January 1
January 1 is the
first day of the calendar year in both the
Julian and
Gregorian calendars. Here a
calendar year refers to the order in which the months are displayed,
January to
December. The first day of the medieval Julian year was usually a day other than January 1. This day was adopted as the first day of the
Julian year by most
western European countries between about 1450 and 1600. Two countries which changed later were
Tuscany in 1721 and
England in 1752. This change can lead to dating confusion between
Old Style and New Style dates. The Gregorian calendar as promulgated in
1582 did
not specify that January 1 was to be either
New Year's Day or the first day of its numbered year. Although England began its numbered year on
March 25 (the assumed
Spring Equinox, although under the
Julian Calendar the Equinox drifted backwards) between the
13th century and
1752, January 1 was called
New Year's Day, and was, with
Christmas and occasionally
Twelfth Night, a holiday when gifts were exchanged. 364 days (365 in
leap years) remain in the year after this day.
*
45 BC - The
Julian calendar first takes effect.
*
404 - Last known
gladiator competition in
Rome takes place.
*
630 -
Prophet Muhammad sets out toward
Mecca with the army that will capture it bloodlessly.
*
990 -
Kievan Rus' adopts the
Julian calendar.
*
1259 -
Michael VIII Palaeologus proclaimed co-emperor of the
Empire of Nicaea with his ward
John IV Lascaris.
*
1438 -
Albert II of Habsburg is crowned King of
Hungary.
*
1600 -
Scotland begins using the
Julian calendar.
*
1651 -
Charles II crowned King of
Scotland.
*
1673 - Regular mail delivery begins between
New York and
Boston.
*
1700 -
Russia begins using the
Julian calendar.
*
1707 -
John V is crowned King of
Portugal.
*
1738 -
Bouvet Island is discovered by
French explorer
Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier.
*
1788 - First edition of
The Times of
London, previously
The Daily Universal Register, is published.
*
1797 -
Albany replaces
New York City as the capital of
New York.
*
1801 - Legislative union of
Kingdom of Great Britain and
Kingdom of Ireland is completed to form the
United Kingdom.
* 1801 - The first known
asteroid,
1 Ceres, is discovered by
Giuseppe Piazzi.
*
1804 -
French rule ends in
Haiti.
*
1808 - Importation of
slaves into the
United States is banned.
*
1818 -
Mary Shelley's
novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus is published.
*
1861 -
Porfirio Diaz conquers
Mexico City.
*
1863 -
American Civil War: The
Emancipation Proclamation takes effect in
Confederate territory.
* 1863 - The first claim under the
Homestead Act is made by
Daniel Freeman for a farm in
Nebraska.
*
1875 -
Midland Railway abolishes Second Class passenger facilities, leaving First Class and Third Class. Other British Railway companies followed Midland's lead during the rest of the year. (Third Class was renamed Second Class in
1956)
*
1880 -
Ferdinand de Lesseps begins
French construction of the
Panama Canal.
*
1887 -
Queen Victoria was proclaimed empress of
India in
Delhi.
*
1890 - The first
Tournament of Roses is held in
Pasadena, California.
*
1892 -
Ellis Island opens to begin accepting immigrants to the
United States.
*
1893 -
Japan begins using the
Gregorian calendar.
*
1894 - The
Manchester Ship Canal,
England, was officially opened to traffic.
*
1898 -
New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs,
Manhattan,
Brooklyn,
Queens, and
The Bronx, are joined on
January 25 by
Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs.
*
1899 -
Spanish rule ends in
Cuba.
*
1901 -
Nigeria becomes a
British protectorate.
* 1901 - The British colonies of
New South Wales,
Queensland,
Victoria,
South Australia,
Tasmania and
Western Australia federate as the
Commonwealth of Australia;
Edmund Barton is appointed the first
Prime Minister.
* 1901 - The first official
Mummers Parade is held.
