This day in .....

17 November 1810 – Sweden declares war on its ally the United Kingdom to begin the Anglo-Swedish War, although no fighting ever takes place.

Anglo-Swedish war of 1810–1812

Theoretical state of war between Sweden and UK in Napoleonic times

During the Napoleonic Wars until 1810, Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland were allies in the war against Napoleon. As a result of Sweden's defeat in the Finnish War and the Pomeranian War, and the following Treaty of Fredrikshamn and Treaty of Paris, Sweden declared war on the UK. The bloodless war, however, existed only on paper, and the UK was still not hindered in stationing ships at the Swedish island of Hanö and trade with the Baltic states.

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18 November 1947 – The Ballantyne's Department Store fire in Christchurch, New Zealand, kills 41; it is the worst fire disaster in the history of New Zealand.

Ballantynes fire

1947 fire in Christchurch, New Zealand

On Tuesday, 18 November 1947, a fire engulfed the Ballantynes department store in central Christchurch, New Zealand, resulting in the death of 41 people.^[1] It remains the deadliest fire in New Zealand's history.^[2][3]

1. ^ "41 die in Ballantyne's fire | NZHistory, New Zealand history online". nzhistory.govt.nz. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
2. ^ "Ballantynes' fire – 18 November 1947". Christchurch City Libraries. Archived from the original on 14 September 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
3. ^ Swarbrick, Nancy (13 July 2012). "Fires and fire services—Fires in the 1940s". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 20 July 2013.

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19 November 1916 – Samuel Goldwyn and Edgar Selwyn establish Goldwyn Pictures.

Goldwyn Pictures

Former American motion picture production company

Goldwyn Pictures Corporation was an American motion picture production company that operated from 1916 to 1924 when it was merged with two other production companies to form the major studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was founded on November 19, 1916, by Samuel Goldfish (who later changed his name to Goldwyn), an executive at Lasky's Feature Play Company, and Broadway producer brothers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn, using an amalgamation of both last names to name the company.

The studio proved moderately successful, but became most famous due to its iconic Leo the Lion trademark. Although Metro was the nominal survivor, the merged studio inherited Goldwyn's old facility in Culver City, California, where it would remain until 1986. The merged studio also retained Goldwyn's Leo the Lion logo.

Lee Shubert of The Shubert Organization was an investor in the company.^[1]

1. ^ Koszarski, Richard (2004). "18. Goldwyn". Fort Lee: The Film Town. Indiana University Press. pp. 286–311. ISBN 0-86196-653-8.

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20 November 1820 – An 80-ton sperm whale attacks and sinks the Essex (a whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts) 3,200 kilometres (2,000 mi) from the western coast of South America. (Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick was in part inspired by this incident.)

Essex (whaleship)

American whaleship from Nantucket, Massachusetts

Essex was an American whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts, which was launched in 1799. On November 20, 1820, while at sea in the southern Pacific Ocean under the command of Captain George Pollard Jr., the ship was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale. About 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km) from the coast of South America, the 20-man crew was forced to make for land in three whaleboats with what food and water they could salvage from the wreck.

After a month at sea the crew landed on the uninhabited Henderson Island. Three men elected to stay on the island, from which they were rescued in April 1821, while the remaining seventeen set off again for the coast of South America. The men suffered severe dehydration, starvation and exposure on the open ocean, and the survivors eventually resorted to cannibalism. By the time they were rescued in February 1821, three months after the sinking of Essex, only five of the seventeen were alive.

First mate Owen Chase and cabin boy Thomas Nickerson later wrote accounts of the ordeal. The tragedy attracted international attention, and inspired Herman Melville to write his 1851 novel, Moby-Dick.

1. ^ ^{a b} "Essex (whaler)". National Maritime Digital Library. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
2. ^ Heffernan 1990, pp. 9–10

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21 November 1620 – Plymouth Colony settlers sign the Mayflower Compact

Mayflower Compact

First governing document of Plymouth Colony

The Mayflower Compact, originally titled Agreement Between the Settlers of New Plymouth, was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the men aboard the Mayflower, consisting of Separatist Puritans, adventurers, and tradesmen. Although the agreement contained a pledge of loyalty to the King, the Puritans and other Protestant Separatists were dissatisfied with the state of the Church of England, the limited extent of the English Reformation and reluctance of King James I of England to enforce further reform.

The Mayflower Compact was signed aboard ship on November 21 [O.S. November 11], 1620.^[1] Signing the covenant were 41 of the ship's 101 passengers;^[2][3] the Mayflower was anchored in Provincetown Harbor within the hook at the northern tip of Cape Cod.^[4]

1. ^ Bennett, William J.; Cribb, John T. E. (2013). The American Patriot's Almanac: Daily Readings on America. Thomas Nelson. p. 460. ISBN 978-1595553751.
2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Prince1736 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
3. ^ Cite error: The named reference passengers was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Young1841 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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22 November 2004 – The Orange Revolution begins in Ukraine, resulting from the presidential elections.

Orange Revolution

Series of political protests in Ukraine in 2004–2005

Not to be confused with Orangist revolution.

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of the Orange Revolution.

