/year

January 20 in history

248 sourced entries recorded on January 20, from 330 BCE to 2023 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 330 BCEAlexander the Great defeats the Persians, led by satrap Ariobarzanes, at the Persian Gates. In this battle, Ariobarzan, supported by only 700 Persian Immortals, holds the vast Macedonian army of 17,000 men at bay for 30 days. At the end, his troops are surrounded by Alexander's army, because of a Persian shepherd, who leads it around the Persian defenses. However, instead of surrendering, Ariobarzan and his 700 Immortals fight to the last man. Some historians consider him to be the Leonidas of Persia.source
  • 224(Huang'chu era, 4th year, 12th month and the bing'yin day) At the Cao Weis kingdom's capital at Xuchang, in what is now the Henan province of China, the Emperor Cao Pi issues a decree demoting the former Emperor Xian of Han to "Duke of Shanyang" and gives Xian's late daughter, Liu Man the posthumous title of "Princess of Changle"source
  • 924China's Emperor Zhuangzong reverses an initial decision to spare the life of General Li Jitao after discovering that Li is continuing to plot the overthrow of the government, and has Li executed.source
  • 1045Pope Sylvester III becomes the 146th pope, succeeding Benedict IX, who abdicated during the previous year.source
  • 1156Freeholder Lalli slays the English missionary-bishop Henry with an axe, on the ice of Lake Köyliönjärvi in Finland (according to legend).source
  • 1238January 15–20 – Siege of Moscow: The Mongols under Batu Khan and Subutai campaign across the northern heartland of the Kievan Rus', committing numerous atrocities across multiple settlements, including the sacking of an insignificant town known as Moscow. According to the Chronicle of Novgorod, Moscow is a fortified village, a trading post "on a crossroads of four rivers". The village is taken by the Mongols after 5 days of siege.source
  • 1265In Westminster, the first elected English parliament (called Montfort's Parliament) conducts its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster, later to be known as the Houses of Parliament.source
  • 1288Newcastle Emlyn Castle in West Wales is recaptured by the English forces after a ten-day siege, bringing Rhys ap Maredudd's revolt to an end. Rhys is exiled to Ireland.source
  • 1302In Egypt, Al-Mustakfi I becomes the new Muslim Abbasid Caliph of Cairo, leader of Islam within the Mamluk Sultanate, upon the death of his father, the Caliph Al-Hakim I.source
  • 1315The English Parliament is convened at Lincoln to hear the reading of the Articuli Cleri, the list of grievances against the church in England. The parliament ends on March 9.source
  • 1319A convocation at York is held by order of the Archbishop, William Melton, after orders sent by him to the Bishops of Durham and of Carlisle on November 28, 1318 to bring all abbots, priors, archdeacons and convents in their jurisdiction to appear before him "in octabis Sancti Hilarii proxime futuris" (on the next octave of Saint Hillary).source
  • 1320Duke Władysław I Łokietek ("Ladislaus the Short") becomes king of a reunited Poland, after receiving the approval from Pope John XXII. He is crowned, along with his wife Jadwiga of Kalisz, at the royal cathedral on Wawel Hill at Kraków. Wladysław's kingdom is surrounded by three hostile neighbors: Brandenburg, the Teutonic Order and Bohemia. Looking for allies, he makes an alliance with Charles I, ruler of Hungary.source
  • 1321The English Parliament appoints a commission to inquire about illegal confederacies in Wales against the King.source
  • 1327Imprisoned in Warwickshire, King Edward II of England is forced to abdicate by his estranged wife, Queen Isabella, and her lover, Roger Mortimer.source
  • 13322 May Justicier de Lucy campaigns in Munster, where he captures William and Walter de Bermingham in February (see 11 July)source
  • 1356Edward Balliol surrenders his title as King of Scotland, to Edward III of England.source
  • 1382Princess Anne of Bohemia, a daughter of the late Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, becomes the Queen Consort of England by marrying King Richard II; the marriage produces no heirs before her death in 1395.source
