Historical Events on January 1, Facts & Special Events On This Day

Historical Events on January 1

153 BC
Roman consuls begin their year in office.
45 BC
The Julian calendar takes effect as the civil calendar of the Roman Empire, establishing January 1 as the new date of the new year.
42 BC
The Roman Senate posthumously deifies Julius Caesar.
AD 69
The Roman legions in Germania Superior refuse to swear loyalty to Galba. They rebel and proclaim Vitellius as emperor.
193
The Senate chooses Pertinax against his will to succeed Commodus as Roman emperor.
404
Telemachus, a Christian monk, is killed for attempting to stop a gladiators' fight in the public arena held in Rome.
417
Emperor Honorius forces Galla Placidia into marriage to Constantius, his famous general (magister militum).
1001
Grand Prince Stephen I of Hungary is named the first King of Hungary by Pope Sylvester II.
1068
Romanos IV Diogenes marries Eudokia Makrembolitissa and is crowned Byzantine Emperor.
1259
Michael VIII Palaiologos is proclaimed co-emperor of the Empire of Nicaea with his ward John IV Laskaris.
1438
Albert II of Habsburg is crowned King of Hungary.
1502
The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is first explored by the Portuguese.
1515
King Francis I of France succeeds to the French throne.
1527
Croatian nobles elect Ferdinand I of Austria as King of Croatia in the Parliament on Cetin.
1651
Charles II is crowned King of Scotland.
1700
Russia begins using the Anno Domini era instead of the Anno Mundi era of the Byzantine Empire.
1707
John V is crowned King of Portugal.
1739
Bouvet Island is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier.
1772
The first traveler's cheques, which can be used in 90 European cities, go on sale in London, England.
1773
The hymn that became known as "Amazing Grace", then titled "1 Chronicles 17:16-17" is first used to accompany a sermon led by John Newton in the town of Olney, Buckinghamshire, England.
1776
American Revolutionary War: Norfolk, Virginia is burned by combined Royal Navy and Continental Army action.
1781
American Revolutionary War: One thousand five hundred soldiers of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment under General Anthony Wayne's command rebel against the Continental Army's winter camp in Morristown, New Jersey in the Pennsylvania Line Mutiny of 1781.
1788
First edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published.
1801
The legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland is completed to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1801
Ceres, the largest and first known object in the Asteroid belt, is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi.
1803
Emperor Gia Long orders all bronze wares of the Tây Sơn dynasty to be collected and melted into nine cannons for the Royal Citadel in Huế, Vietnam.
1804
French rule ends in Haiti. Haiti becomes the first black republic and second independent country in North America after the United States
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 New South Wales
1812
The Bishop of Durham, Shute Barrington, orders troops from Durham Castle to break up a miners' strike in Chester-le-Street, Co. Durham
1822
The Greek Constitution of 1822 is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus.
1833
The United Kingdom claims sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
1847
The world's first "Mercy" Hospital is founded in Pittsburgh by the Sisters of Mercy; the name will go on to grace over 30 major hospitals throughout the world.
1860
First Polish stamp is issued.
1861
Porfirio Díaz conquers Mexico City, Mexico.
1863
American Civil War: The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect in Confederate territory.
1877
Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Empress of India.
1881
Ferdinand de Lesseps begins French construction of the Panama Canal.
1885
Twenty-five nations adopt Sandford Fleming's proposal for standard time (and also, time zones)
1890
Eritrea is consolidated into a colony by the Italian government.
1892
Ellis Island opens to begin processing immigrants into the United States.
1898
New York, New York 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.
1902
The first American college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl between Michigan and Stanford, is held in Pasadena, California.
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.
1910
Captain David Beatty is promoted to Rear admiral, and becomes the youngest admiral in the Royal Navy (except for Royal family members), since Horatio Nelson.
1912
The Republic of China is established.
1914
The SPT Airboat Line becomes the world's first scheduled airline to use a winged aircraft.
1920
The Belorussian Communist Organisation is founded as a separate party.
1923
Britain's Railways are grouped into the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, and LMS.
1927
The Cristero War begins in Mexico.
1928
Boris Bazhanov defects through Iran. He is the only assistant of Joseph Stalin's secretariat to have defected from the Eastern Bloc.
1929
The former municipalities of Point Grey, British Columbia and South Vancouver, British Columbia are amalgamated into Vancouver.
