01 Jan History: This Date

<< Dec 31| HISTORY 4 2DAY |Jan 02 >>
Events, deaths, births, of JAN 01
[For Jan 01 Julian go to Gregorian date: 1583~1699: Jan 11 — 1700s: Jan 12 — 1800s: Jan 13 — 1900~2099: Jan 14]

ALTERNATE SITES ALL FOR 030101 ANY DAY OF THE YEAR IN HISTORY ART “4” JAN 01

On a January 01:
2304 Mid-Calendar day [what does that mean???]
2003 Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, leader of the left-wing Workers Party and a former lathe operator and labor union leader, is inaugurated as president of Brazil, promising “a new style of government” and a crusade against hunger, injustice and corruption.
2003 Make no mistake about it, Lake Superior State University issues its 28th annual extreme List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness (without branding it), which the world needs now, more than ever. As per its announcement, it's a good thing that LSSU has faced the challenge of compiling the list since 1976. This time 24 expressions were chosen from some 3000 nominations, sent by people on the ground, from the frozen tundra and regions of black ice to the land of peel-and-eat shrimp, not to mention many secret, undisclosed locations. Hopefully the expressions, which are in material breach of the norms of good language, will die an untimely death without the need for weapons of mass destruction. Having said that, it can be noted in color that much of the misuse of language occurs on must-see TV, particularly in sports events when both teams, avoiding mental mistakes, got game and in the end there is no score. That said, there is always the danger that good language may suffer reverse discrimination. When all is said and done, homeland security must include language too.
2002 €uro — Euro bills and coins begin to circulate in the 12 countries of the European monetary union. In most of the 12 countries, the old, local currency is still legal tender through February.— L'euro, monnaie unique européenne, remplace les devises nationales de douze pays de l'Union européenne: marks allemands et finlandais, drachmes, lires, francs belges, luxembourgeois et français, schillings autrichiens, pesetas, livres irlandaises, florins et escudos.
2001 The US dollar becomes legal tender in El Salvador, together with the colon ($1 = 8.75 colons).
2001 Magnitude 7.4 earthquake in Mindanao (6.907ºN, 126.592ºE epicenter, 33 km deep) at 06:57:04 UT.
2001 Suecia asume la presidencia de turno de la Unión Europea.

2000 Y2K world disaster does not occur.      ^top^
      In the evening of New Year's eve, as the Y2K hysteria culminates, instead of attending parties computer technicians went on all-night duty all over the US and in many other parts of the world, to make sure that the "Y2K compliance" that, with great profit to themselves, they have implemented (or not, in less wealthy countries) prevents disastrous effects from the change of the two last digits of the year number "99" to "00". All along they have sold, to the tune of billions of dollars, that fear to the gullible public (including the US government and major corporations), unaware of the fact that computers internally don't operate on the decimal system of numeration, but the binary, for which 2000 is not a particularly round number, but just 11111010000, and going from 99 to 100 does not require an extra binary digit, but is just from 1100011 to 1100100.
     People had been advised to stock up on canned foods, drinking water, flashlight batteries, emergency power supplies, etc. for fear that electricity, transportation, and all the underpinnings of the modern economy will be disrupted for days, possibly weeks.
     As the technicians watch the new year come around the world, starting with the Far East, there are no signs of the world coming to an end, ballistic missiles do not self-launch, planes do not fall out of the sky, electricity does not fail, water still comes out of the faucets, and computers fail as irritatingly and as frequently as always, but not more.

2000 Entra en vigor la Unión Monetaria Europea.
1999 The euro officially became the new single currency of 11 European countries, for accounting purposes. (It will start circulating as coins and bills on 01 Jan 2002)..
1999 In California, a law went into effect that defined "invasion of privacy as trespassing with the intent to capture audio or video images of a celebrity or crime victim engaging in a personal of family activity."
1998 Mongolia switches from a 46 hour to 40 hour work week
1998 US Census Bureau estimates population at 268'921'733
1997 El ghanés Kofi Annan toma posesión como secretario general de la ONU en sustitución del egipcio Butros Butros Ghali.
1995 Austria, Finland and Sweden act to join European Union. — La Unión Europea alcanza el número de quince países miembros con las incorporaciones de Austria, Suecia y Finlandia.
1995 Fernando Henrique Cardoso installed as President of Brazil
1995 Last "Far Side" by cartoonist Gary Larson (started 1980)
1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect. — Entra en funcionamiento el Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLC) de Canadá, Estados Unidos y México.
1994 Entra en funcionamiento el Espacio Económico Europeo (EEE).
1993 12 member European Economic Community set up vast free trade zone. — Entra en vigor el Mercado Único Europeo.
1993 Czechoslovakia peacefully splits into Czech Republic (Bohemia) and Slovakia. — Desaparece Checoslovaquia y se forma la República Independiente de Eslovaquia, con capital Bratislava, y la República Checa, con capital Praga.
1992 Boutros Boutros-Ghali becomes UN Secretary-General
1992 Europe breaks down trade barriers.
1992 Se instaura de nuevo en Argentina el peso como moneda.
1992 New York City NY transit fare increases from $1.15 to $1.25
1992 Curaçao becomes 1st in Dutch Antilles to have compulsory education.
1991 5% sales tax on consumer goods & services goes into effect in USSR
1991 UN negotiator Cyrus Vance announces that Yugoslavia and Croatia have accepted a UN peacekeeping plan.
1991 Iraq rejects peace proposal from Egyptian President Hosi Mubarak.
1990 El presidente del Consejo de Salvación Nacional de Rumanía anuncia la legalización del multipartidismo y otras medidas para acabar con el régimen comunista de Nicolae Ceaucescu.
1990 David Dinkins was sworn in as New York City's first Black mayor.
1989 New York City NY transit fare rises from $1.00 to $1.15
1987 60 bodies recovered in Dupont Plaza Hotel fire in Puerto Rico
1987 China's rudimentary civil code in effect
1986 Aruba becomes independent from neighbor island Curaçao (part of Kingdom of the Netherlands)
1986 New York City NY transit fare rises from 90¢ to $1.00
1986 Spain and Portugal become 11th and 12th members of Common Market (European Economic Community)
1985 Jacques Delors sustituye a Gaston Thorn como presidente de la Comunidad Europea.
1985 US's 1st mandatory seat belt law goes into effect (NY)

1984 Ma Bell's babies go their own way. ^top^
As per US District Court Judge Harold Greene’s ruling on August 5, 1983, AT&T divests itself of its 22 Bell Systems companies. While AT&T was certainly still a major player within its industry, the divestiture nonetheless altered the company’s once-monopolistic size and revenue stream. Without the Baby Bells, AT&T’s assets suddenly dropped from $149.5 billion to $34 billion and its workforce shrank from 1.9 million to 373'000 employees.

