Events Pre-1600 783 – The Asturian queen Adosinda is held at a monastery to prevent her nephew from retaking the throne from Mauregatus. 1161 – Battle of Caishi: A Song dynasty fleet fights a naval engagement with Jin dynasty ships on the Yangtze river during the Jin–Song Wars. 1346 – Having been elected German king at Rhens on 11 July 1346, Charles IV is crowned King of Germany by bishop Walram of Cologne in Bonn. 1476 – Vlad the Impaler defeats Basarab Laiota with the help of Stephen the Great and Stephen V Báthory and becomes the ruler of Wallachia for the third time.
1601–1900 1778 – In the Hawaiian Islands, Captain James Cook becomes the first European to visit Maui. 1789 – A national Thanksgiving Day is observed in the United States as proclaimed by President George Washington at the request of Congress. 1805 – Official opening of Thomas Telford's Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. 1812 – The Battle of Berezina begins during Napoleon's retreat from Russia. 1852 – An earthquake as high as magnitude 8.8 rocks the Banda Sea, triggering a tsunami and killing at least 60 in the Dutch East Indies. 1863 – United States President Abraham Lincoln proclaims November 26 as a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated annually on the final Thursday of November. Following the Franksgiving controversy from 1939 to 1941, it has been observed on the fourth Thursday in 1942 and subsequent years. 1865 – Battle of Papudo: A Spanish navy schooner is defeated by a Chilean corvette north of Valparaíso, Chile.
1901–present 1914 – HMS Bulwark is destroyed by a large internal explosion with the loss of 741 men while at anchor near Sheerness. 1917 – The Manchester Guardian publishes the 1916 secret Sykes-Picot Agreement between the United Kingdom and France. 1917 – The National Hockey League is formed, with the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Quebec Bulldogs, and Toronto Arenas as its first teams. 1918 – The Montenegrin Podgorica Assembly votes for a "union of the people", declaring assimilation into the Kingdom of Serbia. 1920 – Ukrainian War of Independence: The Red Army launches a surprise attack against the Makhnovshchina. 1922 – Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon become the first people to enter the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in over 3,000 years. 1922 – The Toll of the Sea debuts as the first general release film to use two-tone Technicolor. (The Gulf Between was the first film to do so, but it was not widely distributed.) 1924 – The Mongolian People's Republic is officially established after a new constitution, passed by the first State Great Khural, abolishes the monarchy. 1939 – Shelling of Mainila: The Soviet Army orchestrates an incident which is used to justify the start of the Winter War with Finland four days later. 1941 – World War II: The Hull note is given to the Japanese ambassador, demanding that Japan withdraw from China and French Indochina, in return for which the United States would lift economic sanctions. On the same day, Japan's 1st Air Fleet departs Hitokappu Bay for Hawaii. 1942 – World War II: Yugoslav Partisans convene the first meeting of the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia at Bihać in northwestern Bosnia. 1942 – Casablanca, the movie starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, premieres in New York City. 1942 – A riot involving infantrymen, military police, and local law enforcement officers occurs in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, leading to three deaths. 1943 – World War II: HMT Rohna is sunk by the Luftwaffe in an air attack in the Mediterranean north of Béjaïa, Algeria. 1944 – World War II: A German V-2 rocket hits a Woolworth's shop in New Cross, London, killing 168 people. 1944 – World War II: Germany begins V-1 and V-2 attacks on Antwerp, Belgium. 1949 – The Constituent Assembly of India adopts the constitution presented by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. 1950 – Korean War: Communist Chinese troops launch a massive counterattack (Battle of the Ch'ongch'on River and Battle of Chosin Reservoir) against United Nations and South Korean forces. 1965 – France launches Astérix, becoming the third nation to put an object in orbit using its own booster. 1968 – Vietnam War: United States Air Force helicopter pilot James P. Fleming rescues an Army Special Forces unit pinned down by Viet Cong fire. He is later awarded the Medal of Honor. 1970 – In Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, of rain fall in a minute, the heaviest rainfall ever recorded. 1977 – An unidentified hijacker named Vrillon, claiming to be the representative of the "Ashtar Galactic Command", takes over Britain's Southern Television for six minutes, starting at 5:12 pm. 1979 – Pakistan International Airlines Flight 740 crashes near Taif in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, killing all 156 people on board. 1983 – Brink's-Mat robbery: In London, 6,800 gold bars worth nearly £26 million are stolen from the Brink's-Mat vault at Heathrow Airport. 1986 – Iran–Contra affair: U.S. President Ronald Reagan announces the members of what will become known as the Tower Commission. 1986 – The trial of John Demjanjuk, accused of committing war crimes as a guard at the Nazi Treblinka extermination camp, starts in Jerusalem. 1991 – National Assembly of Azerbaijan abolishes the autonomous status of Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of Azerbaijan and renames several cities with Azeri names. 1998 – Tony Blair becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to address the Oireachtas, the parliament of the Republic of Ireland. 1998 – The Khanna rail disaster takes 212 lives in Khanna, Ludhiana, India. 1999 – The 7.5 Ambrym earthquake shakes Vanuatu and a destructive tsunami follows. Ten people were killed and forty were injured. 2000 – George W. Bush is certified the winner of Florida's electoral votes by Katherine Harris, going on to win the United States presidential election, despite losing in the national popular vote. 2003 – The Concorde makes its final flight, over Bristol, England. 2004 – Ruzhou School massacre: A man stabs and kills eight people and seriously wounds another four in a school dormitory in Ruzhou, China. 2004 – The last Poʻouli (Black-faced honeycreeper) dies of avian malaria in the Maui Bird Conservation Center in Olinda, Hawaii, before it could breed, making the species in all probability extinct. 2008 – Mumbai attacks, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks took place in Mumbai killing 166 citizens by 10 terrorists of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan based extremist Islamist terrorist organisation. 2008 – The ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2, now out of service, docks in Dubai. 2011 – NATO attack in Pakistan: NATO forces in Afghanistan attack a Pakistani check post in a friendly fire incident, killing 24 soldiers and wounding 13 others. 2011 – The Mars Science Laboratory launches to Mars with the Curiosity Rover. 2018 – The robotic probe Insight lands on Elysium Planitia, Mars. 2019 – A magnitude 6.4 earthquake strikes western Albania leaving at least 52 people dead and over 1,000 injured. This was the world's deadliest earthquake of 2019, and the deadliest to strike the country in 99 years. 2021 – COVID-19 pandemic: The World Health Organization identifies the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. 2025 – The Wang Fuk Court fire, a catastrophic fire in Tai Po, Hong Kong, leaves at least dead and 79 injured.
