December 21

### Up to 1900

- 69 – Vespasian becomes the fourth Roman Emperor in the Year of the four emperors.
- 640 – Muslim Arabs capture the Babylonian fortress in the Nile Delta after a seven–month siege.
- 1124 – Pope Honorius II is elected.
- 1361 – The Battle of Linuesa is fought during the Spanish Reconquista between forces of the Emirate of Granada and the combined army of the Kingdoms of Castile and Jaen, resulting in a Castilian victory.
- 1471 – The first European reaches the island of Sao Tome in the Gulf of Guinea.
- 1598 – Battle of Curalaba: The revolting Mapuche, led by Cacique Pelentaru, inflict a major defeat on the Spanish troops in Southern Chile.
- 1620 – The Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock
- 1780 – Great Britain declares war on The Netherlands in response to the Dutch joining the League of Armed Neutrality and for assisting French and American forces during the American Revolution.
- 1832 – Egyptian-Ottoman War: Egyptian forces  decisively defeat Ottoman Empire troops in the Battle of Konya in present–day Turkey.
- 1859 – Sam Houston becomes Governor of Texas.
- 1861 – The Medal of Honor is first authorized.
- 1861 – Lord Lyons, the British minister to the United States, meets with United States Secretary of State William Seward concerning Confederate envoys  arrested by the United States Navy in order to prevent war between the United States and the United Kingdom.
- 1872 – HMS _Challenger_ sails from Portsmouth on the 4 year scientific expedition that would lay the foundation for the science of oceanography.
- 1879 – The first performance of Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House takes place in Copenhagen.
- 1880 – Isle of Man becomes first political entity that allows women to vote
- 1891 – The first basketball game is played.
- 1898 – Marie and Pierre Curie discover radium.

### 1901 – 2000

- 1907 – The Chilean army commits a massacre of at least 2,000 workers striking saltpeter miners in Iquique.
- 1910 – An underground explosion at Hulton Bank Colliery in Westhoughton, England, kills 344 miners.
- 1913 – First crossword puzzle is published in the _New York World_ paper, created by Arthur Wynne.
- 1914 – First feature–length silent movie comedy, _Tillie's Punctured Romance_, starring Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand and Charles Chaplin, is released
- 1919 – Municipal elections held in Senegal (First round, second round is held December 28). The multiracial lists of the Independent Socialist Republican Party (PRSI) wins in all four municipalities.
- 1923 – Nepal changes from British protectorate to independent state.
- 1933 – Newfoundland becomes a crown colony.
- 1934 – President of Bolivia Daniel Salamanca is overthrown in a military coup.
- 1937 – First screening of _Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs_, the first feature–length animated movie.
- 1941 – A treaty of alliance is signed by Japan and Thailand.
- 1942 – Hundreds of workers striking for better pay and conditions at a tin mine in Bolivia are massacred.
- 1946 – The Nankaido earthquake in Japan kills over 1,300 people.
- 1958 – Charles de Gaulle is elected as the first President and establishes the Fifth Republic.
- 1962 – Rondane National Park, the first national park in Norway, is established.
- 1965 – The UN adopts the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
- 1967 – Louis Washkansky, who received the first successful heart transplant in Cape Town on December 3, dies 18 days after the operation.
- 1968 – Apollo 8 is launched.
- 1969 – The UN adopts the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
- 1978 – John Wayne Gacy is arrested for the killings of 33 boys and young men.
- 1979 – The United States government bails out the Chrysler Corporation
- 1979 – The Lancaster House Agreement was signed, effectively ending the white rule in Rhodesia under Ian Smith.
- 1984 – The Soviet _Vega 2_ probe is launched to the planet Venus.
- 1987 – The passenger ferry _Doña Paz_ sinks after colliding with the oil tanker _Vector 1_ in the Philippines.
- 1988 – A terrorist bomb explodes and crashes Pan Am flight 103 a Boeing 747, over Lockerbie, Scotland killing 270, including 11 on the ground.
- 1991 – The former Soviet Union countries Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan join the Commonwealth of Independent States.
- 1994 – The Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico erupts.
- 1995 – Bethlehem goes from Israeli to Palestinian control.
- 1999 – Chadrika Kumaratunga is confirmed as Sri Lanka's Head of State.
- 1999 – The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with 950 kg of explosives intended by ETA to blow down Torre Picasso.

