January 26
Events
Up to 1900
1340 - King Edward III of England is declared King of France.
1500 - Vicente Yanez Pinzon becomes the first European to discover Brazil.
1531 - Lisbon, Portugal hit by an earthquake--thousands die.
1564 - The Council of Trent issues its conclusions in the Tridentinum, establishing a difference between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.
1564 - The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Tsardom of Russia in the Battle of Ula, during the Livonian War.
1699 - Treaty of Carlowitz signed.
1700 - The magnitude 9 Cascadia Earthquake took place off the coast of the American Northwest, as evidenced by Japanese records.
1736 - Stanislaus I of Poland abdicates his throne.
1782 - American War of Independence: The Naval Battle of Saint Kitts between British and French forces ends in British victory under Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, though the French still manage to take over the island anyway.
1785 - Benjamin Franklin writes a letter to his daughter expressing disappointment over the selection of the eagle as the symbol of the United States; he wanted the turkey.
1788 - The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sail into Sydney Harbour to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on the continent. Celebrated as Australia Day.
1802 - The U.S. Congress passes an act calling for a library to be established within the U.S. Capitol; eventually this becomes the Library of Congress.
1808 - Rum Rebellion, the only successful (but temporary) armed takeover of the government in Australia.
1837 - Michigan is admitted as the 26th U.S. state.
1838 - Tennessee enacts the first prohibition law in the United States
1841 - The United Kingdom formally occupies Hong Kong, which China had given up.
1861 - The state of Louisiana secedes from the Union.
1863 - American Civil War: General Ambrose Burnside is relieved of command of the Army of the Potomac after the disastrous Fredericksburg campaign. He is replaced by Joseph Hooker.
1863 - American Civil War: The Governor of Massachusetts receives permission from Secretary of War to raise a militia organization for men of African descent.
1870 - American Civil War: Virginia rejoins the Union.
1871 - Rome is declared capital of the Kingdom of Italy.
1885 - Troops loyal to the Mahdi conquer Khartoum.
1887 - Battle of Dogali: Abyssinian troops defeat Italians.
1901 1950
1905 - The Cullinan Diamond is found near Pretoria, South Africa at the Premier Mine.
1911 - Glenn H. Curtiss flies the first successful seaplane.
1911 - Richard Strauss' opera Der Rosenkavalier is performed, at the Dresden State Opera, for the first time.
1915 - Rocky Mountain National Park is created by an Act of the United States Congress.
1918 - Finnish Civil War: A group of Red Guards hangs a red lantern atop the Helsinki Workers' Hall, top symbolically mark the start of the war.
1924 - Saint Petersburg is renamed Leningrad, only a few days after Vladimir Lenin's death. It renamed Saint Petersburg again in 1991.
1930 - The Indian National Congress declares this date to be India's independence day.
1934 - The Apollo Theater opens in Harlem, New York City.
1936 - The Niagara Falls are frozen solid because of cold weather.
1939 - Spanish Civil War: Troops loyal to Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.
1942 - World War II: The first American forces arrive in Europe, landing in Northern Ireland.
1945 - World War II: The Red Army begins surrounding the German Fourth Army near Heiligenbeil, Prussia.
1946 - Felix Gouin becomes Prime Minister of France.
1947 - A Douglas DC-3 aircraft crashes at Copenhagen Kastrup Airport, killing all 22 people on board, including Prince Gustav Adolf of Sweden and the American singer and actress Grace Moore.
1950 - India promulgates its constitution forming a republic and Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as its first President.
1951 2000
1952 - Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper class Egyptian businesses.
1956 - The 1956 Winter Olympics open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
1958 - The Japanese ferry Nankai Manu capsizes off the southern Awaji Islands, killing 167 people.
1960 - Danny Heater sets a high school basketball record when he scores 135 points in a game for Burnsville High School, West Virginia.
1961 - John F. Kennedy appoints Janet G. Travell to be his physician. This is the first time a woman holds this appointment.
1962 - Ranger 3 is launched to study the moon. The space probe later missed the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km).
1965 - Hindi becomes the official language of India.
1966 - The Beaumont Children go missing from Glenelg Beach in Adelaide, South Australia.
1966 - Harold Holt becomes Prime Minister of Australia.
1970 - Folk rock duo Simon and Garfunkel release classic album Bridge Over Troubled Water.
1978 - Great Blizzard of 1978: A severe blizzard strikes Ohio and the Great Lakes region, with heavy snow at a wind speed of up to 161 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour).
