Important Historical Events Today, What Happened Today in History?
Today's Historical Events. What Happened This Day In History? Here is a chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened 6 December in history.
Historical Events on December 6
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1060 | Béla I is crowned king of Hungary. |
| 1240 | Mongol invasion of Rus': Kyiv, defended by Voivode Dmytro, falls to the Mongols under Batu Khan. |
| 1492 | After exploring the island of Cuba for gold (which he had mistaken for Japan), Christopher Columbus lands on an island he names Hispaniola. |
| 1534 | The city of Quito in Ecuador is founded by Spanish settlers led by Sebastián de Belalcázar. |
| 1648 | Colonel Thomas Pride of the New Model Army purges the Long Parliament of MPs sympathetic to King Charles I of England, in order for the King's trial to go ahead; came to be known as "Pride's Purge". |
| 1704 | Battle of Chamkaur: During the Mughal-Sikh Wars, an outnumbered Sikh Khalsa defeats a Mughal army. |
| 1745 | Charles Edward Stuart's army begins retreat during the second Jacobite Rising. |
| 1790 | The U.S. Congress moves from New York City to Philadelphia. |
| 1803 | Five French warships attempting to escape the Royal Naval blockade of Saint-Domingue are all seized by British warships, signifying the end of the Haitian Revolution. |
| 1865 | Georgia ratifies the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. |
| 1882 | Transit of Venus, second and last of the 19th century. |
| 1884 | The Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., is completed. |
| 1897 | London becomes the world's first city to host licensed taxicabs. |
| 1904 | Theodore Roosevelt articulated his "Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the U.S. would intervene in the Western Hemisphere should Latin American governments prove incapable or unstable. |
| 1907 | A coal mine explosion at Monongah, West Virginia, kills 362 workers. |
| 1912 | The Nefertiti Bust is discovered. |
| 1916 | World War I: The Central Powers capture Bucharest. |
| 1917 | Finland declares independence from the Russian Empire. |
| 1917 | Halifax Explosion: A munitions explosion near Halifax, Nova Scotia kills more than 1,900 people in the largest artificial explosion up to that time. |
| 1917 | World War I: USS Jacob Jones is the first American destroyer to be sunk by enemy action when it is torpedoed by German submarine SM U-53. |
| 1921 | The Anglo-Irish Treaty is signed in London by British and Irish representatives. |
| 1922 | One year to the day after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the Irish Free State comes into existence. |
| 1928 | The government of Colombia sends military forces to suppress a month-long strike by United Fruit Company workers, resulting in an unknown number of deaths. |
| 1933 | U.S. federal judge John M. Woolsey rules that James Joyce's novel Ulysses is not obscene. |
| 1941 | World War II: Camp X opens in Canada to begin training Allied secret agents for the war. |
| 1956 | A violent water polo match between Hungary and the USSR takes place during the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, against the backdrop of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. |
| 1957 | Project Vanguard: A launchpad explosion of Vanguard TV3 thwarts the first United States attempt to launch a satellite into Earth orbit. |
| 1967 | Adrian Kantrowitz performs the first human heart transplant in the United States. |
| 1969 | Altamont Free Concert: At a free concert performed by the Rolling Stones, eighteen-year old Meredith Hunter is stabbed to death by Hells Angels security guards. |
| 1971 | Pakistan severs diplomatic relations with India, initiating the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. |
| 1973 | The Twenty-fifth Amendment: The United States House of Representatives votes 387–35 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States. (On November 27, the Senate confirmed him 92–3.) |
| 1975 | The Troubles: Fleeing from the police, a Provisional IRA unit takes a British couple hostage in their flat on Balcombe Street, London, beginning a six-day siege. |
| 1977 | South Africa grants independence to Bophuthatswana, although it is not recognized by any other country. |
| 1978 | Spain ratifies the Spanish Constitution of 1978 in a referendum. |
| 1982 | The Troubles: The Irish National Liberation Army bombs a pub frequented by British soldiers in Ballykelly, Northern Ireland, killing eleven soldiers and six civilians. |
| 1989 | The École Polytechnique massacre (or Montreal Massacre): Marc Lépine, an anti-feminist gunman, murders 14 young women at the École Polytechnique in Montreal. |
| 1990 | A military jet of the Italian Air Force, abandoned by its pilot after an on-board fire, crashed into a high school near Bologna, Italy, killing 12 students and injuring 88 other people. |
| 1991 | Yugoslav Wars: In Croatia, forces of the Serb-dominated Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) heaviest bombardment of Dubrovnik during a siege of seven months. |
| 1992 | The Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, India, is demolished, leading to widespread riots causing the death of over 1,500 people. |
| 1997 | A Russian Antonov An-124 Ruslan cargo plane crashes into an apartment complex near Irkutsk, Siberia, killing 67. |
| 1998 | in Venezuela, Hugo Chávez is victorious in presidential elections. |
| 1999 | A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc.: The Recording Industry Association of America sues the peer-to-peer file-sharing service Napster, alleging copyright infringement. |
| 2005 | An Iranian Air Force C-130 military transport aircraft crashes into a ten-floor apartment building in a residential area of Tehran, killing all 94 on board and 12 more on the ground. |
| 2006 | NASA reveals photographs taken by Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of liquid water on Mars. |
| 2015 | Venezuelan parliamentary election: For the first time in 17 years, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela loses its majority in parliament. |
| 2017 | Donald Trump's administration officially announces the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. |
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