### From 2001

- 2001 – Japanese television performer Masashi Tashiro got No. 1 temporarily in the Internet vote of Time's Person of the Year.
- 2002 – Vancouver, British Columbia city council declares "D.O.A. Day" in observance of the Canadian punk band D.O.A.'s decades of influence and accomplishments.
- 2005 – The United Kingdom introduces Civil Partnership for same-sex couples. Elton John and his partner David Furnish are among those who make use of this law on its first day.
- 2006 – Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov dies.
- 2007 – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary implement the Schengen Agreement.
- 2010 – A partial lunar eclipse occurs on the day of the December solstice.
- 2012 – The Long Count of the Maya calendar resets itself according to the most popular correlation. A minority argues that it does so on December 23, 2012.  This has been central to various predictions about December 21, 2012, ranging from spiritual and transformative to apocalyptic.
- 2012 – Having been posted on YouTube in July, and becoming a worldwide hit, the video of PSY's Gangnam Style reaches the milestone of a billion views on the video–sharing website.
- 2014 – Klaus Iohannis becomes President of Romania.
- 2014 – Beji Caid Essebsi is elected President of Tunisia.
- 2015 – Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini are banned from football for 8 years over corruption at FIFA.
- 2017 – Catalonia holds regional elections, with the coalition of parties supporting Catalan independence keeping its majority.
- 2017 – Birmingham, England, is given the right to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

### Up to 1900

- 1118 – Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1170)
- 1401 – Tommaso Masaccio, Italian painter (d. 1428)
- 1596 – Peter Mogila, Moldovan religious figure (d. 1646)
- 1603 – Roger Williams, English theologian (d. 1684)
- 1639 – Jean Racine, French writer (d. 1699)
- 1728 – Hermann Raupach, German composer (d. 1778)
- 1773 – Robert Brown, Scottish botanist (d. 1858)
- 1778 – Anders Sandoe Orsted, 3rd Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 1860)
- 1795 – Jack Russell, English dog breeder (d. 1883)
- 1795 – Leopold von Ranke, German historian (d. 1886)
- 1804 – Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1881)
- 1805 – Thomas Graham, Scottish chemist (d. 1869)
- 1811 – Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1882)
- 1815 – Thomas Couture, French painter and educator (d. 1879)
- 1818 – Amalia of Oldenburg, Queen of Greece (d. 1875)
- 1823 – Jean-Henri Fabre, French entomologist, writer and poet (d. 1915)
- 1832 – John H. Ketcham, American general and politician (d. 1906)
- 1840 – Namik Kemal, Turkish nationalist poet (d. 1888)
- 1843 – Thomas Bracken, Irish–New Zealand poet (d. 1898)
- 1847 – John Chard, British military officer (d. 1897)
- 1850 – Zdenek Fibich, Bohemian composer (d. 1900)
- 1851 – Thomas Chipman McRae, 26th Governor of Arkansas (d. 1929)
- 1857 – Joseph Carruthers, Australian politician, 16th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1932)
- 1859 – Gustave Kahn, French poet (d. 1936)
- 1872 – Don Lorenzo Perosi, Italian composer (d. 1956)
- 1872 – Sidney Ainsworth, British actor (d. 1922)
- 1874 – Juan Bautista Sacasa, President of Nicaragua (d. 1946)
- 1874 – Josep Maria Sert, Catalan painter (d. 1945)
- 1876 – Jack Lang, 23rd Premier of New South Wales (d. 1975)
- 1877 – Jaan Sarv, Estonian mathematician and scholar (d. 1954)
- 1878 – Jan Łukasiewicz, Polish philosopher and mathematician (d. 1956)
- 1879 – Joseph Stalin, Soviet leader (d. 1953)
- 1885 – Frank Patrick, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1960)
- 1888 – Jean Boulin, French long–distance runner (d. 1914)
- 1890 – H. J. Muller, American geneticist (d. 1967)
- 1891 – John William McCormack, American politician (d. 1980)
- 1892 – Walter Hagen, American golfer (d. 1969)
- 1892 – Rebecca West, British writer (d. 1983)
- 1896 – Leroy Robertson, American composer (d. 1971)

