November 12

Events
Up to 1900
764 - Tibetan troops occupy Chang'an, the capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, for fifteen days.
1028 - Future Byzantine empress Zoe marries Romanus Argyrus according to the wishes of dying Constantine VIII
1439 - Plymouth, England, becomes the first town incorporated by the English Parliament.
1555 - The English Parliament decides that Roman Catholicism will be the state religion of England.
1602 - Sebastian Viscaino lands at, and names, San Diego, California.
1793 - Jean Sylvain Bailly, the first Mayor of Paris, is executed on the guillotine.
1892 - William Heffelfinger becomes the first professional American football player on record, taking part in his first paid game for the Allegheny Athletic Association.
1893 - The Treaty of the Durand is signed between present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan; the Durand Line has become the international border between the two countries.
1901 2000
1905 - Newly independent Norway holds a referendum on its system of government. Most voters decide to have a monarch as their Head of State, over having a president.
1908 - An explosion at a mine shaft in Hamm, present-day North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, kills 348 people.
1912 - The bodies of Robert Falcon Scott and his men are found on the Ross Ice Shelf.
1918 - Austria becomes a republic.
1920 - Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes sign the Treaty of Rapallo.
1927 - Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin with complete control of the Soviet Union.
1928 - The ship SS Vestris sinks around 200 miles (320 kilometers) off Hampton Roads, Virginia, killing over 110 people.
1933 - Hugh Gray takes the first-known photograph alleged to show the Loch Ness Monster.
1936 - The San Francisco Bay Bridge is opened.
1942 - World War II: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Japanese and American forces begins near Guadalcanal. The battle lasts for three days.
1944 - World War II: The Royal Air Force launches one of the most successful bombing attacks of war and sinks the German battleship Tirpitz off the coast of Norway.
1945 - Sudirman is elected as the first commander-in-chief of the Indonesian Armed Forces.
1948 - In Tokyo, an international war crimes tribunal sentences seven Japanese military and government officials, including Hideki Tojo, to death for their roles in World War II.
1956 - Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia join the UN.
1958 - A team of rock climbers led by Warren Harding completes the first successful climb of the "Nose" on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, California.
1968 - Equatorial Guinea joins the UN.
1969 - Vietnam War: My Lai Massacre - Independent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh breaks the My Lai story.
1970 - The Oregon Highway Division attempt to destroy a rotting bleached sperm whale with explosives, leading to the now-infamous "exploding whale" incident.
1973 - It is announced that Gerald Ford is to succeed Spiro Agnew as Vice President of the United States.
1975 - The Comoros join the UN.
1980 - The Voyager 1 space probe takes images of Saturn's rings.
1981 - The Space Shuttle Columbia launches on its second flight.
1982 - In the Soviet Union, Yuri Andropov is selected to become the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding the late Leonid Brezhnev.
1982 - Polish Solidarity leader Lech Walesa is released.
1985 - Xavier Suarez becomes Miami's first Cuban-American Mayor.
1990 - Crown Prince Akihito is formally installed as Emperor Akihito of Japan, becoming the 125th Japanese monarch. He had already succeeded his father Hirohito, who died on January 7, 1989.
1990 - Tim Berners-Lee publishes a formal proposal for the World Wide Web.
1991 - Dili Massacre: Indonesian forces opened fire on a crowd of student protesters in Dili, East Timor.
1994 - Chandrika Kumaratunga becomes President of Sri Lanka.
1995 - Mozambique joins the Commonwealth. As a former Portuguese colony, it is the first Commonwealth member not to have had any historical links with the present-day United Kingdom.
1995 - Azerbaijan holds its first parliamentary elections.
1996 - A Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakh Ilyushin II-76 cargo plane collide in mid-air near New Delhi, India, killing 349 people in the deadliest mid-air collision to date.
1997 - Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of planning the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
From 2001
2001 - Taliban forces abandon Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, ahead of advancing Northern Alliance troops.
2001 - A plane crash in the New York Borough of Queens kills all (260) of those on board, and 5 people on the ground. American Airlines Flight 587 had come down shortly after take-off and was bound for the Dominican Republic.
2003 - Iraq War: In Nasiriya, Iraq, at least 23 people, including the war's first Italian casualties, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on the Italian police base.
2003 - Shanghai Transrapid sets a new world speed record, 501 kilometers per hour (311 miles per hour), for commercial railways systems, which remains the fastest for unmodified commercial rail vehicles.