*
1902 - The first
Rose Bowl game is played in
Pasadena, California, with the
University of Michigan beating
Stanford University by a score of 49-0.
*
1908 - For the first time, a ball is dropped in
New York City's
Times Square to signify the start of the
New Year at midnight.
*
1909 - Drilling began on the
Lakeview Gusher.
*
1911 -
Northern Territory is separated from
South Australia and transferred to Commonwealth control.
*
1912 - The
Republic of China is established.
*
1916 -
German troops abandon
Yaoundé and their
Kamerun colony to
British forces and begin the long march to
Spanish Guinea.
*
1926 -
Turkey adopts
Gregorian calendar.
*
1934 -
Alcatraz Island becomes a
U.S. federal prison.
* 1934 -
Nazi Germany passes the "
Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring".
*
1935 -
Bucknell University wins the first
Orange Bowl 26-0 over the
University of Miami.
* 1937 - The first
Cotton Bowl game is played in
Dallas, Texas.
*
1939 - The
Vienna New Year's Concert is first held.
*
1942 - The
Declaration by the United Nations is signed by twenty-six nations.
*
1946 - First civil flight from
Heathrow Airport.
*
1948 -
British railways are
nationalised to form
British Rail.
* 1948 - After partition,
India declines to pay the agreed share of Rs.550 million in cash balances to
Pakistan.
*
1949 -
UN Cease-fire orders to operate in
Kashmir from one minute before midnight. War between
India and
Pakistan stops accordingly.
*
1956 - The
Republic of the Sudan achieves independence from the
Egyptian Republic and the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
*
1958 - The
European Community is established.
*
1959 -
Cultivars of
plants named after this date must be named in a modern language, not in
Latin.
* 1959 -
Fulgencio Batista, president of
Cuba, is overthrown by
Fidel Castro's forces during the
Cuban Revolution.
*
1960 - The
Republic of Cameroon achieves independence from
France and the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
*
1962 -
Western Samoa achieves independence from
New Zealand; its name is changed to the
Independent State of Western Samoa.
*
1964 - The
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is divided into the independent republics of
Zambia and
Malawi, and the
British-controlled
Rhodesia.
*
1966 - 12 day
New York City transit strike begins.
* 1970 -
Jimi Hendrix,
Buddy Miles, and
Billy Cox are recorded live at the
Fillmore East. The resulting album,
Band of Gypsys, is the last Hendrix album to be released before his death.
*
1971 -
Cigarette advertisements are banned on
American television.
*
1973 - The
Kingdom of Denmark, the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the
Republic of Ireland are admitted into the
European Community.
*
1978 -
Air India Flight 855 Boeing 747 explodes and crashes into the sea off the coast of
Bombay, killing 213.
*
1979 - Formal
diplomatic relations are established between the
People's Republic of China and the
United States of America.
*
1981 - The
Republic of Greece is admitted into the
European Community.
* 1981 - The
Republic of Palau achieves self-government; it is not yet independent from the
United States.
*
1982 -
Peruvian Javier Pérez de Cuéllar becomes the first
Latin American to hold the title of
Secretary-General of the
United Nations.
*
1983 - The
ARPANET officially changes to using the
Internet Protocol, creating the
Internet.
*
1984 -
AT&T is broken up into twenty-two independent units.
* 1984 - The
Sultanate of Brunei becomes independent of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
*
1985 - The
Internet's
Domain Name System is created.
* 1985 - The first
British mobile phone call is made by
Ernie Wise to
Vodafone.
*
1986 -
Aruba becomes independent of
Curaçao, though it remains in free association with the
Kingdom of the Netherlands.
* 1986 - The
Kingdom of Spain and the
Portuguese Republic are admitted into the
European Community.
*
1988 - The
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America comes into existence, creating the largest
Lutheran denomination in the
United States.
