Events Pre-1600 571 BC – Servius Tullius, king of Rome, celebrates the first of his three triumphs for his victory over the Etruscans. 1034 – Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, King of Scots, dies. His grandson, Donnchad, son of Bethóc and Crínán of Dunkeld, inherits the throne. 1120 – The White Ship sinks in the English Channel, drowning William Adelin, son and heir of Henry I of England.There are seven accounts of the disaster: Orderic Vitalis, Historia ecclesiastica 12.26 (ed. and trans. Chibnall, 1978, pp. 294–307); William of Malmesbury, Gesta regum Anglorum 5.419 (ed. and trans. Mynors, Thomson, and Winterbottom, 1998, pp. 758–763); Simeon of Durham, Historia regum 100.199 (ed. T. Arnold, 1885, vol. 2, pp. 258–9); Eadmer, Historia nouorum in Anglia (ed. M. Rule, 1884, pp. 288–9), Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum 7.32 (ed. and trans. Greenway, 1996, pp. 466–7), Hugh the Chanter, History of the Church at York (ed. and trans. Johnson, 1990, pp. 164–5), Robert of Torigni, Gesta Normannorum ducum (ed. and trans. E. van Houts, 1995, vol. 2, pp. 216–19, 246–51, 274–7), and Wace, Roman de Rou, pt. iii, lines 10173–262 (ed. A. Holden, 1973, vol. 2, pp. 262–6). 1177 – Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Raynald of Châtillon defeat Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard. 1343 – A tsunami, caused by an earthquake in the Tyrrhenian Sea, devastates Naples and the Maritime Republic of Amalfi, among other places. 1400 – King Minkhaung I becomes king of Ava. 1487 – Elizabeth of York is crowned Queen Consort of England. 1491 – The siege of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, ends with the Treaty of Granada. 1510 – Portuguese conquest of Goa: Portuguese naval forces under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque, and local mercenaries working for privateer Timoji, seize Goa from the Bijapur Sultanate, resulting in 451 years of Portuguese colonial rule. 1596 – The Cudgel War begins in Finland (at the time part of Sweden), when peasants rebel against the imposition of taxes by the nobility.
1601–1900 1667 – A deadly earthquake rocks Shemakha in the Caucasus, killing 80,000 people. 1678 – Trunajaya rebellion: After a long and logistically challenging march, the allied Mataram and Dutch troops successfully assault the rebel stronghold of Kediri. 1755 – King Ferdinand VI of Spain grants royal protection to the Beaterio de la Compañia de Jesus, now known as the Congregation of the Religious of the Virgin Mary. 1758 – French and Indian War: British forces capture Fort Duquesne from French control. Later, Fort Pitt will be built nearby and grow into modern Pittsburgh. 1759 – An earthquake hits the Mediterranean destroying Beirut and Damascus and killing 30,000–40,000. 1783 – American Revolutionary War: The last British troops leave New York City, three months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris. 1795 – Partitions of Poland: Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last king of independent Poland, is forced to abdicate and is exiled to Russia. 1826 – The Greek frigate Hellas arrives in Nafplion to become the first flagship of the Hellenic Navy. 1833 – A massive undersea earthquake, estimated magnitude between 8.7 and 9.2, rocks Sumatra, producing a massive tsunami all along the Indonesian coast. 1839 – A cyclone slams into south-eastern India. An estimated 300,000 deaths resulted from the disaster. 1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Missionary Ridge: Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant break the Siege of Chattanooga by routing Confederate troops under General Braxton Bragg at Missionary Ridge in Tennessee. 1864 – American Civil War: A group of Confederate operatives calling themselves the Confederate Army of Manhattan starts fires in more than 20 locations in an unsuccessful attempt to burn down New York City. 1874 – The United States Greenback Party is established as a political party consisting primarily of farmers affected by the Panic of 1873. 1876 – American Indian Wars: In retaliation for the American defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, United States Army troops sack the sleeping village of Cheyenne Chief Dull Knife at the headwaters of the Powder River.
