December 31
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December 31 is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. It is the final day of the Gregorian year.
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Events
- 406 - Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gallia.
- 1229 - James I of Aragon the Conqueror enters Medina Mayurqa (nowadays Palma de Mallorca, Spain) thus consuming the Christian conquest of the island of Mallorca.
- 1600 - British East India Company is chartered.
- 1687 - The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope.
- 1695 - A window tax is imposed in England, causing many shopkeepers to brick up their windows to avoid the tax.
- 1775 - American Revolutionary War: British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at the Battle of Quebec.
- 1831 - Gramercy Park is deeded to New York City.
- 1857 - Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, Ontario, as the capital of Canada.
- 1862 - American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union (thus dividing Virginia in two).
- 1862 - American Civil War: The Battle of Stones River is fought near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
- 1879 - Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time.
- 1891 - A new immigration depot is opened on Ellis Island, New York.
- 1904 - The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square, then known as Longacre Square, in New York, New York.
- 1909 - Manhattan Bridge opens.
- 1916 - The Hampton Terrace Hotel in North Augusta, South Carolina, one of the largest and most luxurious hotels in the United States at the time, burns to the ground.
- 1923 - The chimes of Big Ben are broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC.
- 1929 - Guy Lombardo performs Auld Lang Syne at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City for the first time.
- 1944 - World War II: Hungary declares war on Germany.
- 1946 - President Harry Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.
- 1955 - General Motors becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over USD $1 billion in a year.
- 1960 - The farthing coin ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom.
- 1961 - The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than USD $12 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.
- 1963 - The Central African Federation officially collapses and splits into Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.
- 1968 - Marien Ngouabi assumed the presidency of the Republic of the Congo.
- 1983 - The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government.
- 1986 - A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.
- 1990 - Garry Kasparov holds his title by winning the World Chess Championship match against his countryman Anatoly Karpov.
- 1991 - The Soviet Union is officially dissolved.
- 1991 - The civil war in El Salvador ends.
- 1992 - In the last of the great ITV franchise renewals, Thames Television, Television South West and Television South cease broadcasting, replaced by Carlton Television, Westcountry Television and Meridian Television respectively.
- 1995 The last strip of the popular comic Calvin and Hobbes is published.
- 1999 - Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, to be replaced by Vladimir Putin.
- 1999 - Five hijackers, who had been holding 155 hostages on an Indian Airlines plane, leave the plane with two Islamic clerics that they had demanded be freed.
- 1999 - At noon, according to the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, the United States Government handed Panama Canal control over to Panama. The Panama Canal Authority, the Panamanian Government Agency created to run the Canal takes over.
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Births
- 1378 - Pope Callixtus III (d. 1458)
- 1491 - Jacques Cartier, French explorer (d. 1557)
- 1514 - Vesalius, Flemish anatomist (d. 1564)
- 1572 - Emperor Go-Yozei of Japan, (d. 1617)
- 1668 - Herman Boerhaave, Dutch humanist and physician (d. 1738)
- 1720 - Charles Edward Stuart, pretender to the British throne (d. 1788)
- 1738 - Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, British general (d. 1805)
- 1763 - Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, French admiral (d. 1806)
- 1869 - Henri Matisse, French painter and graphic artist (d. 1954)
- 1880 - George Marshall, United States Secretary of State, recipient of Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1959)
- 1881 - Max Pechstein, German painter and graphic artist (d. 1955)
- 1894 - Pola Negri, Polish actress (d. 1987)
- 1903 - Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian violinist (d. 1992)
- 1905 - Jule Styne, English-born composer (d. 1994)
- 1908 - Simon Wiesenthal, Austrian Holocaust survivor and activist (d. 2005)
- 1910 - Carl Dudley, American film director (died 1973)
- 1919 - Tommy Byrne, baseball player
- 1920 - Rex Allen, American actor and singer (d. 1999)
- 1928 - Siné, French cartoonist
- 1930 - Odetta, American singer
- 1931 - Bob Shaw, Northern Irish science fiction writer (d. 1996)
- 1934 - Akram Awan, Islamic scholar, Sufi