  • 1392A treaty halts the first of the Florentine–Milanese Wars after the Republic of Florence has liberated Padua from control by the Duchy of Milan. The treaty confirms the boundaries of Florence and Milan as they existed before the war, with the exception of Padua's new independence.source
  • 1393The English Parliament, summoned November 23 by King Richard II of England, assembles at Winchestersource
  • 1394In India, Ala ud-din Sikandar Shah becomes the new Sultan of Delhi upon the death of his father, Muhammad Shah III.source
  • 1401The Parliament of England is opened at Westminster by King Henry IV.source
  • 1439In England, John Juyn becomes the new Chief Justice of the King's Bench.source
  • 1441The siege of Tartas in France is temporarily halted when Charles II of Albret, against whom residents of Gascony are campaigning, and the commander of the English forces, Sir Thomas Rempston, agree to a three-month truce.source
  • 1453King Henry VI of England summons the members of the House of Commons and the House of Lords to assemble on March 6 at Reading.source
  • 1479Fernando II already co-ruler of Crown of Castile with his wife, Isabella I, becomes the King of Aragon upon the death of his father, King Juan II of Aragon and Navarre. He and Isabella rule together over Aragon and Castile, unifying the two kingdoms and controlling most of the Iberian Peninsula. At the same time, King Juan's daughter, Leonor de Trastámara, who had served as regent during times when her father was away fighting in war, becomes Queen of Navarre.source
  • 1483The English Parliament, summoned by King Edward IV on November 15, assembles at Westminster.source
  • 1488In the Kingdom of France, Louis II, Duke of Orleans and François II, Duke of Brittany, are both declared rebels by the Parlement of Paris.source
  • 1488Louis II, Duke of Orléans and Francis II, Duke of Brittany are declared rebels by the Parlement of Paris.source
  • 1503Seville in Castile is awarded exclusive rights to trade with the New World.source
  • 1513Spanish conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa writes a letter to King Ferdinand II of Aragon advocating genocide against the native peoples of the Caribbean islands, and begins the killing of hundreds of residents of Caribbean villages.source
  • 1516Juan Díaz de Solís arrives in what is now Punta del Este in Uruguay, where he becomes the first European to sail into the Río de la Plata (in future Argentina). Díaz and nine of his men are attacked and killed by the local Charrúa people shortly after their arrival. although there was likely an expedition earlier in 1511-1512 by João de Lisboa and Estevão de Fróis.source
  • 1523King Christian II of Denmark and Norway is forced to abdicate after the nobles of the herredag at Viborg have renounced their allegiance in favour of his uncle, Frederick, Duke of Holstein. Christian is exiled to the Netherlands in April.source
  • 1528The Battle of Chanderi is fought between Babur and Medini Rai.source
  • 1529In India, the Mughal Emperor Babur departs from the capital at Agra toward Ghazipur to fight the Rajputs and the rebel Afghans who had captured the city.source
  • 1530Sent on a mission to penetrate the interior of Mexico and to conquer the Kingdom of Michoacán, the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés leads a group of soldiers across the Lerma river through Cuitzeo and proceeds northwest. They arrive at Tonalá on March 24 and then take possession of the regions south of the Santiago River and north and west of Lake Chapala.source
  • 1542The first legislature for the Voivode of Transylvania meets at Vásárhely in the Kingdom of Hungary (now Târgu Mureș in Romania).source
  • 1567Battle of Rio de Janeiro: Portuguese forces under the command of Estácio de Sá definitively drive the French out of Rio de Janeiro.source
  • 1576Martín Enríquez de Almanza, Viceroy of New Spain, founds the settlement of León, in what is later the state of Guanajuato in Mexico.source
  • 1576The establishment of Roman Catholic Diocese of Macau.source
  • 1596Francis Drake, unable to receive a ransom for the town of Nombre de Dios, orders the town and all Spanish ships in harbor to be burned. At the same time, General Baskerville leads 750 men on a mission to clear the Isthmus of Spanish parties.source
