/year

January 4 in history

187 sourced entries recorded on January 4, from 48 BCE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 48 BCEJulius Caesar lands at Dyrrhachium (Durazzo).source
  • 46 BCETitus Labienus fights Julius Caesar in the Battle of Ruspina.source
  • 275Eutychian succeeds Felix I as the 27th pope of Rome.source
  • 871Battle of Reading: A West Saxon force, under the command of King Æthelred I and his brother Alfred, is defeated by the Danes at Reading. Among the many dead on both sides is Æthelwulf. The Saxon troops are forced to retreat, allowing the Vikings to continue their advance into Wessex.source
  • 1064The Aztecs migrate from Aztlán to the southern lands in central Mexico.source
  • 1223Germanus II takes office as Patriarch of Constantinople, leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, after moving the patriarchate's capital 56 mi from Constantinople (now Istanbul) to Nicaea (now Iznik in Turkey), as the guest of John III Doukas Vatatzes, Emperor of Nicaea.source
  • 1254William of Rubruck, Flemish missionary and explorer, is received courteously with an embassy at Karakorum. He is given an audience with Möngke Khan, who is loaded with gifts and letters from Louis IX.source
  • 1396Irene Shpata, daughter of Gjin Bua Shpata, becomes the new Ottoman Despotess of Ioannina when she marries the despot Esau de' Buondelmonti of Epirus.source
  • 1400The Epiphany Rising begins in England against King Henry IV by nobles planning to restore King Richard II to the throne, and is quickly crushed. Baron Lumley dies after attempting to seize Cirencester. The Earl of Salisbury and the Earl of Kent are captured and beheaded on January 7. Sir Thomas Blount is hanged, drawn and quartered at Oxford on January 12. Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester is captured and executed by a mob in Bristol on January 13. The Earl of Huntingdon is beheaded at Pleshey on January 16.source
  • 1428Friedrich II of the House of Wettin, nicknamed "Friedrich, der Sanftmütige" ("Frederick the Gentle") becomes the new Elector of Saxony at the age of 15, upon the death of his father "Frederick the Warlike".source
  • 1433Prokop the Great, leader of the Hussites of Bohemia, appears at the Council of Basel with his envoys in order to negotiate and end to the anti-Hussite Crusade started by the Holy Roman Empire and the Pope.source
  • 1439A truce is signed at Breslau between King Albert of Hungary and King Casimir IV Jagiellon of Poland to end the 8-month war between the two kingdoms.source
  • 1447Barnaba Adorno becomes the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa when his cousin Raffaele Adorno steps down after slightly less than four years in office. Baranaba holds the office for only a few weeks before being forced by the Adorno family's rivals, the Campofregoso family to flee the Doge's Palace on January 29.source
  • 1471Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy agrees to help Edward IV regain the English throne from King Henry VI.source
  • 1471Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy agrees to help Edward IV regain the throne of England from King Henry VI.source
  • 1490Anne of Brittany announces that all those who ally themselves with the king of France will be considered guilty of the crime of Lèse-majesté.source
  • 1494The Cetinje Octoechos (Цетињски октоих, an Eastern Orthodox octoechos (liturgy), first tone), the first incunabulum written in the Serbian recension of Church Slavonic, and the first book printed in Cyrillic in Southeast Europe, is completed in Cetinje.source
  • 1494December 31 – January 6: peaceful French entry into Rome with Pope Alexander VI's permission, but some French looting takes place.source
  • 1539Giannandrea Giustiniani Longo is elected to a two year term as Doge of the Republic of Genoa in Italy, succeeding Giovanni Battista Doria.source
  • 1540Prince Erik is officially greeted as heir to the throne by nobility and bishops in Örebro.source
  • 1541Leonardo Cattaneo della Volta is elected to a two-year term as the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa, succeeding Giannandrea Giustiniani Longosource
  • 1543Andrea Centurione Pietrasanta begins a two-year term as the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa, replacing Leonardo Cattaneo della Volta.source
  • 1544In India, Maldeo Rathore, King of Marwar (now part of the state of Rajasthan) is tricked by counterintelligence spread by Mughal Emperor and Afghan Shah Sher Shah Suri into departing from Jodhpur. The Battle of Sammel begins shortly afterward and is won by the Afghan and Mughal armies.source
  • 1545Giovanni Battista De Fornari begins a 2-year term as the Doge of Genoa, succeeding Andrea Centurione Pietrasanta.source
  • 1549Gaspare Grimaldi Bracelli begins a two-year term as the Doge of the Republic of Genoa in Italy, succeeding Benedetto Gentile Pevere.source
