| 1500 |
|
The Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral searches the coast of Brazil and claims the region for Portugal. |
| 1586 |
|
Sir Francis Drake launches a surprise attack on the heavily fortified city of Santo Domingo in Hipanola. |
| 1698 |
|
The Abenaki Indians and Massachusetts colonists sign a treaty halting hostilities between the two. |
| 1766 |
|
The Old Pretender, son of James III, dies. |
| 1788 |
|
The Times, London’s oldest running newspaper, publishes its first edition. |
| 1808 |
|
A U.S. law banning the import of slaves comes into effect, but is widely ignored. |
| 1824 |
|
The Camp Street Theatre opens as the first English-language playhouse in New Orleans. |
| 1830 |
|
William Lloyd Garrison publishes the first edition of a journal entitled The Liberator, calling for the complete and immediate emancipation of all slaves in the United States. |
| 1863 |
|
Confederate General Braxton Bragg and Union General William Rosecrans readjust their troops as the Battle of Murfreesboro continues. |
| 1863 |
|
President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the slaves in the Confederacy. |
| 1891 |
|
Facilities opened on Ellis Island, New York, to cope with the vast flood of immigrants coming into the United States. |
| 1907 |
|
The Pure Food and Drug Act becomes law in the United States. |
| 1915 |
|
The German submarine U-24 sinks the British battleship Formidable in the English Channel. |
| 1918 |
|
The first gasoline pipeline begins operation. Along the 40 miles and three inches of pipe from Salt Creek to Casper, Wyoming. |
| 1923 |
|
Sadi Lecointe sets a new aviation speed record flying an average of 208 mph at Istres. |
| 1937 |
|
At a party at the Hormel Mansion in Minnesota, a guest wins $100 for naming a new canned meat–Spam. |
| 1945 |
|
In Operation Bodenplatte, German planes attack American forward air bases in Europe. This is the last major offensive of the Luftwaffe. |
| 1959 |
|
Fidel Castro seizes power in Cuba as General Fulgencio Batista flees. |
| 1986 |
|
As the United States builds its strength in the Mediterranean, Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi threatens to retaliate if attacked. |
| Born on January 1 |
| 1735 |
|
Paul Revere, U.S. patriot. |
| 1752 |
|
Betsy Ross, flag maker. |
| 1879 |
|
E.M. [Edward Morgan] Forster, English novelist (A Passage to India, A Room With a View). |
| 1895 |
|
J. Edgar Hoover, founding director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). |
| 1919 |
|
J.D. [Jerome David] Salinger, U.S. novelist (The Catcher in the Rye, Franny and Zooey). |
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