1984 New York City NY transit fare rises from 75¢ to 90¢
1984 Brunei becomes independent of UK.
1982 Pope John Paul II prays for an end to martial law in Poland
1982 Javier Pérez de Cuellar becomes Secretary-General of UN
1981 Palau (Trust Territory of Pacific Is) becomes self-governing
1981 Roger Smith becomes CEO of General Motors
1981 Greece is 10th country to join European Economic Community.
1980 Sweden changes order of succession to throne
1980 Mob storms Russian embassy in Teheran
1980 Premier Adbou Diouf becomes President of Senegal
1979 Jura, 26th canton of Switzerland, established
1979 US and China (People's Republic) hold celebrations in Washington and Beijing to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
1979 La ONU proclama 1979 como Año Internacional del Niño.
1978 President Ford signs 1st major revision of US copyright law since 1909
1977 Jacqueline Means, wife of an Indiana truck driver and mother of four, becomes the first woman in the US to be ordained a priest in the Protestant Episcopal Church.
1976 Venezuela nationalizes oil fields. — El presidente venezolano Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez nacionaliza la explotación del petróleo.
1976 At this point in time this is the scenario: a meaningful input is made into the macho dialogue about good language. There being no viable alternative, Lake Superior U implements its first annual list of misused and overused expressions. (10 of them). From now on there will be no détente in the struggle for good language. They call for the resignation of all reporters who propagate clichés.
1975 Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell and Mardian convicted of Watergate crime
1975 Sweden adopts constitution.
1975 El papa Pablo VI inaugura el Año Santo.
1975 Comienza el Año Internacional de la Mujer, auspiciado por la Asamblea General de la ONU.
1973 Britain, Ireland and Denmark become 7th-9th members of Common Market — Nace la "Europa de los nueve", al incorporarse a la CEE el Reino Unido, Irlanda y Dinamarca.
1973 West African Economic Community formed (Benin, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Upper Volta)
1972 People's Republic of China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor
1971 Cigarette advertisements banned on TV in US.
1971 Eleuterio Sánchez “El Lute” se fuga de la prisión del Puerto de Santa María.
1970 Revised calendar for Western (RC) Church goes into effect
1967 St Helena adopts constitution
1967 Tonga revises constitution

1967 US begins attempt to interdict Vietnam borders ^top^
Operation Sam Houston begins as a continuation of border surveillance operations in Pleiku and Kontum Provinces in the Central Highlands by units from the US 4th and 25th Infantry Divisions. The purpose of the operation was to interdict the movement of North Vietnamese troops and equipment into South Vietnam from communist sanctuaries in Cambodia and Laos. The operation ended on April 5. A total of 169 US soldiers were killed in action; 733 enemy casualties were reported.

1966 1st US Marine Division advance elements arrive in Vietnam      ^top^
      Advance elements of the 1st Regiment of the Marine 1st Division arrive in Vietnam. The entire division followed by the end of March. The division established its headquarters at Chu Lai and was given responsibility for the two southernmost provinces of I Corps (the military region just south of the DMZ). At the peak of its strength, the 1st Marine Division consisted of four regiments of infantry: the 1st, 5th, 7th, and 27th Marines. It also included the 11th Artillery regiment, which consisted of six battalions of 105-mm, 155-mm, and 8-inch howitzers. Other divisional combat units included the 1st Tank Battalion, 1st Antitank Battalion, 1st Amphibious Tractor Company, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, and the 1st Force Reconnaissance Company. The division numbered nearly 20,000 marines by the time all elements had arrived in South Vietnam.
      During the Tet Offensive of 1968, the 1st Marine Division assisted the South Vietnamese army forces in recapturing the imperial city of Hue. The 1st Marine Division was withdrawn from Vietnam in the spring of 1971 and moved to its current base at Camp Pendleton, California. During the course of the Vietnam War, 20 members of the 1st Marine Division won the Medal of Honor for conspicuous bravery on the battlefield. The 1st Marine Division was twice awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for gallantry in action in Vietnam and received the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm and the Vietnamese Civil Action Award.

1966 All US cigarette packs have to carry warning "Caution: Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health"

1966 Strikers shut down NYC subways
Under the leadershiy of Michael Quill, disgruntled members of the city's branch of the AFL-CIO's Transportation Workers Union go on strike for a wage hike. They shut down New York's subway system. Mayor John V. Lindsay, later in the day, is sworn in as New York's first Republican mayor in fifteen years. On January 3, Quill would be jailed for his refusal to end the strike. The workers held out until January 13 when they won a 15% pay raise from New York's Transit Authority.

1966 Military coup by Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa in Central African Republic
1964 Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland dissolved
1962 Western Samoa gains independence from New Zealand; Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili II becomes co-chief of Western Samoa
1962 Rwanda granted internal self-government by Belgium.
1962 Se constituye el Consejo de Estado en la República Dominicana.
1961 Russia introduces a new ruble worth $1.11
1961 Largest check issued, National Bank of Chicago to Sears ($960.242 billion)
1960 US census at 179'245'000
1960 Montserrat adopts constitution
1960 Cameroon (French Cameroon) gains independence from France
1960 Bank of France issues new franc, worth 20¢
1959 Chad becomes autonomous republic in French Community

1959 Castro takes power in Cuba      ^top^
      In the face of a popular revolution spearheaded by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement, Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista flees the island nation. As celebration and chaos intermingled in the Cuban capitol of Havana, US policymakers debated how best to deal with the radical Castro and the ominous rumblings of anti-Americanism in Cuba.
      The United States government had supported the American-friendly Batista regime since it came to power in 1952. After Fidel Castro, together with a handful of supporters that included the professional revolutionary Che Guevara, landed in Cuba to unseat Batista in December 1956, the US continued to support Batista. Suspicious of what they believed to be Castro's leftist ideology and fearful that his ultimate goals might include attacks on US investments and properties in Cuba, American officials were nearly unanimous in opposing his revolutionary movement.
      Cuban support for Castro's revolution, however, spread and grew in the late 1950s, partially due to his personal charisma and nationalistic rhetoric, but also because of the increasingly rampant corruption, brutality, and inefficiency within the Batista government. This reality forced US policymakers to slowly withdraw their support from Batista and begin a search in Cuba for an alternative to both the dictator and Castro.
      American efforts to find a "middle road" between Batista and Castro ultimately failed. On January 1, 1959, Batista and a number of his supporters fled Cuba. Tens of thousands of Cubans (and thousands of Cuban-Americans in the United States) joyously celebrated the end of the dictator's regime. Castro's supporters moved quickly to establish their power. Judge Manuel Urrutia was named as provisional president. Castro and his band of guerrilla fighters triumphantly entered Havana on January 7.
     In the years that followed, the US attitude toward the new revolutionary government would move from cautiously suspicious to downright hostile. As the Castro government moved toward a closer relationship with the Soviet Union, and Castro declared himself to be a Marxist-Leninist, relations between the US and Cuba collapsed into mutual enmity, which continued only somewhat abated through the following decades.
      After enduring a three-year guerilla war against leftist revolutionaries, Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar flees to the Dominican Republic and Fidel Castro is declared premier of the island nation. Batista, a former army sergeant, dominated Cuban politics from 1933 as either president or as an influential army chief-of-staff. In 1952, shortly before scheduled presidential elections, Batista staged another military coup and assumed dictatorial powers. In reaction, leftist rebels, critical of Batista's government and of the invasive US influence in Cuba's economy and political affairs, launched a widespread guerilla campaign. On July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro led an unsuccessful attack on a Cuban army post and was subsequently arrested and imprisoned. Popular support led to his release in 1955. Exiled to Mexico, Castro organized the "26th of July" revolutionary movement, and in 1956 invaded southeast Cuba where he established a guerilla base in the Sierra Maestra Mountains. Along with his brother Raul, Ernesto "Che" Guevara, and other rebel leaders, Castro attracted numerous supporters and launched a guerrilla campaign against the Batista government. In 1958, the US government, unaware of Castro's Marxist intentions, ended military aid to Batista. On January 1, 1959, Batista was forced to flee, and Castro assumed power. The United States initially recognized the new Cuban dictator but immediately withdrew its support after Castro launched a program of agrarian reform, nationalized US assets on the island, and declared a Marxist government. Many of Cuba's wealthier citizens fled to the United States where they joined the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in its efforts to overthrow Castor's regime. In 1961, with training and support by the CIA, the Cuban exiles launched an ill-fated invasion of Cuba, known as the "Bay of Pigs." The Soviet Union reacted to the attack by escalating its support to Castro's Communist government, and in 1962, placed offensive nuclear missiles on Cuba. The discovery of the Soviet missile placement by US intelligence led to a tense confrontation known as the "Cuban Missile Crisis," which ended after the Soviets agreed to remove the offensive weapons in exchange for a US pledge to not invade Cuba.