*
1990 -
David Dinkins was sworn in as New York City's first black mayor
*
1993 -
Dissolution of Czechoslovakia:
Czechoslovakia is divided into the
Slovak Republic and the
Czech Republic.
* 1993 - A single market within the
European Community is introduced.
* 1993 -
Pakistan is elected member of the 15-nation
UN Security Council.
*
1994 - The
Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiates twelve days of armed conflict in the
Mexican State of Chiapas.
* 1994 - The
North American Free Trade Agreement comes into effect.
* 1994 - The
European Economic Area comes into effect.
*
1995 - The
World Trade Organization comes into effect.
* 1995 - The
Kingdom of Sweden and the republics of
Austria and
Finland are admitted into the
European Union.
* 1995 - The
Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe becomes the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
*
1996 -
Curaçao gains limited self-government, though it remains within free association with the
Kingdom of the Netherlands.
*
1997 - The
Republic of Zaïre officially joins the
World Trade Organization, as
Zaïre.
*
1998 - The
ESRB rating "K-A"(Kids to Adults) is replaced by the rating "E"(Everyone).
*
1999 - The
Euro currency is introduced.
*
2000 - As the world celebrates, no major crisis arises from the dreaded
Y2K computer 'millennium bug'.
*
2002 -
Euro banknotes and coins become legal tender in twelve of the
European Union's
member states.
*2002 -
Taiwan officially joins the
World Trade Organization, as
Chinese Taipei.
*2002 - The
Open Skies mutual
surveillance treaty, initially signed in
1992, officially enters into force.
*
2006 -
Sydney,
Australia swelters in 45C heat, a record for the city.
*
766 -
Ali ar-Rida, Shia Imam (d.
818)
*
1431 -
Pope Alexander VI (d.
1503)
*
1449 -
Lorenzo de Medici, Italian statesman (d.
1492)
*
1484 -
Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss Protestant leader (d.
1531)
*
1516 -
Margareta Leijonhufvud, queen of
Gustav I of Sweden (d.
1551)
*
1557 -
Stephen Bocskay, Prince of Transylvania (d.
1606)
*
1600 -
Friedrich Spanheim, Dutch theologian (d.
1649)
*
1614 -
John Wilkins, English Bishop of Chester (d.
1672)
*
1618 -
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Spanish painter (d.
1682)
*
1638 -
Emperor Go-Sai of Japan (d.
1685)
*
1648 -
Elkanah Settle, English writer (d.
1724)
*
1655 -
Christian Thomasius, German jurist (d.
1728)
*
1684 -
Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch classical scholar (d.
1748)
*
1704 -
Soame Jenyns, English writer (d.
1787)
*
1711 -
Franz Freiherr von der Trenck, Austrian soldier (d.
1749)
*
1714 -
Kristijonas Donelaitis, Lithuanian poet (d.
1780)
*
1735 -
Paul Revere, American patriot (d.
1818)
*
1750 -
Frederick Muhlenberg, 1st
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d.
1801)
*
1752 -
Betsy Ross, American seamstress (d.
1836)
*
1774 -
André Marie Constant Duméril, French zoologist (d.
1860)
*
1823 -
Sándor Petőfi, Hungarian revolutionary (d.
1849)
*
1833 -
Robert Lawson, New Zealand architect (d.
1902)
*
1848 -
John Goff, Irish lawyer (d.
1924)
*
1854 -
Sir James George Frazer, Scottish anthropologist (d.
1941)
*
1860 -
George Washington Carver, American educator (d.
1943)
*
1863 -
Pierre de Coubertin, French Olympic Games initiator(d.
1937)
*
1864 -
Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer (d.
1946)
*
1868 -
Snitz Edwards, American actor (d.
1937)
*
1873 -
Mariano Azuela, Mexican novelist (d.
1952)
*
1874 -
Gustave Whitehead, German-born inventor (d.
1927)
* 1874 -
Frank Knox, American Secretary of the Navy (d.
1944)
*
1876 -
Harriet Brooks, Canadian physicist (d.