  • 1551Luca Spinola is elected to a two-year term as the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa, succeeding Gaspare Grimaldi Bracelli.source
  • 1556In Japan, Saitō Yoshitatsu, the eldest son of Saitō Dōsan, arranges the murders of his two younger brothers, Magoshiro and Kiheiji, and forces his father to flee from the Sagiyama Castle.source
  • 1557Pietro Giovanni Chiavica Cibo becomes the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa for a term of 2 years as the term of the Doge Agostino Pinelli Ardimenti comes to an end.source
  • 1561Paolo Battista Giudice Calvi is elected as the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa, but serves for only eight months before dying in September.source
  • 1597Japan's Chancellor of the Realm, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, sends 26 European Christians, arrested on December 8, 1596, on a forced march from Kyoto to Nagasaki.source
  • 1638A fleet of 80 Spanish ships led by Governor-General Sebastián Hurtado de Corcuera attacks the Sultanate of Sulu in the Philippines by beginning an invasion of Jolo island, but Sultan Muwallil Wasit I puts up a stiff resistance.source
  • 1638A naval battle takes place in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Goa in South India, as a Netherlands fleet commanded by Admiral Adam Westerwolt decimates the Portuguese fleet.source
  • 1641The stratovolcano Mount Parker in the Philippines has a major eruption.source
  • 1642King Charles I of England, accompanied by soldiers, arrives at a session of the Long Parliament and attempts to arrest his chief opponents, the Five Members, John Hampden, Arthur Haselrig, Denzil Holles, John Pym and William Strode, for what he regards as treason but they escape and are protected by the Lord Mayor of London. This is the last time any monarch enters the House of Commons.source
  • 1642Charles I attempts to arrest five leading members of the Long Parliament, but they escape. This is the last time any monarch enters the House of Commons.source
  • 1649In England, the Rump Parliament passes an ordinance to set up a High Court of Justice, to try Charles I for high treason.source
  • 1649The Rump Parliament passes an ordinance to set up a High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I for high treason in the name of the people of England.source
  • 1662Dziaddin Mukarram Shah becomes the new Sultan of Kedah, an independent kingdom on the Malay Peninsula, upon the death of his father, Sultan Muhyiddin Mansur.source
  • 1669A 5.7 magnitude earthquake strikes the city of Shamakhi in Iran (now in Azerbaijan) and kills 7,000 people. Fourteen months earlier, an earthquake in Shamakhi killed 80,000 people.source
  • 1698The Palace of Whitehall in London, England is destroyed by fire.source
  • 1698the Palace of Whitehall is destroyed by fire.source
  • 1710Robert Balfour, 5th Lord Balfour of Burleigh, two days before he is due to be executed for murder, escapes from the Edinburgh Tolbooth by exchanging clothes with his sister.source
  • 1717January 4 (December 24, 1716 Old Style) – The kingdoms of Great Britain, France and the Dutch Republic sign the Triple Alliance, in an attempt to maintain the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), Britain having signed a preliminary alliance with France on November 28 (November 17) 1716.source
  • 17174 January (24 December 1716 OS) – Triple Alliance treaty between France, the Dutch Republic and Great Britain against Spainsource
  • 1717Britain, the Dutch Republic and France sign the Triple Alliance.source
  • 1761The Danish Arabia Expedition departs from Copenhagen.source
  • 1762Seven Years' War: Britain declares war against Spain and Naples, following their recent alliance with France.source
  • 1798Constantine Hangerli enters Bucharest, as Prince of Wallachia.source
  • 1803William Symington demonstrates his Charlotte Dundas, the "first practical steamboat", in Scotland.source
  • 1803William Symington demonstrates his Charlotte Dundas, the "first practical steamboat".source
  • 1806The British expeditionary force arrives at the Capesource
  • 1810Australian seal hunter Frederick Hasselborough discovers Campbell Island, in the Subantarctic.source
  • 1828Jean Baptiste Gay, vicomte de Martignac, succeeds the Comte de Villèle as Prime Minister of France.source
  • 1829Sir John Colborne, Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada founds Upper Canada College, as a feeder school to the newly formed University of Toronto and a home for the colony's upper class.source
  • 1841City of Dublin Steam Packet Company SS Thames is wrecked on the Western Rocks, Isles of Scilly, with the loss of 61 of the 65 on board; at least 20 other ships run aground round the British Isles today.source
  • 1844The first issue of the Swedish-languaged Saima newspaper founded by J. V. Snellman is published in Kuopio, Finland.source
