Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/December 31
December 31: New Year's Eve, Hogmanay in Scotland.
- 406 - The Vandals, Alans and Suebians crossed the Rhine River to begin an invasion of Gaul.
- 1600 - The British East India Company (flag pictured) was founded by a Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I.
- 1963 - The Central African Federation officially collapsed, eventually to become Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.
- 1972 - American baseball player Roberto Clemente died in a plane crash en route to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.
- 1999 - Boris Yeltsin, the first democratically elected President of Russia, resigned and named Vladimir Putin as Acting President.
Recent days: December 30 – December 29 – December 28
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