Historical Events on 31 Dec

Historical Events on 31 Dec

1229 - James I of Aragon the Conqueror enters Medina Mayurqa (now known as Palma, Spain) thus consummating the Christian conquest of the island of Majorca.
1599 - British East India Company is chartered.
1660 - James II of England is named Duke of Normandy by Louis XIV of France.
1687 - The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope.
1695 - A window tax is imposed in England, causing many shopkeepers to brick up their windows to avoid the tax.
1775 - American Revolutionary War: Battle of Quebec British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold.
1831 - Gramercy Park is deeded to New York City.
1857 - Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom chooses Ottawa, Ontario, as the capital of Canada.
1862 - American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West Virginia to the Union, thus dividing Virginia in two.
1862 - American Civil War: The Battle of Stones River is fought near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
1879 - Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time.
1891 - A new immigration depot was opened on Ellis Island, New York.
1904 - The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square, then known as Longacre Square, in New York, New York.
1909 - Manhattan Bridge opens.
1923 - The chimes of Big Ben are broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC.
1944 - World War II: Hungary declares war on Germany.
1946 - President Harry Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.
1955 - The General Motors Corporation becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over $1 billion USD in a year.
1960 - The farthing coin ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom.
1961 - The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than $12 billion USD in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.
1963 - The Central African Federation officially collapses and splits into Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.
1981 - Coup d'état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann's PNP government and replaces it with the Provisional National Defence Council led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.
1983 - The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government.
1986 - A fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, kills 97 and injures 140.
1987 - Robert Mugabe assumes office as President of Zimbabwe.
1991 - The Soviet Union is officially dissolved.
1994 - This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC-11 to UTC+13 and UTC-10 to UTC+14, respectively.
1998 - Exchange rates between the euro and legacy currencies in the Eurozone become fixed.
1999 - Boris Yeltsin resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President.
1999 - Five hijackers, who had been holding 155 hostages on an Indian Airlines plane, leave the plane with two Islamic clerics that they had demanded be freed.
1999 - The United States Government hands Panama Canal control over to Panama as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties.
2004 - The official opening of Taipei 101, the current tallest skyscraper in the world, standing at a height of 509 metres (1,670 feet).
2007 - December 2007 Bocaue Fire. Seven people injured when a fire razed several fireworks stores in the Municipality of Bocaue, Bulacan, Philippines.
2007 - The Massive Big Dig construction project in Boston, Massachusetts ends.
406 - Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gallia.
535 - Byzantine General Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse, and ending his consulship for the year.