1487 – Opening ceremony of the sixth Great Temple of Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City) 4,000 prisoners of war are sacrificed to Aztec gods over four days
1642 – 4 of Abel Tasman’s crew killed at Wharewharangi (Murderers) Bay by Māori; Tasman’s ships depart without landing
1675 – King Philip’s War: Combined colonial millitias stake massive attack against the Great Swamp Fort, owned by the Narragansetts, totally destroying the settlement and killing or displacing hundreds of non-combatant women and children
1870 – After 31 days at sea in a small boat, William Halford and 3 others reach the island of Kauai, Hawaii to seek help for the shipwrecked USS Saginaw. A capsize in the breakers meant only Halford survived.
1974 – “The Man with the Golden Gun”, 9th James Bond film, starring Roger Moore, Britt Ekland and Christopher Lee, premieres in London
1975 – British guitarist Ron Wood joins the Rolling Stones
1980 – Comedy film “9 to 5” starring Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin is released
2001 – Argentine economic crisis: December 2001 riots – Riots erupt in Buenos Aires after Domingo Cavallo’s corralito measures restrict the withdrawal of cash from bank deposits.
2004 – World’s largest indoor water park Tropical Islands Resort, opens in the Aerium, an old airship hanger, in the world’s largest free-standing hall, south of Berlin, Germany
2007 – The Lakotah people, a Native American tribe, proclaim independence and withdraw all their treaties with the United States. Establish the Republic of Lakotah, as a separate country.
Category: Historical Events
Historical Events for 18th December 2023
1787 – New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the US constitution
1865 – 1st US cattle importation law passed
1900 – The Upper Ferntree Gully to Gembrook Narrow-gauge (2 ft 6 in or 762 mm) Railway (now the Puffing Billy Railway) in Victoria, Australia is opened for traffic.
1916 – Battle of Verdun, longest of World War I, officially ends in German defeat after nine months of fighting and almost 1 million total casualties
1963 – Ron Clarke runs world record 10k (28:15.6)
1971 – Three members of the Irish Republican Army die when the bomb they were transporting explodes prematurely in King Street, Magherafelt, County Derry.
1979 – Stuntman Stanley Barrett unofficially breaks the land speed record and the sound barrier in his three-wheeled vehicle the Budweiser Rocket (739.666 mph or Mach 1.01). The speed was never officially recorded and the attempt remains controversial.
1989 – “I Love Lucy” Christmas episode, shown for 1st time in over 30 years
1989 – Athol Fugard’s “My Children, My Africa” premieres in NYC
2012 – Canadian police begin arresting 17 people for ‘the Great Maple Syrup Heist’, for stealing 3,000 tonnes from a storage facility in Quebec
Historical Events for 17th December 2023
1526 – Ferdinand of Austria chosen as King of Bohemia
1895 – George Brownell patents a machine to make paper twine (Mass)
1920 – British Empire receives League of Nations mandate over Nauru
1944 – San Francisco M-Ocean View streetcar resumes service and is extended to Market St
1965 – British government proclaims ends oil-embargo against Rhodesia
1970 – USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1971 – “Diamonds are Forever”, 7th James Bond film, last starring Sean Conner, also starring Jill St. John is 1st released in West Germany
1971 – Cease fire between India and Pakistan in Kashmir
1988 – NY Islanders break 12 game losing streak, beat Devils 5-2
2017 – Sebastián Piñera wins Chile’s presidential election run-off, returning to office after 4 years
Historical Events for 16th December 2023
1922 – NSW all out for 786 against South Australia Cricket
1924 – Hiram Bingham is elected as a Republican to serve in the US Senate forcing him to resign as Governor of Connecticut after serving only one day in office, the shortest term of any Connecticut Governor
1928 – National Football League Championship: Providence Steam Roller (8-1-2) win first past the post title
1944 – German V-2 strikes Antwerp bioscope (638 kill)
1948 – “Lend an Ear” opens at National Theater NYC for 460 performances
1972 – Miami Dolphins become 1st undefeated NFL team (14-0-0)
1995 – The official adoption of the name “Euro”
2012 – A gang rape of a woman on a bus in India that resulted in her death leads to national and international outrage
2012 – Corinthians defeat Chelsea 1-0 to win the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup
2020 – China blocks imports of coal, from Australia, the world’s second biggest market for the world’s biggest coal exporter
Historical Events for 15th December 2023
1894 – Day 2 of first cricket test between Australia and England, Australia 586 runs (Gregory 201) England 3-130
1929 – National Football League Championship: Green Bay Packers (12-0-1) win first past the post title
1936 – KVL-AM in Seattle Washington changes call letters to KEEN (now KING)
1946 – Giants Filchock and Hapes suspended by NFL, didn’t report bribe attempt
1952 – KHON TV channel 2 in Honolulu, HI (NBC) begins broadcasting
1973 – Pirates of Caribbean ride opens at Disneyland
1986 – 150 killed during race riot in Karachi
1994 – Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard stage drama “A Tuna Christmas” opens at Booth Theate,r NYC; runs for 20 performances
1995 – The European Communities Court of Justice hands down the “Bosman ruling”, giving EU footballers the right to a free transfer at the end of their contracts, with the provision that they are transferring from one UEFA Federation to another.
