January 12

### Up to 1900

- 475 – Basiliscus becomes Emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
- 1528 – Gustav Vasa becomes King of Sweden.
- 1539 – The Treaty of Toledo is signed by King Francis I of France and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
- 1554 – Bayinnaung is crowned King of Burma.
- 1616 – The city of Belem, in the present–day state of Para, Brazil, is founded by Francisco Caldeira Castelo Branco.
- 1807 – A ship loaded with gunpowder explodes, killing 151 people in the Dutch city of Leiden.
- 1846 – In France, a General Amnesty is given to people who took part in the French Revolution.
- 1848 – The Palermo Rising takes place in Sicily against the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
- 1866 – The Royal Aeronautical Society is founded in London.
- 1872 – Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum; the first coronation in Axum for over 200 years.
- 1888 – The Schoolhouse Blizzard sweeps across the Great Plains states of the United States, killing 200 people, many of them schoolchildren.
- 1895 – The United Kingdom's National Trust is founded.
- 1898 – Ito Hirobumi becomes Prime Minister of Japan for a third time.
- 1899 – 13 crew members and 5 apprentices are rescued from stricken schooner _Forest Hall_ by the Lynmouth Lifeboat, after getting into difficulty off Devon, England.

### 1901–2000

- 1905 – The Riksdagshuset, the seat of Sweden's parliament, is inaugurated in Stockholm, after eight years of building work.
- 1906 – Henry Campbell-Bannerman's cabinet begins widespread social reforms after a landslide victory in the United Kingdom Election.
- 1908 – A long–distance radio signal is sent from the Eiffel Tower for the first time.
- 1915 – The United States House of Representatives rejects giving women the vote.
- 1918 – In Finland a law takes effect that makes Jews full Finnish citizens.
- 1920 – French passenger steamer _Afrique_ is blown against a reef on France's coast during a storm, and sinks, killing 575 out of the 609 people on board.
- 1921 – After the Black Sox Scandal, Kenesaw Mountain Landis is elected Major League Baseball's first commissioner.
- 1922 – Prime Minister of France Aristide Briand resigns.
- 1932 – Hattie Caraway becomes the first woman elected to the United States Senate, representing Arkansas.
- 1937 – Melilla, a Spanish territory bordering Morocco, becomes a German submarine base during the Spanish Civil War.
- 1945 – A magnitude 7.1 earthquake in Japan kills 1,900 people.
- 1959 – The Caves of Nerja are rediscovered in Spain.
- 1962 – Vietnam War: Operation Chopper, the first US combat mission of the war, takes place.
- 1964 – Rebels in Zanzibar revolt and proclaim a republic.
- 1967 – Dr. James Bedford becomes the first person to be cryonically preserved with intent of future revival.
- 1969 – The New York Jets of the American Football League defeat the Baltimore Colts of the National Football League in the final of the Super Bowl, in one of the biggest shock results in American football history.
- 1970 – Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian Civil War.
- 1971 – The sitcom _All in the Family_ is first broadcast on CBS.
- 1976 – The last Spanish troops withdraw from Western Sahara.
- 1991 – The United States Congress authorises military force in reaction to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
- 1998 – Nineteen European Nations agree to forbid human cloning.

### From 2001

- 2001 – Downtown Disney opens to the public at Disneyland resort in Anaheim, California.
- 2004 – The ocean liner RMS _Queen Mary 2_ makes its first voyage.
- 2005 – Deep Impact launches on board a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
- 2006 – A stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage kills 362 Muslim pilgrims.
- 2010 – 2010 Haiti earthquake: A major earthquake hits Haiti, killing over 200,000 people, and leaving millions of people homeless.
- 2016 – A bomb attack in Istanbul, Turkey, kills at least 10 people, most of them German tourists.
- 2019 – The roof of a mine in Shenmu in the People's Republic of China's Shaanxi province collapses, killing at least 21 people.
- 2024 – A coalition, consisting of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands, launch a large-scale missile attack against the Houthi movement in Yemen.