1980 - Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations.
1983 - Lotus 1-2-3 is released.
1986 - Super Bowl XX: The Chicago Bears defeat the New England Patriots, 46-10.
1988 - Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical The Phantom of the Opera is first performed on Broadway, New York City.
1991 - Siad Barre is removed from power in Somalia.
1992 - Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia is going to stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons.
1992 - Super Bowl XXVI: The Washington Redskins defeat the Buffalo Bills, 37-24.
1993 - Vaclav Havel is elected President of the Czech Republic.
1994 - A man fires two blank shots at Charles, Prince of Wales in Sydney, Australia.
1996 - Whitewater scandal: Hillary Rodham Clinton testifies before a grand jury.
1997 - Super Bowl XXXI: The Green Bay Packers defeat the New England Patriots, 35-21.
1998 - Lewinsky scandal: On American television, Bill Clinton denies he had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
1998 - Compaq buys Digital Equipment Corporation.
2000 - Robert F. Vasa ordained Bishop of the Diocese of Baker
2000 - XHTML 1.0 becomes a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Recommendation.
From 2001
2001 - A 50-year-old Douglas DC-3 crashes near Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela killing 24.
2001 - An earthquake hits Gujarat, India, causing more than 20,000 deaths.
2001 - Joseph Kabila becomes President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
2003 - Super Bowl XXXVII: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeat the Oakland Raiders, 48-21, earning the Buccaneers their first Vince Lombardi Trophy.
2004 - Hamid Karzai signs the new constitution of Afghanistan.
2004 - A whale explodes in Tainan, Taiwan. A build-up of gas inside the sperm whale is suspected of causing the explosion.
2005 - Three trains crash, killing 11 and injuring 200 in Glendale, California near Los Angeles.
2005 - Having been confirmed earlier in the day by a vote of 85-13 in the United States Senate, Condoleezza Rice is sworn in as U.S. Secretary of State, becoming the first African American woman to hold the post.
2006 - Hamas wins elections in Palestine.
2009 - Rioting occurs in Antananarivo, Madagascar, later developing into a political crisis forcing President Marc Ravalomanana out of office.
2009 - The Icelandic government and banking system collapse and Prime Minister Geir Haarde immediately resigns from office. Johanna Sigurdardottir succeeds him on February 1.
2015 - Alexis Tsipras becomes Prime Minister of Greece after his left-wing SYRIZA movement won the parliamentary election.
2015 - A Greek fighter jet crashes at Los Llanos Air Base, Spain, killing 11 people.
2015 - A major snowstorm hits the Northeastern United States.
2017 - Alexander Van der Bellen becomes President of Austria.
2019 - Naomi Osaka wins her second Grand Slam singles tennis title in a row, defeating Petra Kvitova in the final of the Australian Open to become the first player from Asia to hold the Number One ranking.
2020 - Five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others are killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California.
Births
Up to 1900
1497 - Emperor Go-Nara of Japan (d. 1557)
1595 - Antonio Maria Abbatini, Italian composer (d. 1679)
1708 - William Hayes, English composer, organist, singer and composer (d. 1777)
1714 - Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, French sculptor (d. 1785)
1722 - Alexander Carlyle, Scottish minister and author (d. 1805)
1763 - Charles XIV John of Sweden (d. 1844)
1781 - Ludwig Achim von Arnim, German poet (d. 1831)
1800 - Johann Georg Oncken, German Baptist (d. 1884)
1811 - Robert Scott, English philologist (d. 1887)
1813 - Juan Pablo Duarte, founding father of the Dominican Republic (d. 1876)
1826 - Julia Grant, First Lady of the United States (d. 1902)
1852 - Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, French explorer (d. 1905)
1857 - Trinle Gyatso, 12th Dalai Lama (d. 1875)
