Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/December

Selected anniversaries/On this day archive
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – December

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Recent changes to Selected anniversaries – Selected anniversaries editing guidelines

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It is now 14:43 on Thursday, February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Purge cache for this page

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<<	Selected anniversaries for December					>>
Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
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2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
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An archive of historical anniversaries that appeared on the Main Page 2012 day arrangement

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		December 1: World AIDS Day; Great Union Day in Romania (1918) 1822 – Pedro I was crowned the first Emperor of Brazil, less than two months after he actually began his reign on October 12. 1913 – Ford Motor Company began operating the world's first moving assembly line (pictured) for the mass production of automobiles. 1925 – The Locarno Treaties were formally signed in London, establishing post-First World War territorial settlements. 1955 – In a key event in the African-American Civil Rights Movement, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott. 1989 – Led by the Reform the Armed Forces Movement, members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines began a coup attempt against President Corazon Aquino. More anniversaries: November 30 – December 1 – December 2 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history		December 2: National Day in the United Arab Emirates (1971) 1805 – War of the Third Coalition: French forces led by Napoleon decisively defeated a Russo-Austrian army commanded by Czar Alexander I in the Battle of Austerlitz. 1943 – World War II: The Luftwaffe conducted a surprise air raid on Allied ships in Bari, Italy, sinking 18 ships and releasing one ship's secret cargo of mustard gas. 1988 – Benazir Bhutto (pictured) became Prime Minister of Pakistan, the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state. 1999 – The United Kingdom devolved political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive. 2001 – Less than two months after disclosing accounting violations, Texas-based energy firm Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, evaporating nearly $11 billion in shareholder wealth. More anniversaries: December 1 – December 2 – December 3 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history
		December 3: International Day of People with Disability 1904 – Himalia, the largest irregular satellite of Jupiter, was discovered by astronomer Charles Dillon Perrine at the Lick Observatory in San Jose, California. 1927 – Putting Pants on Philip, the first official film featuring the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy (pictured), was released. 1971 – The formal initiation of hostilities of the Indo-Pakistani War began with the Pakistani Air Force launching pre-emptive airstrikes on several forward airbases and radar installations of the Indian Air Force. 1976 – Jamaican reggae musician Bob Marley survived an assassination attempt by unknown assailants. 2009 – A suicide bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia, claimed the lives of 25 people, including three ministers of the Transitional Federal Government. More anniversaries: December 2 – December 3 – December 4 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history		December 4: Navy Day in India 1639 – English astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks (pictured) made the first observation of a transit of Venus. 1829 – Sati, the Hindu funeral custom of widows immolating themselves, was prohibited in part of British India after years of campaigning by Ram Mohan Roy. 1909 – The Montreal Canadiens, the oldest professional ice hockey club in the world, was founded as a charter member of the National Hockey Association. 1991 – Pan American World Airways, which was the principal international airline of the United States and which was credited with many innovations, ended operations. 2006 – Six black youths in Jena, Louisiana, US, assaulted a white teenager; the subsequent court case would become a cause célèbre. More anniversaries: December 3 – December 4 – December 5 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history
		December 5: Day of Ashura (Islam, 2011); St Nicholas's Eve in various European countries; Father's Day in Thailand 1484 – Pope Innocent VIII issued the papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus, giving Dominican Inquisitor Heinrich Kramer explicit authority to prosecute witchcraft in Germany. 1876 – Fire engulfed the Brooklyn Theater (damage pictured) in Brooklyn, New York, killing at least 278 people, mostly due to smoke inhalation. 1945 – Flight 19, a squadron of five U.S. naval TBF Avenger torpedo bombers, disappeared in the area now known as the Bermuda Triangle. 1952 – The "Great Smog" began in London and lasted for five days, causing 12,000 deaths and leading to the Clean Air Act 1956. 