  • 1600Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, renews the Nine Years' War (Ireland) against England with an invasion of Munster.source
  • 1612An uprising led by Dmitry Pozharsky begins in Moscow against occupying Polish troops.source
  • 1613King James I of England successfully mediates the Treaty of Knäred between Denmark and Sweden.source
  • 1613The Treaty of Knäred is signed, officially ending the Kalmar War.source
  • 1613The Kalmar War ends.source
  • 1633Galileo Galilei, having been summoned to Rome on orders of Pope Urban VIII, leaves for Florence for his journey. His carriage is halted at Ponte a Centino at the border of Tuscany, where he is quarantined for 22 days because of an outbreak of the plague.source
  • 1646Francesco Molin is elected as the 99th Doge of Venice after 23 ballots, and governs the Venetian Republic for nine years until his death in 1655.source
  • 1647A small Qing force led by Li Chengdong captures Guangzhou and kills the Zhu Yuyue, the Shaowu Emperor of the Southern Ming dynasty in China.source
  • 164720 January 1647, a small Qing force led by former Southern Ming commander Li Chengdong (李成東) captures Guangzhou, kills the Shaowu Emperor and sends the Yongli Emperor fleeing to Nanning in Guangxi.source
  • 1648France's Royal Council votes to create the Académie royale after accepting the proposal of Martin de Charmois.source
  • 1649Charles I of England goes on trial, for treason and other "high crimes".source
  • 1656Reinforced by soldiers dispatched by the Viceroy of Peru, Spanish Chilean troops defeat the indigenous Mapuche warriors in a battle at San Fabián de Conuco in what is now central Chile, turning the tide in the Spanish colonists favor in the Mapuche uprising after more than a year.source
  • 1699The Parliament of England (under Tory dominance) limits the size of the country's standing army to 7,000 'native born' men; hence, King William III's Dutch Blue Guards cannot serve in the line. By an Act of February 1, it also requires disbandment of foreign troops in Ireland.source
  • 1699Louis XIV gave the French Academy of Sciences its first rules.source
  • 1725James Figg hosts the first recorded international boxing match, fought between English livestock drover Bob Whitaker and Venetian gondolier Alberto di Carni in London.source
  • 1726J. S. Bach leads the first performance of his cantata Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen (My sighs, my tears), BWV 13, for the second Sunday after Epiphany.source
  • 1766Burmese–Siamese War: Outside of the walls of the Thailand capital of Ayutthaya, tens of thousands of invaders from Burma (under the command of General Ne Myo Thihapate and General Maha Nawatra) are confronted by Thai defenders led by General Phya Taksin. The defenders are overwhelmed and the survivors take refuge inside Ayutthaya. The siege continues for 15 months before the Burmese attackers collapse the walls by digging tunnels and setting fire to debris. The city falls on April 9, 1767, and King Ekkathat is killed.source
  • 1776American Revolution: South Carolina Loyalists led by Robert Cunningham sign a petition from prison, agreeing to all demands for peace by the formed state government of South Carolina.source
  • 1783At the palace of Versailles, Great Britain signs preliminary peace treaties with the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of Spain.source
  • 1783Preliminary peace treaty signed between Britain and Spainsource
  • 1785Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút: Invading Siamese forces, attempting to exploit the political chaos in Vietnam, are ambushed and annihilated at the Mekong River by the Tây Sơn.source
  • 1795French troops enter Amsterdam.source
  • 1807The Sierra Leone Company, faced with bankruptcy because of the imminent abolition of the slave trade in British colonies, petitions the British government for purchase and transfer of its property to the Crown; Parliament approves the transfer on July 29, and it takes effect on January 1, 1808.source
  • 1807The Sierra Leone Company, faced with bankruptcy because of the imminent abolition of the slave trade in British colonies, petitions the British government for purchase and transfer of its property to the Crown; Parliament approves the transfer on 29 July, and it takes effect on 1 January, 1808.source
