – Elizabeth II,
in her capacity as Queen of Australia, signs letters patent allowing
Australia to become the first Commonwealth realm to
institute its own Victoria Cross in
its honours system.
2001 – Wikipedia,
a free wiki content
encyclopedia, is launched.
2005 – ESA's SMART-1 lunar
orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron,
and other surface elements on the Moon.
2009 – US Airways Flight 1549 ditches safely in
the Hudson River after the plane collides with birds less
than two minutes after take-off. This becomes known as "The Miracle on the
Hudson" as all 155 people on board were rescued.
2013 –
A train carrying Egyptian Army recruits
derails near Giza, Greater Cairo,
killing 19 and injuring 120 others.
2015 –
The Swiss National Bank abandons the cap
on the Swiss franc's value relative to the euro,
causing turmoil in international financial markets.
2016 –
The Kenyan Army suffers its worst
defeat ever in a battle with Al-Shabaab Islamic
insurgents in El-Adde, Somalia.
An estimated 150 Kenyan soldiers are killed in the battle.
2018 –
British multinational construction and facilities management services
company Carillion went into liquidation –
officially, "the largest ever trading liquidation in the UK"
2019 – Somali militants attack the
DusitD2 hotel in Nairobi,
Kenya killing at least 21 people and injuring 19.
2019 – Theresa May's
UK government suffers the biggest government defeat in modern times,
when 432 MPs voting against the proposed European Union withdrawal agreement,
giving her opponents a majority of 230.
2020 – The
Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and
Welfare confirms the first case of COVID-19 in Japan.
2021 –
A 6.2-magnitude earthquake strikes
Indonesia's Sulawesi island
killing at least 105 and injuring 3,369 people.
2022 –
The Hunga
Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai volcano erupts, cutting off communications
with Tonga and
causing a tsunami across the Pacific.
2023 – Yeti Airlines Flight 691 crashes
near Pokhara International Airport, of the 72
people on board, no one is believed to have survived.
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