Historical Events on 20 Dec

Historical Events on 20 Dec

1192 - Richard the Lion-Heart is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after signing a treaty with Saladin ending the crusade.
1522 - Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta.
1606 - The Virginia Company loads three ships with settlers and sets sail to establish Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.
1803 - The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.
1835 - First signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence at Goliad, Texas.
1860 - South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the United States.
1915 - World War I: Last Australian troops evacuated from Gallipoli.
1917 - Cheka, the first Soviet secret police, is founded.
1941 - World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers" in Kunming, China.
1942 - World War II: Bombing of Calcutta by the Japanese.
1951 - The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity for the first time. The electricity powered four light bulbs.
1952 - United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington killing 87.
1955 - Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.
1960 - National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam is formed.
1968 - The Zodiac Killer kills Betty Lou Jenson and David Faraday in Vallejo, California.
1973 - The Spanish Prime Minister, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, is assassinated by a car bomb attack in Madrid.
1984 - The Summit tunnel fire is the largest underground fire in history, as a freight train carrying over 1 million litres of petrol derails near the town of Todmorden in the Pennines.
1988 - The United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances is signed in Vienna.
1989 - United States invasion of Panama: The United States sends troops into Panama to overthrow government of Manuel Noriega.
1991 - A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.
1995 - The Democratic Social Movement is founded in Greece.
1995 - NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.
1995 - American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757, crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia killing 160.
1996 - NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X.
1999 - Macau is handed over to the People's Republic of China by Portugal.
2001 - Argentine economic crisis: President of Argentina Fernando de la Rúa is forced out of office.
2002 - US Senator Trent Lott resigns as majority leader.
2005 - The first same sex civil partnerships in Scotland are celebrated.
2005 - 2005 New York City transit strike: New York City's Transport Workers Union Local 100 goes on strike, shutting down all New York City Subway and Bus services.
2005 - US District Court Judge John E. Jones III rules against mandating the teaching of "intelligent design" in his ruling of Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District.
2006 - A judge rules against the death penalty in the case of Naveed Haq, a man convicted in the shooting death and injuries at the Jewish Federation in Seattle.
2007 - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.
2007 - The painting Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, was stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art, along with O Lavrador de Café, by the major Brazilian modernist painter Candido Portinari.
69 - Vespasian, formerly a general under Nero, enters Rome to claim the title of emperor.