1959 Entra en vigor el Tratado de Roma.
1958 Treaties establish the European Economic Community (Common Market) go into effect. — Après de longues tractations, les traités de Rome qui ont été signés. La Communauté économique européenne et l'Euratom entrent officiellement en vigueur. L'Assemblée parlementaire européenne dont le siège officiel est à Strasbourg est présidée par Robert Schuman.
1958 BOAC Britannia flies London to New York in a record 7h57m.
1957 France returns Saar to become the 10th state of German Federal Republic.
1957 El ingeniero alemán Félix Wankel lleva a cabo el primer recorrido de prueba con el motor de pistón giratorio creado por él.
1956 Sudan (Anglo-Egyptian Sudan) gains independence from Britain & Egypt (National Day)
1955 Bhutan issues its 1st postage stamps
1954 Yugoslav parliament chairman / Vice President Milovan Djilas criticize communism.
1952 Javier de Borbón Parma se autoproclama rey ante un grupo de carlistas.
1951 Massive Chinese/North Korean assault on UN-lines.
1951 En Tonkín (Indochina) el general Jean-Joseph-Marie-Gabriel de Lattre de Tassigny interrumpe la evacuación de civiles.
1950 Ho Chi Minh begins offensive against French troops in Indo-China.
1950 El Reino Unido reconoce a la República Popular de China.
1949 Tokelau (Union) Islands declared part of New Zealand.
1949 El doctor Juan Manuel Gálvez Durón toma posesión de la presidencia de Honduras.
1948 Italy adopts constitution
1948 Orissa province accedes to India
1948 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade effective. — Entra en vigor el GATT.
1948 Britain nationalizes its railways
1947 Britain nationalizes its coal industry. — El Gobierno laborista de Clement Attlee nacionaliza las minas de carbón en el Reino Unido.
1947 Nigeria obtiene cierta autonomía administrativa.
1946 ENIAC, US 1st computer finished by Mauchly/Eckert
1946 National Assembly proclaims Hungary a republic
1946 Emperor Hirohito of Japan announces he is not a god. — En una alocución radiofónica, el emperador Hirohito explica la génesis del mito del emperador en Japón.

1946 A few Japanese surrender months after war's end ^top^
An American soldier accepts the surrender of about 20 Japanese soldiers who only discovered that the war was over by reading it in the newspaper. On the island of Corregidor, located at the mouth of Manila Bay, a lone soldier on detail for the American Graves Registration was busy recording the makeshift graves of American soldiers who had lost their lives fighting the Japanese. He was interrupted when approximately 20 Japanese soldiers approached him-literally waving a white flag. They had been living in an underground tunnel built during the war and learned that their country had already surrendered when one of them ventured out in search of water and found a newspaper announcing Japan's defeat.

1945 German air raid on allied airports at Eindhoven/Saint-Trond/Brussels
1945 Offensive allemande en Lorraine. C'est l'une des dernères grandes offensives allemandes de la 2ème guerre mondiale durera jusqu'au 9 janvier ; elle vise principalement la ville de Strasbourg qui résistera et ne sera pas réoccupée par les troupes allemandes.
1945 France is admitted to the United Nations.
1945 El Comité de Lublin se declara Gobierno provisional polaco.
1944 El dictador de España Francisco Franco Bahamonde se niega a reconocer la república fascista de Salò, constituida por Benito Mussolini.
1944 Erwin Rommel es nombrado subcomandante en jefe del grupo de ejércitos alemanes en Francia.
1944 Se descubre la tumba del faraón Menes en El Cairo (Egipto).
1944 General Clark replaces General Patton as commander of 7th Army.

1942: 26 countries plan against Axis and for a postwar UN      ^top^
     US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issue a declaration, signed by representatives of 26 countries, called the "United Nations." The signatories of the declaration vowed to create an international postwar peacekeeping organization.
      On December 22, 1941, Churchill arrived in Washington, D.C., for the Arcadia Conference, a discussion with President Roosevelt about a unified Anglo-American war strategy and a future peace. The attack on Pearl Harbor meant that the US was involved in the war, and it was important for Great Britain and America to create and project a unified front against Axis powers. Toward that end, Churchill and Roosevelt created a combined general staff to coordinate military strategy against both Germany and Japan and to draft a plan for a future joint invasion of the Continent.
      Among the most far-reaching achievements of the Arcadia Conference was the United Nations agreement. Led by the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, the signatories agreed to use all available resources to defeat the Axis powers. It was agreed that no single country would sue for a separate peace with Germany, Italy, or Japan-they would act in concert. Perhaps most important, the signatories promised to pursue the creation of a future international peacekeeping organization dedicated to ensuring "life, liberty, independence, and religious freedom, and to preserve the rights of man and justice."

1942 The US Office of Production Management prohibits the sale of new cars and trucks to civilians. All auto makers dedicated their plants entirely to the war effort. By the end of the month, domestic car manufacture had stopped. Automobile plants were converted wholesale to the manufacture of bombers, jeeps, military trucks, and other gear.
1942 Se inaugura en Nueva York una exposición del pintor neerlandés Piet Mondrian.
1941 Russian General Zhukov appointed chief of General staff
1937 Anastasio Somoza becomes President of Nicaragua

1937 Safety glass windshields in UK. ^top^
Glass Gets Safer Safety glass in windshields became mandatory in Great Britain. Unlike ordinary glass, safety glass shatters into thousands of tiny pieces when it breaks, instead of large jagged sheets. In early automobile accidents, ordinary glass windows often turned into large, deadly blades. Broken safety glass is relatively harmless. The most common type of safety glass is a sandwich in which a layer of clear, flexible plastic is bonded between two layers of glass. It was first produced in 1909 by French chemist Edouard Benedictus, who used a sheet of clear celluloid between glass layers. Various plastics were tried over the years. In 1936, a plastic called polyvinyl butyral (PVB) was introduced. It was so safe and effective that it soon became the only plastic used in safety windows. The British government was so impressed by the safety record of PVB windows that it required their use by law.