1860 - Harry M. Daugherty, 51st United States Attorney General (d. 1941)
1864 - Jozsef Pusztai, Slovenian-Hungarian writer, poet and journalist (d. 1934)
1866 - John Cady, American golfer (d. 1933)
1877 - Mihail Gerdzhikov, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1947)
1877 - Kees van Dongen, Dutch artist (d. 1968)
1880 - Douglas MacArthur, American general (d. 1964)
1882 - Andre Rischmann, French rugby player (d. 1955)
1885 - Michael Considine, Australian politician (d. 1959)
1887 - Francois Faber, Luxembourg cyclist (d. 1915)
1891 - August Frohlich, German priest and Resistance activist (d. 1942)
1891 - Frank Costello, Italian-born gangster (d. 1973)
1892 - Bessie Coleman, American pilot (d. 1926)
1900 - Karl Ristenpart, German conductor (d. 1967)
1901 1925
1902 - Jokichi Ikarashi, Japanese supercentenarian (d. 2013)
1902 - Manno ter Braak, Dutch author (d. 1940)
1904 - Sean MacBride, Irish statesman (d. 1988)
1905 - Maria von Trapp, Austrian singer (d. 1987)
1905 - John Heenan, English cardinal (d. 1975)
1905 - Charles Lane, American actor (d. 2007)
1907 - Dimitrios Holevas, Greek Orthodox priest and Resistance activist (d. 2001)
1908 - Stephane Grappelli, French jazz violinist (d. 1997)
1911 - Polykarp Kusch, German physicist (d. 1993)
1911 - Norbert Schultze, German composer and songwriter (d. 2002)
1913 - Jimmy Van Heusen, American songwriter (d. 1990)
1914 - Princess Durru Shehrar of the Ottoman Empire (d. 2006)
1915 - William Hopper, American actor (d. 1970)
1917 - Louis Zamperini, American runner and captain (d. 2014)
1918 - Philip Jose Farmer, American writer (d. 2009)
1918 - Nicolae Ceausescu, Romanian dictator (d. 1989)
1919 - Valentino Mazzola, Italian footballer (d. 1949)
1919 - Bill Nicholson, English footballer (d. 2004)
1921 - Eddie Barclay, French producer (d. 2005)
1921 - Akio Morita, Japanese businessman (d. 1999)
1922 - Michael Bentine, British comedian (d. 1996)
1922 - Ellen Vogel, Dutch actress (d. 2015)
1923 - Anne Jeffreys, American actress and singer (d. 2017)
1924 - Alice Babs, Swedish singer and actress (d. 2014)
1924 - Annette Strauss, Mayor of Dallas, Texas (d. 1998)
1925 - Paul Newman, American actor (d. 2008)
1925 - Joan Leslie, American actress (d. 2015)
1926 1950
1926 - Joseph Bacon Fraser, Jr., American businessman (d. 2014)
1927 - Jose Azcona del Hoyo, President of Honduras (d. 2005)
1928 - Abdellatif Filali, Prime Minister of Morocco (d. 2009)
1928 - Roger Vadim, French movie director and actor (d. 2000)
1931 - Bernard Panafieu, French cardinal (d. 2017)
1931 - Mary Murphy, American movie actress
1932 - George Clements, American priest and activist
1933 - Ercole Baldini, Italian cyclist
1934 - Fernando Cardenal, Nicaraguan Jesuit, theologian and politician (d. 2016)
1934 - Roger Landry, Canadian businessman and newspaper publisher
1935 - Corrado Augias, Italian journalist, writer and television personality
1935 - Paula Rego, Portuguese-British artist
1935 - Bob Uecker, American baseball player and broadcaster
1935 - Fridrik Olafsson, Icelandic chess player
1936 - Sal Buscema, American comic book artist
1936 - Theophanis Lamboukas, Greek-French actor and singer (d. 1970)
1937 - Joseph Saidu Momoh, former President of Sierra Leone (d. 2003)
1941 - Scott Glenn, American actor
1943 - Jack Warner, Trinidadian FIFA official
1944 - Angela Davis, American Civil Rights activist
1944 - Jerry Sandusky, American football coach and convicted child-sex offender
1945 - Jacqueline du Pre, British cellist (d. 1987)
1945 - Jeremy Rifkin, American sociologist, economist and publicist
1946 - Michel Delpech, French singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2016)
1946 - Christopher Hampton, British dramatist, screenwriter and director
1946 - Deon Jackson, American soul singer and songwriter
1947 - Patrick Dewaere, French actor (d. 1982)
1947 - Redmond Morris, 4th Baron Killanin, Irish director, producer and production designer
1947 - Michel Sardou, French singer-songwriter
1949 - David Strathairn, American actor
1950 - Jorg Haider, Austrian far-right politician (d. 2008)