### 1901 – 1950

- 1902 – Ulrich Wilhelm Graf Schwerin von Schwanenfeld, German Resistance activist (d. 1944)
- 1905 – Anthony Powell, British writer (d. 2000)
- 1909 – Seicho Matsumoto, Japanese writer and journalist (d. 1992)
- 1913 – Arnold Friberg, American illustrator and painter (d. 2010)
- 1914 – Frank Fenner, Australian scientist (d. 2010)
- 1915 – Werner von Trapp, Austrian singer (d. 2007)
- 1917 – Heinrich Böll, German writer (d. 1982)
- 1918 – Kurt Waldheim, Austrian politician (d. 2007)
- 1918 – Donald Regan, American politician (d. 2003)
- 1920 – Alicia Alonso, Cuban ballerina; d. Twenty–nineteen
- 1924 – Rita Reys, Dutch jazz singer (d. 2013)
- 1925 – Olga Aroseva, Russian actress (d. 2013)
- 1926 – Arnost Lustig, Czech writer (d. 2011)
- 1926 – Joe Paterno, American football coach (d. 2012)
- 1927 – Takashi Hiraoka, Japanese mayor and journalist
- 1928 – Ed Nelson, American actor (d. 2014)
- 1930 – Kalevi Sorsa, Prime Minister of Finland (d. 2004)
- 1931 – Moira Orfei, Italian actress (d. 2015)
- 1932 – U. R. Ananthamurthy, Indian writer (d. 2014)
- 1933 – Robert Worcester, American businessman
- 1934 – Hanif Mohammad, Pakistani cricketer (d. 2016)
- 1934 – Giuseppina Leone, Italian sprinter
- 1935 – John G. Avildsen, American movie director and producer (d. 2017)
- 1935 – Yusuf Bey, American activist (d. 2003)
- 1935 – Edward Schreyer, Canadian politician
- 1935 – Lorenzo Bandini, Italian racing driver (d. 1967)
- 1936 – Hershel W. Gober, American politician
- 1937 – Jane Fonda, American actress
- 1938 – Frank Moorhouse, Australian author
- 1939 – Lloyd Axworthy, Canadian politician
- 1940 – Frank Zappa, American musician (d. 1993)
- 1942 – Hu Jintao, Chinese politician, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China
- 1942 – Reinhard Mey, German singer–songwriter
- 1942 – Crispin Wright, British philosopher
- 1942 – Carla Thomas, American singer
- 1943 – Masafumi Hara, Japanese footballer
- 1943 – Albert Lee, English guitarist
- 1943 – Jack Nance, American actor (d. 1996)
- 1943 – Walter Spanghero, French rugby player
- 1944 – Bill Atkinson, English footballer
- 1944 – Michael Tilson Thomas, American conductor, pianist and composer
- 1945 – Doug Walters, English cricketer
- 1946 – Carl Wilson, American musician (The Beach Boys) (d. 1998)
- 1947 – Paco de Lucía, Spanish flamenco guitarist, songwriter and producer (d. 2014)
- 1948 – Samuel L. Jackson, American actor
- 1949 – Thomas Sankara, President of Burkina Faso (d. 1987)
- 1950 – Jeffrey Katzenberg, American movie producer

