History of 1st January

153 BC - Roman consuls begin their year in office.
45 BC - The Julian calendar takes effect for the first time.
1 - Origin of Christian Era
69 - Roman garrison of Mainz uprising
89 - Gov Lucius Antonius Saturninus of Germany becomes emperor of Rome
313 - Start of Roman (Pontifical) Indiction
404 - Last gladiator competition in Rome
414 - King Ataulf of Narbonne marries emperor Honorius sister Galle Placidia
630 - The Prophet Muhammad sets out toward Mecca with the army that captures it bloodlessly.
722 - Hofmeier Charles Martel flees from bishop Willibrord
990 - Russia adopts Julian calendar
1259 - Michael VIII Palaiologos is proclaimed co-emperor of the Empire of Nicaea with his ward John IV Laskaris.
1430 - Jews of Sicily are no longer required to attend conversionist services
1438 - Albrecht II von Habsburg becomes king of Hungary
1494 - Juw Dekama elected potentate of Frisia
1502 - Portuguese navigators discover Rio de Janeiro
1504 - King Louis XII loses last bulwark in Naples, Caeta
1515 - Francois, Duke of Angouleme succeeds Louis XII as Francois I of France
1515 - Jews are expelled from Laibach Austria
1515 - King Francis I of France succeeds to the French throne.
1527 - Croatian nobles elect Ferdinand I of Austria as king of Croatia in the Parliament on Cetin.
1573 - Geuzen sets fire to Woudrichem
1583 - 1st day of the Gregorian calendar in Holland & Flanders
1600 - Scotland begins its numbered year on January 1 instead of 25 March.
1610 - German astronomer Simon Marius 1st discovers the Jupiter moons, but does not officially report it, Galileo does on July 1 1610
1622 - Papal Chancery adopts Jan 1 as beginning of the year (was Mar 25)
1651 - Charles II Stuart crowned king of Scotland
1660 - 1st entry in Samuel Pepys' diary
1660 - General Moncks army battles with the Tweed on way to London
1660 - Thomas Fairfax' New Model-army occupies York
1672 - Jean Racine's "Bajazet," premieres in Paris
1673 - Regular mail delivery begins between NY & Boston
1675 - Don Carlos de Gurrea/Aragon becomes Spanish land guardian of S Neth
1689 - Pro-James II-earl of Danby occupies York
1700 - Protestant West-Europe (except England) begin using Gregorian calendar
1700 - Russia replaces Byzantines with Julian calendar
1700 - Russia begins using the Anno Domini era and no longer uses the Anno Mundi era of the Byzantine Empire.
1701 - Great Britain & Ireland union is in effect, creating United Kingdom
1707 - John V succeeds his father Pedro II as king of Portugal
1739 - J B C Bouvet de Lozier discovers Bouvet Island, near Antarctica
1770 - Date of action in the opera "Madeleine"
1772 - First traveler's cheques go on sale in London, can be used in 90 European cities
1776 - Gen George Washington hoists Continental Union Flag
1781 - 1,500 soldiers of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment under General Anthony Wayne's command rebel against the Continental Army's winter camp in Morristown, New Jersey as part of the Pennsylvania (Continentals; Regiment) Mutiny of 1781.
1785 - "Daily Universal Register" (Times of London) publishes 1st issue
1788 - London's Daily Universal Registrar becomes the Times
1788 - Quakers in Pennsylvania emancipate their slaves
1797 - Albany replaces NYC as capital of NY
1798 - Russia appoints 1st Jewish censor to censor Hebrew books
1800 - Dutch East Indies Company dissolves
1801 - Ireland & Great Britain (England & Scotland) form United Kingdom
1801 - The dwarf planet Ceres is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi.
1803 - Emperor Gia Long orders all bronze wares of the Tây Sơn Dynasty to be collected and melted into nine cannons for the Royal Citadel in Huế, Vietnam.