1933)
*
1879 -
E. M. Forster, English novelist (d.
1970)
*
1881 -
Vajiravudh,
King of Thailand (d.
1925)
*
1883 -
Gabrielle Chanel, French Designer (d.
1971)
*
1887 -
Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral (d.
1945)
*
1890 -
Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer (d.
1966)
*
1892 -
Artur Rodziński, Croatian conductor (d.
1958)
*
1894 -
Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian mathematician (d.
1974)
*
1895 -
J. Edgar Hoover, American FBI director (d.
1972)
*
1900 -
Xavier Cugat, Catalan-born musician (d.
1990)
* 1900 -
Chiune Sugihara, Japanese diplomat(d.
1986)
*
1902 -
Buster Nupen, South African cricketer (d.
1977)
*
1904 -
Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani politician (d.
1982)
* 1904 -
Ethan Allen, American baseball player (d.
1993)
*
1905 -
Kamatari Fujiwara, Japanese actor (d.
1985)
*
1906 -
Giovanni D'Anzi, Italian songwriter (d.
1974)
*
1909 -
Dana Andrews, American actor (d.
1992)
* 1909 -
Barry M. Goldwater, American politician (d.
1998)
*
1911 -
Hank Greenberg, American baseball player (d.
1986)
*
1912 -
Kim Philby, British spy (d.
1988)
*
1917 -
Shelby Storck, American television producer (d.
1969)
* 1917 -
Jule Gregory Charney, American meteorologist (d.
1981)
* 1917 -
Albert Mol, Dutch actor (d.
2004)
*
1918 -
Patrick Anthony Porteous, Scottish
Victoria Cross recipient (d.
2000)
*
1919 -
J. D. Salinger, American novelist
*
1920 -
Virgilio Savona, Italian singer (
Quartetto Cetra)
*
1921 -
Isma'il Raji' al-Faruqi, Palestinian-born philosopher (d.
1986)
*
1922 -
Rocky Graziano, American boxer (d.
1990)
*
1925 -
Stymie Beard, American actor (d.
1981)
*
1927 -
Vernon L. Smith, American economist,
Bank of Sweden Prize winner* 1927 -
Doak Walker, American football star (d.
1998)
*
1928 -
Ernest Tidyman, American writer (d.
1984)
*
1930 -
Hossain Mohammad Ershad, President of Bangladesh
*
1933 -
Frederick Lowy, Canadian medical educator
* 1933 -
Joe Orton, English writer (d.
1967)
*
1938 -
Robert Jankel, British coachbuilder (d.
2005)
*
1940 -
Frank Langella American actor
*
1942 -
Martin Frost, American politician
* 1942 -
Country Joe McDonald, American musician (
Country Joe and the Fish)
* 1942 -
Gennadi Sarafanov, Soviet cosmonaut
*
1943 -
Don Novello, American actor
* 1943 -
Jimmy Hart, Wrestling manager
*
1945 -
Jacky Ickx, Belgian race car driver
*
1946 -
Rivelino, Brazilian football player
*
1947 -
Jon Corzine, American politician
* 1947 -
Paula Tsui, Hong Kong singer
*
1948 -
Pavel Grachev, Russian general
*
1951 -
Ashfaq Hussain, Urdu poet
*
1953 -
Greg Carmichael, British guitarist
*
1954 -
Robert Menendez, American politician
*
1956 -
Mark R. Hughes, American enterpeneur (d.
2000)
*
1957 -
Luis Guzmán, Puerto Rican actor
*
1958 -
Grandmaster Flash, Barbados-born musician
*
1959 -
Azali Assoumani, Comorese president
*
1960 -
Adelaide Ferreira, Portuguese singer
*
1961 -
Mark Wingett, British actor
*
1964 -
Dedee Pfeiffer, American actress
*
1966 -
Anna Burke, Australian politician
* 1966 -
Embeth Davidtz, American actress
*
1967 -
Derrick Thomas, American football player (d.