  • 1809HMS Claudia was wrecked off Kristiansand.source
  • 1813January 18–23 – War of 1812: The Battle of Frenchtown is fought in modern-day Monroe, Michigan between the United States and a British and Native American alliance.source
  • 1817HMS Jasper is wrecked in the vicinity of Plymouth Sound by hurricane-force winds with the loss of 65 lives.source
  • 1817Ram Mohan Roy and David Hare found Hindu College, Calcutta, offering instructions in English on Western subjects, including other European languages.source
  • 1838With a daily average of −11.9, this day sees the coldest daily Central England temperature value on record.source
  • 1839Battle of Yungay: Chile defeats the Peru–Bolivian Confederation, leading to the restoration of an independent Peru.source
  • 1839War of the Confederation: Battle of Yungaysource
  • 1840Dumont D'Urville discovers Adélie Land, Antarctica.source
  • 1841Charles Elliot of the United Kingdom and Qishan of the Qing dynasty agree to the Convention of Chuenpi.source
  • 1841publication of the terms of the Convention of Chuenpi, signed between British Plenipotentiary Charles Elliot and Chinese Imperial Commissioner Qishan during the First Opium War between the United Kingdom and the Qing dynasty of Chinasource
  • 1842Orla Lehmann is convicted of having criticized the absolute monarchy in his radical Falster Speech (delivered in 1834). Hof- og Stadsretten had only sentenced him to a fine of DKK 500.source
  • 1843Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão, Marquis of Paraná is appointed by the Emperor, Dom Pedro, as the leader of the Brazilian Council of Ministers, although the office of Prime Minister of Brazil will not be officially created until 1847.source
  • 1853The United Kingdom proclaims its annexation of Lower Burma, ending the Second Anglo-Burmese War.source
  • 1854The North Carolina General Assembly in the United States charters the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad, to run from Goldsboro through New Bern, to the newly created seaport of Morehead City, near Beaufort.source
  • 1859beginning of the Federal War between the Government of Venezuela and the federalistssource
  • 1860Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour is recalled as Prime Minister of Piedmont-Sardinia.source
  • 1869Elizabeth Cady Stanton is the first woman to testify before the United States Congress.source
  • 1872The Cavite mutiny was an uprising of Filipino military personnel of Fort San Felipe, the Spanish arsenal in Cavite, Philippine Islands.source
  • 1874The Pangkor Treaty (also known as the Pangkor Engagement), by which the British extend their control over first the Sultanate of Perak, and later the other independent Malay States, is signed.source
  • 1874Royal decree providing for subsidies to the dramatic arts.source
  • 1877The Constantinople Conference ends, with Ottoman Turkey rejecting proposals of internal reform and Balkan provisions.source
  • 1880The Hillerød-Græsted section of the Gribskov Railway opens.source
  • 1880Bushranger Captain Moonlite (real name Andrew George Scott) hanged in Sydney.source
  • 1885American inventor LaMarcus Adna Thompson patents a roller coaster.source
  • 1887The United States Senate allows the United States Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.source
  • 1887British emigrant ship Kapunda sinks after a collision off the coast of Brazil, killing 303 with only 16 survivors.source
  • 1887Emigrant ship Kapunda sinks after a collision off the coast of Brazil, killing 303 with only 16 survivors.source
  • 1891Jim Hogg becomes the first native Texan to be governor of that state.source
  • 189320 January to 29 March – Adelaide receives no measurable rainfall for sixty-nine consecutive days, still a record since observations started in 1839.source
  • 1895February 12 – First Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Weihaiweisource
  • 1913Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro presented an ultimatum to the Ottoman Empire, giving the Turks 14 days to make a favorable reply to their demands or face a resumption of war.source
  • 1918According to Japanese government official confirmed report, a secondary massibie powder snow avalanche hit in residence area in Asahi village, (present day of Tsuruoka), Yamagata Prefecture, total 154 persons were human fatalities.source