### Up to 1800

- 1483 – Henry III of Nassau-Breda, German nobleman (d. 1538)
- 1562 – Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1630)
- 1576 – Petrus Scriverius, Dutch writer (d. 1660)
- 1580 – Jan Baptist von Helmont, Flemish scientist (d. 1644)
- 1588 – John Winthrop, English–born politician (d. 1649)
- 1628 – Claude Perrault, French folklorist (d. 1703)
- 1711 – Gaetano Latilla, Italian composer (d. 1788)
- 1716 – Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish general and politician (d. 1795)
- 1723 – Samuel Langdon, American college educator (d. 1797)
- 1724 – Frances Brooke, English writer and playwright (d. 1789)
- 1729 – Edmund Burke, Irish statesman and philosopher (d. 1797)
- 1737 – John Hancock, American merchant and statesman (d. 1793)
- 1746 – Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Swiss educator (d. 1827)
- 1751 – Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (d. 1825)
- 1772 – Mikhail Speransky, Russian statesman, liberal reformer and professor of Mathematics (d. 1839)

### 1801–1900

- 1808 – Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Alsatian botanist and geologist (d. 1880)
- 1810 – Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies (d. 1859)
- 1822 – Etienne Lenoir, French engineer (d. 1900)
- 1846 – Prince Geatan, Count of Girgenti, son of Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies and Infante of Spain (d. 1871)
- 1849 – Murphy J. Foster, Governor of Louisiana (d. 1921)
- 1849 – Jean Béraud, Russian–French painter (d. 1935)
- 1852 – Joseph Joffre, French general (d. 1931)
- 1853 – Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro, Italian mathematician (d. 1925)
- 1856 – John Singer Sargent, American painter (d. 1925)
- 1863 – Swami Vivekananda, Indian philosopher (d. 1902)
- 1869 – Bhagwan Das, Indian politician and educator (d. 1958)
- 1873 – Spiridon Louis, Greek athlete (d. 1940)
- 1874 – James Juvenal, American rower (d. 1942)
- 1876 – Fevzi Cakmak, Turkish field marshal and Prime Minister (d. 1950)
- 1876 – Jack London, American writer (d. 1916)
- 1877 – Frank J. Corr, American politician (d. 1934)
- 1878 – Ferenc Molnár, Hungarian writer and journalist (d. 1952)
- 1879 – Anton Uesson, Estonian politician and engineer (d. 1942)
- 1882 – Milton Sills, American actor (d. 1930)
- 1884 – Texas Guinan, American actress (d. 1933)
- 1890 – Johannes Vares, Estonian poet, physician and politician (d. 1946)
- 1892 – Mikhail Gurevich, Russian engineer (d. 1976)
- 1893 – Hermann Göring, Nazi official (d. 1946)
- 1894 – Georges Carpentier, French boxer (d. 1975)
- 1896 – Keen Johnson, American politician, 45th Governor of Kentucky (d. 1970)
- 1899 – Paul Hermann Müller, Swiss chemist (d. 1965)
- 1899 – Pierre Bernac, French baritone (d. 1979)