1804 - Haiti gains independence from France (National Day)
1807 - Curacao is taken by English (until March, 1816)
1808 - African Benevolent Society (education) forms
1808 - Congress prohibits importation of slaves
1808 - Sierra Leone becomes a British colony
1809 - Holland Brigade under brig gen Chasse reaches Madrid
1814 - Field marshal Blucher's troops cross the Rhine at Kaub
1818 - Official reopening of the White House
1826 - Baron Van der Capellen resigns as governor of Dutch-Indies
1827 - Dutch Trade Company NHM gets opium monopoly on Java
1831 - William Lloyd Garrison publishes 1st issue of abolitionist journal
1833 - British government demands Falkland islands
1833 - Curacao census: 2,602 whites, 6,531 free people & 5,894 slaves
1834 - German Tolunie goes into effect
1838 - 1st official horse race in South Australia-Adelaide
1840 - 1st recorded bowling match in US, Knickerbocker Alleys, NYC
1842 - 1st illustrated weekly magazine in US publishes 1st issue, NYC
1844 - 1st edition of New Rotterdam's Daily (3x per week)
1845 - The Cobble Hill Tunnel in Brooklyn is completed.
1846 - Yucatan declares independence from Mexico
1847 - Michigan is 1st state to abolish capital punishment
1847 - Neth's Haarlem's Current newspaper starts publishing
1848 - Britain takes Mosquito Coast from Nicaragua
1851 - City of Glasgow steamer inaugurates Philadelphia-Liverpool line
1852 - 1st US public bath opens, in NYC
1852 - National debt of Britain & Ireland is 765,126,582 pounds
1852 - Netherlands begins issuing postage stamps
1853 - 1st practical fire engine (horse-drawn) in US enters service
1854 - Lincoln University, a black college, chartered (Oxford, Penn)
1858 - Canada begins using decimal currency system
1860 - Slavery ends of in Neth Indies
1861 - Porfirio Diaz conquers Mexico City
1861 - Pres Lincoln declares slavery in Confederate states unlawful
1862 - 1st US income tax (3% of incomes > $600, 5% of incomes > $10,000)
1862 - Battle of Ft McRee, FL Battle of Port Royal, SC (Port Royal Ferry)
1863 - 1st homestead under the Homestead Act claimed, near Beatrice, Nebr
1863 - Battle of Galveston, Texas-Confederates recapture the city
1863 - Emancipation Proclamation (ending slavery) issued by Lincoln
1863 - Franz Schuberts "Missa Solemnis," premieres in Leipzig
1865 - -Apr 26th] Carolinas' campaign
1871 - Belgium disbands salt tax
1873 - Origin of Japanese Era
1874 - New York City annexes the Bronx
1876 - The Reichsbank opens in Berlin.
1877 - England's Queen Victoria proclaimed empress of India
1879 - John Brahms' Violin Concerto in D major premieres in Leipzig
1880 - Building of Panama Canal, begins

1881 - Dr John H Watson is introduced to Sherlock Holmes
1886 - 1st Tournament of Roses (Pasadena Calif)
1890 - Eritrea is consolidated into a colony by the Italian government.
1891 - French troops occupy Nioro, West-Sudan, 3000 killed
1891 - King Pakketvaart sails to Neth Indies
1892 - Ellis Island becomes reception center for new immigrants
1893 - 1st US college extension courses for credit, Univ of Chicago
1893 - Japan adopts the Gregorian calendar
1894 - Denmark adopts Mid-European time
1894 - Manchester Ship Canal in England opens to traffic
1895 - Norway adopts Mid-European time
1896 - Wilhelm Roentgen announces his discovery of x-rays
1897 - 1st football game between black colleges-Atlanta U 10, Tuskegee 0
1897 - Brooklyn merges with NY to form present City of NY
1898 - Lightship replaces whistling buoy at mouth of SF Bay
1898 - d'Annunzio's "Sogno d'un mattino di primavera," premieres in Rome
1899 - Cuba liberated from Spain by US (Natl Day) (US occupies till 1902)
1899 - Spanish rule ends in Cuba.
1900 - 1st date in John dos Passos' USA trilogy (The 42nd Parallel)
1900 - British protectorates of Northern & Southern Nigeria established
1900 - Compulsory education in Netherlands goes into effect
1901 - Australia declares independence from federation of UK colonies
1901 - Nigeria becomes a British protectorate.