1972 – Gough Whitlam took office as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia and formed a duumvirate with his deputy Lance Barnard, ending 23 years of Liberal-Country Party government. More anniversaries: December 4 – December 5 – December 6 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history		December 6: Independence Day in Finland (1917); Constitution Day in Spain 1060 – Béla I the Champion was crowned king of Hungary. 1917 – World War I: USS Jacob Jones became the first American destroyer to be sunk by enemy action when it was torpedoed by German submarine SM U-53. 1921 – The Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed and then came into force exactly one year later, establishing the Irish Free State, the first independent Irish state to be recognised by the British government. 1989 – Claiming that he was "fighting feminism", 25-year-old Marc Lépine killed fourteen women before committing suicide at École Polytechnique in Montreal. 1992 – The Babri Mosque (pictured) in Ayodhya, India, was destroyed by members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and associated groups, who believed that it was built on the birthplace of Rama. More anniversaries: December 5 – December 6 – December 7 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history
		December 7: Día de las Velitas in Colombia; Armed Forces Flag Day in India; Pearl Harbor Day in the United States 43 BC – Cicero, widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists, was killed after having been proscribed as an enemy of the state. 1724 – In Toruń, Royal Prussia, Polish authorities executed the city's mayor and nine other Lutheran officials following tensions between Protestants and Catholics. 1815 – Michel Ney, Marshal of France, was executed by a firing squad near Paris' Jardin du Luxembourg for supporting Napoleon. 1941 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy made a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, intending to neutralize the United States Pacific Fleet from influencing the war Japan was planning to wage in Southeast Asia. 1972 – The crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft took the photograph "The Blue Marble" (pictured), the first clear image of an illuminated face of Earth, on their way to the Moon. 2007 – A crane barge that had broken free from a tugboat crashed into an oil tanker near Daesan, South Korea, causing the country's worst-ever oil spill. More anniversaries: December 6 – December 7 – December 8 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history		December 8: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Roman Catholic Church); Bodhi Day in Japan 1432 – The first battle of the Lithuanian Civil War between the forces of Švitrigaila and Sigismund Kęstutaitis was fought near the modern town of Ashmyany. 1854 – In his apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogmatic definition of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Virgin Mary was born free of original sin. 1912 – Leaders of the German Empire held an Imperial War Council to discuss the possibility that war might break out. 1980 – Former Beatle John Lennon (pictured) was shot and killed in the entrance of the Dakota apartments in New York City. 1991 – Leaders of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine signed the Belavezha Accords, agreeing to dissolve the Soviet Union and establish the Commonwealth of Independent States. More anniversaries: December 7 – December 8 – December 9 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history
		December 9: Independence Day in Tanzania (1961); Army Day in Peru (1824) 1917 – First World War: Hussein al-Husayni, the Ottoman mayor of Jerusalem, surrendered the city to the British (pictured). 1931 – The approval of the Spanish Constitution by the Constituent Cortes paved the way to the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic. 1968 – The NLS, a computer collaboration system that was the first to employ the practical use of hypertext, the computer mouse, and other modern computing concepts, was publicly demonstrated for the first time in San Francisco. 1979 – A World Health Organization commission of scientists certified the global eradication of smallpox, making it the only human infectious disease to date to have been completely eradicated from nature. 1981 – Mumia Abu-Jamal was arrested for the murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner; his subsequent conviction and death sentence became the source of great controversy in the United States. More anniversaries: December 8 – December 9 – December 10 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history		December 10: Human Rights Day; Constitution Day in Thailand (1932) 1799 – France became the first country to adopt the metric system as its system for weights and measures. 1884 – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by American author Mark Twain was first published in the United Kingdom and Canada. 1911 – Calbraith Rodgers (pictured) completed the first transcontinental flight across the United States. 1948 – The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, representing the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled. 1983 – Raúl Alfonsín became the first democratically elected President of Argentina to take office after the fall of the military dictatorship. More anniversaries: December 9 – December 10 – December 11 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history
