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December 29 in history

154 sourced entries recorded on December 29, from 721 CE to 2024 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 875King Charles the Bald, supported by Pope John VIII, travels to Italy. He receives the Imperial Regalia at Pavia, and is crowned Holy Roman Emperor as Charles II at Rome.source
  • 1024The Fatimid caliph celebrates the Eid al-Fitr in an elaborate ceremony at the Anwar Mosque, as recounted later by the Amir al-Musabbihi. "Social elites at the Fatimid court", by Paul E. Walker, in Court Cultures in the Muslim World Seventh to Nineteenth Centuries (Taylor & Francis, 2014)source
  • 1304William de Hamilton is nominated Lord Chancellor of England, the highest office at the time for a member of Parliament, by King Edward I. He takes office on January 16.source
  • 1319two-year truce with England, agreed several days earlier, comes into effectsource
  • 1391Representatives of Prince Amadeo of Savoy meet with Nerio I Acciaioli, Duke of Athens at the Acropolis in a pact against the Navarrese Company. The parties agree to oppose the Navarrese control of Morea and Nerio agrees to recognize Amadeo as Prince of Achaea.source
  • 1427Victorious in the Lam Sơn uprising, Đại Việt (Vietnam) succeeds in forcing the withdrawal of Chinese troops from its territory as China's General Wang Tong and Vietnam's General Nguyễn Trãi agree to terms of disarmament and repatriation of 86,640 Ming Chinese prisoners in return for Chinese withdrawal.source
  • 1503Third Italian War: The Battle of Garigliano takes place near Gaeta in Italy. Spanish forces under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba defeat a French–Italian mercenary army under Marchese Ludovico II of Saluzzo; the French forces, who suffer 4,000 casualties, withdraw to Gaeta.source
  • 1503The Battle of Garigliano takes place near Gaeta in Italy. Spanish forces under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba defeat a French–Italian mercenary army under Ludovico II, Marquess of Saluzzo.source
  • 1508Battle of Dabul: Portuguese forces, under the command of Francisco de Almeida, attack Khambhat.source
  • 1547Wyndham burns Elcho Nunnery.source
  • 1598Pope Clement VIII refuses to allow dispensation for Henry of Lorraine, who is Catholic, to marry Catherine of Bourbon, a Protestant Calvinist. King Henry IV of France then intimidates the Catholic Archbishop of Reims into authorizing the marriage.source
  • 1603Yavuz Ali Pasha, who had been appointed by Mehmed III in October as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, arrives at Constantinople to begin service. He dies from illness seven months later.source
  • 1604The 1604 Quanzhou earthquake, with an estimated 8.1 magnitude, shakes the Taiwan Strait leaving several dead.source
  • 1660The Convention Parliament is dissolved by King Charles II and elections are called for what will be called the Cavalier Parliament.source
  • 1690An earthquake hits Ancona, in the Papal States of Italy and causes 10 deaths.source
  • 1701December 29 (O.S., January 9, 1702 N.S.) – The Battle of Erastfer takes place near what becomes Erastvere in Estonia, as a large Russian force commanded by Boris Sheremetev invades Swedish Livonia and overwhelms a smaller force led by Wolmar Anton von Schlippenbach in the first significant Russian victory in the Great Northern War.source
  • 1705The premiere of the play Idoménée by Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon takes place in Paris.source
  • 1720Haymarket Theatre opens in London.source
  • 1731Jacques Grimaldi, the husband of the reigning monarch of Monaco, Louise Hippolyte, succeeds to the throne after Louise's death from smallpox. Jacques I rules until his own death in 1751.source
  • 1747The Press and Journal begins publication as a weekly, Aberdeen's Journal.source
  • 1750Two physicians in Jamaica, Dr. John Williams and Dr. Parker Bennet, fight a duel "with swords and pistols" after having had an argument the day before about the treatment of bilious fever. Both are mortally wounded during the fight.source
  • 1767Oconostota and Attakullakulla arrive at Johnstown, New York where they, along with leaders of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy (the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora tribal nations) meet with Sir William Johnson to begin peace negotiations with the British Empire.source
  • 1778American Revolutionary War: Capture of Savannah – British forces under Archibald Campbell take the city of Savannah, Georgia.source
  • 1807The Royal Navy ship of the line HMS Anson runs aground on Loe Bar, Cornwall, with around sixty people drowned, inspiring Henry Trengrouse to invent a rocket apparatus for saving life from shipwrecks and passage of the Burial of Drowned Persons Act 1808 to ensure respectful burial of drowned sailors.source
  • 1825Bolívar renounces his position and delegates command to Antonio José de Sucre.source
  • 1834Extradition treaty with the Kingdom of France comes into force.source
