01 January History


Month:                           Date:     

  • 1500    -    The Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral searches the coast of Brazil and claims the region for Portugal.
  • 1586    -    Sir Francis Drake launches a surprise attack on the heavily fortified city of Santo Domingo in Hipanola.
  • 1698    -    The Abenaki Indians and Massachusetts colonists sign a treaty halting hostilities between the two.
  • 1766    -    The Old Pretender, son of James III, dies.
  • 1788    -    The Times, London's oldest running newspaper, publishes its first edition.
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  • 1808    -    A U.S. law banning the import of slaves comes into effect, but is widely ignored.
  • 1824    -    The Camp Street Theatre opens as the first English-language playhouse in New Orleans.
  • 1830    -    William Lloyd Garrison publishes the first edition of a journal entitled The Liberator, calling for the complete and immediate emancipation of all slaves in the United States.
  • 1863    -    Confederate General Braxton Bragg and Union General William Rosecrans readjust their troops as the Battle of Murfreesboro continues.
  • 1863    -    President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves in the Confederacy.
  • 1891    -    Facilities opened on Ellis Island, New York, to cope with the vast flood of immigrants coming into the United States.
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  • 1907    -    The Pure Food and Drug Act becomes law in the United States.
  • 1915    -    The German submarine U-24 sinks the British battleship Formidable in the English Channel.
  • 1918    -    The first gasoline pipeline begins operation. Along the 40 miles and three inches of pipe from Salt Creek to Casper, Wyoming.
  • 1923    -    Sadi Lecointe sets a new aviation speed record flying an average of 208 mph at Istres.
  • 1937    -    At a party at the Hormel Mansion in Minnesota, a guest wins $100 for naming a new canned meat–Spam.
  • 1945    -    In Operation Bodenplatte, German planes attack American forward air bases in Europe. This is the last major offensive of the Luftwaffe.
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  • 1959    -    Fidel Castro seizes power in Cuba as General Fulgencio Batista flees.
  • 1986    -    As the United States builds its strength in the Mediterranean, Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi threatens to retaliate if attacked.

  • 01 January Birthdays

  • 1735    -    Paul Revere, U.S. patriot.
  • 1752    -    Betsy Ross, flag maker.
  • 1879    -    E.M. [Edward Morgan] Forster, English novelist (A Passage to India, A Room With a View).
  • 1895    -    J. Edgar Hoover, founding director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).
  • 1919    -    J.D. [Jerome David] Salinger, U.S. novelist (The Catcher in the Rye, Franny and Zooey).