		December 11: Republic Day in Burkina Faso (1958) 1789 – The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one of the oldest public universities in the United States and the only one to award degrees in the 18th century, received its charter. 1886 – The London-based football club Arsenal, then known as Dial Square, played their first match on the Isle of Dogs. 1962 – Convicted murderers Ronald Turpin and Arthur Lucas were the last two persons to be executed in Canada. 2005 – A demonstration by Australians in Cronulla, New South Wales, against recent violence towards locals turned into a race riot. 2006 – The first action in the Mexican Drug War took place as President Felipe Calderón (pictured) ordered Mexican military and Federal Police units into the state of Michoacán. More anniversaries: December 10 – December 11 – December 12 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history		December 12: Independence Day in Kenya (1963) 1531 – According to traditional Catholic accounts, the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary (pictured) miraculously appeared imprinted on Juan Diego's tilma. 1915 – President Yuan Shikai of the Republic of China reinstated the monarchy and declared himself Emperor. 1918 – The Flag of Estonia was raised for the first time atop the Pikk Hermann in Tallinn. 1941 – At a Nazi Party meeting in the Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler declared the imminent destruction of the Jewish race. 2000 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bush v. Gore that the election recount of the ballots cast in Florida for the presidential election must stop, effectively making George W. Bush the winner. More anniversaries: December 11 – December 12 – December 13 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history
		December 13: Saint Lucy's Day; Republic Day in Malta (1974) 1643 – First English Civil War: Parliamentary forces serving under Sir William Waller led a successful surprise attack on a winter garrison of Royalist infantry and cavalry. 1809 – American physician Ephraim McDowell performed the world's first removal of an ovarian tumor. 1937 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Japanese forces captured Nanjing in China and then began to commit numerous atrocities over the next several weeks. 1960 – With Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie out of the country, four conspirators staged a coup attempt and installed Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen as the new Emperor. 1981 – Polish Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski (pictured) declared martial law, suspended Solidarity and imprisoned many union leaders. More anniversaries: December 12 – December 13 – December 14 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history		December 14: Day of the Children Killed During the War in Abkhazia (1992); Day of the Martyred Intellectuals in Bangladesh (1971); Monkey Day 557 – A large earthquake severely damaged the city of Constantinople. 1782 – In Avignon, France, the Montgolfier brothers conducted their first test of their hot air balloon. 1911 – Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his team became the first people to reach the South Pole. 1994 – Construction on the Three Gorges Dam (pictured) began on the Yangtze River in China. 1999 – Torrential rains caused flash floods in Vargas, Venezuela, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, the destruction of thousands of homes, and the complete collapse of the state's infrastructure. 2009 – The Tino Rangatiratanga flag representing the Māori people was officially recognized by the government of New Zealand. More anniversaries: December 13 – December 14 – December 15 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history
		December 15: Kingdom Day in Aruba, Curaçao, the Netherlands, and Sint Maarten (1954); Zamenhof Day 1256 – The Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut in present-day Iran was captured and destroyed by Hulagu Khan and the Mongols. 1864 – American Civil War: Union troops defeated the Army of Tennessee, one of the largest Confederate forces, at the Battle of Nashville. 1942 – World War II: The Americans engaged Imperial Japanese forces at the Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse in the hills near the Matanikau River area on Guadalcanal during the Guadalcanal Campaign. 1946 – US-backed Iranian troops brought an end to the Iran crisis when they marched upon the breakaway Republic of Mahabad and recaptured the territory. 2005 – The F-22 Raptor (pictured), a stealth fighter aircraft that the United States Air Force claimed is unmatched by any known or projected fighter, entered into service despite a protracted and costly development period. More anniversaries: December 14 – December 15 – December 16 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history		December 16: National Day in Bahrain; Independence Day in Kazakhstan (1991) 1707 – The last recorded eruption of Japan's Mount Fuji (pictured) released some 800 million m3 of volcanic ash. 1811 – The first two in a series of four severe earthquakes struck the Midwestern United States and made the Mississippi River appear to run backward. 1893 – Czech composer Antonín Dvořák's New World Symphony premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York City. 1944 – World War II: The Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany launched its final offensive in the western front, the Battle of the Bulge. 1986 – Dinmukhamed Konayev was dismissed from the post of First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, sparking riots throughout the country. More anniversaries: December 15 – December 16 – December 17 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history