1951 1975
1953 - Alik L. Alik, Micronesian politician
1953 - Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Danish politician, former Secretary-General of NATO and former Prime Minister of Denmark
1953 - Lucinda Williams, American singer
1955 - Eddie Van Halen, Dutch-American musician (Van Halen) (d. 2020)
1958 - Gian Piero Gasperini, Italian footballer and coach
1958 - Ellen DeGeneres, American actress and comedienne
1958 - Anita Baker, American singer
1961 - Wayne Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player
1961 - Li Cunxin, Chinese-Australian ballet dancer
1961 - Mark Urban, English journalist and author
1962 - John Brown, Scottish footballer
1962 - Oscar Ruggeri, Argentine footballer
1962 - Guo Jian, Chinese-Australian artist
1963 - Jose Mourinho, Portuguese football manager
1963 - Andrew Ridgeley, British musician
1964 - Adam Crozier, British businessman
1964 - Torkil Nielsen, Faroese footballer and chess player
1965 - Natalia Yurchenko, Soviet gymnast
1970 - Bjarni Benediktsson, former Prime Minister of Iceland
1971 - Dorian Gregory, American actor
1973 - Mayu Shinjo, Japanese manga artist
1973 - Brendan Rodgers, Northern Irish footballer and manager
1974 - Rokia Traore, Malian singer
From 1976
1976 - Hitomi, Japanese singer-songwriter
1981 - Gustavo Dudamel, Venezuelan conductor and composer
1982 - Brahim Takioullah, Guinness World Record holder for the largest feet
1984 - Luo Xuejian, Chinese swimmer
1984 - Antonio Rukavina, Serbian footballer
1985 - Heather Stanning, British rower
1986 - Hero, South Korean singer
1987 - Gojko Kacar, Serbian footballer
1987 - Sebastian Giovinco, Italian footballer
1988 - Yukio Mine, Japanese footballer
1988 - Gary Hooper, English footballer
1989 - Emily Hughes, American figure skater
1990 - Christopher Massey, American actor
1990 - Sergio Perez, Mexican racing driver
1993 - Cameron Bright, Canadian actor
1996 - Tyger Drew-Honey, British actor
1996 - Igor Decraene, Belgian cyclist (d. 2014)
1997 - Ieva Gaile, Latvian figure skater
1997 - Gedion Zelalem, German-American soccer player
2008 - Paul the Octopus, FIFA World Cup 'oracle' (d. 2010)
Deaths
Up to 1900
946 - Eadgyth, German Queen (b. 910)
1567 - Nicholas Wotton, English diplomat
1630 - Henry Briggs, English mathematician (born 1556)
1636 - Jean Hotman, Marquis de Villers-St-Paul, French diplomat (born 1552)
1697 - Georg Mohr, Danish mathematician (born 1640)
1713 - Jean Chardin, French explorer (born 1643)
1744 - Ludwig Andreas Graf Khevenhuller, Austrian field marshal (born 1683)
1750 - Albert Schultens, Dutch philologist (born 1686)
1795 - Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, German composer (born 1732)
1799 - Gabriel Christie, British general (born 1722)
1823 - Edward Jenner, English physician (born 1749)
1824 - Theodore Gericault, French painter (born 1791)
1849 - Thomas Lovell Beddoes, English poet, dramatist and physician (born 1803)
1855 - Gerard de Nerval, French writer (born 1808)
1870 - Victor, 3rd duc de Broglie, French statesman and diplomat (born 1785)
1877 - Daniel Haines, Governor of New Jersey (born 1801)
1879 - Julia Margaret Cameron, English photographer (born 1815)
1885 - Edward Davy, English inventor, physician, and scientist (born 1806)
1885 - Charles George Gordon, British general (born 1833)
1886 - David Rice Atchison, American politician (born 1807)
1891 - Nikolaus August Otto, German inventor of the internal-combustion engine (born 1833)
1893 - Abner Doubleday, Major General, United States Army and purported inventor of baseball (born 1819)
1895 - Arthur Cayley, British mathematician (born 1821)
1899 - Augustus Hill Garland, Governor of Arkansas (born 1832)
1901 2000
1904 - Whitaker Wright, English mining tycoon (born 1846)
1927 - Lyman J. Gage, American politician (born 1836)
1932 - William Wrigley Jr., American industrialist (born 1861)
1942 - Felix Hausdorff, German mathematician (born 1868)
1943 - Harry H. Laughlin, American eugenicist (born 1880)
1943 - Nikolai Vavilov, Russian botanist (born 1887)