The Orange Revolution (Ukrainian: Помаранчева революція, romanized: Pomarancheva revoliutsiia) was a series of protests that led to political upheaval in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005. It gained momentum primarily due to the initiative of the general population,^[6] sparked by the aftermath of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential election run-off which was claimed to be marred by massive corruption, voter intimidation and electoral fraud.^[7] Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, was the focal point of the movement's campaign of civil resistance, with thousands of protesters demonstrating daily.^[8] Nationwide,^[9] this was highlighted by a series of acts of civil disobedience, sit-ins, and general strikes organized by the opposition movement.

The protests were prompted by reports from several domestic and foreign election monitors as well as the widespread public perception that the results of the run-off vote of 21 November 2004 between leading candidates Viktor Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovych were rigged by the authorities in favour of the latter.^[10] The nationwide protests succeeded when the results of the original run-off were annulled, and a revote was ordered by Ukraine's Supreme Court for 26 December 2004. Under intense scrutiny by domestic and international observers, the second run-off was declared to be "free and fair". The final results showed a clear victory for Yushchenko, who received about 52% of the vote, compared to Yanukovych's 44%. Yushchenko was declared the official winner and with his inauguration on 23 January 2005 in Kyiv, the Orange Revolution ended. In the following years, the Orange Revolution had a negative connotation among pro-government circles in Belarus and Russia.^{[11][12][13][14]}

In the 2010 presidential election, Yanukovych became Yushchenko's successor as President of Ukraine after the Central Election Commission and international observers declared that the presidential election was conducted fairly.^[15]

1. ^ The Colour Revolutions in the Former Soviet Republics: Ukraine Archived 1 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine by Nathaniel Copsey, Routledge Contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe Series (page 30-44)
2. ^ Ukraine profile Archived 12 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News
3. ^ Ukrainian Politics, Energy and Corruption under Kuchma and Yushchenko Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine by Taras Kuzio, Harvard University (7 March 2008)
4. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYT20041126 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
5. ^ "Savik Shuster: I'm the only thing to remain after 'orange revolution'". Archived 23 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Novaya Gazeta, 2 February 2008
6. ^ Kuzio, Taras (March 2007). "Oligarchs, Tapes and Oranges: 'Kuchmagate' to the Orange Revolution". Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics. 23 (1): 30–56. doi:10.1080/13523270701194839. ISSN 1352-3279.
7. ^ Karatnycky, Adrian (2005). "Ukraine's Orange Revolution". Foreign Affairs. 84 (2): 35–52. doi:10.2307/20034274. ISSN 0015-7120. JSTOR 20034274.
8. ^ Andrew Wilson, "Ukraine's 'Orange Revolution' of 2004: The Paradoxes of Negotiation", in Adam Roberts and Timothy Garton Ash (eds.), Civil Resistance and Power Politics: The Experience of Non-violent Action from Gandhi to the Present, Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 295–316.[1] Archived 20 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine
9. ^ Karatnycky, Adrian (15 September 2015). "Ukraine's Orange Revolution". Foreign Affairs: America and the World. ISSN 0015-7120. Archived from the original on 23 May 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
10. ^ Paul Quinn-Judge, Yuri Zarakhovich, The Orange Revolution Archived 23 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Time, 28 November 2004
11. ^ Cite error: The named reference MTimes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
12. ^ Cite error: The named reference some of our opposition members were in Ukraine was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
13. ^ Ukraine is Not Russia:Comparing Youth Political Activism Archived 16 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine by Taras Kuzio, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006
    (in Russian) «В оранжевых и радужных трусах» In orange and red shorts Archived 29 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Vzglyad (25 January 2013)
14. ^ Cite error: The named reference LGBTNilov was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
15. ^ Polityuk, Pavel; Balmforth, Richard (15 February 2010). "Yanukovich declared winner in Ukraine poll". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 5 July 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
    "Viktor Yanukovych sworn in as Ukraine president". BBC News. 25 February 2010. Archived from the original on 5 July 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2011.

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23 November 1981 – Iran–Contra affair: Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the Central Intelligence Agency the authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

Iran–Contra affair

1985–1987 political scandal in the U.S.

The Iran–Contra affair (Persian: ماجرای ایران-کنترا; Spanish: Caso Irán-Contra), also referred to as the Iran–Contra scandal, the Iran Initiative, or simply Iran–Contra, was a political scandal in the United States that centered around arms trafficking facilitated by senior officials of the Ronald Reagan administration to Iran between 1981 to 1986. As Iran was subject to an arms embargo at the time of the scandal, the sale of arms was deemed illegal.^[1] The administration hoped to use the proceeds of the arms sale to fund the Contras, an anti-Sandinista rebel group in Nicaragua. Under the Boland Amendment, further funding of the Contras by legislative appropriations was prohibited by Congress, but the Reagan administration figured out a loophole by secretively using non-appropriated funds instead.

The administration's justification for the arms shipments was that they were part of an attempt to free seven U.S. hostages being held in Lebanon by Hezbollah, an Islamist paramilitary group with Iranian ties connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.^[2] The idea to exchange arms for hostages was proposed by Manucher Ghorbanifar, an expatriate Iranian arms dealer.^[3][4][5] Some within the Reagan administration hoped the sales would influence Iran to get Hezbollah to release the hostages.