Births
Pre-1600 907 – Rudesind, Galician bishop (died 977) 1288 – Go-Daigo, Japanese emperor (died 1339) 1401 – Henry Beaufort, 2nd Earl of Somerset (died 1418) 1436 – Catherine of Portugal (died 1463) 1466 – Edward Hastings, 2nd Baron Hastings, English noble (died 1506) 1518 – Guido Ascanio Sforza di Santa Fiora, Catholic cardinal (died 1564) 1534 – Henry Berkeley, 7th Baron Berkeley (died 1613) 1552 – Seonjo of Joseon, King of Joseon (died 1608) 1594 – James Ware, Irish genealogist (died 1666)
1601–1900 1604 – Johannes Bach, German organist and composer (died 1673) 1607 – John Harvard, English minister and philanthropist (died 1638) 1609 – Henry Dunster, English-American clergyman and academic (died 1659) 1657 – William Derham, English minister and philosopher (died 1735) 1678 – Jean-Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan, French geophysicist and astronomer (died 1771) 1679 – Isidro de Espinosa, Franciscan missionary from Spanish Texas (died 1755) 1703 – Theophilus Cibber, English actor and playwright (died 1758) 1727 – Artemas Ward, American general and politician (died 1800) 1731 – William Cowper, English poet and hymnwriter (died 1800) 1792 – Sarah Moore Grimké, American author and activist (died 1873) 1811 – Zeng Guofan, Chinese general and politician, Viceroy of Liangjiang (died 1872) 1817 – Charles Adolphe Wurtz, Alsatian-French chemist (died 1884) 1827 – Ellen G. White, American religious leader and author, co-founded the Seventh-day Adventist Church (died 1915) 1828 – Robert Battey, American surgeon and academic (died 1895) 1828 – René Goblet, French journalist and politician, 52nd Prime Minister of France (died 1905) 1832 – Rudolph Koenig, German-French physicist and academic (died 1901) 1832 – Mary Edwards Walker, American surgeon and activist, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1919) 1837 – Thomas Playford, English-Australian politician, 17th Premier of South Australia (died 1915) 1853 – Bat Masterson, American police officer and journalist (died 1921) 1857 – Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist and author (died 1913) 1858 – Katharine Drexel, American nun and saint (died 1955) 1864 – Edward Higgins, English 3rd General of the Salvation Army (died 1947) 1869 – Maud of Wales (died 1938) 1870 – Sir Hari Singh Gour, founder and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sagar (died 1949) 1873 – Fred Herd, Scottish golfer (died 1954) 1876 – Willis Carrier, American engineer, invented air conditioning (died 1950) 1878 – Major Taylor, American cyclist (died 1932) 1885 – Heinrich Brüning, German lieutenant, economist, and politician, Chancellor of Germany (died 1970) 1888 – Ford Beebe, American director and screenwriter (died 1978) 1889 – Albert Dieudonné, French actor, director, and screenwriter (died 1976) 1891 – Scott Bradley, American pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1977) 1894 – James Charles McGuigan, Canadian cardinal (died 1974) 1894 – Norbert Wiener, American-Swedish mathematician and philosopher (died 1964) 1895 – Bill W., American activist, co-founded Alcoholics Anonymous (died 1971) 1898 – Karl Ziegler, German chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1973) 1899 – Richard Hauptmann, German-American murderer (died 1936) 1900 – Anna Maurizio, Swiss biologist, known for her study of bees (died 1993)
1901–present 1901 – William Sterling Parsons, American admiral (died 1953) 1902 – Maurice McDonald, American businessman, co-founded McDonald's (died 1971) 1903 – Alice Herz-Sommer, Czech-English pianist and educator (died 2014) 1904 – Armand Frappier, Canadian physician and microbiologist (died 1991) 1904 – K. D. Sethna, Indian poet, scholar, writer, philosopher, and cultural critic (died 2011) 1905 – Bob Johnson, American baseball player (died 1982) 1907 – Ruth Patrick, American botanist (died 2013) 1908 – Charles Forte, Baron Forte, Italian-Scottish businessman, founded Forte Group (died 2007) 1908 – Lefty Gomez, American baseball player and manager (died 1989) 1909 – Fritz Buchloh, German footballer and manager (died 1998) 1909 – Frances Dee, American actress and singer (died 2004) 1909 – Eugène Ionesco, Romanian-French playwright and critic (died 1994) 1910 – Cyril Cusack, South African-born Irish actor (died 1993) 1911 – Samuel Reshevsky, Polish-American chess player and author (died 1992) 1912 – Eric Sevareid, American journalist (died 1992) 1915 – Inge King, German-born Australian sculptor (died 2016) 1915 – Earl Wild, American pianist and composer (died 2010) 1917 – Nesuhi Ertegun, Turkish-American record producer (died 1989) 1918 – Patricio Aylwin, Chilean lawyer and politician, 31st President of Chile (died 2016)