1935 President Mustapha Kemal Pasha names himself "Atatürk Father of Turkey"
1934 International Telecommunication Union established
1934 Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (US bank guarantor) effective
1930 Jurgens and Van den Berg merge with Lever Brothers to form Unilever.
1929 Se aprueba el nuevo Código Penal español, que sustituye al preparado en 1870 por Eugenio Montero Ríos.
1928 1st US air-conditioned office building opens, San Antonio.
1926 Las aguas del Rin alcanza su nivel más alto desde 1781.
1925 Norway's capital Christiania changes name to Oslo.
1923 Union of Socialist Soviet Republics established
1919 Belorussian SSR established
1919 Edsel Ford succeeded his father, Henry Ford, as president of the Ford Motor Company. That same day, the company announced that it would increase its minimum wage to $6.00 per day. Henry Ford had made history in 1914 by increasing the minimum wage in his factories to $5.00 per day, far more than his competitors were paying.
1918 Last day of the Julian calendar in Finland
1915 Jews of Laibach Austria expelled
1914 Northern & Southern Nigeria united in British colony of Nigeria.
1913 Dimite el jefe del Partido Conservador de España, Antonio Maura y Montaner.
1913 US Post office begins parcel post deliveries
1912 Sun Yat-sen forms Chinese Republic. — El Gobierno revolucionario chino proclama la República y designa como presidente provisional al líder nacionalista Sun Yat Sen.
1911 South Australia transfers Northern Territory to federal government.
1910 Por primera vez los españoles inician el año comiendo doce uvas al son de las campanas, según una costumbre francesa.
1907 President Theodore Roosevelt shakes a record 8513 hands in 1 day
1902 Nathan Stubblefield makes 1st public demonstration of radio, Pennsylvania
1901 The Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed, independent from federation of UK colonies. — Las colonias inglesas en Australia se proclaman federación colonial británica con el nombre de Commonwealth of Australia.
1901 Empieza a regir en España el horario oficial por el meridiano de Greenwich.
1900 Compulsory education in Netherlands goes into effect
1900 1st date in John dos Passos' USA trilogy (The 42nd Parallel)
1900 British protectorates of Northern & Southern Nigeria established
1899 Cuba liberated from Spain by US (National Day) (US occupies till 1902)
1897 Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island are consolidated into New York City.
1896 Wilhelm Röntgen announces his discovery of x-rays
1895 Norway adopts Mid-European time
1894 Denmark adopts Mid-European time
1893 Japan adopts the Gregorian calendar.
1892 The Ellis Island Immigrant Station in New York is opened.
1881 In Conan Doyle's fiction, Dr John H Watson is introduced to Sherlock Holmes
1880 Building of Panama Canal begins.
1877 England's Queen Victoria proclaimed empress of India
1873 Origin of Japanese Era.
1873 “The last of the Mare Disease with which this City has been so much afflicted” cartoon by Thomas Nast, published on 04 January 1873, about the demise of the Boss Tweed rule of Tammany Hall in New York City, with the fall of the mayor (“mare”).
1871 The Church of Ireland is formally disestablished. Aligned with Anglicanism from 1537, the Irish Church represented the faith of only 12% of the Irish by the mid-19th century.
1867 El químico sueco Alfred Nobel obtiene por primera vez dinamita de forma industrial.
1865 -Apr 26th] Carolinas' campaign
1863 Battle of Galveston, TX - Confederates recapture the city
1863 Battle of Helena AK
1863 Battle of Stones River (Murfreesboro), Tennessee continues

1863 Emancipation Proclamation takes (theoretical) effect.      ^top^
      During the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation takes effect, calling on the Union army to liberate all slaves in states still in rebellion as "an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity." The proclamation exempted the border slave states that remained in the Union at the start of the Civil War, and all or parts of three Confederate states controlled by the Union army. When the war began, Lincoln, who privately detested slavery, was politically unable to call for the abolishment of slavery: Constitutional amendments protected the right of states to choose whether they would be slave or free and Northern Democrats and Union slave states would have fervently opposed such a radical act.
      As a Republican politician, Lincoln had fought to isolate slavery from the new territories, and as president he initiated the Civil War as a war against Southern secession, not against slavery. However, in 1862, the US government began to realize the military advantages of emancipation: the liberation of slaves in rebel states would weaken the Confederacy by depriving it of a major portion of its labor force, and this would in turn strengthen the Union by producing an influx of manpower. In July of 1862, Congress passed a law permitting Lincoln to employ freed slaves in the army in any capacity he saw fit, and on 22 September, following the bloody Union victory at Antietam, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, to take effect on New Year's Day.
      The Emancipation Proclamation transformed the Civil War into a war for "a new birth of freedom," as Lincoln stated in the Gettysburg Address in November of 1863. This ideological change thwarted the intervention of France or England on the Confederacy's behalf, and enabled the Union to enlist the tens of thousands of African-American soldiers who volunteered to fight between 01 January 1863, and the conclusion of the war.

Whereas on the 22nd day of September, A.D. 1862, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:
     "That on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
      "That the executive will on the 1st day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State or the people thereof shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such States shall have participated shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State and the people thereof are not then in rebellion against the United States."
      Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-In-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for supressing said rebellion, do, on this 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the first day above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States the following, to wit:
      Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Palquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terrebone, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Morthhampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anne, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.
      And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are, and henceforward shall be, free; and that the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.
      And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all case when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.
      And I further declare and make known that such persons of suitable condition will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.
      And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
           - Abraham Lincoln, 1862

1863 First claim under Homestead Act.      ^top^
      A farmer named Daniel Freeman submits the first claim under the new Homestead Act for a property near Beatrice, Nebraska. Signed into law in 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln, the Homestead Act essentially legalized the long-standing American practice of squatting on the vast federal landholdings in the West. Ever since the United States became a nation, intrepid pioneers rushed westward well before the government was prepared to oversee an ordered transfer of land into private hands. Ignoring legal niceties like titles or rent payments, the pioneers began farming and ranching wherever they found promising land, and often the government simply looked the other way.
      By the mid-19th century, illegal squatting had become such an established practice in the Far West that pioneers began to argue for its legalization. Settlers pointed out that they were building a new civilization in the West with their own money and sweat. Why should they have to pay for public land when they had already shouldered the heavy cost of clearing, breaking, and fencing it? Since the government clearly wanted Americans to settle the West, settlers argued that the government should give land to anyone willing to work hard and sacrifice enough to develop it.
      Congress eventually agreed, and it passed a weak version of a homesteading bill in 1860. However, President James Buchanan vetoed the bill under pressure from pro-slavery southerners who wanted to slow the development of non-slave-holding western states. With the outbreak of the Civil War the following year, southern opposition was no longer a consideration, and Lincoln signed the even stronger Homestead Act into law in May 1862. The act authorized any citizen or intended citizen to settle on any surveyed but unclaimed 160-acre tract of public land. If settlers made the specified improvements to the land and paid a small fee, they would gain full title to the property after five years.
      Unfortunately, the government failed to reserve much of the best western land for claim under the Homestead Act and instead let it pass into the hands of railroads and speculators. By the 1890s, many homesteaders found that only marginal semi-arid tracts were still available for homesteading. Profitable farming on only 160 acres of such dry land was nearly impossible, and at least half of the original homesteaders abandoned their claims before they gained title to the property. In the early 20th century, the claim sizes were gradually increased to as much as 640 acres, making irrigation and efficient large-scale farming techniques feasible. Thus, while the majority of early homesteads failed, more than 1.6 million farmers and ranchers eventually fulfilled their contracts and became landowners in the West.

1862 1st US income tax (3% of incomes > $600, 5% of incomes > $10,000)
1862 Battle of Fort McRee FL, Battle of Port Royal SC (Port Royal Ferry)
1861 Porfirio Diaz conquers Mexico City
1861 President Lincoln declares slavery in Confederate states unlawful
1860 Slavery ends of in Netherlands Indies.
1860 Las tropas españolas al mando del general Juan Prim y Prats vencen en la batalla de los Castillejos.
1858 Canada begins using decimal currency system
1853 1st practical fire engine (horse-drawn) in US enters service
1848 Britain takes Mosquito Coast from Nicaragua
1847 Michigan is 1st state to abolish capital punishment
1846 Yucatan declares independence from México
1833 British government demands Falkland islands.
1820 En España el general Rafael del Riego y Núñez se subleva en Las Cabezas de San Juan contra el absolutismo monárquico de Fernando VII y proclama la Constitución de 1812.
1814 Field marshal Blücher's troops cross the Rhine at Kaub
1814 Cela faisait presque un année que le long siège avait commencé (12 janvier 1813). Soutenu par le général Rapp, gouverneur de la ville, que Dantzig finit par se rendre. Elle sera restituée à la Prusse.
1808 Sierra Leone becomes a British colony
1808 US Congress prohibits importation of slaves
1807 Curaçao is taken by English (until March, 1816).
1806 Napoleón I abole el calendario republicano en Francia y restablece el gregoriano.
1804 Le code Napoléon, qui sera promulgué le 25 mars suivant, est définitivement adopté par son auteur. Ce texte célèbre, dont une large partie sera encore en vigueur deux siècles plus tard (et pas seulement en France), concilie les idées révolutionnaires et les principes du droit romain observés dans le midi de la France.