  • 1847Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the U.S. government.source
  • 1847Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol, the Colt Walker, to the U.S. government for the Texas Rangers.source
  • 1849The Māori language magazine, The Maori Messenger or Ko te Karere Maori publishes its first issue, replacing Te Karere o Nui Tireni which stopped publishing in 1846. The magazine continues under several titles until 1863.source
  • 1852The wooden paddle steamer RMS Amazon catches fire and sinks on her maiden voyage in the Bay of Biscay with between 105 and 115 killed and 58 saved.source
  • 1854The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang.source
  • 1854Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang discovers the McDonald Islands.source
  • 1863Founding date of the New Apostolic Church, a Christian and chiliastic church, in a schism with the Catholic Apostolic Church in Hamburg, Germany.source
  • 1863The New Apostolic Church, a Christian premillennial church, is established in Hamburg.source
  • 1865The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad near Wall Street, in New York City.source
  • 1877Land tax reform is implemented.source
  • 1879Dundee-born Mormon missionary Hugh Findlay arrives in Shetland from the United States and on 31 March baptizes the islands' first two converts.source
  • 1884The Fabian Society is founded in London to promote gradualist social progress.source
  • 1885January 3–4 – Sino-French War: Battle of Núi Bop – French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing Chinese force, in northern Vietnam.source
  • 1889An Act to Regulate Appointments in the Marine Hospital Service of the United States is signed by President Grover Cleveland. It establishes a Commissioned Corps of officers, as a predecessor to the modern-day U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.source
  • 1891The Earl of Zetland issues a declaration regarding the famine in the western counties of Ireland.source
  • 1894A military alliance is established between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire.source
  • 1896Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state.source
  • 1897A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a punitive expedition against Benin.source
  • 1899Fire from a quarantined Indian made vessel gutted 300 homes and numerous British owned factories in Fort Kochi.source
  • 1905The city of Bend, Oregon, plotted out in 1900 by Alexander Drake, is incorporated as a town for local logging companies, and will have a population of 536 in 1910. By the year 2020, it will have almost 100,000 residents.source
  • 1911Amundsen and Scott expeditions: Robert Falcon Scott's British Terra Nova Expedition to the South Pole arrives in the Antarctic and establishes a base camp at Cape Evans on Ross Island.source
  • 1912former President Eloy Alfaro returned to Ecuador and attempted another coup but was defeated, arrested and jailed by General and former President Leonidas Plaza.source
  • 1917First cabinet of Jón Magnússonsource
  • 1918The Finnish Declaration of Independence is recognized by Soviet Russia, Sweden, Germany and France.source
  • 1931German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa.source
  • 1931German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Portuguese Guinea (now Guinea-Bissau) in Africa.source
  • 1932Soviet–Estonian Non-Aggression Pact was signed.source
  • 1932The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel.source
  • 1935The British open the Mosul–Haifa oil pipeline, a major oil pipeline between the Mosul oil fields in Iraq and the Mediterranean port of Haifa in Palestine.source
  • 1935The 6.4 Mw Erdek–Marmara Islands earthquake affected the area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving five people dead and thirty injured.source
  • 1937Two plates containing 58 scales are stolen off of the kinshachi (a kind of dolphin fish) affixed to the top of the castle tower of Nagoya Castle. The culprit was apprehended 23 days later.source
  • 1941The short subject Elmer's Pet Rabbit is released, marking the second appearance of Bugs Bunny, and also the first to have his name on a title card.source
  • 1947First issue of weekly magazine Der Spiegel published in Hanover, Germany, edited by Rudolf Augstein.source
  • 1948Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming an independent republic, named the 'Union of Burma', with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President and U Nu its first Prime Minister.source
  • 1949RMS Caronia of the Cunard Line departs Southampton for New York on her maiden voyage.source
  • 1949RMS Caronia (1947) of the Cunard Line departs Southampton for New York City on her maiden voyage.source
  • 1950A decree is passed amending petroleum law.source
