#TodayInHistory – January 1
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January 1 – Some important events on this day
45 BC šš¼ The Julian calendar takes effect for the first time
1 šš¼ Origin of the Christian Era
104 šš¼ Triumphal procession for the Roman General Gaius Marius with the defeated Numidian King Jugurtha led in chains though Rome
404 šš¼ Last gladiator competition in Rome
630 šš¼ Prophet Muhammad sets out with his army towards Mecca, capturing it bloodlessly
1660 šš¼ 1st entry in English civil servant Samuel Pepys’ diary
1710 šš¼ Paris merchant Jean Marius obtains 5-year royal privilege for his invention of a folding umbrella – first in Europe
1724 šš¼ Glassblower Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit proposes system for making thermometers and the Fahrenheit temperature scale in a paper to the Royal Society of London and is elected a fellow on its basis
1758 šš¼ The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature establish the “starting point” for standardized species names across the animal kingdom, based on the binomial nomenclature by Carolus Linnaeus 10th edition of Systema Naturae
1801 šš¼ The Irish Parliament votes to join the Kingdom of Great Britain, forming the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
The Act of Union 1800 joined the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Both the Irish and British parliaments passed acts in 1800 and came into effect om this day.
A new flag was designed to reflect the union and remains the United Kingdoms flag to this day, commonly called the Union Jack. It is made up of flags from three parts of the union, the red St George’s Cross for the patron saint of England, the white diagonal St Andrews cross for Scotland and the red diagonal cross of St Patrick’s flag for Ireland. Wales is not included within the Union Jack because at that stage it was regarded as part of England.
1804 šš¼ Haiti gains independence from France (National Day), making it the only state ever founded by former slaves and without slavery
1808 šš¼ Sierra Leone becomes a British colony
1818 šš¼ Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is published
1838 šš¼ 1st official horse race in South Australia-Adelaide
1847 šš¼ Michigan is 1st state to abolish capital punishment
1863 šš¼ Franz Schubert’s “Missa Solemnis,” premieres in Leipzig
1863 šš¼ Emancipation Proclamation issued by Abraham Lincoln to free slaves in US confederate states
1892 šš¼ Ellis Island opens as a US immigration inspection station – it would go on to be the gateway to the US for more than 12 million people
1896 šš¼ German physicist Wilhelm Rƶntgen announces his discovery of x-rays
1925 šš¼ Norway’s capital Christiania changes name to Oslo
1958 šš¼ European Economic Community, better known as the European Common Market starts operation
1960 šš¼ Johnny Cash plays first of many free concerts behind bars
1966 šš¼ Military coup by Col. Jean-BĆ©del Bokassa in Central African Republic leads to his dictatorship.
For ten years Jean-BĆ©del Bokassa had reigned with an iron fist in the Central African Republic, having ousted his distant cousin from office when he was the head of the armed forces.
Attempting to emulate his idol, Napoleon Bonaparte, Bokassa had himself declared the Emperor of the Central African Republic. His coronation was unbelievably decadent: he spent some $20 million US dollars – more than a third of the country’s national income – on the occasion. No foreign leaders attended, and he was considered a laughing stock by much of the world.
The Central African Empire lasted only three years before Bokassa was himself overthrown in an operation by the French military. He was exiled to France and tried in absentia, though later returned and was tried again. He served six years of a life sentence before being released in 1993, dying three years later.
1993 šš¼ Czechoslovakia separates into Czech Republic (Bohemia) & Slovakia
2002 šš¼ Euro banknotes and coins become legal tender in twelve of the European Union’s member states.
2009 šš¼ Slovakia officially adopts the Euro currency and becomes the sixteenth Eurozone country.
2015 šš¼ Lithuania adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas and becoming the 19th member of the Eurozone
2019 šš¼ Same-sex marriage becomes legal in Austria
6000 šš¼ 1st reversible date since 11/11/1999