		December 17: National Day in Bhutan (1907) 1862 – American Civil War: Union General Ulysses S. Grant (pictured) issued General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky. 1918 – About 1,000 demonstrators marched on Government House in Darwin, Australia, where they burnt an effigy of Administrator John Gilruth and demanded his resignation. 1935 – The Douglas DC-3, one of the most significant transport aircraft ever built, made its maiden voyage to coincide with the anniversary of the Wright Flyer's first flight. 1970 – Soldiers fired at workers emerging from trains in Gdynia, Poland, beginning the government's brutal crackdown on mass anti-communist protests across the country. 2009 – The livestock transport ship MV Danny F II capsized and sank in bad weather off the coast of Lebanon, resulting in 40 human and over 28,000 animal deaths. 2010 – Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest to police harassment, triggering the Tunisian Revolution. More anniversaries: December 16 – December 17 – December 18 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history		December 18: Republic Day in Niger (1958); National Day in Qatar (1878) 1892 – The first performance of the fairy tale-ballet The Nutcracker was held at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. 1912 – Amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson announced the discovery of fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human, known as Piltdown Man, which later turned out to be a hoax. 1972 – Vietnam War: The United States began Operation Linebacker II against North Vietnam, the largest heavy bomber strikes launched by the U.S. Air Force since the end of World War II. 1987 – Programmer Larry Wall released the first version of the programming language Perl via the comp.sources.misc newsgroup. 2006 – The first of a series of floods (pictured) struck Malaysia, which would eventually kill 118 people and leave over 400,000 others homeless. 2011 – The Tunisian revolution began, and what was initially a series of protests with a set of demands evolved into nationwide demonstrations that eventually toppled the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali after nearly 23 years of rule. More anniversaries: December 17 – December 18 – December 19 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history
		December 19: Liberation Day in Goa (1961) 1843 – A Christmas Carol (frontispiece pictured) by Charles Dickens, a novella about the miser Ebenezer Scrooge and his conversion after being visited by three Christmas ghosts, was first published. 1941 – Second World War: Three Italian Royal Navy divers on manned torpedoes detonated limpet mines on British Royal Navy ships, sinking two battleships. 1946 – The First Indochina War began when Viet Minh operatives attacked French military positions and homes in Hanoi. 1986 – Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev released dissident Andrei Sakharov after six years of internal exile in Gorky. 1998 – The U.S. House of Representatives impeached President Bill Clinton following the Lewinsky scandal. More anniversaries: December 18 – December 19 – December 20 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history		December 20: Hanukkah begins at sunset (Judaism, 2011) 1941 – World War II: The Flying Tigers of the Chinese Air Force engaged in its first combat missions. 1973 – Spanish Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco was assassinated by a bomb planted by members of the Basque nationalist and separatist group ETA. 1988 – The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances governing international cooperation against the illegal drug trade was signed in Vienna. 1999 – Portugal transferred sovereignty of Macau to China (flag lowering ceremony pictured). 2005 – US district court Judge John E. Jones III ruled against mandating the teaching of "intelligent design" in his ruling of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District. More anniversaries: December 19 – December 20 – December 21 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history
		December 21 1620 – The Mayflower Pilgrims landed at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, establishing the Plymouth Colony. 1826 – American settlers in Mexican Texas made the first attempt to secede from Mexico, establishing the short-lived Republic of Fredonia. 1919 – After serving two years in prison for encouraging people to resist military conscription, anarchist Emma Goldman (pictured) was deported from the United States to Russia. 1937 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length cel-animated feature in film history, premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles. 1968 – Apollo 8 launched from Florida's Kennedy Space Center, placing its crew on a trajectory to the Moon, for the first visit to another celestial body by humans. More anniversaries: December 20 – December 21 – December 22 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history		December 22: December Solstice (05:30 UTC, 2011); Yule and other winter solstice festivals (Northern Hemisphere, 2011); Mother's Day in Indonesia 1769 – Having been soundly defeated in battle, the Qing Dynasty agreed to terms of truce, ending the Sino-Burmese War. 1939 – Members of the All-India Muslim League observed a "Day of Deliverance" to celebrate the resignations of members of the Indian National Congress over the decision to enter the Second World War at the request of the United Kingdom. 