1803 Haitian independence proclaimed ^top^
Jean Jacques Dessalines, a leader of the Haitian war for independence, proclaims himself emperor of the sovereign nation of Haiti. In 1791, Toussaint L'Ouverture, a self-educated former slave, launched a slave revolt on the French colony of Saint-Domingue, now known as Haiti. Joined by Jean Jacques Dessalines and Henri Christophe, two other former slaves, Toussaint organized an effective guerilla war against Haiti's mulatto and white population and resisted invasions by British troops and Napoleon Bonaparte's colonial forces. In 1803, the French were defeated, although Toussaint himself was captured and tortured to death in a dungeon in France. In 1804, after the French surrender, General Dessalines assumed dictatorial power, and Haiti became the second independent nation in the Americas. In 1806, Dessalines was assassinated under the orders of General Christophe, who proclaimed himself King Henri I of Haiti.

1802 Thomas Jefferson, in a letter written to the Danbury CT Baptist Association, coins the metaphor, "a wall of separation between Church and State." From 1947, the "wall of separation" concept would gain acceptance as a constitutional guideline in the US.
1801 Ireland and Great Britain (England, Wales, and Scotland) form the United Kingdom.
1801 Italian astronomer, Giuseppe Piazzi, becomes the first person to discover an asteroid. He names it Ceres.
1800 Dutch East Indies Company dissolves

1797 Albany replaces New York City as capital of New York state.
1796 En France, fondation du premier ministère de la Police, il est crée pendant le premier Directoire. Il est constitué par Reubell, Letourneur, La Révellière-Lépeaux, Barras et Carnot.
1788 Quakers in Pennsylvania emancipate their slaves
1788 The Daily Universal Register of London becomes The Times, publishing commercial news and notices, along with some scandal.
1785 . Precursor to The Times of London, The Daily Universal Register is founded by John Walter as a 2-1/2-penny broadsheet mainly to publicize a system of typography in which Walter is interested.
1772 1st traveler's checks issued (London)
1739 J B C Bouvet de Lozier discovers Bouvet Island, near Antarctica.
1707 Jacob V succeeds his father Pedro II as king of Portugal
1701 Great Britain & Ireland union is in effect, creating United Kingdom
1700 Russia replaces Byzantines with Julian calendar
1700 Protestant West-Europe (except England) begin using Gregorian calendar
1660 Thomas Fairfax' New Model-army occupies York
1660 General Moncks army battles with the Tweed on way to London
1660 First entry in Samuel Pepys' diary. It starts with: “Blessed be God, at the end of the last year, I was in very good health, without any sense of my old pain, but upon taking of cold I lived in Axe Yard, having my wife, and servant Jane, and no other in family than us three.” See The Concise Pepys
1651 Charles II Stuart crowned king of Scotland
1622 Papal Chancery adopts Jan 1 as beginning of the year (was Mar 25)
1610 German astronomer Simon Marius 1st discovers the Jupiter moons, but does not officially report it, Galileo does on July 1 1610
1583 1st day of the Gregorian calendar in Holland & Flanders.
1567 Felipe II publica una pragmática contra la actitud levantisca de los moriscos en Granada, origen de la guerra de las Alpujarras.
1515 François, Duke of Angoulême succeeds Louis XII as François I of France
1515 Jews are expelled from Laibach Austria
1504 King Louis XII loses last bulwark in Naples, Caeta
1502 Portuguese navigators discover Rio de Janeiro
1438 Albrecht II von Habsburg becomes king of Hungary
1430 Jews of Sicily are no longer required to attend conversionist services
0990 Russia adopts Julian calendar
0722 Hofmeier Charles Martel flees from bishop Willibrord
0404 Last gladiator competition in Rome
0313 Start of Roman (Pontifical) Indiction
0089 Gov Lucius Antonius Saturninus of Germany becomes emperor of Rome
0069 Roman garrison of Mainz uprising
0001 Origin of Christian Era
--1 -BC- Origin of Era of Pisa
--30 -BC- Origin of Actian Era
--38 -BC- Origin of Era of Spain (Cesars)
--45 -BC- Origin of Julian Era; Julian calendar begins
--4713 -BC- Julian Year 1 begins, at Greenwich mean noon
--4714 -BC- Origin of Julian Period (Year 0)
--5777 -BC- Origin of Solar Cycle

TO THE TOP

Deaths which occurred on a January 01: ^top^
2000 Waheeb Hamoudah, 56, pushed off 3rd-story rooftop by a sheep he was feeding to fatten it for sacrifice for Eid-al-Adha (in early March), in Alexandria, Egypt. Hamoudah worked in the police tax evasion department.
2000 Carlos Pascual, 43, security guard, of injuries from car crash the day before, when he was driving home from work (with his 70-year-old mother, who was seriously injured) and, at an intersection in an industrial neighborhood near Miami International Airport, where the traffic signals were not working, colllided with a police car driven by Willian Rial (who suffered minor injuries), on his way to answer a burglar alarm . The culprit of the power outage that caused the traffic signals malfunction was electrocuted. It was a rat who had gnawed at insulation at a power substation and was found dead.
2000 Matías Palau y Ferré, pintor y escultor español.
1999 Quinientos civiles masacrados en la región de Kivu Sur (República Democrática de Congo) por las fuerzas rebeldes enfrentadas al presidente Laurent Désiré Kabila.
1995 Eugene Paul Wigner, 92, Hungarian-born US mathematician, physicist (1963 Nobel prize for physics).
1994 Over 100 persons in "Zapatista" uprising in Chiapas, Mexico, on the pretext of protesting against NAFTA going into effect on this day. — En el estado de Chiapas (México) se levanta el grupo guerrillero llamado Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN).
1994 Werner Schwab, 35, Austrian playwright (Female Presidents)

1992 Grace Murray Hopper, computer pioneer, in Arlington, Virginia. ^top^
Hopper invented the first program compiler, which translated programming code into machine language. Hopper's compiler paved the way for increasingly sophisticated computer languages. A mathematics professor, Hopper joined the Naval Reserves when World War II broke out. The Navy assigned her to work on Mark I, the first large-scale automatic calculator. Later, Hopper worked on UNIVAC, the world's first fully electronic commercial computer, and developed the Flow-Matic compiler. Although she retired in 1966, the Navy called her back almost immediately. For the next nineteen years, she helped the Navy standardize their computer languages. When she finally retired at age seventy-nine, she was the oldest officer on active US Naval duty. Hopper's work won numerous honors, including the prestigious National Medal of Technology in 1991. She was the first woman to win the award. 1902 First Demonstration of Radio Broadcasting On January 1, 1902, Nathan Stubbfield of Murray, Kentucky, gave the first demonstration of radio broadcasting in the United States. He then repeated the public exhibition on May 30, 1902, in Fairmont Park, Philadelphia. Stubbfield was one of many American inventors inspired by the work of Guglielmo Marconi, who had introduced the principles of radio broadcasting in England in 1896.