  • 1918January 18–25 – General strike in Austria-Hungarysource
  • 1921January 15-21 – The XVII Congress of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) was held at the Carlo Goldoni Theatre in Livorno from 15 to 21 January 1921. After tumultuous proceedings the congress resulted in a split in the party.source
  • 1921British K-class submarine HMS K5 sinks in the English Channel; all 57 on board are lost.source
  • 1924January 20–30 – Kuomintang in China holds its first National Congress, initiating a policy of alliance with the Soviet Union and the Chinese Communist Party.source
  • 1925The Soviet–Japanese Basic Convention is signed.source
  • 1931Margrethe Munthe, childten’s writer and songwriter (born 1860).source
  • 1936The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House.source
  • 1938King Farouk of Egypt marries Safinaz Zulficar, who becomes Queen Farida, in Cairo.source
  • 1942The Holocaust: Nazis at the Wannsee Conference convened by Reinhard Heydrich in Berlin decide that the "Final Solution (Endlösung) to the Jewish problem" is deportations to extermination camps.source
  • 1943January 14–24 – WWII: Casablanca Conference: Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States; Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; and generals Henri Giraud and Charles de Gaulle of the French Resistance meet secretly at the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, Morocco, to plan the Allied European strategy for the next stage of the war.source
  • 1951Winter of Terror: Avalanches in the Alps kill 240 and bury 45,000 for a time, in Switzerland, Austria and Italy.source
  • 1951Winter of Terror: Avalanches in the Alps causes 240 deaths and 45,000 deaths in Switzerland, Austria, and Italy.source
  • 1953Lima Barreto's film O Cangaceiro is released in cinemas.source
  • 1954The US-based National Negro Network is established, with 46 member radio stations.source
  • 1955January 18–20 – Battle of Yijiangshan Islands: The Chinese Communist People's Liberation Army seizes the islands from the Republic of China (Taiwan).source
  • 1957Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula (captured from Egypt on October 29, 1956).source
  • 1957Scott Base, New Zealand's main presence in Antarctica, is established by Sir Edmund Hillary.source
  • 1958Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1958source
  • 1958In the 2nd innings of test match that opened between Pakistan and West Indies on January 17, Haneef Muhammad has set new record by staying on the crease for 16 hr 10 min, and scoring 337 runssource
  • 1959Soviet Foreign Minister Anastas Mikoyan returned to Moscow after a controversial 17-day tour of the United States.source
  • 1961John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th President of the United States, becoming the second-youngest president to be sworn in.source
  • 196120 January to early March – Disastrous bushfires affect Western Australia, completely destroying a number of towns.source
  • 1963Confrontation was announced.source
  • 1964Cold Storage's new carbon dioxide factory is officially opened, which is required for dry ice and carbonated drinks.source
  • 1965Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term as President of the United States.source
  • 1966The Radio Caroline ship Mi Amigo runs aground on the beach at Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, UK.source
  • 1967Decree 40 of the Ministry of Finance creates the Unidad de Fomento (UF) as a way of revaluing mortgage loans according to variations in inflation.source
  • 1969Richard Nixon is sworn in as the 37th president of the United States of America.source
  • 1972President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto publicly announces that Pakistan will immediately developed its own nuclear deterrence to prevent further intervention from India.source
  • 1977Jimmy Carter is sworn in as the 39th President of the United States after defeating Gerald Ford in the 1976 election.source
  • 1979Octavio Ortiz, Catholic priest (born 1944)source
  • 1979Capital punishment in Peru: Following a hasty conviction on espionage and treason charges, Air Force member Julio Vargas Garayar became the last person to be executed by Peru.source