2021 – COVID-19 Omicron variant called “probably the most significant threat” of the pandemic by head of UK Health Security Agency, warning of “staggering” growth in next few days
Historical Events for 14th December 2023
872 – John VIII elected as Catholic Pope
1793 – 1st state road authorized, Frankfort, Kentucky, to Cincinnati
1903 – The Wright brothers attempt to fly the Wright Flyer for the first time at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
1945 – Elmer Rice’s play “Dream Girl” premieres in NYC
1957 – Frank Loesser’s musical “The Most Happy Fella”, based on Sidney Howard’s 1924 stage drama “They Knew What They Wanted”, closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 678 performances
1964 – Michael Brown meets Renee Fladen, then writes “Walk Away Renee”
1967 – DNA created in a test tube
1991 – 57th Heisman Trophy Award: Desmond Howard, Michigan (WR)
1996 – 12th Soap Opera Digest Awards – Days of Our Lives wins
2020 – Russia revealed to have been behind massive cyberattack on US government agencies and private companies since the Spring
Historical Events for 13th December 2023
1668 – Jean Racine’s tragic play “Britannicus” premieres in Paris
1889 – Belgium rules on women and child labor law
1920 – Netherland breaks contact with Kingdom of Serbia, Croatia and Slavia
1967 – United Soccer Association and National Pro Soccer League merge into NASL
1975 – West Indian cricket opener Roy Fredericks smashes 169 in 2nd Test win v Australia in Perth; hundred in 71 balls
1989 – The last issue of Gnistan (The Spark), the organ of the Solidaritetspartiet, is published in Sweden
1990 – Heavy earthquake strikes Sicily, 18 die
1993 – Fire in textile factory in Fuzjou China, 60 killed
1994 – “The Hits” 2nd compilation album by Garth Brooks is released (Billboard Album of the Year 1995)
2021 – 70th Miss Universe Contest won by Miss India’s Harnaaz Sandhu in Eilat, Israel
Historical Events for 12th December 2023
1769 – Pope Clement XIV proclaims a universal jubilee
1871 – Jules Janssen discovers dark lines in solar corona spectrum
1878 – Joseph Pulitzer begins publishing the “St. Louis Post-Dispatch”
1915 – Aristide Briand forms French war government
1965 – Doug Walters makes maiden Test ton in 1st Test, goes on to 155
1965 – Chicago halfback Gale Sayers ties NFL record for most touchdowns in a game with 6 in 61–20 victory over San Francisco 49ers at Wrigley Field
1979 – Gold hits record $462.50 an ounce
1992 – 58th Heisman Trophy Award: Gino Torretta, U of Miami (QB)
2017 – Democrat Doug Jones defeats Republican Roy Moore for Alabama Senate seat in upset win marked by allegations of sexual misconduct against Moore
2019 – British General Election won by Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party in landslide win with 80 seat majority. Scottish National Party also wins 48 of 59 seats in Scotland.
Historical Events for 11th December 2023
1665 – “Messiah” Sjabtai Tswi festival in Smyrna
1862 – Battle of Fredricksburg in Virginia begins between Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major General Ambrose Burnside
1909 – Canadian Football exhibition game played in Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx, Hamilton Tigers beat Ottawa Rough Riders, 11-6 before 15,000
1926 – Leo O’Connor is unbeaten on 143 as Queensland wins their first Sheffield Shield match by 5 wickets vs NSW at the Sydney Cricket Ground
1947 – Bob Hilliard and Sigman’s musical “Angel in the Wings” opens at Coronet Theater NYC for 308 performances
1981 – Wash Capitals biggest margin of victory (9) beating Toronto 11-2
1990 – 13 die in 83 vehicle accident in Chattanooga Tn I-75, due to fog
2016 – Kyrgyzstan votes in a referendum to change the constitution to give the government more power
2019 – Militants attack army base in Ates, Niger, killing at least 71. Islamic State claim responsibility.
2022 – Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman’s musical “Some Like It Hot”, based on the 1959 feature film comedy, opens at the Shubert Theatre, NYC; garners 13 Tony Award nominations
Historical Events for 10th December 2023
1899 – -15] British “Black Week” due to defeats in South Africa
1911 – Belgium poet and playwright Maurice Maeterlinck is presented in absentia with the Nobel Prize for Literature
1926 – 1st radio broadcast in the Sprinfield area (WCBS)
1941 – Japanese troops overrun Guam
1942 – An early report of the Holocaust prepared by the Polish government-in-exile, using information obtained by Witold Pilecki, is addressed to UN member states
1956 – Establishment of The People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola, MPLA (from Portuguese: Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola), left-wing party that has ruled since independence from Portugal
1980 – Soyuz T-3 returns to Earth
1983 – Raul Alfonsin inaugurated as Argentina’s 1st civilian president
1988 – Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine presented to Gertrude B. Elion, George H. Hitchings and James W. Black for development of new drugs
2016 – Terrorist bomb attacks outside a stadium in Istanbul kill 38 and injure 166