1991 Charles B Timmer, 83, Dutch writer (Russia Black on White)
1991 Yvonne Waegemans, 81, Flemish author (Gnome Patjoepelke)
1982 Vladimir K Zworykin Russ/American engineer (cathode-ray tube)
1980 Pietro Nenni, 88, Italian politician (Socialists)
1978: 213 die as Air India B747 explodes near Bombay

1973 Katherine Cleary, 28, beaten and stabbed.     ^top^
     On New Year's eve, she visits Tweed's Bar on the Upper West Side of NYC and is picked up by her soon-to-be killer. The incident inspires the cautionary novel and subsequent movie Looking For Mr. Goodbar. For many, Cleary's murder represented the dark side of the sexual revolution.
      At Tweed's on New Year's night, Cleary had met Joe Willie Sampson, an outwardly charming, but seriously disturbed man. Sampson was dealing with problems of sexual identity and orientation. He was homosexual but refused to admit it to himself, leading to violent feelings toward women.
      At his home in the early hours of 1 January, Sampson beat Cleary, stabs her numerous times, and sexually assaults her before finally killing her. Before he could stand trial for his brutal crime, Sampson would hang himself in jail in May 1973.
      In 1975, Judith Rossner wrote the best-selling novel Looking For Mr. Goodbar, which described a similar incident and served as a warning to women about the dangers of anonymous one-night stands. Diane Keaton starred in a popular movie version of the book in 1977.

1972 Kenneth Patchen, 60, US poet/writer (Cloth of Tempest)
1969 Ian Fleming, 80, writer (James Bond)
1966 Vincent Auriol, 82, President of France (1947-53)
1962 Diego Martínez Barrio, 76, Spanish president (1939). — Diego Martínez Barrio, político español, presidente de la II República.
1961 Dashiell Hammett, 66, author (Sam Spade, Maltese Falcon)
1958 Oscar Manuel Palazón Domínguez, Spanish Surrealist painter born on 07 January 1906. — LINKS — Corrida — Matador y Toro — Le Coup de Grâce

1940 Day 33 of Winter War: USSR aggression against Finland. ^top^
More deaths due to Stalin's desire to grab Finnish territory. Northern Finland: Colonel Siilasvuo determines to smash the Russian 44th Division which has been advancing along the Raate road. Ladoga Karelia: two battalions of the Finnish 13th Division launch an assault to the north of Ruhtinaanmäki. Soviet troops capture Viitavaara on the River Aittojoki for the first time. The numbering of some of the Finnish divisions is changed in order to confuse Soviet intelligence. The enemy bombs the cities of Oulu in the north and Turku in the southwest. In Oulu, four people are killed and 16 buildings destroyed. Altogether 30 enemy aircraft are used in the attack on Turku. Abroad: the Swedish sports reporter Torsten Tegnér proposes a bandy match to raise funds for Finland. 10 well-known Russian émigré writers, including Nobel Prize winner Ivan Bunin, issue a communiqué in Paris condemning the Soviet Union's invasion of Finland

1934 Jakob Wassermann, 60, writer
1920 Paul Adam, 57, French writer (L'enfant d'Austerlitz)
1919 William W Campbell, 60, Canadian poet (Ian of the Orcades)
1891 Some 3000 killed as French troops occupy Nioro, West-Sudan
1888 Alifair McCoy, Calvin McCoy, killed in raid by Hatfield supporters as the famous feud continues. The raiders also burned the McCoy home to the ground.
1877 Adolphe Alexandre Dillens, Belgian artist born on 02 January 1821.
1862 Ostrogradski, mathematician.
1813 Simon-Joseph Denis den Schelen, Flemish artist born on 14 April 1755.
1796 Vandermonde, mathematician.
1787 Cunha, mathematician.
1768 Jean Restout, French Neo-classical painter, specialized in historical subjects, born on 26 March 1692. — Jean Restout came of a family of painters and did many religious and mythological pictures, and worked for a time for Frederick the Great. — LINKS — Pentecost
1766 James III Edward, 77, Old Pretender/king of Great Britain/Ireland
1758 Johann F von Cronegk, 26, German playwright (Codrus)
1748 Johann Bernoulli, 80, mathematician. Johann Bernoulli was a major member of the Bernoulli family of Swiss mathematicians. He investigated the then new mathematical calculus, which he applied to the measurement of curves, to differential equations, and to mechanical problems.
1716 William Wycherley, 75, dramatist (The Country Wife)
1667 Jacob de Villers (or Villeers), Dutch artist born in 1616.
1666 Adriaen Bloemaert, Dutch artist born in 1609.
1661 Pieter Claesz, Dutch painter, specialized in Still Life, born (but not still born) in 1597. — MORE ON CLAESZ AT ART “4” JANUARY — LINKS — Still Life with Fish — Still Life with Turkey Pie — Vanitas Still Life with the Spinario — Vanitas Still-Life — Still-life with Herring — Still-life with Wine Glass and Silver Bowl — Breakfast-piece — Still-Life — Still-life — Still Life with Wine Glass — Pipes and Braszier — Still Life with Two Lemons
1655 Roelof Koets, Dutch artist born in 1592.
1559 Christian III king of Denmark/Norway (1534-59)
1557 Jacques Cartier, 65, French explorer (Canada)

1515 Louis XII, 52, Father of People, "the Justified" King of France (1498-1515) ^top^
Le cousin de Charles VIII a 36 ans quand il reçoit le sacre à Reims le 27 mai 1498. Il obtient l'annulation de son mariage stérile avec Jeanne de France qui durait depuis neuf ans. Il s'unit avec Anne de Bretagne, à Nantes le 8 janvier 1499. Claude de France, leur fille naît un an et d'autres filles, mais pas de fils. Leur seul fils mort-né entraînera le décès de celle-ci le 9 janvier 1514. Sa politique extérieur l'entraîne à revendiquer le titre de duc de Milan qui lui revient par sa grand-mère Valentine Visconti. Il espère reprendre Naples, mais malgré les nombreuses victoires de Bayard, les Français seront repoussés en 1503. La suite de ses campagnes contre les Vénétiens est un désastre pour la France, trop isolée par un jeu de retournement d'alliance. Louis XII se réconcilie avec le roi d'Angleterre, Henri VIII, dont il épouse sa ravissante soeur Marie, le 9 octobre 1514. Il espérait avoir de cette jeune fille de dix-neuf ans une descendance masculin, mais il décède le 1er janvier 1515.

1502 Gregorius XIII [Ugo Buoncampagni], Italy, pope (1572-85)
1387 Karel de Boze king of Navarra (1349-87)
0898 Odo, 39, Earl of Paris/king of France (888-98)
0404 Telemachus Roman monk, murdered
0379 Basil the Great of Caesarea, 50, saint (Moralia) Basilius was an early Church Father who defended the orthodox faith against the heretical Arians. As bishop of Caesarea he wrote several works on monasticism, theology, and canon law. He was declared a saint soon after his death.