After the Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reported on the weapon dealings in November 1986, it broke international news, causing Reagan to appear on national television. He claimed that while the weapons transfers had indeed occurred, the U.S. did not trade arms for hostages.^[6] The investigation was impeded when large volumes of documents relating to the affair were destroyed or withheld from investigators by Reagan administration officials.^[7] In March 1987, Reagan made a further nationally televised address, saying he was taking full responsibility for the affair and stating that "what began as a strategic opening to Iran deteriorated, in its implementation, into trading arms for hostages."^[8]

The affair was investigated by Congress and by the three-person, Reagan-appointed Tower Commission. Neither investigation found evidence that President Reagan himself knew of the extent of the multiple programs.^[2] Additionally, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lawrence Walsh was appointed independent counsel in December 1986 to investigate possible criminal actions by officials involved in the scheme. In the end, several dozen administration officials were indicted, including Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and Lieutenant colonel Oliver North. Eleven convictions resulted, some of which were vacated on appeal.^[9] The rest of those indicted or convicted were all pardoned in the final days of the presidency of George H. W. Bush, who had been vice president at the time of the affair.^[10] Former Independent Counsel Walsh noted that, in issuing the pardons, Bush appeared to have been preempting being implicated himself by evidence that came to light during the Weinberger trial and noted that there was a pattern of "deception and obstruction" by Bush, Weinberger, and other senior Reagan administration officials.^[11] Walsh submitted his final report on 4 August 1993^[12] and later wrote an account of his experiences as counsel, Firewall: The Iran-Contra Conspiracy and Cover-Up.^[11]

1. ^ The Iran-Contra Affair 20 Years On Archived 20 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine. The National Security Archive (George Washington University), 2006-11-24
2. ^ ^{a b} "Reagan's mixed White House legacy". BBC. 6 June 2004. Archived from the original on 9 February 2011. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
3. ^ Cite error: The named reference plain-and-simple was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
4. ^ Abshire, David (2005). Saving the Reagan Presidency: Trust Is the Coin of the Realm. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 9781603446204. Archived from the original on 11 April 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
5. ^ Valentine, Douglas (2008). Reagan, Bush, Gorbachev: Revisiting the End of the Cold War. Praeger Security International. ISBN 9780313352416. Archived from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
6. ^ Reagan, Ronald (13 November 1986). "Address to the Nation on the Iran Arms and Contra Aid Controversy". Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
7. ^ "Excerpts From the Iran-Contra Report: A Secret Foreign Policy". The New York Times. 1994. Archived from the original on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
8. ^ Reagan, Ronald (4 March 1987). "Address to the Nation on the Iran Arms and Contra Aid Controversy". Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. Archived from the original on 3 October 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
9. ^ Dwyer, Paula. "Pointing a Finger at Reagan". Business Week. Archived from the original on 16 April 2008. Retrieved 22 April 2008.
10. ^ "Pardons Granted by President George H. W. Bush (1989–1993)". U.S. Department of Justice. 12 January 2015. Archived from the original on 23 December 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
11. ^ ^{a b} Walsh, Lawrence E. (1997). Firewall: The Iran-Contra Conspiracy and Cover-up. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. p. 290.
12. ^ Walsh 1993.

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24 November 1642 – Abel Tasman becomes the first European to discover the island Van Diemen's Land

Van Diemen's Land

1825–1856 British colony, later called Tasmania

For other uses, see Van Diemen's Land (disambiguation).

Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration and colonisation of Australia in the 19th century. The island, inhabited by Aborigines, was first encountered by the Dutch ship captained by Abel Tasman in 1642, working under the sponsorship of Anthony van Diemen, the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. The British retained the name when they established a settlement in 1803 before it became a separate colony in 1825. Its penal colonies became notorious destinations for the transportation of convicts due to the harsh environment, isolation and reputation for being inescapable.

The name was changed to Tasmania in 1 January 1856 to disassociate the island from its convict past and to honour its discoverer, Abel Tasman. The old name had become a byword for horror in England because of the severity of its convict settlements such as Macquarie Harbour and Port Arthur. When the island became a self-governing colony in 1855, one of the first acts of the new legislature was to change its name.^[1]

With the passing of the Australian Constitutions Act 1850, Van Diemen's Land (along with New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia) was granted responsible self-government with its own elected representative and parliament. The last penal settlement in Tasmania was closed in 1877.

1. ^ The name "Van Diemen's Land" name was retained when British settlement began there in 1803. It became a byword for horror in England because of the severity of its convict settlements such as Port Arthur and Macquarie Harbour. The name had acquired such odium that when it became a self-governing colony in 1855, one of the first acts of the new legislature was to change its name to Tasmania. "Tasmania is preferred, because 'Van Diemen's Land' is associated among all nations with bondage and guilt" John West remarked at the opening of his History of Tasmania (Launceston: Dowling) 1852, vol I:4). But the old name lingered for many years—Tasmanians were referred to as Vandemonians until the turn of the century.