1901–present 1905 – Prince Carl of Denmark arrives in Norway to become King Haakon VII of Norway. 1908 – A fire breaks out on as it leaves Malta's Grand Harbour, resulting in the ship's grounding and the deaths of at least 118 people. 1912 – Românul de la Pind, the longest-running newspaper by and about Aromanians prior to World War II, ceases its publications. 1915 – Albert Einstein presents the field equations of general relativity to the Prussian Academy of Sciences. 1917 – World War I: German forces defeat Portuguese army of about 1,200 at Negomano on the border of modern-day Mozambique and Tanzania. 1918 – Vojvodina, formerly Austro-Hungarian crown land, proclaims its secession from Austria-Hungary to join the Kingdom of Serbia. 1926 – The deadliest November tornado outbreak in U.S. history kills 76 people and injures more than 400. 1931 – Wilhelm Schäfer leaves the Nazi Party and hands over the Boxheim Documents to the Frankfurt police. 1936 – In Berlin, Germany and Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, agreeing to consult on measures "to safeguard their common interests" in the case of an unprovoked attack by the Soviet Union against either nation. 1941 – World War II: is sunk by a German torpedo. 1943 – World War II: Statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina is re-established at the State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 1947 – Red Scare: The "Hollywood Ten" are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios. 1947 – New Zealand ratifies the Statute of Westminster and thus becomes independent of legislative control by the United Kingdom. 1950 – The Great Appalachian Storm of 1950 impacts 22 American states, killing 353 people, injuring over 160, and causing US$66.7 million in damages (1950 dollars). 1952 – Agatha Christie's murder-mystery play The Mousetrap opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London's West End after a premiere in Nottingham, UK. It will become the longest continuously running play in history. 1952 – Korean War: After 42 days of fighting, the Battle of Triangle Hill ends in a Chinese victory. American and South Korean units abandon their attempt to capture the "Iron Triangle". 1958 – French Sudan gains autonomy as a self-governing member of the French Community. 1960 – The Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic are assassinated. 1963 – State funeral of John F. Kennedy; after lying in state at the United States Capitol, a Requiem Mass takes place at Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle and the President is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. 1968 – The Old Student House in Helsinki, Finland is occupied by a large group of University of Helsinki students. 1970 – In Japan, author Yukio Mishima and one compatriot commit ritualistic seppuku after an unsuccessful coup attempt. 1973 – Georgios Papadopoulos, head of the military Regime of the Colonels in Greece, is ousted in a hardliners' coup led by Brigadier General Dimitrios Ioannidis. 1975 – Coup of 25 November 1975, a failed military coup d'état by Portuguese far-left activists seeking to hijack the Portuguese transition to democracy to establish a communist regime. 1975 – Suriname gains independence from the Netherlands. 1977 – Former Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., is found guilty by the Philippine Military Commission No. 2 and is sentenced to death by firing squad. He is later assassinated in 1983. 1980 – Sangoulé Lamizana, president of Upper Volta, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Colonel Saye Zerbo. 1981 – Pope John Paul II appoints Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (the future Pope Benedict XVI) Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. 1984 – Thirty-six top musicians gather in a Notting Hill studio and record Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. 1985 – A Soviet Air Force Antonov An-12 is shot down near Menongue in Angola's Cuando Cubango Province, killing 21. 1986 – Iran–Contra affair: U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that profits from covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua. 1986 – The King Fahd Causeway is officially opened in the Persian Gulf. 1987 – Typhoon Nina pummels the Philippines with category 5 winds of and a surge that destroys entire villages. At least 1,036 deaths are attributed to the storm. 1992 – The Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia votes to split the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with effect from January 1, 1993. 1999 – A five-year-old Cuban boy, Elián González, is rescued by fishermen while floating in an inner tube off the Florida coast. 2000 – The 2000 Baku earthquake, with a Richter magnitude of 7.0 kills 26 people dead in Baku, Azerbaijan, being the strongest earthquake in the region in 158 years. 2008 – Cyclone Nisha strikes northern Sri Lanka, killing 15 people and displacing 90,000 others while dealing the region the highest rainfall in nine decades. 2009 – Jeddah floods: Freak rains swamp the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during an ongoing Hajj pilgrimage. Three thousand cars are swept away and 122 people perish in the torrents, with 350 others missing.
Births Pre-1600 902 – Emperor Taizong of Liao (died 947) 1075 – Emperor Taizong of Jin (died 1135) 1454 – Catherine Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus (died 1510) 1467 – Thomas Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre, Knight of Henry VIII of England (died 1525) 1493 – Osanna of Cattaro, Dominican visionary and anchoress (died 1565) 1562 – Lope de Vega, Spanish playwright and poet (died 1635) 1566 – John Heminges, English actor (died 1630) 1577 – Piet Pieterszoon Hein, Dutch admiral (died 1629) 1587 – Sir Gervase Clifton, 1st Baronet, English politician (died 1666)
1601–1900 1609 – Henrietta Maria of France, Queen Consort of England, Scotland and Ireland (died 1669) 1638 – Catherine of Braganza, Queen Consort of England, Scotland and Ireland (died 1705) 1666 – Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri, Italian violin maker (died 1740) 1703 – Jean-François Séguier, French astronomer and botanist (died 1784) 1752 – Johann Friedrich Reichardt, German composer and critic (died 1814) 1753 – Robert Townsend, American spy (died 1838) 1758 – John Armstrong, Jr., American general and politician, 7th United States Secretary of War (died 1843) 1778 – Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, English author and activist (died 1856) 1787 – Franz Xaver Gruber, Austrian organist and composer (died 1863) 1814 – Julius Robert von Mayer, German physician and physicist (died 1878) 1815 – William Sawyer, Canadian merchant and politician (died 1904) 1817 – John Bigelow, American lawyer and politician, United States Ambassador to France (died 1911) 1835 – Andrew Carnegie, Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist (died 1919) 1841 – Ernst Schröder, German mathematician and academic (died 1902) 1843 – Henry Ware Eliot, American businessman and philanthropist (died 1919) 1844 – Karl Benz, German engineer and businessman, founded Mercedes-Benz (died 1929) 1845 – José Maria de Eça de Queirós, Portuguese-French journalist and author (died 1900) 1846 – Carrie Nation, American activist (died 1911) 1858 – Alfred Capus, French journalist, author, and playwright (died 1922) 1862 – Ethelbert Nevin, American pianist and composer (died 1901) 1862 – Gustaf Söderström, Swedish tug of war competitor, shot putter, and discus thrower (died 1958) 1865 – Kate Gleason, American engineer, businesswoman, and philanthropist (died 1933) 1867 – Talaat Harb, Egyptian economist, founded the Banque Misr (died 1941) 1868 – Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse (died 1937) 1869 – Ben Lindsey, American lawyer and judge (died 1934) 1870 – Winthrop Ames, American director, producer, and playwright (died 1937) 1870 – Maurice Denis, French painter of Les Nabis movement (died 1943) 1872 – Robert Maysack, American gymnast and triathlete (died 1960)