1902 - 1st Rose Bowl game (Pasadena, California) (U of Mich-49, Sanford-0)
1902 - Nathan Stubblefield makes 1st public demonstration of radio, Penn
1904 - Neth Indies colony begins opium production
1905 - 9 hour work day for diamond miners
1906 - Dutch law makes driver's license mandatory
1907 - Pres Theodore Roosevelt shakes a record 8,513 hands in 1 day
1908 - 1st time, ball signifying new year dropped at Times Square
1908 - Jack Hobbs makes his Test debut at the MCG (83 & 28)
1909 - Robert Fowler runs then world record marathon (2:52:45.4)
1909 - Drilling begins on the Lakeview Gusher.
1910 - Simpson-Hayward (England) takes 6-43 on debut with underarm lobs
1911 - Belgian Mining law introduces 9½ hour work day
1911 - South Australia transfers Northern Territory to federal government
1912 - 1st running of SF's famed "Bay to Breakers" race (7.63 miles/12.3 km)
1912 - Sun Yat-sen forms Chinese Republic
1912 - The Republic of China is established.
1913 - Post office begins parcel post deliveries
1914 - 1st scheduled airline flight, St Petersburg-Tampa (Tony Jannus pilot)
1914 - Klaas ter Laan becomes Neth's 1st socialist mayor (Zaandam)
1914 - Northern & Southern Nigeria united in British colony of Nigeria
1915 - DW Griffith shows "Clansman" at a sneak preview
1915 - Jews of Laibach Austria expelled
1916 - 1st football game in Rose Bowl (Washington State-Brown)
1916 - 1st issue of "Journal of Negro History" published
1918 - Last day of the Julian calendar in Finland
1919 - Belorussian SSR established
1919 - Edsel Ford succeeds his father, Henry Ford, as president of the Ford Motor Company.
1920 - The Belorussian Communist Organisation is founded as a separate party.
1922 - Vancouver, BC starts driving on the right side of road
1923 - Union of Socialist Soviet Republics established
1923 - Britain's Railways are grouped into the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, and LMSR.
1924 - Grossdeutsche Volksgemeinschaft/Volkische Block replaces NSDAP
1925 - Norway's capital Christiania changes name to Oslo
1926 - Flood in Rhine strikes Cologne
1927 - Communist uprising in West Java
1927 - Dodgers announce release of future Hall of Fame Zack Wheat
1927 - Turkey adopts the Gregorian calendar: December 18, 1926 (Julian), is immediately followed by January 1, 1927 (Gregorian).
1928 - 1st US air-conditioned office building opens, San Antonio
1928 - Algemeene Vereeniging Radio Omroep (AVRO) begins broadcasting (Neth)
1929 - Roy Riegels runs 60 yds the wrong way with Rose Bowl fumble recovery
1930 - Earl Claus von Stauffenberg promoted to 2nd lieutenant
1930 - Jurgens & Van den Berg merge with Lever Brothers to form Unilever
1932 - Jacob Cocey Sr chosen as mayor of Massillon Ohio
1932 - Rasse und Siedlungshauptamt publishes Himmler's wedding laws
1932 - The United States Post Office Department issues a set of 12 stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth.
1934 - Alcatraz officially becomes a federal prison
1934 - Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (US bank guarantor) effective
1934 - International Telecommunication Union established
1934 - Nazi Germany passes the "Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring".
1935 - 1st Sugar Bowl & 1st Orange Bowl
1935 - Associated Press inaugurates Wirephoto
1935 - Eastern Airlines hires Eddie Rickenbacker as GM
1935 - Pres Mustapha Kemal Pasha names himself "Ataturk: Father of Turkey"
1936 - 1st newspaper to microfilm its current issues, NY Herald Tribune
1937 - Anastasio Somoza becomes president of Nicaragua
1937 - Count Claus von Stauffenberg promoted to captain
1937 - US Army Air Corps physiological research laboratory completed, Ohio
1937 - Safety glass in vehicle windscreens becomes mandatory in Great Britain.
1939 - Sydney, Australia, swelters in 45 ˚C (113 ˚F) heat, a record for the city.