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25 November 1947 – Red Scare: The "Hollywood Ten" are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios.

Hollywood blacklist

Mid-20th century banning of suspected Communists from U.S. entertainment

This article is about 20th-century political blacklists. For 21st-century lists of unproduced screenplays, see Black List (survey).

The Hollywood blacklist was the mid-20th century banning of suspected Communists from working in the United States entertainment industry. The blacklist began at the onset of the Cold War and Red Scare, and affected entertainment production in Hollywood, New York, and elsewhere. Actors, screenwriters, directors, musicians, and other professionals were barred from employment based on their present or past membership in, alleged membership in, or perceived sympathy with the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), or on the basis of their refusal to assist Congressional or FBI investigations into the Party's activities.

Even during the period of its strictest enforcement from the late 1940s to late 1950s, the blacklist was rarely made explicit nor was it easily verifiable.^[1] Instead, it was the result of numerous individual decisions implemented by studio executives and was not the result of formal legal statute. Nevertheless, the blacklist directly damaged or ended the careers and incomes of scores of persons working in film, television, and radio.

Although the blacklist had no official end date, it was generally recognized to have weakened by 1960, the year when Dalton Trumbo – a CPUSA member from 1943 to 1948,^[2] and also one of the "Hollywood Ten" – was openly hired by director Otto Preminger to write the screenplay for Exodus (1960).^[2] Several months later, actor Kirk Douglas publicly acknowledged that Trumbo wrote the screenplay for Spartacus (1960).^[3] Despite Trumbo's breakthrough in 1960, other blacklisted film artists continued to have difficulty obtaining work for years afterward.

1. ^ Schwartz, Richard A. (1999). "How the Film and Television Blacklists Worked". Florida International University. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2010-03-03.
2. ^ ^{a b} Nordheimer, Jon (September 11, 1976). "Dalton Trumbo, Film Writer, Dies. Oscar Winner Had Been Blacklisted". The New York Times.
3. ^ Kirk Douglas, "My Spartacus Broke All the Rules" Archived 2015-11-10 at the Wayback Machine, The Daily Telegraph

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26 November 1863 – United States President Abraham Lincoln proclaims November 26 as a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated annually on the final Thursday of November. Following the Franksgiving controversy from 1939 to 1941, it has been observed on the fourth Thursday in 1942 and subsequent years.

Franksgiving

Derisive term for a 1939 policy of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt

In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the Thanksgiving holiday one week earlier than normal to the second-to-last Thursday of November rather than the last Thursday of November, believing that doing so would help boost the economy by creating an extra seven days of Christmas shopping. This led to much upheaval and protest, causing some to deride the holiday as Franksgiving.^[1] The term Franksgiving, a portmanteau of Franklin and Thanksgiving, was coined by Atlantic City mayor Charles D. White in 1939. In late 1941, Congress approved and Roosevelt signed a proclamation to set Thanksgiving as the fourth Thursday in November.^[2]

1. ^ Prokop, Andrew (November 13, 2016). "When FDR moved Thanksgiving: the presidential power grab that tore a nation apart". Vox. Archived from the original on November 27, 2014.
2. ^ "Franksgiving: A Modern Take on a Post-Depression Holiday". The New York Times. November 22, 2010.

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27 November 1809 – The Berners Street hoax is perpetrated by Theodore Hook in the City of Westminster, London.

Berners Street hoax

1810 hoax in London, England

51°31′03″N 0°08′14″W / 51.5176°N 0.1372°W / 51.5176; -0.1372

The Berners Street hoax was perpetrated by Theodore Hook in Westminster, London, England, in 1810.^[1][2] Hook had made a bet with his friend Samuel Beazley that he could transform any house in London into the most talked-about address in a week, which he achieved by sending out thousands of letters in the name of Mrs Tottenham, who lived at 54 Berners Street, requesting deliveries, visitors and assistance.^[3]

1. ^ Chambers 1832, pp. 260
2. ^ Barham 1852, pp. 72–77
3. ^ Lockhart 1852, pp. 16–18

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28 November 1520 – After 38 days, an expedition under the command of Ferdinand Magellan completes the first passage through the Strait of Magellan and enters the Pacific Ocean

Ferdinand Magellan

Portuguese explorer (1480–1521)

"Magellan" redirects here. For the railcar, see Ferdinand Magellan (railcar). For other uses, see Magellan (disambiguation).

Ferdinand Magellan^[a] (c. 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese^[3] explorer best known for having planned and led the 1519–22 Spanish expedition to the East Indies. During this expedition, he also discovered the Strait of Magellan, allowing his fleet to pass from the Atlantic into the Pacific Ocean and perform the first European navigation to Asia via the Pacific. Magellan died in the Philippines during his voyage, and his crew commanded by the Spanish Juan Sebastián Elcano completed the return trip to Spain in 1522 achieving the first circumnavigation of Earth in history.