1932
The United States Post Office Department issues a set of 12 stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth.
1934
Alcatraz Island becomes a United States federal prison.
1934
Nazi Germany passes the "Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring".
1937
Safety glass in vehicle windscreens becomes mandatory in the United Kingdom.
1942
The Declaration by United Nations is signed by twenty-six nations.
1945
World War II: In retaliation for the Malmedy massacre, U.S. troops kill 60 German POWs at Chenogne.
1945
World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches Operation Bodenplatte, a massive, but failed attempt to knock out Allied air power in northern Europe in a single blow.
1947
The American and British occupation zones in Germany, after World War II, merge to form the Bizone, which later (with the French zone) became part of West Germany.
1947
The Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 comes into effect, converting British subjects into Canadian citizens. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes the first Canadian citizen.
1948
The British railway network is nationalized to form British Railways.
1949
United Nations cease-fire takes effect in Kashmir from one minute before midnight. War between India and Pakistan stops accordingly.
1950
Standard practice uses this day as the origin of the age scale Before Present
1956
Sudan achieves independence from Egypt and the United Kingdom.
1957
George Town, Penang becomes a city by a royal charter granted by Elizabeth II.
1958
European Economic Community established on this day.
1959
Fulgencio Batista, dictator of Cuba, is overthrown by Fidel Castro's forces during the Cuban Revolution.
1960
Cameroon achieves independence from France and the United Kingdom.
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.
1965
The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan is founded in Kabul, Afghanistan.
1971
Cigarette advertisements are banned on American television.
1973
Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Ireland are admitted into the European Economic Community.
1978
Air India Flight 855 Boeing 747 crashes into the sea, due to instrument failure and pilot disorientation, off the coast of Bombay, India, killing 213.
1979
Formal diplomatic relations are established between China and 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
The original American Telephone & Telegraph Company is divested of its 22 Bell System companies as a result of the settlement of the 1974 United States Department of Justice antitrust suit against AT&T.
1984
Brunei becomes independent of the United Kingdom.
1985
The first British mobile phone call is made by Michael Harrison to his father Sir Ernest Harrison, chairman of Vodafone.
1986
Aruba becomes independent of Curaçao, though it remains in free association with the Netherlands.
1988
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America comes into existence, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.
1989
The Montreal Protocol comes into force, stopping the use of chemicals contributing to ozone depletion.
1990
David Dinkins is sworn in as New York City's first black mayor.
1993
Dissolution of Czechoslovakia: Czechoslovakia is divided into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
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 (NAFTA) comes into effect.
1995
The World Trade Organization goes into effect.
1995
The Draupner wave in the North Sea in Norway is detected, confirming the existence of freak waves.
1998
Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.
1999
Euro currency is introduced in 11 member nations of the European Union (with the exceptions of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece and Sweden; Greece later adopts the euro).
2002
Euro currency becomes legal tender in twelve of the European Union's member states.
2004
In a vote of confidence, General Pervez Musharraf wins 658 out of 1,170 votes in the Electoral College of Pakistan, and according to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, is "deemed to be elected" to the office of President until October 2007.
2007
Adam Air Flight 574 disappears over Sulawesi Strait, Indonesia with 102 people on board.
2009
Sixty-six people die in a nightclub fire in Bangkok, Thailand.
2010
A suicide car bomber detonates at a volleyball tournament in Lakki Marwat, Pakistan, killing 105 and injuring 100 more.
2011
A bomb explodes as Coptic Christians in Alexandria, Egypt, leave a new year service, killing 23 people.
2013
At least 60 people are killed and 200 injured in a stampede after celebrations at Félix Houphouët-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
2016
The Address Downtown Dubai burns over midnight as the New Year is rung in. The blaze started on the night of New Year's Eve 2015, by currently unknown causes. There was one fatality.
2017
An attack on a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, during New Year's celebrations, kills at least 39 people and injures more than 60 others.
2017
Portuguese politician and diplomat António Guterres was officially elected Secretary-General of the United Nations.

January 1 in History