1974 – Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli voted to become the independent nation of the Comoros. 1988 – Brazilian unionist and environmental activist Chico Mendes was murdered at his Xapuri home. 2008 – An ash dike ruptured at a solid waste containment area in Roane County, Tennessee, US, releasing 1.1 billion US gallons (4,200,000 m3) of coal fly ash slurry (aerial view of damage pictured). More anniversaries: December 21 – December 22 – December 23 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history
		December 23: The Emperor's Birthday in Japan 962 – Byzantine–Arab Wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops stormed the city of Aleppo. 1793 – French Revolution: The Royalist counterrevolutionary army was decisively defeated in the Battle of Savenay, although fighting continued in the War in the Vendée for years afterward. 1916 – First World War: Allied forces gained a strategic victory in the Battle of Magdhaba, located in the Sinai Peninsula. 1938 – A South African fisher discovered the first living specimen of a coelacanth (pictured), long believed to be extinct. 1986 – Piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, the Rutan Voyager became the first aircraft to fly around the world without stopping or refueling, landing in California's Edwards Air Force Base after a nine-day trip. 2008 – The Guinean military engineered a coup d'état, and announced that it planned to rule the country for two years prior to a new presidential election. More anniversaries: December 22 – December 23 – December 24 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history		December 24: Christmas Eve 1294 – Boniface VIII began his papacy, replacing St. Celestine V, who had declared that it was permissible for a Pope to resign, and then promptly did so. 1777 – An expedition led by English explorer James Cook reached Christmas Island (pictured), the largest coral atoll in the world. 1826 – More than one third of the cadets enrolled in the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, rioted over the smuggling of whiskey to make eggnog for a Christmas Day party. 1955 – The NORAD Tracks Santa program began when children began calling the Continental Air Defense Command Center to inquire about Santa Claus' whereabouts due to a misprinted phone number. 1974 – Cyclone Tracy struck Darwin, Australia, eventually destroying more than 70 percent of the city. More anniversaries: December 23 – December 24 – December 25 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history
		December 25: Christmas Day (Gregorian calendar); Quaid-e-Azam Day (Pakistan) 1776 – American Revolutionary War: George Washington and his army crossed the Delaware River to launch a surprise attack on Hessian mercenaries at the Battle of Trenton. 1941 – Second World War: The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began after Mark Aitchison Young, the Governor of Hong Kong, surrendered the territory to Japan after 18 days of fierce fighting. 1950 – The Stone of Scone, the traditional coronation stone of Scottish, English, and more recently British monarchs, disappeared from London's Westminster Abbey. 2007 – A tiger at the San Francisco Zoo escaped from its enclosure and attacked three patrons before it was shot and killed. 2009 – The 19th-century St Mel's Cathedral (pictured) in Longford, considered the "flagship cathedral" of the Irish midlands, was destroyed by fire. More anniversaries: December 24 – December 25 – December 26 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history		December 26: Boxing Day in Commonwealth countries; St. Stephen's Day (Western Christianity); Twelve Holy Days begin (Esoteric Christianity); Kwanzaa begins (United States) 1811 – Seventy-two people died when a theater in Richmond, Virginia, US, was destroyed by fire—the worst urban disaster in American history at the time. 1825 – Imperial Russian Army officers led about 3,000 soldiers in a protest against Nicholas I's assumption of the throne after his elder brother Constantine removed himself from the line of succession. 1900 – A relief crew arrived at the lighthouse on the Flannan Isles of Scotland and discovered that the previous crew had disappeared without a trace. 2006 – The Hengchun earthquake struck off the southwest coast of Taiwan, on the anniversaries of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake that devastated the coastal communities across Southeast and South Asia (tsunami pictured), and of the 2003 Bam earthquake that destroyed areas of southeastern Iran. More anniversaries: December 25 – December 26 – December 27 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history