Born c. 1480 into a family of minor Portuguese nobility, Magellan became a skilled sailor and naval officer in service of the Portuguese Crown in Asia. King Manuel I refused to support Magellan's plan to reach the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, by sailing westwards around the American continent. Magellan then proposed the same plan to King Charles I of Spain, who approved it. In Seville, he married, fathered two children, and organized the expedition.^[4] In 1518, for his allegiance to the Hispanic monarchy, Magellan was appointed an admiral of the Spanish fleet and given command of the expedition—the five-ship "Armada of Molucca." He was also made a Commander of the Order of Santiago, one of the highest military ranks of the Spanish Empire.^[5]

Granted special powers and privileges by the king, he led the Armada from Sanlúcar de Barrameda southwest across the Atlantic Ocean, to the eastern coast of South America, and south to Patagonia. Despite a series of storms and mutinies, the expedition successfully passed through the Strait of Magellan into the Mar del Sur, which Magellan renamed the Mar Pacifico, or Pacific Ocean.^[6] The expedition landed at Guam after an arduous crossing of the Pacific, and then reached the Philippines. There, in April 1521, Magellan was killed in the Battle of Mactan. Under the command of captain Juan Sebastian Elcano, the expedition finally reached the Spice Islands. The fleet's two remaining ships then split ways, one attempting, unsuccessfully, to reach New Spain by sailing east across the Pacific. The other, commanded by Elcano, sailed west across the Indian Ocean and north along the Atlantic coast of Africa, finally returning to Spain in September 1522 and achieving the first complete circuit of the globe.

While in the Kingdom of Portugal's service, Magellan had already reached the Malay Archipelago in Southeast Asia on previous voyages traveling east (from 1505 to 1511–1512). By visiting this area again but now traveling west, Magellan achieved a nearly complete personal circumnavigation of the globe for the first time in history.^[7][8]

Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).

1. ^ "Magellan". Collins English Dictionary. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
2. ^ "Magellan". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. Retrieved 8 October 2019.
3. ^ "Ferdinand Magellan | Biography, Voyage, Map, Accomplishments, Route, Discoveries, Death, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 28 December 2023. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
4. ^ Kinsella, Pat (27 April 2021). "Dire Straits: the story of Ferdinand Magellan's fatal voyage of discovery". BBC History Magazine. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
5. ^ Castro, Xavier de (dir.); Carmen Bernand; Hamon, Jocelyne et Thomaz, Luiz Filipe (2010). Le voyage de Magellan (1519–1522). La relation d'Antonio Pigafetta et autres témoignages (in French). Paris: Éditions Chandeigne, collection " Magellane ". ISBN 978-2915540574
6. ^ Hartig, Otto (1 October 1910). "Ferdinand Magellan". Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 31 October 2010 – via NewAdvent.org.
7. ^ Miller, Gordon (2011). Voyages: To the New World and Beyond (1st ed.). University of Washington Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-295-99115-3.
8. ^ Dutch, Steve (21 May 1997). "Circumnavigations of the Globe to 1800". University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Archived from the original on 23 October 2014. Retrieved 11 October 2014.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

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29 November 1899 – FC Barcelona is founded by Catalan, Spanish and Englishmen. It later develops into one of Spanish football's most iconic and strongest teams

FC Barcelona

Association football club in Spain

This article is about the men's football team. For the women's team, see FC Barcelona Femení. For the basketball team, see FC Barcelona Bàsquet. For the futsal team, see FC Barcelona Futsal. For other uses, see Barca (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Barcelona S.C. of Ecuador.

Football club

Futbol Club Barcelona (Catalan pronunciation: [fubˈbɔl ˈklub bəɾsəˈlonə] ^ⓘ), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça ([ˈbaɾsə]), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.

Founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, Catalan, German, and English footballers led by Joan Gamper, the club has become a symbol of Catalan culture and Catalanism, hence the motto "Més que un club" ("More than a club").^[2] Unlike many other football clubs, the supporters own and operate Barcelona. It is the third-most valuable football club in the world, worth $5.6 billion, and the world's fourth richest football club in terms of revenue, with an annual turnover of €800.1 million.^[3][4] The official Barcelona anthem is the "Cant del Barça", written by Jaume Picas and Josep Maria Espinàs.^[5] Barcelona traditionally play in dark shades of blue and garnet stripes, hence nicknamed Blaugrana.

Barcelona are one of the the world's most decorated clubs. Domestically, Barcelona has won a record 77 trophies: 27 La Liga, 31 Copa del Rey, 14 Supercopa de España, three Copa Eva Duarte, and two Copa de la Liga titles, as well as being the record holder for the latter four competitions. In international club football, the club has won 22 European and worldwide titles: five UEFA Champions League titles, a record four UEFA Cup Winners' Cups, five UEFA Super Cups, a record three Inter-Cities Fairs Cups, a joint record two Latin Cups, and three FIFA Club World Cups.^[6][7][8] Barcelona was ranked first in the International Federation of Football History & Statistics Club World Ranking for 1997, 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2015, and occupies the ninth position on the UEFA club rankings as of May 2023^[update].^[9][10][11] The club has a long-standing rivalry with Real Madrid, and matches between the two teams are referred to as El Clásico.