2000)
*
1968 -
Davor Å uker, Croatian footballer
*
1969 -
Verne Troyer, American actor
*
1970 -
Gabriel Jarret, American actor
* 1970 -
Kimberly Page, American actress
*
1971 -
Paul Luscher, singer/songwriter
*
1972 -
Neve McIntosh, Scottish actress
* 1972 -
Lilian Thuram, French footballer
*
1975 -
Joe Cannon, American soccer player
* 1975 -
Robert Westerholt, Dutch guitarist (
Within Temptation)
*
1976 -
Caleb Wyatt, American motocross rider
*
1977 -
Hasan Salihamidžić, Bosnian footballer
*
1978 -
Nina Bott, German actress
* 1978 -
Jared Fogle, American personality
* 1978 -
Phillip Mulryne, Northern Irish footballer
*
1978 -
Tarik O'Regan, British composer
* 1978 -
Paramahamsa Sri Nithyananda, Indian spiritual guru
*
1979 -
Brody Dalle, Australian singer (
The Distillers)
* 1979 -
Koichi Domoto, Japanese artist
*
1980 -
Elin Nordegren, Swedish model
*1980 -
Nils-Eric Johansson, Swedish footballer
*
1981 -
Zsolt Baumgartner, Hungarian race car driver
* 1981 -
Abdulkadir Kocak, Turkish boxer
*
1982 -
David Nalbandian, Argentinian tennis player
*
1984 -
Jose Paolo Guerrero, Peruvian footballer
*
1985 -
Steven Davis, Irish footballer
*
1992 -
Martin Leung, Canadian trombone player
*
1996 -
Mary Gibbs, American actress
*
379 - Saint
Basil of Caesarea (b.
330)
*
404 -
Saint Telemachus*
874 -
Hasan al-Askari, eleventh Shia Imam (b.
846)
*
898 -
Odo, Count of Paris (b.
860)
*
1204 - King
Haakon III of Norway*
1384 - King
Charles II of Navarre (b.
1332)
*
1515 - King
Louis XII of France (b.
1462)
*
1554 -
Pedro de Valdivia, Spanish conquistador (bc.
1500)
*
1559 -
Christian III of Denmark and Norway (b.
1503)
*
1560 -
Joachim Du Bellay, French poet (bc.
1522)
*
1617 -
Hendrik Goltzius, Dutch painter (b.
1558)
*
1679 -
Jan Steen, Dutch painter
*
1716 -
William Wycherley, English dramatist (bc.
1640)
*
1730 -
Samuel Sewall, English-born judge (b.
1652)
*
1742 -
Peregrine Bertie, 2nd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English statesman (b.
1686)
*
1748 -
Johann Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b.
1667)
*
1759 -
Jacques-Joachim Trotti, marquis de La Chétardie, French adventurer (b.
1705)
*
1766 -
James Francis Edward Stuart, "The Old Pretender" (b.
1688)
*
1782 -
Johann Christian Bach, German composer (b.
1735)
*
1789 -
Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, English politician (b.
1716)
*
1793 -
Francesco Guardi, Venetian painter (b.
1712)
*
1800 -
Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton, French naturalist (b.
1716)
*
1817 -
Martin Heinrich Klaproth, German chemist (b.
1743)
*
1862 -
Mikhail Vasilievich Ostrogradsky, Russian physicist (b.
1801)
*
1869 -
Martin W. Bates, U.S. Senator from Delaware (b.
1786)
*
1892 -
Roswell B. Mason, Mayor of Chicago (b.
1805)
*
1894 -
Heinrich Hertz, German physicist (b.
1857)
*
1912 -
Pyotr Nikolaevich Lebedev, Russian phsyicist (b.
1866)
*
1919 -
Mikhail Drozdovsky, Russian general (b.