  • 1834The West of England and South Wales District Bank is established in Bristol.source
  • 1835The Treaty of New Echota is signed between the United States Government and representatives of the Cherokee Nation.source
  • 1835Mary Gilbert gives birth to her son, James Port Phillip Gilbert, the first European child born in the Port Phillip settlement of Melbourne.source
  • 1837The Caroline Affair, on the Niagara River, becomes the basis for the Caroline test for anticipatory self-defence in international relations.source
  • 1837The Patriot steamer "Caroline" is burned in the Niagara River at Niagara Falls.source
  • 1845Texas is admitted as the 28th U.S. state.source
  • 1851The first YMCA in the United States opens in Boston, Massachusetts.source
  • 1852Taiping Rebellion: The Taiping army takes Hankou.source
  • 1857The National Party (Chile, 1857–1933) is established.source
  • 1858The Northern Railway Company is established in Madrid, Spain, with a purpose to construct the Northern Railway.source
  • 1860The world's first ocean-going (all) iron-hulled and armoured battleship, the (British) HMS Warrior, is launched.source
  • 1860The world's first ocean-going (all) iron-hulled and armoured battleship, HMS Warrior is launched on the Thames.source
  • 1862December 26–29 – Battle of Chickasaw Bayou – Another victory for the Confederate Army, outnumbered two to one, results in six times as many Union casualties, defeating several assaults commanded by Union general William T. Sherman.source
  • 1863Second Japanese Embassy to Europe (1863)source
  • 1874General Martínez and Brigadier General Luís Daban stage a pronunciamento at Sagunto, and proclaim Isabel's son Alfonso as King of Spain. Subsequently, the Madrid garrison follows suit, and the First Spanish Republic comes to an end.source
  • 1876The Ashtabula River railroad disaster occurs in Ohio when a bridge collapses, leaving 92 dead.source
  • 1890Sir John Forrest becomes the Premier of Western Australia and the first Premier in Australia.source
  • 1890Wounded Knee Massacre: At Wounded Knee, South Dakota, a Lakota camp, the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment tries to disperse the non-violent "Ghost-Dance" which was promised to usher in a new era of power and freedom to Native Americans but is feared as a potential rallying tool for violent rebellion by some in the U.S. government. Shooting begins, and 153 Lakota Sioux and 25 troops are killed; about 150 flee the scene. This is the last tribe to be defeated and confined to a reservation as well as the beginning of the decline of both the American Indian Wars and the American frontier.source
  • 1895The Jameson Raid is launched when Leander Starr Jameson and his forces cross into Transvaal from Bechuanaland.source
  • 1898King Umberto of Italy commutes the sentences of all prisoners who had been given the death penalty.source
  • 1898The Moscow Art Theatre production of The Seagull by Anton Chekhov opens.source
  • 1911Sun Yat-sen is elected Provisional President of the Republic of China.source
  • 1912The federal government sends in 200 federal troops to deal with ongoing trouble in the State of Santa Catarina.source
  • 1917The Waseda University baseball team came to Taiwan.source
  • 1923Vladimir K. Zworykin files his first patent (in the United States) for "television systems".source
  • 1925Alexander Munro MacRobert appointed Solicitor General for Scotland, replacing David Flemingsource
  • 1927Eruption of the Perboewatan and Danan undersea volcanoes near Krakatoa, create the foundation for Anak Krakatau Island.source
  • 1929The All India Congress in Lahore demands Indian independence.source
  • 1930Sir Muhammad Iqbal's presidential address in Allahabad introduces the two-nation theory, outlining a vision for the creation of Pakistan.source
  • 1930The first and only census of Greater Romania reports that the population is 18,057,028, of which 28% are non-Romanian.source
  • 1933Members of the Iron Guard assassinate Ion Gheorghe Duca, prime minister of Romania.source
  • 1934Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.source
  • 1937The new Constitution of Ireland (Bunreacht na hÉireann) comes into force. The Irish Free State becomes "Ireland", and Éamon de Valera becomes the first Taoiseach (prime minister) of the new state. A Presidential Commission (made up the Chief Justice, the Speaker of Dáil Éireann, and the President of the High Court) assumes the powers of the new presidency, pending the popular election of the first President of Ireland in June 1938. The new constitution prohibits divorce.source
  • 1937Goga forms a new government which pursues anti-semitic policies, issuing in the first short-lived period of fascism in the kingdom.source
  • 1939Police issue a warrant for the arrest of the tycoon Fritz Thyssen who once funded but now opposes the Nazis. He is believed to be in Portugalsource
  • 1940Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a fireside chat to the nation, declares that the United States must become "the great arsenal of democracy."source