Barcelona is one of the most widely supported teams in the world, and the club has one of the largest social media following in the world among sports teams.^[12][13] Barcelona players have won a joint record twelve Ballon d'Or awards, with recipients including Johan Cruyff, as well as a record six FIFA World Player of the Year awards, with winners including Romário, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi. In 2010, three players who came through the club's youth academy—Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi—were chosen as the three best players in the world in the Ballon d'Or ranking, an unprecedented feat for players from the same football academy.^[14][15] Additionally, players representing the club have won a record eight European Golden Shoe awards.^[16]

Barcelona is one of three founding members of the Primera División that have never been relegated from the top division since its inception in 1929, along with Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid.^[17][18] In 2009, Barcelona became the first Spanish club to win the continental treble consisting of La Liga, Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League, and also became the first European football club to win six out of six competitions in a single year, by also winning the Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.^[19] In 2011, the club became European champions again, winning five trophies.^[20] This Barcelona team, which won fourteen trophies in just four years under Pep Guardiola, is considered by some in the sport to be the greatest team of all time.^[21][22][23] By winning their fifth Champions League trophy in 2015 under Luis Enrique, Barcelona became the first European football club in history to achieve the continental treble twice.^[24]

1. ^ "Barcelona find new home at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys". FIFA. 17 August 2023. Archived from the original on 24 September 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
2. ^ "Més que un club: UNA DIVISA HISTÒRICA". FC Barcelona (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
3. ^ Ozanian, Mike; Teitelbaum, Justin (23 May 2024). "The World's Most Valuable Soccer Teams 2024". Forbes. Archived from the original on 31 May 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
4. ^ "Deloitte Football Money League 2024". Deloitte. February 2024. Archived from the original on 20 January 2017. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
5. ^ "The history of the Barça anthems". FC Barcelona. Archived from the original on 3 October 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
6. ^ "Football Europe: FC Barcelona". UEFA. Archived from the original on 3 June 2010. Retrieved 4 May 2009.
7. ^ "Classic Football: Clubs: FC Barcelona". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived from the original on 29 April 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
8. ^ Rimet, Pierre (4 January 1951). Rodrigues Filho, Mário (ed.). "Cartas de Paris - Das pirâmides do Egito ao colosso do Maracanã, com o Sr. Jules Rimet" [Letters from Paris - From the pyramids of Egypt to the colossus of Maracanã, with Mr. Jules Rimet]. Jornal dos Sports (in Portuguese). No. 6554. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. p. 5. Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2017. A Taça Latina é uma competição criada pela F. I. F. A. a pedido dos quatro países que a disputam atualmente. Mas o Regulamento é feito por uma Comissão composta por membros das Federações concorrentes e de fato a F. I. F. A. não participa ativamente na organização
9. ^ "Former Results". International Federation of Football History & Statistics. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
10. ^ "Club World Ranking 2015". International Federation of Football History & Statistics. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
11. ^ "UEFA Club Coefficients". UEFA. Archived from the original on 20 March 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
12. ^ "Barça, the most loved club in the world" Archived 14 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Marca. Madrid. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
13. ^ "Barcelona wins Social Star Award for 'Most Popular Sports Team'". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 3 November 2013.
14. ^ "10 years since a unique Ballon d'Or podium". FC Barcelona. 6 December 2020. Archived from the original on 26 April 2023.
15. ^ Batalla, Jordi (10 January 2021). "10 años del histórico podio de La Masia en el Balón de Oro". Mundo Deportivo (in European Spanish). Archived from the original on 19 October 2021.
16. ^ Sans, Gabriel (9 November 2022). "All the Barça stars that have won the Golden Boot". Mundo Deportivo. Archived from the original on 3 August 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
17. ^ Nardelli, Alberto (2 June 2015). "Which European football clubs have never been relegated?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 November 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
18. ^ Candil, Jaime (12 May 2018). "19 European clubs never to have been relegated from top flight". AS. Archived from the original on 17 September 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
19. ^ "FC Barcelona Records". FC Barcelona. 12 January 2012. Archived from the original on 10 January 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
20. ^ "2011: El año en el que el Barcelona de Guardiola se hizo aún más grande". Cadena SER (in European Spanish). 24 December 2011. Archived from the original on 26 May 2023. Retrieved 25 May 2023.
21. ^ "Is this Barcelona team the best of all time?". CNN. 23 December 2011. Archived from the original on 30 October 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
22. ^ "The great European Cup teams: Barcelona 2009–2011". The Guardian. London. 25 October 2015. Archived from the original on 15 September 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
23. ^ "Who's the Greatest of Them All? Barcelona!". Newsweek. 25 October 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
24. ^ "Un Barça de récord, el primero en lograr dos tripletes en Europa". La Vanguardia (in European Spanish). 6 June 2015. Archived from the original on 26 May 2023. Retrieved 25 May 2023.

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29 November 1899 – FC Barcelona is founded by Catalan, Spanish and Englishmen. It later develops into one of Spanish football's most iconic and strongest teams

FC Barcelona

Association football club in Spain

This article is about the men's football team. For the women's team, see FC Barcelona Femení. For the basketball team, see FC Barcelona Bàsquet. For the futsal team, see FC Barcelona Futsal. For other uses, see Barca (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Barcelona S.C. of Ecuador.