1941 - Netherlands begins taxing wages
1941 - Russian general Zhukov appointed chief of general staff
1942 - Rose Bowl played in NC due to Japanese threat-Oregon 20, Duke 16
1942 - US & 25 other countries sign a united declaration against the Axis
1943 - Count Claus von Stauffenberg promoted to lt-colonel
1943 - Negro League star Josh Gibson suffers a nervous breakdown
1944 - 1st feature-length foreign movie, African Journey, shown on TV, NYC
1944 - Army defeats Navy 10-7 in football "Arab Bowl," Oran, North Africa
1944 - Gen Clark replaces Gen Patton as commander of 7th Army
1945 - France joins the UN
1945 - German air raid on allied airports at Eindhoven/Saint-Trond/Brussels
1946 - ENIAC, US 1st computer finished by Mauchly/Eckert
1946 - Emperor Hirohito of Japan announces he is not a god
1946 - National Assembly proclaims Hungary a republic
1947 - Benelux agress to work related issues
1947 - Britain nationalizes its coal industry
1947 - WTTG TV channel 5 in Washington, DC (MET) begins broadcasting
1948 - 1st color newsreel filmed (Pasadena Calif)]=

1948 - Bradman scores 132 in the 1st innings of the 3rd Test v India
1948 - Britain nationalizes its railways
1948 - General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade effective
1948 - Italy adopts constitution
1948 - Orissa province accedes to India
1948 - British railways are nationalised to form British Rail.
1948 - After partition, India declines to pay the agreed share of Rs.550 million in cash balances to Pakistan.
1948 - The Constitution of Italy comes into force.
1949 - KPRC TV channel 2 in Houston, TX (NBC) begins broadcasting
1949 - KTTV TV channel 11 in Los Angeles, CA (MET) begins broadcasting
1949 - Tokelau (Union) Islands declared part of New Zealand
1950 - Dutch Govt raises all wages 5%, minimally fl. 5 per week
1950 - Ho Chi Minh begins offensive against French troops in Indo China
1950 - The state of Ajaigarh is ceded to the Government of India.
1951 - Massive Chinese/North Korean assault on UN-lines
1952 - Dmitri Shostakovitch completes his 5th string quartet
1953 - Ernest Blochs "Suite Hebraique," premieres
1953 - WBRE TV channel 28 in Wilkes-Barre Scranton, PA (NBC) 1st broadcast
1954 - KSLA TV channel 12 in Shreveport, LA (CBS) begins broadcasting
1954 - Rose & Cotton Bowl are 1st sport colorcasts
1954 - WWTV TV channel 9 in Cadillac-Traverse City, MI (CBS) 1st broadcast
1954 - Yugoslav parliament chairman/VP Milovan Djilas criticize communism
1955 - Bhutan issues its 1st postage stamps
1955 - WEAT (now WPEC) TV channel 12 in West Palm Beach, FL (CBS) begins
1956 - Elvis Presley records Heartbreak Hotel for RCA in Nashville
1956 - KHAS TV channel 5 in Hastings, NB (NBC) begins broadcasting
1956 - KOSA TV channel 7 in Odessa, TX (CBS) begins broadcasting
1956 - Sudan (Anglo-Egyptian Sudan) declares independence from Egypt & UK
1956 - WREC (now WREG) TV channel 3 in Memphis, TN (CBS) begins broadcasting
1956 - A new year event causes panic and stampedes at Yahiko Shrine, Yahiko, central Niigata, Japan, killing at least 124 people.
1957 - Benjamin Britten's ballet "Prince & the Pauper," premieres in London
1957 - France returns Saar to becomes the 10th state of German Federal Rep
1957 - International Geophysical Year begins; ends 6/30/1958 (18-mo year)
1957 - George Town, Penang becomes a city by a royal charter granted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
1957 - An Irish Republican Army (IRA) unit attacks Brookeborough RUC barracks in one of the most famous incidents of the IRA's Operation Harvest.