  • 1940WWII: "Second Great Fire of London" – The Luftwaffe carries out a massive incendiary bombing raid, starting 1,500 fires. Many famous buildings, including the Guildhall and Trinity House, are either damaged or destroyed.source
  • 1945Expulsion of Germans from Hungary is ordered by the Soviet-dominated Hungarian government.source
  • 1949KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut, becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.source
  • 1949Smouha SC (sports club) is founded in Alexandria, Egypt, by Joseph Smouha, a Mizrahi Iraqi Jew.source
  • 1958Battle of Santa Clara: Rebel troops under Camilo Cienfuegos and Che Guevara begin to invade Santa Clara, Cuba.source
  • 1959Opening of the Lisbon Metrosource
  • 1967Korean automobile manufacturer Hyundai Motor is founded.source
  • 1970U.S. President Richard Nixon signs into law the Occupational Safety and Health Act.source
  • 1970The New People's Army conducts a raid in the armory of the Philippine Military Academy, with Lt. Victor Corpuz, academy's constabulary officer, as its accomplice.source
  • 1971The Gold Bars triple murders saw a gold merchant and his two employees robbed and killed by a group of 10 men. Seven of the 10 men were sentenced to death for the crime; the remaining three were indefinitely detained for lengthy periods before their release.source
  • 1972Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 crashes into the Everglades in Florida, killing 101 of 176 on board. It is the first hull loss of a wide-body aircraft.source
  • 1975A bomb explosion at LaGuardia Airport in New York City kills 11 people.source
  • 1977Kialoa II wins the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.source
  • 1980December 28–30. Council of Association of Polish Writers convenes in Warsaw, electing Józef Szczepański as president,source
  • 198719-year-old Neighbours star Kylie Minogue enters the charts with her first single "I Should Be So Lucky".source
  • 1988The establishment of Ritek.source
  • 1989Nikkei 225 for Tokyo Stock Exchange hits its all-time intra-day high of 38,957.44 and closing high at 38,915.87.source
  • 1992Brazil's president Fernando Collor de Mello is found guilty on charges that he stole more than $32 million from the government, preventing him from holding any elected office for eight years. Collor resigns the presidency hours before the sentence to be passed by the Supreme Federal Court.source
  • 1994Turkish Airlines Flight 278 crashed on approach to Van Ferit Melen Airport killing 57. Nineteen survived the incident.source
  • 1996Guatemala and the leaders of the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity sign a peace accord that ends the 36-year Guatemalan Civil War.source
  • 1997Hong Kong begins to kill all the chickens within its territory (1.25 million) to stop the spread of a potentially deadly Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 strain.source
  • 1998The Khmer Rouge's leaders apologize for the post-Vietnam War genocide in Cambodia that killed more than one million people in the 1970s.source
  • 2000A ferry capsizes in the Meghna river leading to 144 deaths.source
  • 2002Shenzhou 4 is launched from China.source
  • 2006UK settles its Anglo-American loan, post-WWII loan debt.source
  • 2007Singye Galeem film is released.source
  • 2011Samoa and Tokelau move from east to west of the International Date Line, thereby skipping December 30, in order to align their time zones better with their main trading partners.source
  • 2011The Intellectual Transportation Management Center was opened in Baku.source
  • 2015For the first time since March 2014, Guinea is declared free from Ebola virus transmissions by the World Health Organization.source
  • 2016President Sauli Niinistö appoints Mika Lintilä, an MP for the Centre Party, as the Minister of Economic Affairs.source
  • 2016The Helsinki District Court gives Jari Aarnio, the former head of anti-drugs police, to ten-year prison sentence for drug crimes as part of a rare police corruption scandal in Finland.source
  • 2020The 2020 Petrinja earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 strikes Croatia, killing seven and injuring more than 20.source
  • 2022Eighteen children die in Uzbekistan after drinking a cough syrup manufactured by Indian drug maker Marion Biotech.source
  • 2023A genocide case against Israel is brought towards the International Court of Justice by South Africa for Israel's invasion and subsequent bombardment of the Gaza Strip, and its role in the subsequent humanitarian crisis.source
  • 2023Russo-Ukrainian war: Russia launches the largest wave of drones and missiles on Ukrainian cities since the start of the war in an overnight assault, killing at least 39 people and injuring at least 160 others. Ukraine launches a drone assault the following day, killing at least 21 people, including three children, and injuring 110 others, including 17 children.source
  • 2024A truck carrying passengers falls off a bridge over the Ganale Doria River in Bona Zuria, Sidama Region, Ethiopia, killing 71 people and injuring 4 others.source