### 1951 – 1975

- 1953 – Betty Wright, American soul singer
- 1953 – András Schiff, Hungarian–British pianist and conductor
- 1954 – Chris Evert, American tennis player
- 1955 – Kazuyuki Sekiguchi, Japanese singer-songwriter and bass player
- 1955 – Jane Kaczmarek, American actress
- 1957 – Ray Romano, Italian–American comedian
- 1958 – Tamara Bykova, Russian athlete
- 1959 – Florence Griffith-Joyner, American athlete (d. 1998)
- 1959 – Michael Spindelegger, Austrian politician
- 1960 – Sherry Rehman, Pakistani journalist, politician and diplomat
- 1961 – Ryuji Sasai, Japanese video game designer
- 1962 – Steven Mnuchin, 77th United States Secretary of the Treasury
- 1963 – Govinda, Indian actor and politician
- 1965 – Cem Oezdemir, German politician
- 1965 – Anke Engelke, German comedienne
- 1965 – Andy Dick, American comedian, actor, musician and television producer
- 1966 – Kiefer Sutherland, Canadian actor
- 1966 – Karri Turner, American actress
- 1966 – William Ruto, Kenyan politician
- 1967 – Mikheil Saakashvili, former President of Georgia
- 1969 – Julie Delpy, French–American model, actress, director and screenwriter
- 1969 – Jack Noseworthy, American actor
- 1969 – Mihails Zemlinskis, Latvian footballer
- 1970 – Jamie Theakston, English television presenter
- 1970 – Stefan Lövgren, Swedish handball player
- 1972 – Claudia Poll, Costa Rican swimmer
- 1972 – Gloria De Piero, English politician
- 1972 – Kirsten Oswald, Scottish politician
- 1972 – Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy, Indian politician
- 1973 – Irakli Alasania, Georgian colonel and politician
- 1974 – Karrie Webb, Australian golfer
- 1975 – Charles Michel, President of the European Council and former Prime Minister of Belgium

### From 1976

- 1976 – Lukas Rossi, Canadian rock singer
- 1977 – Emmanuel Macron, President of France
- 1978 – Alexander Wolf, German biathlete
- 1979 – Tuva Novotny, Swedish actress, singer and director
- 1979 – Steve Montador, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
- 1980 – Stefan Liv, Polish–born Swedish ice hockey player (d. 2011)
- 1981 – Cristian Zaccardo, Italian footballer
- 1982 – Charlie Cox, English actor
- 1982 – Mike Gansey, American basketball player
- 1982 – Iljo Keisse, Belgian cyclist
- 1983 – Steven Yeun, Korean–American actor
- 1984 – Darren Potter, Irish footballer
- 1985 – Tom Sturridge, British actor
- 1985 – Andrea Jeremiah, Indian actress and singer
- 1987 – Brad Howard, Australian footballer
- 1988 – Perri Shakes-Drayton, British athlete
- 1988 – Yasmin, British singer
- 1989 – Tamannaah, Indian actress
- 1990 – Alexa Goddard, British singer
- 1991 – Riccardo Saponara, Italian footballer
- 1995 – Bobby, South Korean rapper and composer
- 1996 – Kaitlyn Dever, American actress

### Up to 1950

- 72 – Thomas the Apostle
- 882 – Hincmar, French archbishop (b. 806)
- 1295 – Marguerite Berenger of Provence, queen of Louis IX of France (b. 1221)
- 1308 – Henry I of Hesse (born 1244)
- 1375 – Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian writer (born 1313)
- 1504 – Bertold von Henneberg-Römhild, German archbishop and elector (born 1442)
- 1549 – Marguerite of Navarre, queen of Henry II of Navarre (born 1492)
- 1579 – Vicente Masip, Spanish painter (b. 1500)
- 1597 – Petrus Canisius, Dutch Jesuit (born 1521)
- 1737 – Alessandro Galilei, Italian architect (born 1691)
- 1807 – John Newton, English cleric and hymnist (born 1725)
- 1839 – Andrew Dung-Lac, Vietnamese martyr (born 1795)
- 1873 – Francis Garnier, French explorer (born 1839)
- 1882 – Francesco Hayez, Italian painter (born 1791)
- 1900 – Roger Wolcott, Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1847)
- 1907 – Klara Hitler, mother of Adolf Hitler (b. 1860)
- 1920 – Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, Somali nationalist leader (b. 1856)
- 1933 – Knud Rasmussen, Greenlandic explorer and anthropologist (b. 1879)
- 1935 – Kurt Tucholsky, German journalist and satirist (born 1890)
- 1937 – Frank B. Kellogg, 45th United States Secretary of State, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (born 1856)
- 1940 – F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer (born 1896)
- 1945 – George S. Patton, American general (born 1885)

