SomeFacts | January 1

On this day - January 1

For the first time, Roman consuls begin their year in office on ...

The Julian calendar takes effect as the civil calendar of the Roman ...

The Roman Senate posthumously deifies Julius Caesar.

193 — The Senate chooses Pertinax against his will to succeed ...

404 — Saint Telemachus tries to stop a gladiatorial fight in a Roman ...

417 — Emperor Honorius forces Galla Placidia into marriage to ...

947 — Emperor Taizong of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty captures ...

1001 — Grand Prince Stephen I of Hungary is named the first King of ...

1068 — Romanos IV Diogenes marries Eudokia Makrembolitissa and is ...

1259 — Michael VIII Palaiologos is proclaimed co-emperor of the ...

1438 — Albert II of Habsburg is crowned King of Hungary.

1502 — The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is first ...

1515 — Twenty-year-old Francis, Duke of Brittany, succeeds to the ...

1527 — Croatian nobles elect Ferdinand I, Archduke of Austria as King ...

1600 — Scotland recognises January 1 as the start of the year, ...

1604 — The Masque of Indian and China Knights is performed by ...

1651 — Charles II is crowned King of Scotland at Scone Palace.

1700 — Russia begins using the Anno Domini era instead of the Anno ...

1707 — John V is proclaimed King of Portugal and the Algarves in ...

1725 — J. S. Bach leads the first performance of his chorale cantata ...

1726 — J. S. Bach leads the first performance of Herr Gott, dich ...

1739 — Bouvet Island, the world's remotest island, is discovered ...

1772 — The first traveler's cheques, which could be used in 90 ...

1773 — The hymn that becomes known as "Amazing Grace", ...

1776 — General George Washington hoists the first United States flag, ...

1776 — American Revolutionary War: Burning of Norfolk – Norfolk, ...

1781 — American Revolutionary War: One thousand five hundred soldiers ...

1788 — The first edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily ...

1801 — Ceres, the largest and first known object in the Asteroid ...

1801 — The legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom ...

1804 — French rule ends in Haiti. Haiti becomes the first ...

1806 — The French Republican Calendar is abolished.

1808 — The United States bans the importation of slaves.

1810 — Major-General Lachlan Macquarie officially becomes Governor of ...

1818 — Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (anonymously) publishes the ...

1822 — The Greek Constitution of 1822 is adopted by the First ...

1834 — Most of Germany forms the Zollverein customs union, the first ...

1845 — The Philippines moves its national calendar to align with ...

1847 — The world's first "Mercy" Hospital is founded ...

1860 — The first Polish postage stamp is issued, replacing the ...

1861 — Liberal forces supporting Benito Juárez enter Mexico City.

1863 — American Civil War: The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect ...

1877 — Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Empress of ...

1885 — Twenty-five nations adopt Sandford Fleming's proposal for ...

1890 — Eritrea is consolidated into a colony by the Italian ...

1892 — Ellis Island begins processing immigrants into the United ...

1898 — New York, New York annexes land from surrounding counties, ...

1899 — Spanish rule ends in Cuba.

1900 — Nigeria becomes a British protectorate with Frederick Lugard ...

1901 — The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, ...

1901 — The Southern Nigeria Protectorate is established within the ...

1902 — The first American college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl ...

1910 — Captain David Beatty is promoted to rear admiral, and becomes ...

1912 — The Republic of China is established.

1914 — The SPT Airboat Line becomes the world's first scheduled ...

1923 — Britain's Railways are grouped into the Big Four: LNER, ...

1927 — New Mexican oil legislation goes into effect, leading to the ...

1928 — Boris Bazhanov defects through Iran to seek asylum in France. ...

1929 — The former municipalities of Point Grey, British Columbia and ...

1932 — The United States Post Office Department issues a set of 12 ...

1934 — A "Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased ...

1934 — Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay becomes a United States ...

1942 — The Declaration by United Nations is signed by twenty-six ...

1945 — World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches Operation ...

1947 — The Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 comes into effect, ...

1947 — Cold War: The American and British occupation zones in ...

1948 — The British railway network is nationalized to form British ...

1949 — United Nations cease-fire takes effect in Kashmir from one ...

1956 — Sudan achieves independence from Egypt and the United Kingdom.

1957 — Lèse majesté in Thailand is strengthened to include ...

1957 — George Town, Penang, is made a city by a royal charter of ...

1958 — The European Economic Community is established.

1959 — Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista, dictator of Cuba, is ...

1960 — Cameroon achieves independence from France and the United ...

1962 — Western Samoa achieves independence from New Zealand; its name ...

1964 — The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is divided into the ...

1965 — The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan is founded ...

1970 — The defined beginning of Unix time, at 00:00:00.

1971 — Cigarette advertisements are banned on American television.

1973 — Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom are admitted into the ...

1976 — A bomb explodes on board Middle East Airlines Flight 438 over ...

1978 — Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747, crashes into the Arabian ...

1979 — the Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic ...

1981 — Greece is admitted into the European Community.

1982 — Peruvian Javier Pérez de Cuéllar becomes the first Latin ...

1983 — The ARPANET officially changes to using TCP/IP, the Internet ...

1984 — Brunei becomes independent of the United Kingdom.

1984 — The original American Telephone & Telegraph Company is ...

1985 — Eastern Air Lines Flight 980 crashes into Mount Illimani in ...

1985 — The first British mobile phone call is made by Michael ...

1987 — The Isleta Pueblo tribe elect Verna Williamson to be their ...

1988 — The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America comes into ...

1989 — The Montreal Protocol comes into force, stopping the use of ...

1990 — David Dinkins is sworn in as New York City's first black ...

1993 — Dissolution of Czechoslovakia: Czechoslovakia is divided into ...

1994 — The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) comes into ...

1994 — The Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiates twelve ...

1995 — Austria, Finland and Sweden join the EU.

1995 — The Draupner wave in the North Sea in Norway is detected, ...

1995 — The World Trade Organization comes into being.

1998 — Argentinian physicist Juan Maldacena publishes a landmark ...

1998 — Following a currency reform, Russia begins to circulate new ...

1999 — The Euro currency is introduced in 11 member nations of the ...

2001 — Greece adopts the Euro, becoming the 12th Eurozone country.

2004 — In a vote of confidence, General Pervez Musharraf wins 658 out ...

2007 — Adam Air Flight 574 breaks apart in mid-air and crashes near ...

2007 — Bulgaria and Romania join the EU.

2009 — Sixty-six people die in a nightclub fire in Bangkok, Thailand.

2010 — A suicide car bomber detonates at a volleyball tournament in ...

2011 — Estonia officially adopts the Euro currency and becomes the ...

2011 — A bomb explodes as Coptic Christians in Alexandria, Egypt, ...

2013 — At least 60 people are killed and 200 injured in a stampede ...

2015 — The Eurasian Economic Union comes into effect, creating a ...

2017 — An attack on a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, during New ...

2023 — Croatia officially adopts the Euro, becoming the 20th Eurozone ...

2024 — Artsakh ceases to exist.

2024 — Disney's copyright protection on Steamboat Willie and the ...

2024 — A 7.5 Mww earthquake strikes the western coast of Japan, ...

2025 — Fourteen people are killed and 57 others injured during a ...

2026 — A fire at a bar during New Year's Eve celebrations in ...

2026 — Bulgaria officaly adopts the Euro, becoming the 21st Eurozone ...