  • 2024Jeju Air Flight 2216, a Boeing 737-800 passenger flight from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, to Muan International Airport in Muan, South Korea, veers off the runway at Muan International Airport and crashes into a barrier, killing 179 people. Two injured survivors are reported.source

Births

  • 1019Munjong, ruler of Goryeo (Korea) (died 1083)source
  • 1570Wilhelm Lamormaini, Luxembourgian theologian (died 1648)source
  • 1571John of St. Samson, French friar and mystic of the Catholic Church. (d.1636)source
  • 1592Johannes Matthiae Gothus, Swedish academic (died 1670)source
  • 1592Johannes Matthiae Gothus, professor (died 1670)source
  • 1692Thomas Angell, merchant, philanthropist (died 1767).source
  • 1693Pierre Joseph Céloron de Blainville, French explorer (died 1759)source
  • 1713Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, French astronomer (died 1762)source
  • 1717Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, French statesman and diplomat (died 1787)source
  • 1721Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV of France (died 1764)source
  • 1800Charles Goodyear, American inventor of the vulcanization process (died 1860)source
  • 1808Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States (died 1875)source
  • 1809William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1898)source
  • 1859Venustiano Carranza, 37th President of Mexico (died 1920)source
  • 1937Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, President of the Maldives (1978–2008)source
  • 1994Varvara Filiou, rhythmic gymnastsource

Deaths

  • 721Genmei, empress of Japan (born 660)source
  • 1125Agnes I, abbess of Quedlinburgsource
  • 1126Wulfhilde of Saxony, duchess of Bavaria (born 1072)source
  • 1170Thomas Becket, English archbishopsource
  • 1170Thomas Becket is assassinated by four knights (who believe themselves to be carrying out Henry II's wishes) in Canterbury Cathedral, after his refusal to be arrested for breaking his agreement with Henry II.source
  • 1208Zhangzong of Jin, Chinese emperor (born 1168)source
  • 1302Vitslav II, Prince of Rügen, Danish nobleman, knight and princesource
  • 1358Niels Bugge, Danish magnate and rebel leader (murdered) (born 1300)source
  • 1380Elizabeth of Poland, queen consort of Hungary (born 1305)source
  • 1416Mathew Swetenham, bowbearer of Henry IVsource
  • 1514Giovanni Carlo Tramontano, Count of Matera, is assassinated in Matera, the day after demanding that the aristocracy and people of his realm pay 24,000 ducates in taxes to clear up his personal debts.source
  • 1535Matsudaira Kiyoyasu, Japanese daimyo (born 1511)source
  • 1543Maria Salviati, Italian noble (born 1499)source
  • 1550Bhuvanaikabahu VII, King of Kotte on most of the island of Sri Lanka, is assassinated by a gunman hired by the government of Portuguese India.source
  • 1563Sebastian Castellio, French theologian (born 1515)source
  • 1563Sebastian Castellio, Calvinist preacher and theologian (born 1515)source
  • 1594Jean Châtel (born 1575)source
  • 1606Stephen Bocskay, Prince of Transylvania (born 1557)source
  • 1680Arent Berntsen, topographical-statistical author, businessman, banker, estate owner and councillor (born 1610)source
  • 1689Thomas Sydenham, English physician (born 1624)source
  • 1703Mustafa II, 22nd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (born 1664)source
  • 1720Maria Margarethe Kirch, German astronomer (born 1670)source
  • 1731Louise Hippolyte, Princess of Monaco (born 1697)source
  • 1765Prince Frederick William of Wales, son of the former Prince and Princess of Wales, 15source
  • 1785Johan Herman Wessel, poet (b.1742)source
  • 1815Saartjie Baartman, South African sideshow performersource
  • 1815Saartjie Baartman, the "Hottentot Venus", dies in Paris.source
  • 1820Princess Pauline of Anhalt-Bernburg, German regent and social reformer (born 1769)source
  • 1820Princess Pauline of Anhalt-Bernburg, German regent and social reformer (born 1769)source
  • 1825Jacques-Louis David, French painter (born 1748)source
  • 1855Buenaventura Cousiño Jorquera (born 1855)source
  • 1894Christina Rossetti, English poet (born 1830)source
  • 1981Miroslav Krleža, writer (born 1893).source
  • 1986Andrei Tarkovsky, 54, Soviet film director (Mirror, Andrei Rublev, Stalker), lung cancer.source
  • 1986Harold Macmillan, 92, British politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.source
  • 2019A report by the Multi-Sector Epidemic Response Committee (CMRE) indicates that 2,231 people have died so far in the 2018–20 Kivu Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.source
  • 2020Pierre Cardin, 98, French-Italian fashion designer.source
  • 2022Pelé, 82, Brazilian footballer (Santos, national team), world champion (1958, 1962, 1970), multiple organ failure as complications from colon cancer.source
  • 2024Jimmy Carter, 100, American politician and humanitarian, president (1977–1981), governor of Georgia (1971–1975) and Nobel Prize laureate (2002).source