### 1901–1950

- 1903 – Igor Kurchatov, Russian physicist (d. 1960)
- 1905 – Tex Ritter, American country music singer and actor (d. 1974)
- 1906 – Emmanuel Levinas, French philosopher (d. 1995)
- 1907 – Sergei Korolev, Russian rocket scientist (d. 1966)
- 1908 – Jean Delannoy, French director (d. 2008)
- 1910 – Luise Rainer, German actress (d. 2014)
- 1910 – Géry Leuliet, French bishop (d. 2015)
- 1910 – Patsy Kelly, American actress (d. 1981)
- 1916 – Pieter Willem Botha, South African politician (d. 2006)
- 1917 – Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Indian spiritualist (d. 2008)
- 1920 – mKatja of Sweden, Swedish fashion designer (d. 2017)
- 1923 – Ira Hayes, American marine who raised the US Flag on Iwo Jima (d. 1955)
- 1923 – Alice Miller, Polish–born Swiss psychologist, author and painter (d. 2010)
- 1925 – Katherine MacGregor, American actress (d. 2018)
- 1925 – Bill Burrud, American television host (d. 1990)
- 1926 – Ray Price, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
- 1926 – Shumon Miura, Japanese writer (d. 2017)
- 1926 – Morton Feldman, American composer (d. 1987)
- 1927 – Ignatz Bubis, chairman of the Federal Council of Jews in Germany (d. 1999)
- 1927 – Leopoldo Federico, Argentine musician, arranger, director and producer (d. 2014)
- 1928 – George E. R. Kinnear II, American admiral (d. 2015)
- 1929 – Jaakko Hintikka, Finnish philosopher (d. 2015)
- 1929 – Alasdair MacIntyre, Scottish–American philosopher
- 1932 – Des O'Connor, British television presenter and entertainer
- 1933 – Michael Aspel, British television presenter
- 1933 – Boris Khimichev, Russian actor (d. 2014)
- 1934 – Ebrahim Nafae, Egyptian journalist (d. 2018)
- 1936 – Sir William McAlpine, 6th Baronet, British engineering businessman (d. 2018)
- 1936 – Raimonds Pauls, Latvian pianist and composer
- 1936 – Brajanath Ratha, Indian poet (d. 2014)
- 1936 – Jennifer Hilton, Baroness Hilton of Eggardon, English police officer and politician
- 1937 – Vicente Sardinero, Spanish opera singer (d. 2002)
- 1937 – Marie Dubois, French actress (d. 2014)
- 1944 – Joe Frazier, American boxer (d. 2011)
- 1944 – Vlastimil Hort, Czech–German chess player
- 1944 – Jim Gray, American computer scientist (d. 2007)
- 1946 – George Duke, American keyboardist (d. 2013)
- 1946 – Hazel Cosgrove, Lady Cosgrove, Scottish lawyer and judge
- 1948 – Gordon Campbell, Canadian politician
- 1948 – Brendan Foster, English athlete and athletics commentator
- 1949 – Bagrat de Bagration y de Baviera, Spanish royal (d. 2017)
- 1949 – Ottmar Hitzfeld, German football manager
- 1949 – Haruki Murakami, Japanese writer
- 1949 – Kentaro Haneda, Japanese composer (d. 2007)
- 1949 – Hamadi Jebali, Tunisian politician
- 1950 – Dorrit Moussaieff, former First Lady of Iceland
- 1950 – Sheila Jackson-Lee, American politician
- 1950 – Patrice Dominguez, French tennis player (d. 2015)

### 1951–1975

- 1951 – Kirstie Alley, American actress
- 1951 – Rush Limbaugh, American radio personality, writer and political commentator
- 1951 – Larry Hoppen, American singer-songwriter and musician (Orleans) (d. 2012)
- 1952 – Walter Mosley, American writer
- 1952 – John Walker, New Zealand runner
- 1954 – Felipe Rose, American musician
- 1954 – Howard Stern, American radio personality and writer
- 1956 – Marie Colvin, American journalist (d. 2012)
- 1958 – Alexander Pochinok, Russian economist and politician (d. 2014)
- 1958 – Christiane Amanpour, Iranian–British journalist
- 1959 – Nick Nairn, Scottish celebrity chef
- 1959 – Per Gessle, Swedish songwriter and musician (Roxette)
- 1959 – Blixa Bargeld, German musician
- 1960 – Oliver Platt, American actor
- 1960 – Dominique Wilkins, American basketball player
- 1961 – Andrea Carnevale, Italian footballer
- 1962 – Joe Quesada, American comic book writer and artist
- 1964 – Jeff Bezos, American entrepreneur, founder of Amazon.com
- 1964 – Laura Gildemeister, Argentine tennis player
- 1964 – Clare Holman, British actress
- 1965 – Rob Zombie, American musician
- 1966 – Olivier Martinez, French actor
- 1968 – Heather Mills, British activist
- 1968 – Mauro Silva, Brazilian footballer
- 1969 – David Mitchell, British writer
- 1970 – Zack de la Rocha, American musician
- 1970 – Raekwon, American rapper
- 1971 – David McAllister, German politician
- 1971 – Scott Burrell, American basketball player
- 1971 – Peter Madsen, Danish engineer, entrepreneur and murder suspect
- 1972 – Priyanka Gandhi, Indian politician
- 1972 – Espen Knutsen, Norwegian ice hockey player
- 1973 – Hande Yener, Turkish singer
- 1974 – Tor Arne Hetland, Norwegian cross–country skier
- 1974 – Melanie Chisholm, British singer, formerly of the Spice Girls
- 1975 – Jocelyn Thibault, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1975 – Jason Freese, American musician