  • 1981Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days, minutes after Ronald Reagan is sworn in as the 40th President of the United States, ending the Iran hostage crisis.source
  • 1981On Jimmy Carter's last day as 39th President of the United States, he had hoped that the 52 American hostages in Iran would be allowed to leave before his term expired at noon. At 6:18 am Washington time, the escrow papers were completed to transfer $7,970,000,000 in Iranian assets from U.S. banks to the Bank of England. At 8:04 am EST, the Algerian intermediaries notified both the U.S. and Iran that the transfer was complete. The Boeing 727 carrying the hostages, Air Algérie Flight 133, was boarded at 8:20 pm Tehran time (11:50 am EST), but did not depart until 35 minutes later, after Ronald Reagan was sworn into office as the 40th U.S. President.source
  • 1982Musician Ozzy Osbourne is treated for rabies after biting the head off a live bat during a concert in Des Moines, Iowa.source
  • 1986January 13–24 – South Yemen Civil War.source
  • 1986The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel.source
  • 1987Terry Waite, the special envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury in Lebanon, is kidnapped in Beirut (released November 1991).source
  • 1990Cold War: Black January – Soviet troops occupy Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, under the state of emergency decree issued by General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, and kill over 130 protesters who were demonstrating for independence. The Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic declares its independence from the USSR.source
  • 1990The government of Haiti declares a state of emergency, under which it suspends civil liberties, imposes censorship and arrests political opponents. The state of siege is lifted on January 29.source
  • 1992Air Inter Flight 148, an Airbus A320-111, crashes in the Vosges Mountains near Barr, France, while circling to land at Strasbourg, France, killing 87 of the 96 people on board. Facing tough competition from French high-speed TGV trains, Air Inter had encouraged its pilots to fly at high speeds at low altitudes, and had not installed ground proximity warning systems on its airliners because such systems generated too many nuisance alarms during high-speed, low-altitude flight.source
  • 1993Bill Clinton and Al Gore are inaugurated as US President and Vice President.source
  • 1993January 6–20 – The Bombay riots take place in Mumbai.source
  • 1998Zevulun Hammer (born 1936), Israeli politician.source
  • 2001Impeachment proceedings against Philippine President Joseph Estrada end prematurely as he is peacefully overthrown in the Second EDSA Revolution. Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo succeeds him as president.source
  • 2003Stage 3 of the Circle MRT line is announced, which will travel through Serangoon and Bishan. It is slated for completion by 2008, but is eventually delayed to 2009.source
  • 2005The most intense solar particle event in recorded history is observed.source
  • 2005Italian police have arrested number of people connected to smuggling of illegal immigrants from Libya.source
  • 2005The Italian government condemns the destruction of an Italian cemetery in Mogadishu. Local militia wanted to clear the area for a base.source
  • 2006Bùi Tiến Dũng, General Director of PMU18, was arrested in PMU 18 scandal.source
  • 2009Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States, becoming the first African-American to hold the office.source
  • 2009The microfinance bank AccessBank Liberia is established.source
  • 2010The opening of monumental complex to 20 January in Baku.source
  • 2011Somali pirates seize a Mongolian bulk carrier off the coast of Oman.source
  • 2012The Yemeni government modifies a new bill that would have granted legal immunity to aides of outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh.source
  • 2013January 16–20 – 39 international workers and 1 security guard die in a hostage crisis at a natural gas facility near In Aménas, Algeria.source
  • 2014Former Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Wistin Abela passed away.source
  • 2016National Council of Slovenia recognizes Khojaly Massacresource