Football club

Futbol Club Barcelona (Catalan pronunciation: [fubˈbɔl ˈklub bəɾsəˈlonə] ^ⓘ), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça ([ˈbaɾsə]), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.

Founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, Catalan, German, and English footballers led by Joan Gamper, the club has become a symbol of Catalan culture and Catalanism, hence the motto "Més que un club" ("More than a club").^[2] Unlike many other football clubs, the supporters own and operate Barcelona. It is the third-most valuable football club in the world, worth $5.6 billion, and the world's fourth richest football club in terms of revenue, with an annual turnover of €800.1 million.^[3][4] The official Barcelona anthem is the "Cant del Barça", written by Jaume Picas and Josep Maria Espinàs.^[5] Barcelona traditionally play in dark shades of blue and garnet stripes, hence nicknamed Blaugrana.

Barcelona are one of the the world's most decorated clubs. Domestically, Barcelona has won a record 77 trophies: 27 La Liga, 31 Copa del Rey, 14 Supercopa de España, three Copa Eva Duarte, and two Copa de la Liga titles, as well as being the record holder for the latter four competitions. In international club football, the club has won 22 European and worldwide titles: five UEFA Champions League titles, a record four UEFA Cup Winners' Cups, five UEFA Super Cups, a record three Inter-Cities Fairs Cups, a joint record two Latin Cups, and three FIFA Club World Cups.^[6][7][8] Barcelona was ranked first in the International Federation of Football History & Statistics Club World Ranking for 1997, 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2015, and occupies the ninth position on the UEFA club rankings as of May 2023^[update].^[9][10][11] The club has a long-standing rivalry with Real Madrid, and matches between the two teams are referred to as El Clásico.

Barcelona is one of the most widely supported teams in the world, and the club has one of the largest social media following in the world among sports teams.^[12][13] Barcelona players have won a joint record twelve Ballon d'Or awards, with recipients including Johan Cruyff, as well as a record six FIFA World Player of the Year awards, with winners including Romário, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi. In 2010, three players who came through the club's youth academy—Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi—were chosen as the three best players in the world in the Ballon d'Or ranking, an unprecedented feat for players from the same football academy.^[14][15] Additionally, players representing the club have won a record eight European Golden Shoe awards.^[16]

Barcelona is one of three founding members of the Primera División that have never been relegated from the top division since its inception in 1929, along with Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid.^[17][18] In 2009, Barcelona became the first Spanish club to win the continental treble consisting of La Liga, Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League, and also became the first European football club to win six out of six competitions in a single year, by also winning the Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.^[19] In 2011, the club became European champions again, winning five trophies.^[20] This Barcelona team, which won fourteen trophies in just four years under Pep Guardiola, is considered by some in the sport to be the greatest team of all time.^[21][22][23] By winning their fifth Champions League trophy in 2015 under Luis Enrique, Barcelona became the first European football club in history to achieve the continental treble twice.^[24]

1. ^ "Barcelona find new home at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys". FIFA. 17 August 2023. Archived from the original on 24 September 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
2. ^ "Més que un club: UNA DIVISA HISTÒRICA". FC Barcelona (in Catalan). Archived from the original on 10 January 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
3. ^ Ozanian, Mike; Teitelbaum, Justin (23 May 2024). "The World's Most Valuable Soccer Teams 2024". Forbes. Archived from the original on 31 May 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
4. ^ "Deloitte Football Money League 2024". Deloitte. February 2024. Archived from the original on 20 January 2017. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
5. ^ "The history of the Barça anthems". FC Barcelona. Archived from the original on 3 October 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
6. ^ "Football Europe: FC Barcelona". UEFA. Archived from the original on 3 June 2010. Retrieved 4 May 2009.
7. ^ "Classic Football: Clubs: FC Barcelona". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived from the original on 29 April 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
8. ^ Rimet, Pierre (4 January 1951). Rodrigues Filho, Mário (ed.). "Cartas de Paris - Das pirâmides do Egito ao colosso do Maracanã, com o Sr. Jules Rimet" [Letters from Paris - From the pyramids of Egypt to the colossus of Maracanã, with Mr. Jules Rimet]. Jornal dos Sports (in Portuguese). No. 6554. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. p. 5. Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2017. A Taça Latina é uma competição criada pela F. I. F. A. a pedido dos quatro países que a disputam atualmente. Mas o Regulamento é feito por uma Comissão composta por membros das Federações concorrentes e de fato a F. I. F. A. não participa ativamente na organização
9. ^ "Former Results". International Federation of Football History & Statistics. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
10. ^ "Club World Ranking 2015". International Federation of Football History & Statistics. Archived from the original on 11 August 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
11. ^ "UEFA Club Coefficients". UEFA. Archived from the original on 20 March 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
12. ^ "Barça, the most loved club in the world" Archived 14 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Marca. Madrid. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
13. ^ "Barcelona wins Social Star Award for 'Most Popular Sports Team'". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 3 November 2013.
14. ^ "10 years since a unique Ballon d'Or podium". FC Barcelona. 6 December 2020. Archived from the original on 26 April 2023.
15. ^ Batalla, Jordi (10 January 2021). "10 años del histórico podio de La Masia en el Balón de Oro". Mundo Deportivo (in European Spanish). Archived from the original on 19 October 2021.
16. ^ Sans, Gabriel (9 November 2022). "All the Barça stars that have won the Golden Boot". Mundo Deportivo. Archived from the original on 3 August 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
17. ^ Nardelli, Alberto (2 June 2015). "Which European football clubs have never been relegated?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 November 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
18. ^ Candil, Jaime (12 May 2018). "19 European clubs never to have been relegated from top flight". AS. Archived from the original on 17 September 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
19. ^ "FC Barcelona Records". FC Barcelona. 12 January 2012. Archived from the original on 10 January 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
20. ^ "2011: El año en el que el Barcelona de Guardiola se hizo aún más grande". Cadena SER (in European Spanish). 24 December 2011. Archived from the original on 26 May 2023. Retrieved 25 May 2023.
21. ^ "Is this Barcelona team the best of all time?". CNN. 23 December 2011. Archived from the original on 30 October 2017. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
22. ^ "The great European Cup teams: Barcelona 2009–2011". The Guardian. London. 25 October 2015. Archived from the original on 15 September 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
23. ^ "Who's the Greatest of Them All? Barcelona!". Newsweek. 25 October 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
24. ^ "Un Barça de récord, el primero en lograr dos tripletes en Europa". La Vanguardia (in European Spanish). 6 June 2015. Archived from the original on 26 May 2023. Retrieved 25 May 2023.