Births which occurred on a January 01: ^top^
1995 The World Trade Organization comes into existence. The group of 125 nations monitors global trade.
1965 al-Fatah Palestinian organization forms.
1960 La pell de brau de Salvador Espriu i Castello se publica.
1951 Frans Kellendonk author (Ruin, The Good for Nothing)
1949 Peter Dormer arts writer
1938 Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard Queen of Netherlands (1980- )
1930 Gaafar Muhammad Nimeiry Premier/President (Sudan)
1928 Ernest R Tidyman Ohio, novelist/screenwriter (French Connection).
1928 Carlos Barral, poeta y editor español.
1927 La BBC transmite su primera emisión.
1923 Gorenstein, mathematician.
1920 Roger Peacock writer.
1919 El Partido Comunista alemán es fundado por Rosa Luxemburgo, Karl Liebknecht y Wilhelm Pieck.
1919 J[erome] D[avid] Salinger New York City, NY, novelist (Catcher in the Rye)
1915 François Bondy writer
1913 Eliot Janeway financial writer (Economics of Chaos)
1912 Victor George Reuther, UAW organizer, younger brother of Walter Reuther.
1912 Kim Philby British spy / Soviet mole. He died on 11 May 1988.
1912 Gnedenko, mathematician.
1912 Boris Vladimirovich Gnedenko, mathematician.
1910 Russ Bender actor/writer (Amazing Colossal Man, Space Monster)
1909 Barry Goldwater (Senator-R-AZ, 1953-65, 69- ) / Presidential candidate (R) 1964). He died on 29 May 1998.
1905 Mazur, mathematician.
1903 ABC, periódico español, publica su primer número.
1898 Sogno d'un mattino di primavera, of d'Annunzio, premieres in Rome
1897 Catherine Bowen, US writer who died on 01 November 1973.
1896 Teinosuke KinugasaMie Ken Japan, writer/director (Jujiro, Jigoku-mon)
1895 J. Edgar Hoover Washington DC, power-grabbing long-time director of US Federal Bureau of Investigation. He died on 02 May 1972.
1894 Bose, mathematician.
1893 Emma Stark, in Flanders, N.J., who would celebrate her 109th birthday at Lakeside Beikirch Care Center in Brockport NY. having outlived her husband and their two daughters, but having three grandsons, nine great-grandchildren, 13 great-great-grandchildren and one great-great-great-granddaughter — a 2-year-old.
1892 Manuel Roxas y Acuna 1st President of Philippines
1891 Alessandro De Stefani Cividale del Friuli Italy, writer (La Signorina, Africa sotto i mari)
1888 Vladimir Daniel Baranoff-Rossine, Russian/Ukrainian sculptor who died in 1942. — LINKS
1887 Wilhelm Canaris German admiral/head German military intelligence.
1883 William J. Donovan, US director of the O.S.S. in WW2. He died on 08 February 1959.
1883 Federigo Tozzi Italian writer/journalist (La Torre, Tre Croci)
1881 Carry van Bridges [de Haan], Dutch author (Heleen, Eva)
1880 Shalom Asch Poland, yiddish writer (Motke Ganev)

1879 Edward Morgan Forster, London England, novelist, essayist, and social and literary critic. ^top^ His fame rests largely on his novels Howards End (1910) and A Passage to India (1924) and on a large body of criticism. Forster's architect father died when he was two, and Forster was raised by his mother and a great-aunt in an old house called Rooksnest, which later became the model for the country estate portrayed in Howard's End. Forster was teased and tormented mercilessly at the private school he attended as a day student, and remained shy and timid throughout the rest of his life. However, he found intellectual companionship during his university years at King's College, Cambridge, where he joined a secret society of intellectuals called the Apostles. Forster began contributing essays and stories to the newly formed Independent Review in 1903 and published his first novel, Where Angels Fear to Tread, two years later. Like many of his later books, the novel looked at English discomfort with foreign cultures. Forster traveled widely, visiting Greece, Italy, and India, and later served with the Red Cross in Alexandria, Egypt, from 1915 to 1919. At home in England, Forster made many close friends among the intellectual and literary "Bloomsbury set," including Virginia Woolf. Forster's fifth novel, A Passage to India, now considered his greatest work, was the last novel that Forster published in his lifetime. The novel explored racism and colonialism through the story of an English tourist who accuses a respected Indian doctor of attacking her. A sixth novel, Maurice, which dealt with homosexuality, was published after his death. In 1946, Forster received an honorary fellowship from his alma mater, which allowed him to live in Cambridge during the rest of his life. He died in 1970, at the age of In 1905 E. M. Foster published his first novel, Where Angels Fear to Tread. In the following year he lectured on Italian art and history for the Cambridge Local Lectures Board. In 1907 appeared The Longest Journey, then A Room with a View (1908), based partly on the material from extended holidays in Italy with his mother. The protagonist, young Lucy Honeychurch, becomes caught between two man, shallow, conventional Cecil Vyse and George Emerson, whose original opinions on art and love frighten her family. Finally Lucy overcomes prejudices and marries George. The Machine Stops (1909) is a short science fiction story, it presages global telecommunication, electronic mail and the social isolation created by these technologies. Howards End (1910) was a story that centered on an English country house and dealt with the clash between two families, one interested in art and literature, the other only in business. The book brought together the themes of money, business and culture. The novel established Forster's reputation, and he embarked upon a new novel with a homosexual theme, Maurice. The picture of British attitudes not long after Wilde was revised several times during his life, and finally published posthumously in 1971 In World War I, Forster joined the Red Cross and served in Alexandria, Egypt. There he met the Greek poet C.P. Cavafy, and published a selection of his poems in Pharaos and Pharillon (1923). Forster's last novel is his masterwork A Passage to India (1924), an account of India under Brtitish rule. Adela Quested visits Chandrapore with Mrs Moore in order to make up her mind whether to marry the latter's son. Mrs Moore meets his friend Dr Azis, assistant to the British Civil Surgeon. She and Adela accept Azis's invitation to visit the mysterious Marabar Caves. In this trip Mrs Moore undergoes a traumatic experience and Adela believes herself to have been the victim of a sexual assault by Azis, who is arrested. Mrs Moore dies on the voyage home and Adela admits that she was mistaken. Azis has changed his liberal views and insists that he can have a friend among the British only when India has gained independence. - The novel's title derives from Walt Whitman, but the American poet's celebration of the opening of the Suez Canal as bringing together East and West is qualified by Kipling's assertion that 'ne'er the twain shall meet.' Forster was active in the defense of civil rights until his death on 7 June 1970. FORSTER ONLINE:
Howards End Howards End Howards End The Machine Stops	The Longest Journey The Longest Journey A Room with a View A Room with a View Et rom med utsikt (Norsk)	Where Angels Fear to Tread Where Angels Fear to Tread Where Angels Fear to Tread .Der Engler Ikke Tør Trå (Norsk)