2004 - Official Guided by Voices Day in Los Angeles, California.
2004 - Resignation of Colin Powell as United States Secretary of Defense.
2010 - The 16th Asian Games begin in Guangzhou, China.
2011 - In the wake of an economic crisis, Silvio Berlusconi resigns as Prime Minister of Italy. Mario Monti is selected to replace him shortly after.
2013 - One World Trade Center is announced as being the tallest building in the United States.
2014 - The Philae lander from the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe lands on the surface of the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It is the first man-made object to land on a comet.
2015 - At least 40 people are killed in suicide bomb attacks in Beirut, Lebanon.
2017 - A magnitude 7.3 earthquake strikes the Iran-Iraq border area, killing at least 450 people and injuring hundreds.
Births
Up to 1900
1493 - Bartolomeo Bandelli, Italian sculptor (d. 1560)
1528 - Qi Jiquang, Chinese general (d. 1588)
1547 - Claude of Valois, French princess (d. 1575)
1615 - Richard Baxter, English clergyman (d. 1691)
1651 - Juana Ines de la Cruz, Mexican nun and poet (d. 1695)
1679 - Firmin Bauzit, French scholar (d. 1767)
1729 - Louis Antoine de Bougainville, French explorer (d. 1811)
1746 - Jacques Charles, French physicist (d. 1823)
1755 - Gerhard von Scharnhorst, Prussian general (d. 1813)
1774 - Charles Bell, Scottish physiologist and anatomist (d. 1842)
1790 - Letitia Christian Tyler, American First Lady, wife of John Tyler (d. 1842)
1815 - Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American women's rights activist (d. 1902)
1817 - Baha'u'llah, religious leader of the Baha'i faith (d. 1892)
1830 - Brynjulf Bergslien, Norwegian sculptor (d. 1898)
1833 - Alexander Borodin, Russian composer (d. 1887)
1840 - Auguste Rodin, French sculptor (d. 1917)
1841 - Preston Lea, Governor of Delaware (d. 1916)
1842 - John Strutt, 3rd Baron Raleigh, English physicist (d. 1919)
1850 - Mikhail Chigorin, Russian chess player (d. 1908)
1865 - Sun Yat-sen, Chinese revolutionary and politician (d. 1925)
1872 - William Fay, Irish actor and theatre musician (d. 1947)
1881 - Olev Siinmaa, Estonian architect (d. 1948)
1882 - Infanta Maria Teresa of Spain (d. 1912)
1883 - James W. Mott, American politician (d. 1945)
1886 - Ben Travers, British playwright (d. 1980)
1890 - Lily Kronberger, Hungarian figure skater (d. 1974)
1891 - Seth Barnes Nicholson, American astronomer (d. 1963)
1892 - Tudor Davies, Welsh operatic tenor (d. 1958)
1895 - Amandus Adamson, Estonian sculptor (d. 1929)
1898 - Leon Stukelj, Slovenian gymnast (d. 1999)
1901 1950
1901 - James Luther Adams, American theologian (d. 1994)
1903 - Jack Oakie, American actor (d. 1978)
1908 - Harry Blackmun, United States Supreme Court justice (d. 1999)
1911 - Buck Clayton, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1991)
1911 - Chad Varah, British founder of the Samaritans telephone helpline (d. 2007)
1915 - Roland Barthes, French writer and philosopher (d. 1980)
1917 - Jo Stafford, American singer (d. 2008)
1920 - Richard Quine, American actor (d. 1989)
1922 - Kim Hunter, American actress (d. 2002)
1923 - Loriot, German comedian, humorist, producer and writer (d. 2011)
1923 - Ruben Bonifaz Nuno, Mexican poet and scholar (d. 2013)
1924 - Sam Jones, American jazz musician (d. 1981)
1928 - Bob Holness, South African-born television presenter and actor (d. 2012)
1929 - Michael Ende, German writer (d. 1995)
1929 - Grace Kelly, American actress and Princess of Monaco (d. 1982)
1930 - Bob Crewe, American songwriter, dancer, singer and record producer (d. 2014)
1931 - Norman Y. Mineta, American politician
1933 - Jalal Talabani, President of Iraq (d. 2017)
1934 - Vava, Brazilian footballer (d. 2002)
1934 - Leonid Stein, Soviet-Ukrainian chess player (d. 1973)