1958 - BOAC Britannia flies London to NY in a record 7h57m
1958 - European Economic Community (Common Market) starts operation
1958 - Sammy Davis Jr marries Loray White
1958 - Treaties establish European Economic Community (Common Market)
1958 - WMBD TV channel 31 in Peoria, IL (CBS) begins broadcasting
1959 - Castro leads Cuba to victory as Fulgencio Batista flees to Dom Rep
1959 - Chad becomes autonomous republic in French Community
1959 - Rohan Kanhai completes 256 v India at Calcutta
1960 - Bank of France issues new franc, worth 100 times the value of existing francs
1960 - Cameroon (French Cameroon) gains independence from France
1960 - Johnny Cash plays 1st of many free concerts behind bars
1960 - Montserrat adopts constitution
1961 - Briggs Stadium is renamed Tigers Stadium
1961 - Houston Oilers beat LA Chargers 24-16 in AFL championship game
1961 - Largest check issued, Natl Bank of Chicago to Sears ($960.242 billion)
1961 - Russia introduces a new ruble worth $1.11
1962 - Beatles' Decca audition is unsuccessful
1962 - Rwanda granted internal self-government by Belgium
1962 - Western Samoa gains independence from New Zealand Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili II becomes co-chief of Western Samoa
1962 - United States Navy SEALs established.
1963 - G Woods succeeds Eugene Black as president of the World Bank
1963 - WTEV (now WLNE) TV channel 6 in Providence RI begins broadcasting
1964 - Federation of Rhodesia & Nyasaland dissolved
1964 - KNMT TV channel 12 in Walker, MN (CBS) begins broadcasting
1964 - KTVS TV channel 3 in Sterling, CO (CBS) begins broadcasting
1965 - International Cooperation Year begins
1965 - Palestinian al-Fatah organization forms
1965 - The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan is founded in Kabul.
1966 - 12 day transit worker strike shuts down NYC subway
1966 - Milt coup by Col Jean-Bédell Bokassa in Central African Republic
1966 - Simon & Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence" reaches #1
1966 - All US cigarette packs have to carry "Caution Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health"
1967 - CRU becomes the CAFA & turns over the Grey Cup trophy to the CFL
1967 - Day's play in the Calcutta Test v W Indies cancelled by riots
1967 - FCC requires AM-FM sister stations to be at least 50% different
1967 - Green Bay Packers beat Dallas Cowboys 34-27 in NFL championship game
1967 - KC Chiefs beat Buffalo Bills 31-7 in AFL championship game
1967 - St Helena adopts constitution
1967 - Tonga revises constitution
1967 - WABW TV channel 14 in Pelham, GA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1968 - ABC radio splits into 4 networks (Info, Entertainment, Contemp & FM)
1968 - Evel Knievel fails in his attempt to jump Caesar's Palace Fountain
1968 - Netherlands gets color TV
1968 - WDCO TV channel 15 in Cochran, GA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1969 - Jack Kent Cooke, owner of NHL's LA Kings, fines each player $100 for "NOT" arguing with the referee
1970 - "The Epoch" (Time 0 for UNIX systems, Midnight GMT)
1970 - Afro-American Historical Calendar Series Established
1970 - Charles "Chub" Feeney becomes president of baseball's National League
1970 - Neth Christian Workers Union (NCW) forms
1970 - Revised calendar for Western (RC) Church goes into effect
1971 - Cigarette advertisements banned on TV
1972 - "Company" closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 690 performances
1972 - "On the Town" closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 65 performances
1972 - "Promises Promises" closes at Shubert Theater NYC after 1281 perfs
1972 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1972 - International Book Year begins
1972 - KDSD TV channel 16 in Aberdeen, SD (PBS) begins broadcasting
1973 - 47th Australian Women's Tennis: Margaret Court beats Goolagong (64 75)
1973 - Britain, Ireland & Denmark become 7th-9th members of Common Market
1973 - West African Economic Community formed (Benin, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Upper Volta)
1974 - Lee MacPhail takes over as AL president, succeeding Joe Cronin
1974 - NBC radio begins on the hour news 24 hours a day (following CBS lead)
1974 - World Population Year begins
1975 - Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell & Mardian convicted of Watergate crime
1975 - International Women's Year begins

1975 - Sweden adopts constitution
1976 - "Musical Jubilee" closes at St James Theater NYC after 92 performances
1976 - Liberty Bell moves to new home behind Independence Hall
1976 - NBC replaces the peacock logo
1976 - Venezuela nationalizes oil fields
1977 - 1st woman formally ordained an Episcopal priest (Jacqueline Means)
1977 - Belgium reapportions 2,359 communities into 596
1977 - Czech intellects begin Human Rights Group Chapter 77
1977 - Tony Dorsett runs for record 202 yards in the Sugar Bowl
1978 - "Your Arm's Too Short..." closes at Lyceum NYC after 429 perfs
1978 - Air India B747 explodes near Bombay killing 213
1978 - Pres Ford signs 1st major revision of copyright law since 1909
1979 - International Year of the Child begins
1979 - Jura, 26th canton of Switzerland, established
1979 - US & China (Peoples Republic) begin diplomatic relations
1980 - 54th Australian Womens Tennis: Barbara Jordan beats S Walsh (63 63)
1980 - Alabama beats Arkansas in Sugar Bowl for college football championship
1980 - Chrysler UK renamed Talbot
1980 - International Decade of Water & Sanitation begins
1980 - Mob storms Russian embassy in Teheran
1980 - Premier Adbou Diouf becomes president of Senegal
1980 - Sweden changes order of succession to throne
1980 - Victoria is crowned princess of Sweden.