  • 1951Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950).source
  • 1951Minister of Religious Affairs, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Maimon, resigns from the government over the crisis in education in the ma'abarot.source
  • 1958Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third overland journey to the South Pole, the first to use powered vehicles.source
  • 1958Sputnik 1 (launched on October 4, 1957) falls towards Earth from its orbit and burns up.source
  • 1959In Cuba, rebel troops led by Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos enter the city of Havana.source
  • 1963May-Britt Moser, neuroscientist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.source
  • 1964Trygve Jacobsen, Norwegian businessperson (born 1876)source
  • 1969The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco.source
  • 1972The first scientific hand-held calculator (HP-35) is introduced (price $395).source
  • 1977Poisoned cola is placed in a telephone booth near Shinagawa Station, killing two.source
  • 1980U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission.source
  • 1987Televangelist Oral Roberts announces to his viewers that unless they donate $8 million to his ministry by March 31, God will "call [him] home."source
  • 19871987 Maryland train collision: An Amtrak train en route from Washington, D.C. to Boston collides with Conrail engines at Chase, Maryland, United States, killing 16 people.source
  • 1989Dvora Netzer (born 1897), Russian (Ukraine)-born Israeli politician.source
  • 1989Gulf of Sidra incident (1989): Two Libyan MiG-23 "Floggers" are engaged and shot down by two US Navy F-14 Tomcats.source
  • 1995Naomi Amir (born 1931), American-born Israeli neurologist.source
  • 2001A Chinese delegation of the Chinese OFEM company arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan to assist the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan with the revival of hydel power projects. The delegation met with Taliban Minister for Water and Power Maulvi Ahmed Jan, visited Sarobi Dam and pledged to install new turbine in the power house. The delegates also made commitment about the installation of mobile telephone system in Afghanistan.source
  • 2004An insurgency breaks out in southern Thailand.source
  • 2004NASA's Spirit rover lands on the surface of Mars.source
  • 2006January 1–4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute.source
  • 2007Nancy Pelosi becomes the first female speaker of the United States House of Representatives.source
  • 2007Commodore Frank Bainimarama, who had carried out a military coup on 5 December, restores the deposed President Ratu Josefa Iloilo to office.source
  • 2010Burj Khalifa, the world tallest building, was opened to the public.source
  • 2010The tallest man-made structure to date, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is officially opened.source
  • 2011Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir goes to Juba to meet with Southern Sudanese President of the Government Salva Kiir Mayardit ahead of Southern Sudan's independence referendum.source
  • 2011Ali-Reza Pahlavi, 44, royal, son of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, suicide by gunshot.source
  • 2011The Economic Community of West African States says the situation in Côte d'Ivoire is still in a "stalemate", amid the threat of force to remove Laurent Gbagbo.source
  • 2011The Minister of Industrialisation Henry Kosgey gives up his cabinet post. Kosgey is subject to corruption investigations and also is one of six Kenyans charged by the International Criminal Courtsource
  • 2012The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins.source
  • 2015January 3–7 – A series of massacres in Baga, Nigeria and surrounding villages by Boko Haram kills more than 2,000 people.source
  • 2017President Igor Dodon visited the city of Bender in the breakaway republic of Transnistria, making hin the first Moldovan leader to visit the region since 2009.source
  • 2018SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of South Sudan.source
  • 2021The border between Qatar and Saudi Arabia reopens.source
  • 2021Musu Bakoto Sawo, 30, ("Think Young Women") is chosen as 2020 Daily Trust "African of the Year". She lectures at the Faculty of Law, University of the Gambia.source
  • 2022A search continues for 14 people missing at sea in the Solomon Islands, after their boat failed to reach the Shortland Islands. Efforts were called off yesterday due to bad weather.source
  • 2023ZESCO, Zambia's largest power company, announces increased power cuts from six hours to twelve hours as a result of lower water levels at the Kariba Dam between Zambia and Zimbabwe.source
  • 2023Severe flooding is reported in the north of the country.source
  • 2025The 2025 Bahamas Bowl at Thomas Robinson Stadium, Nassau is held, The Buffalo Bulls win.source

Births