1878 Agner Krarup Erlang, Danish mathematician who died on 03 February 1929. His most important work was on probability applied to telephone calls.
1873 Mariano Azuela Mexico, novelist (The Flies, The Bosses)
1869 Louis de la Vallée-Poussin Belgian indologist
1867 Charles Edward Montague English author/critic (Fiery Particles)
1864 Alfred Stieglitz, US photographer, who died on 13 July 1946. — LINKS
1863 Pierre de Coubertin France, baron (revived Olympic games)
1863 Aleko Konstantinov Bulgarian writer (To Chicago & Back)
1857 Wojciech Kossak, Polish artist who died in 1942.
1854 Sir James George Frazer Britain, anthropologist, who died on 07 May 1941. FRAZER ONLINE: The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion
1846 Nikola Pasic Serbian nationalist/premier (1891-1926)
1823 Sándor Petöfi Kikkörös, Hungary, poet, revolutionary (Jáos Vitéz)
1819 Arthur Hugh Clough poet, friend of Matthew Arnold. CLOUGH ONLINE: Amours de Voyage, Amours de Voyage
1816 Manuel Murillo Toro, político y escritor colombiano.
1815 Charles Renouvier French philosopher (neocriticism)
1809 John Pieter Heije Dutch physician/writer/poet (Silver Fleet)
1803 Libri, mathematician.
1792 Henrik A Bjerregaard Norwegian writer/poet (Sønner af Norge)
1788 The Times de Londres publica su primer número.
1787 Domenico Quaglio, German (!?) artist who died on 09 April 1837.
1785 "Daily Universal Register" (Times of London) publishes 1st issue
1764 John Kinker Dutch linguist/philosopher/poet (Minderjarige Zangster)
1761 Jan Frans Eliaerts, Belgian artist who died on 17 May 1848.
1752 Elizabeth Griscom “Betsy” Ross flag maker from Philadelphia, legendary folklore says she sewed the first American flag. She died on 30 January 1836.
1745 Mad Anthony Wayne, US War of Independence general, who died on 15 December 1796.
1735 Paul Revere silversmith, US patriot: "The British are coming!", member of Sons of Liberty and participant in Boston Tea Party
1734 John F. E. Acton cruel premier of Naples.
1729 (Julian date) Edmund Burke --> go to 12 January Gregorian
1714 Kristijonas Donelaitis Lutheran pastor, Lithuanian poet (The Seas)
1672 Bajazet, play by Jean Racine, premieres in Paris
1638 Antoinette du Ligier de la Guard Deshoulières French poet/playwright
1618 (baptism) Bartolomé-Esteban Murillo, Seville, Spain, painter who died on 03 April 1682. — Arte Barroco en España. — MORE ON MURILLO AT ART “4” JANUARY — LINKS — Adoration by the Shepherds — Immaculate Conception — Annunciation — The Young Beggar — The Little Fruit Seller — Boys Eating Fruit — The Toilette — Flight into Egypt — Holy Family with the Infant St John — Children with Shell — The Holy Family — Rebecca and Eliezer — The Infant Jesus Distributing Bread to Pilgrims _ detail 1 _ detail 2 (Mary) — A Girl and her Duenna — Cuisine of Angels (Miracle of St. Diego de Alcada) — St. Diego Giving Charity — Madonna of the Rosary — Madonna and Child —: The Beggar Boy — Grape and Melon Eaters — The Little Fruit Seller
1571 Rutilio Manetti di Lorenzo, Italian artist who died on 22 July 1639.
1481 Huldrych Zwingli Swiss Protestant reformer
1467 Sigismund I the old, king of Poland
1449 Lorenzo de' Medici [The Magnificent] of Florence. He died on 09 March 1492.
1431 Alexander VI [Rodrigo Borgia] Spanish / Italian (scandalous) pope (1492-1503)
1387 Charles The Angry One, king of Navarra (1349-87)

Holidays Alabama : Mobile Carnival / Cameroon : Independence Day (1960) / Cuba : Revolution Day / Haiti : Independence Day (1804) / Japan : New Year (year = AD + 660) / Mozambique : Universal Fraternity / Pasadena CA : Tournament of Roses Parade / Philadelphia : Mummers' Parade / Sudan : Independence Day (1956) / Western Samoa : Independence Day (1962) / Scotland : Handsel Monday ( Monday ) / Capetown, South Africa : Coon Carnival / Taiwan : Foundation of the Republic

NEW YEAR'S DAY:      ^top^
      In 45 B.C., New Year's Day is celebrated on January 1 for the first time in history as the Julian calendar takes effect.
      Soon after becoming Roman dictator, Julius Caesar decided that the traditional Roman calendar was in dire need of reform. Introduced around the seventh century B.C., the Roman calendar attempted to follow the lunar cycle but frequently fell out of phase with the seasons and had to be corrected. In addition, the pontifices, the Roman body charged with overseeing the calendar, often abused its authority by adding days to extend political terms or interfere with elections.
      In designing his new calendar, Caesar enlisted the aid of Sosigenes, an Alexandrian astronomer, who advised him to do away with the lunar cycle entirely and follow the solar year, as did the Egyptians. The year was calculated to be 365 and 1/4 days, and Caesar added 67 days to 45 B.C., making 46 B.C. begin on 01 January, rather than in March. He also decreed that every four years a day be added to February, thus theoretically keeping his calendar from falling out of step. Shortly before his assassination in 44 B.C., he changed the name of the month Quintilis to Julius (July) after himself. Later, the month of Sextilis was renamed Augustus (August) after his successor.
      Celebration of New Year's Day in January fell out of practice during the Middle Ages, and even those who strictly adhered to the Julian calendar did not observe the New Year exactly on 01 January. The reason for the latter was that Caesar and Sosigenes failed to calculate the correct value for the solar year as 365.242199 days, not 365.25 days. Thus, a 11-minute-a-year error added seven days by the year 1000, and 10 days by the mid-15th century.
      The Roman church became aware of this problem, and in the 1570s Pope Gregory XIII commissioned Jesuit astronomer Christopher Clavius to come up with a new calendar. In 1582, the Gregorian calendar was implemented, omitting 10 days for that year and establishing the new rule that only one of every four centennial years should be a leap year. Since then, people around the world have gathered en masse on January 1 to celebrate the precise arrival of the New Year.
Jour de l'an
      Chez les peuples usant d’un calendrier solaire, le début de l’année a toujours été fixé par pure convention. Ainsi, l’année romaine commençait avec le mois de mars ; Jules César, sur les conseils de Sosigène, avança de trois mois cette date : l’an 709 de Rome commença le 1er janvier, et c’est la date initiale de la réforme julienne, que Rome — et avec elle les nations soumises à sa domination — appliqua pendant 345 ans...
      Mais, au fil des siècles, l’année n’a pas commencé partout au 1er janvier, et son début a varié au gré des Églises, des époques et des pays. Pour ne citer d’abord que la France, l’année commençait le 1er mars dans nombre de provinces aux VIe-VIIe siècles ; à Noël au temps de Charlemagne (et en certains lieux, tel Soissons, jusqu’au XIIe s.) ; le jour de Pâques sous les Capétiens, ce qui donnait des années de longueur très variable (usage quasi général aux XIIe-XIIIe s., jusqu’au XVIe dans certaines provinces) ; toutefois, en quelques régions, l’année commençait à date fixe, le 25 mars, jour de l’Annonciation. Ce n’est qu’en 1564 que, par édit de Charles IX, le début de l’année fut obligatoirement fixé en France au 1er janvier ; et les fausses étrennes et "poissons d’avril" sont un lointain souvenir des dates révolues.
      La République ayant été proclamée le 22 septembre 1792, date qui se trouvait être le jour équinoxial d’automne, le calendrier républicain fixa le début de l’année "au jour civil où tombe l’équinoxe d’automne au méridien de Paris".
      En Russie, l’an commençait le 1er septembre ; à compter du règne de Pierre le Grand, il commença le 1er janvier. Quant à l’Angleterre, où l’an débutait le 25 mars, elle n’accepta le 1er janvier qu’avec la réforme grégorienne : l’année anglaise 1751 ne comporta que neuf mois et une semaine.

Religious Observances Anglican, Lutheran : Holy Name of Jesus / Christian : St Odilo / old Roman Catholic : Circumcision of Jesus / Roman Catholic : Mary, Mother of God / Unification Church : God's Day / Orthodox : St Basil / La Circuncisión del Señor; Santa María Madre de Dios; el Nombre de Jesús.

Thoughts for the day : “My New Year's resolution is to make no New Year's resolution, especially not this one.”
“The hardest thing to do is to disguise your feelings when sending a large crowd of visiting relatives home.”
“Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice” — Barry Goldwater [He meant "extremism in defense of my election campaign..."]
“Extremism in the defense of vice is not liberty but libertinage.”
“With extremists as defenders, liberty needs no enemies.”
“When extremism is needed to defend liberty, liberty has already perished.”

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updated Thursday 02-Jan-2003 21:32 UT

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