World Health Organization declares the first World AIDS Day, 1987.


United States President James Monroe proclaimed the Monroe Doctrine in his message to Congress, 1823.
John Brown, American abolitionist, hanged in 1859.
Scientists in Chicago achieved the first controlled atomic chain reaction, leading to the development of nuclear energy and nuclear weapons, 1942.
Illinois became the 21st U.S. state, 1818.
Joseph Conrad, British novelist, born 1857.
Christiaan Barnard, South African surgeon, performed the first human heart transplant in 1967.
Saint Barbara's Day, France and central Europe.
Thomas Carlyle, Scottish author, born 1795.

Sinterklaas Day, the Netherlands.
Phi Beta Kappa, honorary scholastic society, founded at the College of William and Mary, Virginia, 1776.
Martin Van Buren, eighth U.S. president, born 1782.
Feast of St. Nicholas in Europe.
Columbus discovered Hispaniola, 1492.
Finland declared its independence from Russia, 1917.
Delaware ratified the U.S. Constitution, 1787.
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in >World War II, 1941.

Horace, Roman poet, born 65 B.C.
Eli Whitney, American inventor, born 1765.
Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer, born 1865.
Independence Day, Tanzania.
John Milton, English poet, born 1608.
Joel Chandler Harris, American author, born 1848.
Constitution Day, Thailand.
Mississippi became the 20th U.S. state, 1817.
Emily Dickinson, American poet, born 1830.
Hector Berlioz, French composer, born 1803.
Indiana became the 19th U.S. state, 1816.
Robert Koch, German bacteriologist, born 1843.
John Jay, American diplomat, born 1745.
Pennsylvania ratified the >U.S. Constitution, 1787.
Gustave Flaubert, French novelist, born 1821.
Feast of Santa Lucia in Scandinavian countries.
The Council of Trent opened, 1545.
Sir Francis Drake left England to sail around the world, attacking Spanish possessions, 1577.
Tycho Brahe, Danish astronomer, born 1546.
George Washington died at Mount Vernon, Virginia, 1799.
Alabama became the 22nd U.S. state, 1819.
The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, known together as the Bill of Rights, ratified in 1791.
Maxwell Anderson, American playwright, born 1888.

National Day, Bahrain.
English Parliament passed Bill of Rights, 1689.
Boston Tea Party, 1773.
Sir Humphry Davy, English chemist, born 1778.
John Greenleaf Whittier, American poet, born 1807.
William Lyon Mackenzie King, prime minister of Canada, born 1874.
Republic Day, >Niger.
Charles Wesley, English clergyman, born 1707.
New Jersey ratified the U.S. Constitution, 1787.
Continental Army camped for the winter at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, in 1777, during the American Revolution.


The United States took over Louisiana, 1803.


The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts, 1620.
Jean Racine, French playwright, born 1639.
Benjamin Disraeli, prime minister of the United Kingdom, born 1804.
Giacomo Puccini, Italian opera composer, born 1858.


Richard Arkwright, British inventor, born 1732.
U.S. Federal Reserve System established, 1913.

\"Kit\" Carson, American frontier scout, born 1809.
United States and United Kingdom signed the Treaty of Ghent in 1814, ending the War of 1812.
Libya became independent, 1951.
Christians celebrate hristmas as the birth of Jesus Christ.
Isaac Newton, English scientist, born 1642.
George Washington and his men started across the Delaware River to Trenton, New Jersey, in the American Revolution, 1776.
Boxing Day in various countries.
Saint Stephen's Day, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
George Dewey, American admiral, born 1837.
Johannes Kepler, German astronomer, born 1571.
Louis Pasteur, French chemist, born 1822.
Sir Mackenzie Bowell, prime minister of Canada, born 1823. 
Holy Innocents' Day, western Europe and Mexico.
Iowa became the 29th U.S. state, 1846.

St. Thomas Becket murdered at Canterbuy, England, 1170.
Andrew Johnson, 17th U.S. president, born 1808.
William E. Gladstone, British prime minister, born 1809.
The United States acquired territory from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase, 1853.
Rudyard Kipling, British writer, born 1865.

Andreas Vesalius, Flemish anatomist, born 1514.
Guru Gobind Singh, 10th and final Sikh guru, born 1666.
Henri Matisse, French painter, born 1869.