  • 1334Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy (died 1383)source
  • 1467Bodo VIII, Count of Stolberg-Wernigerode (1511–1538) (died 1538)source
  • 1567François d'Aguilon, Belgian Jesuit mathematician (died 1617)source
  • 1581James Ussher, Anglo-Irish priest and scholar (died 1656)source
  • 1581James Ussher, Anglican Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, published the Ussher chronology purporting to time and date creation (died 1656).source
  • 1643January 4 (N.S.) – Sir Isaac Newton, English scientist (died 1727)source
  • 16434 January (N.S.) – Isaac Newton, mathematician and physicist (died 1727)source
  • 1657Sébastien Rale, French missionary (died 1724)source
  • 1672Hugh Boulter, Irish Archbishop of Armagh (died 1742)source
  • 1687Henry Beekman, politician and landowner from the Thirteen Colonies (died 1775)source
  • 1710Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer (died 1736)source
  • 1737Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau, French chemist, politician (died 1816)source
  • 1746Benjamin Rush, a Founding Father of the United States (died 1813)source
  • 1785Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (died 1831)source
  • 1785Jacob Grimm, German philologist, folklorist, and writer (died 1863)source
  • 1789Benjamin Lundy, American abolitionist (died 1839)source
  • 1797Wilhelm Beer, German banker, astronomer (died 1850)source
  • 1809Louis Braille, French teacher, inventor of braille (died 1852)source
  • 1832Sir George Tryon, British admiral (died 1893)source
  • 1848Katsura Tarō (died 1913), general and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Japan.source
  • 2005Dafne Keen, British and Spanish actresssource

Deaths

  • 871Æthelwulf, Saxon ealdormansource
  • 874Hasan al-Askari, 11th Shia Imam (born 846)source
  • 1108Gertrude, Grand Princess of Kievsource
  • 1142Clementia of Aquitaine, French noblewoman (born 1060)source
  • 1248Sancho II ("the Pious"), king of Portugal (born 1209)source
  • 1256Bernhard von Spanheim, German noblemansource
  • 1286Anna Komnene Doukaina, princess of Achaeasource
  • 1309Angela of Foligno, Italian nun, mystic and writer (born 1248)source
  • 1316Alauddin Khalji, Indian governor and ruler (born 1266)source
  • 1316Sultan Alauddin Khalji of the Delhi Sultanate dies after a 19-year reign at Delhi. He is succeeded by his 5-year-old son, Shihabuddin Omar, with the support of Alauddin's general Malik Kafur. During his reign, a power struggle occurs between Malik Kafur and the Khalji family.source
  • 1344Robert de Lisle, 1st Baron Lisle, English peer (born 1288)source
  • 1399Nicholas Eymerich, Catalan theologian and inquisitorsource
  • 1424Muzio Sforza, Italian condottierosource
  • 1428Frederick I, Elector of Saxony (born 1370)source
  • 1449Cecilia of Brandenburg, Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (born c.1405)source
  • 1575Sidonie of Saxony, Duchess of Brunswick-Calenberg (born 1518)source
  • 1577William Walsh, Roman Catholic Bishop of Meath (born c.1512)source
  • 1693Thomas Hanford, first minister in Norwalk, Connecticut (born 1621)source
  • 1695François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg, Marshal of France (born 1628)source
  • 1710Sir Richard Newdigate, 2nd Baronet, English landowner (born 1644)source
  • 1761Stephen Hales, English physiologist, chemist, and inventor (born 1677)source
  • 1786Moses Mendelssohn, Jewish philosopher (born 1729)source
  • 1789Thomas Nelson Jr., American signer of the Declaration of Independence and Governor of Virginia (1781) (born 1738)source
  • 1804Charlotte Ramsey Lennox, British author and poet (born 1727)source
  • 1808Prince Benedetto, Duke of Chablais, Italian general in the French Revolution (born 1741)source
  • 1821Elizabeth Ann Seton, American saint (born 1774)source
  • 1825King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies dies in Naples and is succeeded by his son, Francis.source
  • 1825Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (born 1751)source
  • 1856Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Marquess of Ailesbury, British politician (born 1773)source
  • 1877Cornelius Vanderbilt, American entrepreneur (born 1794)source
  • 1947Forrest Reid, novelist and literary critic (born 1875).source
  • 1959Léopoldville riots: At least 49 people are killed during clashes between the police and participants of a meeting of the ABAKO Party in Léopoldville in the Belgian Congo.source
  • 1965T. S. Eliot, American-British poet, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1888)source
  • 2011Tunisian street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi dies after setting himself on fire a month earlier, sparking anti-government protests in Tunisia and later other Arab nations. These protests become known collectively as the Arab Spring.source
  • 2018Rafiatou Karimou, politician and teacher (born 1946).source