1981 - Georgia beats Notre Dame in Sugar Bowl for college football title
1981 - Greece is 10th country to join European Economic Community
1981 - International Year for the Disabled begins
1981 - Palau (Trust Territory of Pacific Is) becomes self-governing
1981 - Roger Smith becomes CEO of General Motors
1982 - 30 Something stars Ken Olin & Patricia Wettig meet, later they marry
1982 - Clemson wins the Orange Bowl for college football championship
1982 - Javier Perez de Cuellar becomes sec-gen of UN
1982 - MTA launches a 5 year plan to upgrade the NYC subway system
1982 - Pope John Paul II prays for an end to martial law in Poland
1982 - TA launches 5 year capital program to overhaul NYC subway system
1983 - PGA inaugurates all-exempt tour
1983 - Penn State beats Georgia in Sugar Bowl for college football title
1983 - World Communications Year begins
1983 - The ARPANET officially changes to using the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet.
1984 - AT&T's 22 owned Bell system companies divests into 8 companies
1984 - Brunei becomes independent of UK
1984 - NYC transit fare rises from 75 cents to 90 cents
1985 - Actress Judith Licht (Who's the Boss) gets married
1985 - International Youth Year begins
1985 - US's 1st manadatory seat belt law goes into effect (NY)
1985 - VH-1 made its broadcasting debut
1985 - The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
1985 - The first British mobile phone call is made by Ernie Wise to Vodafone.
1986 - Aruba becomes independent from neighbor island Curacao
1986 - Barbra Striesand & Jon Peters relationship breaks up
1986 - International Peace Year begins
1986 - NYC transit fare rises from 90 cents to $1.00
1986 - Oklahoma wins Orange Bowl for college football championship
1986 - Spain & Portugal are 11th & 12th to join European Economic Community
1986 - Iowa's All-American running back, Ronnie Harmon, fumbles the ball 4 times in his last game-the Rose Bowl
1987 - 60 bodies recovered in Dupont Plaza Hotel fire in Puerto Rico
1987 - China's rudimentary civil code in effect
1987 - International Year of Shelter for Homeless begins
1988 - Czech born tennis star Hana Mandikova becomes an Australian Citizen
1988 - Miami beats Oklahoma for college football championship
1988 - Year of the Reader begins
1989 - Actress Kelly McGillis gets married
1989 - NYC transit fare rises from $1.00 to $1.15
1989 - Year of the Young Reader begins
1990 - David Dinkins sworn in as 1st black mayor of NYC
1990 - Mitsuko Nishiwaki beats Nakano to become Japan Women wrestling champ
1990 - NYC MTA stops token redemption at subway stations
1990 - Sports News Network begins operation on cable TV
1990 - FCC implements "SYNDEX" giving independent stations more rights over cable TV outlets for exclusive syndicated programs
1991 - 5% sales tax on consumer goods & services goes into effect in USSR
1991 - Iraq rejects peace proposal from Egyptian Pres Hosi Mubarak
1991 - Les Miserables opens at Festival Theatre, Adelaide
1992 - Bush is 1st US pres to address Australian Parliament
1992 - Curacao becomes 1st in Dutch Antilles to have compulsory education
1992 - Europe breaks down trade barriers
1992 - International Space Year begins
1992 - NYC transit fare increases from $1.15 to $1.25
1993 - 12 member European Economic Community set up vast free trade zone
1993 - Blockbuster Bowl 3: Stanford beats Penn State, 24-3
1993 - Cigarette advertisements are banned in NYC's MTA
1993 - Czechoslovakia separates into Czech Republic (Bohemia) & Slovakia
1994 - "Flying Karamzov Brothers" closes at Helen Hayes NYC after 50 perfs
1994 - "Grand Night after Singing" closes at Criterion NYC after 52 perfs
