Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/January 3
- 1521 – Pope Leo X (pictured) issued the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem, excommunicating Martin Luther from the Roman Catholic Church after Luther refused to retract 41 of his 95 theses.
- 1749 – Benning Wentworth, Governor of the New Hampshire Colony, began to issue the New Hampshire Grants on land which was also claimed by New York, and is now Vermont.
- 1958 – Ten former British colonies in the Caribbean joined to form a new self-governing West Indies Federation.
- 1959 – The History of Alaska: The Alaska Territory, an organized incorporated territory of the United States, became the 49th state of the union, and the first U.S. state outside of the 48 contiguous states.
- 1990 – United States invasion of Panama: General Manuel Noriega, the deposed "strongman of Panama", surrendered to American forces.