  • 20162016 Angola and DR Congo yellow fever outbreaksource
  • 2016Heart surgery was performed to President of Latvia Raimonds Vējonissource
  • 2018Turkey, led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, announces the beginning of a military offensive to capture a portion of northern Syria from Kurdish forces, amidst the ongoing Kurdish–Turkish conflict.source
  • 2018January 20–22 – The US government enters a federal government shutdown as a result of a dispute over Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.source
  • 2020Thousands of Honduran migrants and asylum-seekers battle with Mexican National Guard and try to force their way across the Suchiate River near Ayutla, San Marcos.source
  • 2020The government seizes two farms belonging to former Minister of Communications, Infrastructure, and Housing, Alejandro Sinibaldi.source
  • 2020COVID-19 pandemic: Chinese authorities publicly confirm human-to-human transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.source
  • 2021India begins exporting the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to Bhutan.source
  • 2022Mia Mottley and her Barbados Labour Party government are re-elected for a second term in a landslide, winning all 30 seats.source
  • 2023North Macedonia and Bulgaria denounce a hate crime committed against Hristian Pendikov, secretary of the Bulgarian cultural club Tsar Boris III, in Ohrid.source

Births

  • 225Gordian III, Roman emperor (died 244)source
  • 1029Alp Arslan (Heroic Lion), sultan of the Seljuk Empire (died 1072)source
  • 1211Agnes of Prague, Bohemian abbess (died 1282)source
  • 1288Robert Lisle, English nobleman (died 1344)source
  • 1292Elizabeth of Bohemia, queen consort of Bohemia (died 1330)source
  • 1315Yi Ja-chun, Korean nobleman and general (died 1361)source
  • 1435Ashikaga Yoshimasa, shōgun (died 1490)source
  • 1436Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shōgun (died 1490)source
  • 1488Sebastian Münster, German scholar, cartographer, and cosmographer (died 1552)source
  • 1488John George, Marquis of Montferrat, Italian noble (died 1533)source
  • 1499Sebastian Franck, German humanist (died 1543)source
  • 1502Sebastian de Aparicio, Spanish colonial industrialist and saint in Mexico (died 1600)source
  • 1526Rafael Bombelli, Italian mathematician (died 1572)source
  • 1547Laurence Bruce, Scottish politician (died 1617)source
  • 1547Laurence Bruce, politician (died 1617)source
  • 1554Sebastian, King of Portugal (died 1578)source
  • 1569Heribert Rosweyde, Jesuit hagiographer (died 1629)source
  • 1590Benedetta Carlini, Italian mystic (died 1661)source
  • 1628Henry Cromwell, 4th son of Oliver Cromwell and Elizabeth Bourchier (died 1674)source
  • 1641Anders Torstenson, member of the Privy Council, Governor-General of Estonia (died 1686)source
  • 1654Michiel de Swaen, Flemish poet (died 1707)source
  • 1669Susanna Wesley, mother of the John and Charles Wesley, known as mother of Methodism (died 1742)source
  • 1716King Charles III of Spain (died 1788)source
  • 1716Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, French writer and numismatist (died 1795)source
  • 1734Robert Morris, Founding Father of the United States (died 1806)source
  • 1758Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze, French chemist (died 1836)source
  • 1834Petrus Jacobus Joubert, a South African Republic Triumvirate member, is born near Cango in the Oudtshoorn district of Cape Colonysource
  • 1864Carmen Romero Rubio, second wife of President Porfirio Díaz (died 1944)source
  • 1930Buzz Aldrin, American pilot, astronaut (Apollo 11), second person to set foot on the Moonsource
  • 1934Óscar Zamora Medinaceli, Bolivian politician, lawyer (died 2017)source
  • 1946David Lynch, American film director (died 2025)source
  • 1953Jeffrey Epstein, American financier and sex offender (died 2019)source
  • 1956Bill Maher, American actor, comedian and political analystsource
  • 1972Nikki Haley, Indian-American politician, Governor of South Carolina (2010–2017) and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (2017–2018)source
  • 1988Ghazwan Jassem, Iraqi television presenter.source

Deaths

  • 250Fabian (or Fabianus), pope of Rome and martyrsource
  • 842Theophilus, Byzantine emperor (born 813)source