1994 - Aleksandr Popov swims world record 100m free style (47.83)
1994 - Carquest Bowl 4: Boston College beats Virginia, 32-13
1994 - Howard Stern's New Year's Eve Beauty Pageant
1994 - International Year of Family
1994 - Jacobs Field opens with "Gateway's New Year's Eve Countdown to '94"
1994 - Microsoft CEO Bill Gates (38) marries Melinda French (29)
1994 - North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect
1994 - The Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiates twelve days of armed conflict in the Mexican State of Chiapas.
1995 - "Glass Menagerie" closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 57 perfs
1995 - "Shadow Box" closes at Circle in Sq Theater NYC after 49 performances
1995 - Austria, Finland & Sweden act to join European Union
1995 - Centennial of Canadian Mounties presence in Canada's Yukon Territory
1995 - Fernando Henrique Cardoso installed as president of Brazil
1995 - International Year of Tolerance
1995 - Last "Far Side" by cartoonist Gary Larson (started 1980)
1995 - Raman Lamba & Ravi Sehgal score 464 for 1st wicket for Delhi
1995 - for"Tuna Christmas" closes at Booth Theater NYC 20 performances
1995 - The Draupner wave in the North Sea in Norway is detected, confirming the existence of freak waves.

1996 - After 27 years, Betty Rubble debuts as a Flintstone vitamin
1996 - Curacao gains limited form of self rule (Status Aparte)
1997 - The Republic of Zaïre officially joins the World Trade Organization, as Zaïre.
1998 - All Calif bars, clubs & card rooms must be smoke-free
1998 - Mongolia switches from a 46 hour to 40 hour work week
1998 - US Census Bureau estimates population at 268,921,733
1998 - Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.
1998 - The European Central Bank is established.
1999 - International Year of Elderly
1999 - The Euro currency is introduced.
2000 - Gisbourne, New Zealand population 32,754 is first city in the world to welcome in the new millenium
2002 - The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992, officially comes into force.
2002 - Euro banknotes and coins become legal tender in twelve of the European Union's member states.
2002 - Taiwan officially joins the World Trade Organization, as Chinese Taipei.
2004 - In a vote of confidence, General Pervez Musharraf wins 658 out of 1,170 votes in the Electoral College of Pakistan, and according to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, was "deemed to be elected" to the office of President until October 2007.
2006 - Sydney, Australia swelters through its hottest New Years Day on record. The thermometre peaked at 45 degrees celsius, sparking bushfires and power outages.
2007 - Bulgaria and Romania officially join the European Union. Also, Bulgarian, Romanian, and Irish become official languages of the European Union, joining 20 other official languages.
2007 - Slovenia officially adopts the Euro currency and becomes the thirteenth Eurozone country.
2007 - Adam Air Flight 574 disappears over Indonesia with 102 people on board.
2008 - A New Hampshire law legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples comes into effect.
2008 - Malta and Cyprus officially adopt the Euro currency and become the fourteenth and fifteenth Eurozone countries.
2009 - Slovakia officially adopts the Euro currency and becomes the sixteenth Eurozone country.
2009 - 61 die in nightclub fire in Bangkok, Thailand.
2009 - The government of the Republic of China adopts Hanyu Pinyin as its official Chinese romanization (before this time, the most commonly used was Tongyong Pinyin.
2304 - Mid-CALENDAR day
6000 - 1st reversible date since 11/11/1999