Events

• 250 - Emperor Decius begins a widespread persecution of Christians in Rome. Pope Fabian was martyred. Afterwards the Donatist controversy over readmitting lapsed Christians disaffects many in North Africa.
• 1156 - According to legend, freeholder Lalli slays English crusader Bishop Henry with an axe on the ice of lake Köyliönjärvi in Finland.
• 1265 - In Westminster, the first English parliament conducts its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster, now also known as the "Houses of Parliament".
• 1320 - Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland.
• 1356 - Edward Balliol abdicates as King of Scotland.
• 1502 - The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro is first explored.
• 1523 - Christian II is forced to abdicate as King of Denmark and Norway.
• 1576 - The Mexican city of León is founded by order of the viceroy Don Martín Enríquez de Almansa.
• 1649 - Charles I of England goes on trial for treason and other "high crimes".
• 1667 - The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth cedes Kiev, Smolensk, and left-bank Ukraine to Imperial Russia in the treaty of Andrusovo.
• 1783 - The Kingdom of Great Britain signs a peace treaty with France and Spain, officially ending hostilities in the Revolutionary War.
• 1788 - The third and main part of First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay. Arthur Phillip decides Botany Bay is unsuitable for location of a penal colony, and decides to move to Port Jackson.
• 1801 - John Marshall is appointed the Chief Justice of the United States.
• 1839 - In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats a Peruvian and Bolivian alliance.
• 1840 - Dumont D'Urville discovers Adélie Land, Antarctica.
• 1840 - Willem II becomes King of the Netherlands.
• 1841 - Hong Kong Island is occupied by the British.
• 1885 - L.A. Thompson patents the roller coaster.
• 1887 - The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
• 1892 - At the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, the first official basketball game is played.
• 1920 - The American Civil Liberties Union is founded.
• 1921 - The first Constitution of Turkey is adopted, making fundamental changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty.
• 1929 - In Old Arizona, the first full-length talking film filmed outdoors, is released.
• 1936 - Edward VIII becomes King of the United Kingdom.
• 1937 - Franklin Roosevelt is inaugurated for a second term as President of the United States. This is the first inauguration scheduled on January 20, following adoption of the 20th Amendment. Previous inaugurations were scheduled on March 4.
• 1942 - World War II: Nazis at the Wannsee conference in Berlin agree on the "final solution to the Jewish problem".
• 1944 - World War II: The Royal Air Force drops 2,300 tons of bombs on Berlin.
• 1945 - Hungary ends its involvement in the Second World War, agreeing to an armistice with the Allies.
• 1954 - The National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.
• 1960 - Hendrik Verwoerd announces a plebiscite on whether South Africa should become a Republic.
• 1968 - The Houston Cougars defeat the UCLA Bruins 71-69 to win the Game of the Century.
• 1969 - The first pulsar is discovered, in the Crab Nebula.
• 1981 - Iran releases 52 American hostages twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as U.S. President.
• 1986 - Martin Luther King, Jr., day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.
• 1987 - Church of England envoy Terry Waite is kidnapped in Lebanon.
• 1990 - Black January - crackdown of Azerbaijani pro-independence demonstrations by Soviet army in Baku.
• 1991 - Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south.
• 1992 - Air Inter Flight 148 crashes near Strasbourg, France, killing 82 passengers and 5 crew.
• 1998 - Santos Futebol Clube became the first team in football history to pass the 10,000-goal mark.
• 1999 - The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use aimed especially at Internet cafés.
• 2001 - Philippine president Joseph Estrada is ousted in the EDSA II Revolution and is succeeded by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Births