1934 - Charles Manson, American cult leader (d. 2017)
1935 - Lyudmila Gurchenko, Russian actress and singer (d. 2011)
1936 - Heiner Zieschang, German mathematician (d. 2004)
1936 - Mills Lane, American boxer, referee, lawyer and judge
1937 - Richard H. Truly, American astronaut
1938 - Benjamin Mkapa, former President of Tanzania
1938 - Mort Shuman, American singer-songwriter (d. 1991)
1939 - Lucia Popp, Slovakian soprano (d. 1993)
1939 - Ruby Nash Garnett, American singer
1940 - Jurgen Todenhofer, German judge and politician
1941 - Cristina Peri Rossi, Uruguayan writer
1943 - Errol Brown, English singer (d. 2015)
1943 - Bjorn Waldegard, Swedish rally driver (d. 2014)
1943 - Wallace Shawn, American actor and playwright
1944 - Booker T. Jones, American rock musician
1944 - Al Michaels, American sportscaster
1945 - Dale Schlueter, American basketball player (d. 2014)
1945 - Neil Young, Canadian singer
1946 - Krister Henriksson, Swedish actor
1948 - Hassan Rouhani, President of Iran
1949 - Jack Reed, American politician
1951 1975
1952 - Ernie Fletcher, 60th Governor of Kentucky
1952 - Stuart Cosgrove, Scottish broadcaster and journalist
1955 - Louan Gideon, American actress (d. 2014)
1955 - Les McKeown, Scottish singer
1957 - Tim Samaras, American storm chaser (d. 2013)
1957 - Cecilia Attias, former First Lady of France
1958 - Megan Mullally, American actress
1959 - Toshihiko Sahashi, Japanese composer
1960 - Maurane, Belgian singer (d. 2018)
1961 - Nadia Comaneci, Romanian gymnast
1961 - Enzo Francescoli, Uruguayan footballer
1962 - Naomi Wolf, American author and feminist
1962 - Mariella Frostrup, Norwegian-British journalist
1962 - Mark Hunter, Canadian ice hockey player, coach and manager
1963 - Susumu Terajimi, Japanese actor
1964 - Danny Ellefson, American musician
1964 - Thomas Berthold, German footballer
1964 - Vic Chesnutt, American musician (d. 2009)
1964 - Michael Kremer, American economist
1965 - Eddie Mair, Scottish journalist
1968 - Aya Hisakawa, Japanese voice actress and singer
1968 - Kathleen Hanna, American musician and activist
1968 - Sammy Sosa, Dominican baseball player
1970 - Tonya Harding, American figure skater
1971 - Chen Guangcheng, Chinese human rights activist
1973 - Radha Mitchell, American actress
1974 - Alessandro Birindelli, Italian footballer
1975 - Katherine Grainger, Scottish rower
1975 - Dario Simic, Croatian footballer
From 1976
1976 - Miroslaw Szymkowiak, Polish footballer
1977 - Benni McCarthy, South African footballer
1978 - Eric Addo, Ghanaian footballer
1978 - Ashley Williams, American actress
1980 - Ryan Gosling, Canadian actor
1980 - Charlie Hodgson, English rugby player
1981 - D. J. Campbell, English footballer
1982 - Maxim Tchoudov, Russian biathlete
1982 - Anne Hathaway, American actress
1983 - Carlton Cole, English footballer
1984 - Omarion, American singer
1985 - Adlene Guedioura, French-Algerian footballer
1987 - Bryan Little, Canadian ice hockey player
1988 - Russell Westbrook, American basketball player
1988 - Paul Samaras, American storm chaser (d. 2013)
1989 - Hiroshi Kiyotake, Japanese footballer
1990 - Taulupe Faletau, Welsh rugby union player
1990 - Florent Manaudou, French swimmer
1990 - James McCarthy, Irish footballer
1992 - Adam Larsson, Swedish ice hockey player
1992 - Giulietta, Australian singer
1992 - Trey Burke, American basketball player
2001 - Raffey Cassidy, English actress
Deaths
Up to 1900
607 - Pope Boniface III
1035 - Canute the Great, Danish king of England, Denmark, Norway and part of Sweden (b. 995)
1094 - King Duncan II of Scotland (b. 1060)
1139 - King Magnus IV of Norway (b. 1115)
1202 - King Canute VI of Denmark (b. 1163)
1434 - King Louis III of Naples (b. 1403)
1595 - John Hawkins, English shipbuilder, merchant, and slavetrader (b. 1532)