1881)
*
1921 -
Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg,
Chancellor of Germany (b.
1856)
*
1931 -
Martinus Beijerinck, Dutch microbiologist and botanist (b.
1851)
*
1933 -
Harriet Brooks, Canadian physicist (b.
1876)
*
1944 -
Charles Turner, Australian cricketer (b.
1862)
*
1953 -
Hank Williams, American singer (b.
1923)
*
1958 -
Edward Weston, American photographer (b.
1886)
*
1960 -
Margaret Sullavan, American actress (b.
1911)
*
1964 -
Bechara El Khoury,
President of Lebanon (b.
1890)
*
1972 -
Maurice Chevalier, French actor and singer (b.
1888)
*
1981 -
Beulah Bondi, American actress (b.
1888)
*
1985 -
Kamatari Fujiwara, Japanese actor (b.
1905)
*
1986 -
Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (b.
1902)
*
1992 -
Grace Hopper, American computer pioneer (b.
1906)
*
1994 - Lord
Arthur Espie Porritt, Governor-General of New Zealand (b.
1900)
* 1994 -
Cesar Romero, American actor (b.
1907)
*
1995 -
Fred West, British serial killer (suicide) (b.
1941)
* 1995 -
Eugene Wigner, Hungarian physicist,
Nobel laureate (b.
1902)
*
1996 -
Arleigh Burke, American admiral (b.
1901)
*
1997 -
Townes Van Zandt, American musician (b.
1944)
*
1998 -
Helen Wills Moody, American tennis player (b.
1905)
*
2000 -
Colin Vaughan, Australian-born political journalist
*
2001 -
Ray Walston, American actor (b.
1914)
*
2003 -
Joe Foss, American politician and fighter pilot (b.
1915)
*
2005 -
Shirley Chisholm, American politician (b.
1924)
* 2005 -
Hugh John Frederick Lawson, 6th Baron Burnham, British newspaperman (b.
1931)
* 2005 -
Bob Matsui, American politician (b.
1941)
* 2005 -
Eugene J. Martin, American painter, artist (b.
1938)
*
2006 -
Harry Magdoff, American magazine editor (b.
1913)
* 2006 -
Bryan Harvey, American musician (b.
1956)
***By Observance
* Many countries around the world using
Gregorian Calendar -
New Year's Day; often celebrated at 0:01 with
fireworks.
*Last day of
Kwanzaa*Public Domain Day in many countries. This is the day on which
copyrights expire and works are put into the
public domain.
*
World Day for Prayer for Peace*
Z Day - People with last names beginning with the letter Z get to go first in line.
***By Faith
*The seventh
day of Christmas (and eighth night of same) in Western
Christianity.
*
Catholicism -
Feast of the Circumcision (Old calendar).
*
Catholicism -
Holy Day of Obligation in many countries. Final Day of Octave of
Christmas, Solemnity of
Mary, Mother of God (New calendar).
*
Catholicism -
National Migration Week begins (varying official support by the office of U.S. President, not strictly religious)
***By Country
*
Cuba Liberation Day
*
Haiti Independence Day.
*
Scotland: First day of New Year Public Holiday (the second being January 2nd). Most shops and businesses closed on this day.
*
Slovakia: Establishment of Slovak Republic.
*
Sudan Independence Day
*
Taiwan Founding of
Republic of China.
*
United States -
Bonza Bottler Day.
***By City
*
New Year's Day Parade in London, United Kingdom.
*
Vienna New Year's Concert*
Pasadena, California - The
Tournament of Roses parade and, traditionally, the
Rose Bowl football championship.
The day of the week of New Year determines the days of the week of 1 March of the previous year through 28 February of the new year, without distinguishing common years and leap years. It is the day before "
Doomsday" of the previous year.
*
BBC: On This Day*
NY Times: On this dayDecember 31 -
January 2 -
December 1 -
February 1 â€"
listing of all daysnds-nl:1 jannewaori