1946 - Adriaan van Maanen, Dutch astronomer (born 1884)
1946 - Oskar Kallas, Estonian linguist and diplomat (born 1868)
1947 - Grace Moore, American soprano (plane crash) (born 1898)
1947 - Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Westrobothnia, second in line to the Swedish throne, father of Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden (born 1906)
1952 - Horloogiyn Choybalsan, leader of Mongolia (born 1895)
1961 - Stan Nichols, English cricketer (born 1900)
1962 - Lucky Luciano, American mobster (born 1897)
1968 - Merrill C. Meigs, American newspaper publisher, and aviation promoter (born 1883)
1968 - Yvor Winters, American poet and critic (born 1900)
1973 - Edward G. Robinson, American actor (born 1893)
1979 - Nelson Rockefeller, Governor of New York and Vice President of the United States (born 1908)
1980 - Simon Kapwepwe, 2nd Vice President of Zambia (born 1922)
1983 - Paul "Bear" Bryant, American football coach (born 1913)
1990 - Higashikuni Naruhiko, Prime Minister of Japan (born 1887)
1990 - Lewis Mumford, American historian (born 1895)
1992 - Jose Ferrer, Puerto Rican actor (born 1912)
1993 - Jan Gies, Dutch resistance leader (born 1905)
1993 - Jeanne Sauve, Governor-General of Canada (born 1922)
1996 - Harold Brodkey, American writer (born 1930)
1996 - Dave Schultz, American wrestler (born 1959)
1997 - Jeane Dixon, American astrologer (born 1904)
1998 - Shinichi Suzuki, Japanese music teacher (born 1898)
2000 - Don Budge, American tennis player (born 1915)
2000 - Kathleen Hale, British writer (born 1898)
2000 - A. E. van Vogt, Canadian-born writer (born 1912)
From 2001
2001 - Al McGuire, American basketball coach (born 1928)
2003 - Valeriy Brumel, Russian athlete (born 1942)
2003 - Hugh Trevor-Roper, Baron Dacre of Glanton, English historian (born 1917)
2003 - George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, Scottish politician (born 1931)
2004 - Miklos Feher, Hungarian footballer (born 1979)
2006 - Carol Lambrino, son of Carol II of Romania (born 1920)
2007 - Gump Worsley, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1929)
2010 - Geoffrey Burbidge, British astrophysicist (born 1925)
2012 - Colin Tarrant, British actor (born 1952)
2014 - Jose Emilio Pacheco, Mexican writer (born 1939)
2014 - Paula Gruden, Australian poet and translator (born 1921)
2014 - Margery Mason, English actress (born 1913)
2015 - Tom Uren, Australian politician (born 1921)
2015 - Lee Spick, English snooker player (born 1980)
2015 - R. K. Laxman, Indian cartoonist and humorist (born 1921)
2015 - Lucjan Lis, Polish-German cyclist (born 1950)
2016 - Sahabzada Yaqub Khan, Pakistani politician and diplomat (born 1920)
2016 - Abe Vigoda, American actor (born 1921)
2016 - Black, English singer-songwriter (born 1962)
2016 - Tommy Kelly, American actor (born 1925)
2017 - Tam Dalyell, Scottish politician (born 1932)
2017 - Alexander Kadakin, Russian diplomat (born 1949)
2017 - Mike Connors, American actor (born 1925)
2017 - Barbara Hale, American actress (born 1922)
2017 - Luciano Ravaglia, Italian engineer (born 1923)
2017 - Anne-Marie Colchen, French athlete and basketball player (born 1925)
2017 - Laurie Salas, New Zealand activist (born 1922)
2017 - Michael Tonnies, German footballer (born 1959)
2018 - Elizabeth Hawley, American journalist and Himalayan travel writer (born 1923)
2018 - Jacques Languirand, Canadian radio host, writer and actor (born 1931)
2018 - Hiromu Nonaka, Japanese politician (born 1925)
2018 - Yukiaki Okabe, Japanese swimmer (born 1941)
2019 - Jean Guillou, French composer, organist and pianist (born 1930)
2019 - Michel Legrand, French composer (born 1932)
2019 - Ndaye Mulamba, Congolese footballer (born 1948)
2019 - Giuseppe Zamperletti, Italian politician (born 1933)
2020 - Kobe Bryant, American basketball player (born 1978)
Holidays
Australia Day - holiday to commemorate the first Europen settlement in Australia.
Republic Day - India
Duarte Day (Dominican Republic)
Liberation Day (Uganda)
Engineer's Day (Panama)
World Customs Day
Days of the year