  • 842Emperor Theophilos dies of dysentery at Constantinople, after a 12-year reign in which he expended much effort defending the eastern frontier against the invading Muslim Arabs. Theophilos is succeeded by his 2-year-old son Michael III, with his mother Theodora as regent and the 'temporary' sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire.source
  • 882King Louis the Younger dies in Frankfurt. He leaves his territory to his younger brother, Emperor Charles the Fat, who becomes sole ruler of the East Frankish Kingdom.source
  • 882Louis the Younger, king of the East Frankish Kingdomsource
  • 924Li Jitao, general of Later Tangsource
  • 928Zhao Guangfeng, Chinese official and chancellorsource
  • 1029Heonae, Korean queen consort and regent (born 964)source
  • 1095Wulfstan, bishop of Worcestersource
  • 1156Henry, English bishop and missionarysource
  • 1189Shizong (or Wulu), Chinese emperor (born 1123)source
  • 1191Frederick VI, son of Frederick I (Barbarossa) (born 1167)source
  • 1191Theobald V (the Good), French nobleman (born 1130)source
  • 1200Odo of Canterbury, English abbot and theologiansource
  • 1265John Maunsell, Lord Chancellor of Englandsource
  • 1336John de Bohun, 5th Earl of Hereford (born 1306)source
  • 1343Robert of Naples (born 1276)source
  • 1479King John II of Aragon (born 1397)source
  • 1494Seongjong of Joseon, King of Joseon (born 1457)source
  • 1511Oliviero Carafa, Italian Catholic cardinal (born 1430)source
  • 1513Helena of Moscow, Grand Duchess consort of Lithuania and queen consort of Poland (born 1476)source
  • 1516Juan Díaz de Solís, Spanish navigator and explorer (born 1470)source
  • 1569Myles Coverdale, English Bible translator (born c. 1488)source
  • 1612Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, Austrian Habsburg ruler (born 1552)source
  • 1639Mustafa I, Ottoman Sultan (born 1592)source
  • 1666Anne of Austria, queen of Louis XIII and regent of France (born 1601)source
  • 1713Pavao Ritter Vitezović, Croatian writer, historian, linguist and publisher (born 1652)source
  • 1745Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1697)source
  • 1745Less than two weeks after the disastrous Battle of Amberg leaves Bavaria undefended, the electorate's ruler (and Holy Roman Emperor) Charles VII dies from gout at the age of 47, leaving the duchy without an adult to lead it. His 17-year-old son, Maximilian III Joseph, signs terms of surrender in April.source
  • 1758At Cap-Haïtien in Haiti, former slave turned rebel François Mackandal is executed by the French colonial government by being burned at the stake.source
  • 1779David Garrick, English actor (born 1717)source
  • 1790John Howard (prison reformer), English philanthropist (born 1726)source
  • 1800Thomas Mifflin, first Governor of Pennsylvania (born 1744)source
  • 1810Benjamin Chew, Chief Justice of colonial Pennsylvania (born 1722)source
  • 1810Benjamin Chew, Chief Justice of colonial Pennsylvania (born 1722)source
  • 1813Christoph Martin Wieland, German writer (born 1733)source
  • 1819King Charles IV of Spain (born 1748)source
  • 1837John Soane, British architect (born 1753)source
  • 1841Jørgen Jørgensen, Danish adventurer (born 1780)source
  • 1864José Francisco Gana (born 1791)source
  • 1880Captain Moonlite, Australian bushranger (hanged) (born 1842)source
  • 1891Kalākaua, last reigning King of Hawaii (born 1836)source
  • 1900John Ruskin, English writer, artist, and social critic (born 1819)source
  • 1936King George V of the United Kingdom (born 1865)source
  • 1947Pierre Krier dies, precipitating a crisis in the National Union Government.source
  • 1964Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, Roman Catholic priest who worked in Nnewi, Dunukofia, Akpu/Ajalli and Aguleri. and was later beatified by Pope John Paul II (born 1903)source
  • 1993Audrey Hepburn, 63, British actress (Breakfast at Tiffany's, Roman Holiday, My Fair Lady), Oscar winner (1954), appendix cancer.source
  • 2016January 16 – 30 people are killed and 56 injured in terrorist attacks in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, targeting a hotel and a nearby restaurant. A siege occurs and 176 hostages are released afterwards, by government forces.source
  • 2021Justin Lekhanya, politician, former Chairman of the Military Council (born 1938); diabetes.source