1671 - Thomas Fairfax, English Civil War general (b. 1612)
1720 - Peter Tordenskiold, Danish-Norwegian naval officer (b. 1690)
1742 - Friedrich Hoffmann, German physician and chemist (b. 1660)
1757 - Colley Cibber, English poet (b. 1671)
1793 - Jean Sylvain Bailly, French politician, first Mayor of Paris (executed on the Guillotine) (b. 1736)
1813 - J. Hector St John de Crevecoeur, French-American writer (b. 1735)
1836 - Juan Ramon Balcarce, Argentine military leader and politician (b. 1773)
1857 - Manuel Oribe, Uruguayan politician (b. 1792)
1865 - Elizabeth Gaskell, English writer (b. 1810)
1901 2000
1902 - William Henry Barlow, British railway engineer (b. 1812)
1903 - Camille Pissarro, French painter (b. 1830)
1912 - Jose Canalejas, Spanish politician and writer (b. 1854)
1916 - Percival Lowell, American astronomer (b. 1855)
1933 - John Cady, American golfer (b. 1866)
1933 - F. Holland Day, American photographer (b. 1864)
1939 - Norman Bethune, Canadian doctor and humanitarian (b. 1890)
1942 - Laura Hope Crews, American actress (b. 1879)
1944 - Otto Blumenthal, German mathematician (b. 1876)
1945 - James W. Mott, American politician (b. 1883)
1946 - Albert Bond Lambert, American golfer (b. 1875)
1946 - Madan Mohan Malaviya, Indian academic and politician (b. 1861)
1948 - Umberto Giordano, Italian composer (b. 1867)
1950 - Lesley Ashburner, American athlete (b. 1883)
1958 - James Michael Curley, American politician, Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1874)
1969 - Iskander Mirza, President of Pakistan (b. 1899)
1969 - Liu Shaoqi, Chinese revolutionary and politician (b. 1898)
1974 - Thorbergur Thordarson, Icelandic writer (b. 1889)
1976 - Walter Piston, American composer (b. 1894)
1990 - Eve Arden, American actress (b. 1908)
1994 - Wilma Rudolph, American runner (b. 1940)
1997 - Carlos Surinach, Spanish composer (b. 1915)
2000 - Leah Rabin, widow of Yitzhak Rabin (b. 1928)
From 2001
2003 - Jonathan Brandis, American actor (b. 1976)
2007 - Ira Levin, American writer (b. 1929)
2008 - Mitch Mitchell, English drummer (b. 1947)
2010 - Henryk Gorecki, Polish composer (b. 1933)
2012 - Sergio Oliva, Cuban-born American bodybuilder (b. 1941)
2013 - Aleksandr Serebrov, Soviet-Russian cosmonaut (b. 1944)
2013 - John Tavener, English composer (b. 1944)
2014 - Warren Clarke, English actor (b. 1947)
2014 - Marge Roukema, American politician (b. 1929)
2014 - Rebekah Gibbs, English actress (b. 1973)
2015 - Marton Fulop, Hungarian footballer (b. 1983)
2015 - Aaron Shikler, American artist (b. 1922)
2015 - Jihadi John, Kuwaiti-British terrorist (b. 1988)
2016 - Lupita Tovar, Mexican-American actress (b. 1910)
2017 - Bernard Panafieu, French cardinal (b. 1931)
2017 - Jack Ralite, French politician (b. 1928)
2017 - Edith Savage-Jennings, American activist (b. 1924)
2017 - Liz Smith, American gossip columnist (b. 1923)
2017 - Santiago Vernazza, Argentine footballer (b. 1928)
2018 - Ananth Kumar, Indian politician (b. 1959)
2018 - Stan Lee, American comic book writer, publisher and actor (b. 1922)
2018 - Igor Luchenok, Belarussian composer (b. 1938)
2018 - David Pearson, American racing driver (b. 1934)
2018 - Stuart H. Walker, American yachtsman (b. 1923)
2019 - Edwin Bramall, British army officer (b. 1923)
2019 - Herb Dickenson, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1931)
2019 - Bob Johnson, American baseball player (b. 1936)
2019 - Victor Manuel Perez Rojas, Venezuelan Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1940)
2019 - Mitsuhisa Taguchi, Japanese footballer (b. 1955)
2020 - Masatoshi Koshiba, Japanese physician (b. 1926)
Observances
Birth of Baha'u'llah (Baha'i faith)
Birth of Sun Yat-sen (Republic of China)
World Pneumonia Day
Constitution Day (Azerbaijan)
Days of the year