### 1951 – 2015

- 1955 – Garegin Njdeh, Armenian statesman (b. 1886)
- 1957 – Eric Coates, English composer (born 1886)
- 1958 – Lion Feuchtwanger, German writer (born 1884)
- 1964 – Carl Van Vechten, American writer and photographer (b. 1880)
- 1967 – Louis Washkansky, heart transplant patient (b. 1913)
- 1968 – Vittorio Pozzo, Italian FIFA World Cup–winning football manager (b. 1886)
- 1982 – Hafeez Jullundhri, Pakistani writer, poet and composer (b. 1900)
- 1983 – Paul de Man, Belgian critic (b. 1919)
- 1987 – John Spence, American musician (b. 1969)
- 1988 – Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch ornithologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1907)
- 1989 – Rotimi Fani-Koyode, Nigerian–English photographer (b. 1955)
- 1990 – Clarence Johnson, American engineer (b. 1910)
- 1992 – Albert King, American musician (born 1924)
- 1992 – Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian violinist (born 1903)
- 2001 – Dick Schaap, American sports journalist (born 1931)
- 2004 – Autar Singh Paintal, Indian medical scientist (born 1925)
- 2006 – Saparmurat Niyazov, President of Turkmenistan (b. 1940)
- 2008 – Dale Wasserman, American writer (b. 1914)
- 2009 – Edwin G. Krebs, American biochemist (b. 1918)
- 2010 – Enzo Bearzot, Italian footballer and FIFA World Cup–winning manager (b. 1927)
- 2012 – Lee Dorman, American musician (b. 1942)
- 2013 – David Coleman, British broadcaster (b. 1926)
- 2013 – Edgar Bronfman, Sr., Canadian–American businessman (b. 1929)
- 2013 – John Eisenhower, American general, historian and diplomat (b. 1922)
- 2014 – Horacio Ferrer, Uruguayan writer and poet (b. 1933)
- 2014 – Udo Jürgens, Austrian singer (b. 1934)
- 2014 – Sitor Situmorang, Indonesian poet and writer (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Billie Whitelaw, English actress (b. 1932)
- 2014 – Alan Williams, Welsh politician (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Morteza Ahmadi, Iranian actor (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Jane Bown, British photographer (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Frank Truitt, American basketball coach (b. 1925)
- 2015 – Carol Burns, Australian actress (b. 1947)

### From 2016

- 2017 – Manouchehr Boroumand, Iranian weightlifter (b. 1934)
- 2017 – Ken Catchpole, Australian rugby player (b. 1939)
- 2017 – Dick Enberg, American sports broadcaster (b. 1935)
- 2017 – March Fong Eu, American politician; b. '22
- 2017 – Halvard Kausland, Norwegian jazz guitarist (b. 1945)
- 2017 – Jean-Pierre Lehmann, American–born Swiss economist; b. '45
- 2017 – Bruce McCandless II, American astronaut (b. 1937)
- 2017 – Francelino Pereira, Brazilian politician (b. 1921)
- 2017 – June Rowlands, Canadian politician, 60th Mayor of Toronto (b. 1924)
- 2017 – Roswell Rudd, American jazz trombonist (b. 1935)
- 2017 – John Vear, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1938)
- 2017 – Jerry Yellin, American World War II fighter pilot (b. 1924)
- 2018 – Gerard Bernacki, Polish priest; (b. 1942)
- 2018 – Lars Hindmar, Swedish racewalker; (b. 1921)
- 2019 – Ramachandra Babu, Indian cinematographer; (b. 1947)
- 2019 – Martin Peters, English footballer; (b. 1943)
- 2019 – Emanuel Ungaro, French fashion designer; (b. 1933)
- 2019 – Krisztián Zahorecz, Hungarian footballer; (b. 1975)

## Observances

- Winter solstice (Northern Hemisphere), can also occur on December 22
    - Yule
- Summer solstice (Southern Hemisphere), can also occur on December 22
- Christian feast day of Saint Thomas the Apostle