		December 27: St. Stephen's Day in Eastern Christianity 1831 – Aboard HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin left Plymouth, England, on what became a historic expedition to South America that made his name as a naturalist. 1911 – "Jana Gana Mana", the national anthem of India, was first sung in the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress. 1927 – Show Boat, considered to be the first truly American musical, opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway. 1997 – Loyalist Volunteer Force leader Billy Wright was assassinated in the Maze prison by members of the Irish National Liberation Army. 2004 – Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reached Earth, the most magnetic object ever perceived by mankind, with a magnetic field of over 1015 gauss in intensity. 2007 – Riots erupted in Mombasa, Kenya, after Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the presidential election—the first event in a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis (pictured). More anniversaries: December 26 – December 27 – December 28 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history		December 28: Hanukkah ends at sunset (Judaism, 2011); Day of the Holy Innocents (Western Christianity) 893 – An earthquake destroyed the city of Dvin, Armenia, causing about 30,000 casualties. 1907 – The last confirmed sighting of the extinct Huia took place in the Tararua Ranges, North Island, New Zealand. 1912 – The San Francisco Municipal Railway, operator of the city's famed cable car system (cable car pictured), opened its first line. 1918 – Irishwoman Constance Markievicz became the first female Member of Parliament elected to the British House of Commons, although she never served. 1989 – In one of Australia's most serious natural disasters, a 5.6 ML earthquake struck Newcastle, New South Wales, killing 13 people and injuring more than 160 others, and causing an estimated AUD$4 billion in damages. 2006 – War in Somalia: Troops of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government along with their Ethiopian allies captured Mogadishu unopposed. More anniversaries: December 27 – December 28 – December 29 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history
		December 29: Independence Day in Mongolia (1911) 1835 – The United States signed the Treaty of New Echota with leaders of a minority Cherokee faction, which became the legal basis for the forcible removal known as the Trail of Tears. 1860 – To counter the French Navy's La Gloire, the world's first ironclad warship, the British Royal Navy launched the world's first iron-hulled armoured battleship, HMS Warrior. 1911 – Sun Yat-sen (pictured) was elected in Nanjing as the Provisional President of the Republic of China. 1930 – Muhammad Iqbal introduced the Two-Nation Theory outlining a vision for the creation of an independent state for Muslim-majority provinces in northwestern British India. 1937 – The Constitution of Ireland, the founding legal document of the state known today as the Republic of Ireland, came into force. 1959 – Physicist Richard Feynman gave a speech entitled "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom", which is considered the birth of nanotechnology. More anniversaries: December 28 – December 29 – December 30 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history		December 30: Rizal Day in the Philippines (1896) 1702 – Carolina colonial governor James Moore abandoned the siege against the Castillo de San Marcos at St. Augustine, Spanish Florida, and retreated to Charles Town in disgrace. 1896 – Philippine Revolution: Nationalist José Rizal was executed by a firing squad in Manila after Spanish authorities convicted him of rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy. 1947 – Michael, King of Romania, was forced to abdicate by the country's communist government. 1965 – Ferdinand Marcos, who went on to rule the Philippines for 21 years, took office, beginning his first term as President. 2006 – Basque nationalist group ETA detonated a van bomb at Madrid-Barajas Airport in Spain, ending a nine-month ceasefire. More anniversaries: December 29 – December 30 – December 31 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history
		December 31: New Year's Eve (Gregorian calendar) 1225 – Ly Chieu Hoang, the only empress regnant in the history of Vietnam, married Tran Thai Tong, making him the first emperor of the Tran Dynasty at age seven. 1759 – Arthur Guinness (pictured) signed a 9,000-year lease at £45 per annum to the St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin and began brewing Guinness. 1775 – American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of Quebec, British forces repulsed an attack by the Continental Army to capture Quebec City and enlist French Canadian support. 1965 – Jean-Bédel Bokassa, leader of the Central African Republic army, and his military officers began a coup d'état against the government of President David Dacko. 1972 – Puerto Rican baseball player Roberto Clemente died in a plane crash en route to deliver aid to victims of the Nicaragua earthquake. 1999 – Panama took control of the Panama Canal Zone from the United States, in accordance with the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties. More anniversaries: December 30 – December 31 – January 1 It is now February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page view – talk – edit – history

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Selected anniversaries/On this day archive
January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – December

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Recent changes to Selected anniversaries – Selected anniversaries editing guidelines

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It is now 14:43 on Thursday, February 9, 2012 (UTC) – Purge cache for this page