### From 1976

- 1976 – Piolo Pascual, Filipino actor, director and producer
- 1978 – Bonaventure Kalou, Ivorian footballer
- 1979 – Lee Bo-young, South Korean actress and model
- 1979 – Grzegorz Rasiak, Polish footballer
- 1981 – Amerie, American singer-songwriter, producer and actress
- 1981 – Tony Lochhead, New Zealand footballer
- 1982 – Paul-Henri Mathieu, French tennis player
- 1982 – Dean Whitehead, English footballer
- 1984 – Oribe Peralta, Mexican footballer
- 1984 – Andrew Chan, Australian drug trafficker (d. 2015)
- 1986 – Pablo Daniel Osvaldo, Argentine–Italian footballer
- 1986 – Kieron Richardson, English actor
- 1987 – Naya Rivera, American actress and singer
- 1987 – Edoardo Mortara, Italian racing driver
- 1988 – Claude Giroux, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1989 – Axel Witsel, Belgian footballer
- 1990 – Sergey Karjakin, Ukrainian–born Russian chess player
- 1991 – Pixie Lott, English singer-songwriter and actress
- 1992 – Mao Kobayashi, Japanese model and singer
- 1992 – Georgia May Jagger, English model
- 1993 – Zayn Malik, English singer (One Direction)
- 1994 – Emre Can, German footballer
- 1996 – Ai Hashimoto, Japanese actress and fashion model
- 1996 – Ella Henderson, English singer-songwriter
- 1998 – Nathan Gamble, American actor

### Up to 1900

- 690 – Benedict Biscop, English saint (b. 628)
- 1167 – Aelred of Rievaulx, English saint (b. 1110)
- 1321 – Maria of Brabant, Queen of France (b. 1256)
- 1519 – Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1459)
- 1665 – Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician and lawyer (b. 1601)
- 1674 – Giacomo Carissimi, Italian composer (b. 1605)
- 1705 – Luca Giordano, Italian artist (b. 1634)
- 1735 – John Eccles, English composer (b. 1668)
- 1758 – Lambert Jacob van Tets, colonial governor of the Dutch Gold Coast (b.1717)
- 1759 – Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (b. 1709)
- 1781 – Richard Challoner, English bishop (b. 1691)
- 1829 – Friedrich von Schlegel, German poet (b. 1772)
- 1834 – William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1759)
- 1856 – L'udovit Stur, Slovakian politician and writer of the Slovak language (b. 1815)
- 1875 – Tongzhi Emperor of China (b. 1856)
- 1875 – Thomas E. Bramlette, Governor of Kentucky (b. 1817)
- 1897 – Isaac Pitman, British inventor (b. 1813)

### 1901–2000

- 1909 – Hermann Minkowski, Polish–German mathematician (b. 1864)
- 1911 – Georg Jellinek, German public lawyer (b. 1851)
- 1916 – Georgios Theotokis, Greek politician, 80th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1844)
- 1921 – Gervase Elwes, English tenor (b. 1866)
- 1926 – Austin Chapman, Australian politician (b. 1864)
- 1934 – Paul Kochanski, Polish violinist and composer (b. 1887)
- 1938 – Gösta Ekman, Swedish actor (b. 1890)
- 1943 – Jan Campert, Dutch composer and writer (b. 1902)
- 1960 – Nevil Shute, English writer (b. 1899)
- 1962 – Ariadna Tyrkova-Williams, Russian journalist and activist (b. 1869)
- 1964 – Boss Johnson, Canadian politician (b. 1890)
- 1965 – Lorraine Hansberry, American writer, playwright and director (b. 1930)
- 1974 – Princess Patricia of Connaught (b. 1886)
- 1976 – Agatha Christie, English writer (b. 1890)
- 1977 – Henri-Georges Clouzot, French movie director and screenwriter (b. 1907)
- 1983 – Rebop Kwaku Baah, Ghanaian musician (b. 1944)
- 1983 – Nikolai Podgorny, President of the USSR (b. 1903)
- 1997 – Charles B. Huggins, Canadian cancer researcher (b. 1901)
- 1999 – Betty Lou Gerson, American voice actress (b. 1914)