- 1937 - Avram Hershko, Israeli biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- 1937 - Anthony Hopkins, Welsh actor
- 1938 - Rosalind Cash, American actress (d. 1995)
- 1941 - Alex Ferguson, Scottish football player and manager
- 1942 - Andy Summers, British musician (The Police)
- 1943 - John Denver, American musician (d. 1997)
- 1943 - Ben Kingsley, English actor
- 1945 - Taylor Hackford, American film producer and director
- 1945 - Diane von Fürstenberg, fashion designer
- 1947 - Burton Cummings, Canadian musician (The Guess Who)
- 1947 - Tim Matheson, American actor
- 1948 - Donna Summer, American singer
- 1951 - George Thorogood, American musician
- 1951 - Tom Hamilton, American musician (Aerosmith)
- 1953 - James Remar, American actor
- 1953 - Jane Badler, American actress
- 1958 - Bebe Neuwirth, American actress
- 1959 - Phill Kline, American politician
- 1959 - Val Kilmer, American actor
- 1959 - Paul Westerberg, American singer/songwriter, musician (Replacements)
- 1960 - John Allen Muhammad, American serial killer
- 1963 - Scott Ian, British musician (Anthrax)
- 1964 - Allen D'Nulderf, American stuntman
- 1971 - Brent Barry, American basketball player
- 1980 - Richie McCaw, New Zealand rugby player
- 1980 - Bob Bryar, American drummer (My Chemical Romance)
- 1987 - Marcela, Argentina
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Deaths
- 192 - Commodus, Roman Emperor (b. 161)
- 1164 - Margrave Ottokar III of Styria (b. 1124)
- 1194 - Duke Leopold V of Austria (killed at a tournament) (b. 1157)
- 1297 - Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford, English soldier (b. 1249)
- 1302 - Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1238)
- 1384 - John Wycliffe, English theologian and Bible translator
- 1424 - Thomas Beaufort, 1st Duke of Exeter, English military leader
- 1460 - Edmund, Earl of Rutland, brother of Kings Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (executed) (b. 1443)
- 1460 - Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, English politician (b. 1400)
- 1510 - Bianca Maria Sforza, wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1472)
- 1535 - William Skeffington, Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1465)
- 1568 - Shimazu Tadayoshi, Japanese warlord (b. 1493)
- 1575 - Pierino Belli, Italian soldier and jurist (b. 1502)
- 1583 - Thomas Erastus, Swiss theologian (b. 1524)
- 1610 - Ludolph van Ceulen, German mathematician (b. 1540)
- 1650 - Dorgon, Chinese emperor (b. 1612)
- 1673 - Oliver St John, English statesman and judge
- 1679 - Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (b. 1608)
- 1691 - Dudley North, English economist (b. 1641)
- 1719 - John Flamsteed, English astonomer (b. 1646)
- 1742 - Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine (b. 1661)
- 1799 - Jean-François Marmontel, French historian and writer (b. 1723)
- 1872 - Aleksis Kivi, Finnish author (b. 1834)
- 1877 - Gustave Courbet, French painter (b. 1819)
- 1888 - Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi (b. 1808)
- 1889 - Ion Creangă, Romanian writer (b. 1837 or 1839)
- 1905 - Alexander Popov, Russian physicist (b. 1859)
- 1921 - Boies Penrose, United States Senator from Pennsylvania (b. 1860)
- 1936 - Miguel de Unamuno, Spanish writer and philosopher (b. 1864)
- 1948 - Malcolm Campbell, English race car driver (b. 1885)
- 1953 - Albert Plesman, Dutch aviation pioneer (b. 1889)
- 1964 - Ólafur Thors, Icelandic politician and five times prime minister (b. 1892)
- 1969 - George Lewis, American musician (b. 1900)
- 1971 - Vikram Sarabhai, Indian physicist (b. 1919)
- 1972 - Roberto Clemente, baseball player (b. 1934)
- 1977 - Sabah III Al-Salim Al-Sabah, Ruler of Kuwait (b. 1924)
- 1980 - Marshall McLuhan, Canadian writer (b. 1911)
- 1980 - Raoul Walsh, American film director (b. 1887)
- 1985 - Rick Nelson, American singer (b. 1940)
- 1990 - Vasili Lazarev, cosmonaut (b. 1928)
- 1993 - Zviad Gamsakhurdia, first President of Georgia (b. 1939)
- 1997 - Floyd Cramer, American musician (b. 1933)
- 1997 - Michael Kennedy, American politician (b. 1958)
- 1999 - Elliot Richardson, American politician (b. 1920)
- 2000 - Alan Cranston, American politician (b. 1914)
- 2003 - Arthur R. von Hippel German-born physicist (b. 1898)
- 2004 - Gerard Debreu, French-born economist, Bank of Sweden Prize winner (b. 1921)
- 2005 - Phillip Whitehead, British politician (b. 1937)
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Holidays and observances
The evening is called New Year's Eve. At 24:00 the beginning of the new year is celebrated, see January 1. The day and evening are called Hogmanay in Scotland. In Japan the evening is called Ōmisoka. In the Philippines it is a public holiday.
- R.C. Saints - Pope Sylvester I (optional memorial)
- The sixth day of Christmas in Western Christianity.
- Also see December 31 Eastern Orthodox liturgics.
- Bahá'í Faith - Feast of Sharaf (Honor) - First day of the 16th month of the Bahá'í Calendar.
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External links
December 30 - January 1 - November 30 - January 31 — listing of all days
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