### From 2001

- 2002 – Cyrus Vance, United States Secretary of State (b. 1917)
- 2003 – Maurice Gibb, British singer (Bee Gees) (b. 1949)
- 2003 – Leopoldo Galtieri, Argentine military leader (b. 1926)
- 2004 – Olga Aleksandrovna Ladyzhenskaya, Russian mathematician and physicist (b. 1922)
- 2005 – Amrish Puri, Indian actor (b. 1932)
- 2007 – Alice Coltrane, American jazz musician (b. 1937)
- 2009 – Claude Berri, French movie director (b. 1934)
- 2009 – Arne Naess, Norwegian philosopher (b. 1912)
- 2010 – Daniel Bensaïd, French philosopher (b. 1946)
- 2010 – Notable victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, including:
    - Zilda Arns, Brazilian pediatrician and aid worker (b. 1934)
    - Georges Anglade, Haitian writer (b. 1944)
    - Serge Marcil, Canadian politician (b. 1944)
    - Flo Mcgarrell, Italian artist (b. 1974)
    - Hédi Annabi, Tunisian diplomat (b. 1943)
    - Jimmy O, Haitian hip hop musician (b. 1974)
- 2012 – Reginald Hill, British writer (b. 1936)
- 2012 – Bill Janklow, American politician, former Governor of South Dakota (b. 1939)
- 2013 – Koto Okubo, Japanese supercentenarian (b. 1897)
- 2014 – Alexandra Bastedo, British actress (b. 1946)
- 2014 – Frank Marth, American actor (b. 1923)
- 2014 – John Horsley, British actor (b. 1920)
- 2014 – John Button, British racing driver (b. 1943)
- 2015 – Elena Obraztsova, Russian mezzo–soprano (b. 1939)
- 2015 – Carl Long, American baseball player (b. 1935)
- 2015 – James Naanman Daman, Nigerian bishop (b. 1956)
- 2015 – Frank Glazer, American pianist and composer (b. 1915)
- 2015 – Steve Gold, British computer scientist (b. 1956)
- 2015 – Robert Gover, American writer (b. 1929)
- 2015 – Paul Morgan, Welsh rugby player (b. 1974)
- 2015 – Bonnie Christensen, American children's book writer and illustrator (b. 1951)
- 2016 – Ivan Bukavshin, Russian chess player (b. 1995)
- 2016 – Andrew Smith, American basketball player (b. 1990)
- 2016 – Robert Black, Scottish serial killer (b. 1947)
- 2016 – Rose Chibambo, Malawian politician (b. 1928)
- 2016 – William Needles, American actor (b. 1919)
- 2016 – Dave Sime, American sprinter (b. 1936)
- 2016 – Carolyn D. Wright, American poet (b. 1949)
- 2017 – Giulio Angioni, Italian writer and anthropologist (b. 1939)
- 2017 – Meir Banai, Israeli singer (b. 1961)
- 2017 – William Peter Blatty, American writer (b. 1928)
- 2017 – Anthony King, Canadian–British political scientist (b. 1934)
- 2017 – Milton Metz, American radio and television sports presenter (b. 1921)
- 2017 – Vsevolod Murakhovsky, Ukrainian–Russian politician (b. 1926)
- 2017 – Graham Taylor, English football manager (b. 1944)
- 2018 – Frankie Muse Freeman, American civil rights attorney (b. 1916)
- 2018 – John V. Tunney, American politician, former United States Senator from California (b. 1934)
- 2018 – Jean-Louis Koszul, French mathematician (b. 1921)
- 2018 – Keith Jackson, American sportscaster (b. 1928)
- 2018 – Doodhnath Singh, Indian writer (b. 1936)
- 2018 – Eddy Beugels, Dutch cyclist (b. 1944)
- 2018 – Bella Emberg, English actress (b. 1937)
- 2018 – Pierre Pincemaille, French organist
- 2019 – George Brady, Czech–Canadian Holocaust survivor (b. 1928)
- 2019 – Etsuko Ichihara, Japanese actress (b. 1936)
- 2019 – Joe M. Jackson, American United States Air Force officer (b. 1923)
- 2019 – Batton Lash, American comic book writer and activist (b. 1953)
- 2019 – Jaime Rosenthal, Vice president of Honduras (b. 1936)
- 2019 – Patricia Wald, American judge (b. 1928)

## Observances

- Memorial Day (Turkmenistan)
- National Youth Day (India)
- Zanzibar Revolution Day (Tanzania)