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30 November 1936 – In London, the Crystal Palace is destroyed by fire

The Crystal Palace

Former building originally in crystal palace Park, London, 1854 relocated to Sydenham, South London

The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in its 990,000-square-foot (92,000 m²) exhibition space to display examples of technology developed in the Industrial Revolution. Designed by Joseph Paxton, the Great Exhibition building was 1,851 feet (564 m) long, with an interior height of 128 feet (39 m),^[1] and was three times the size of St Paul's Cathedral.^[2]

The 293,000 panes of glass were manufactured by the Chance Brothers.^[3] The 990,000-square-foot building with its 128-foot-high ceiling was completed in thirty-nine weeks. The Crystal Palace boasted the greatest area of glass ever seen in a building. It astonished visitors with its clear walls and ceilings that did not require interior lights.

It has been suggested that the name of the building resulted from a piece penned by the playwright Douglas Jerrold, who in July 1850 wrote in the satirical magazine Punch about the forthcoming Great Exhibition, referring to a "palace of very crystal".^[4]

After the exhibition, the Palace was relocated to an open area of South London known as Penge Place which had been excised from Penge Common. It was rebuilt at the top of Penge Peak next to Sydenham Hill, an affluent suburb of large villas. It stood there from June 1854 until its destruction by fire in November 1936. The nearby residential area was renamed Crystal Palace after the landmark. This included the Crystal Palace Park that surrounds the site, home of the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, which was previously a football stadium that hosted the FA Cup Final between 1895 and 1914. Crystal Palace F.C. were founded at the site and played at the Cup Final venue in their early years. The park still contains Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins's Crystal Palace Dinosaurs which date back to 1854.

1. ^ "The Crystal Palace of Hyde Park". Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2008.
2. ^ James Harrison, ed. (1996). "Imperial Britain". Children's Encyclopedia of British History. London: Kingfisher Publications. p. 131. ISBN 0-7534-0299-8.
3. ^ Chance, Tom. "The Crystal Palace's glass" (PDF). Retrieved 31 March 2023.
4. ^ The Punch issue of 13 July 1850 carried a contribution by Douglas Jerrold, writing as Mrs Amelia Mouser, which referred to a palace of very crystal. Michael Slater (2002). Douglas Jerrold. London: Duckworth. p. 243. ISBN 0-7156-2824-0. In fact the term "Crystal Palace" itself is used seven times in the same issue of Punch (pages iii. iv, 154, 183 (twice), 214 (twice) and 224. It seems clear, however, that the term was already in use and did not need much explanation. Other sources refer to the 2 November 1850 Punch issue bestowing the "Crystal Palace" name on the design by Terry Strieter (1999). Nineteenth-Century European Art: A Topical Dictionary. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p. 50. ISBN 0-313-29898-X. (And "Crystal Palace". BBC. Retrieved 21 November 2007. The term 'Crystal Palace' was first applied to Paxton's building by Punch in its issue of 2 November 1850.) Punch had originally sided with The Times against the exhibition committee's proposal of a fixed brick structure, but featured the Crystal Palace heavily throughout 1851 (for example in "Punch Issue 502". Archived from the original on 20 April 2006. included the article "Travels into the Interior of the Crystal Palace" of February 1851). Any earlier name has been lost, according to "Everything2 Crystal Palace Exhibition Building Design #251". 2003.. The use by Mrs Mouser was picked up by a reference in The Leader, no. 17, 20 July 1850 (p. 1): "In more than one country we notice active preparations for sending inanimate representatives of trade and industry to take up their abode in the crystal palace which Mr. Paxton is to build for the Exposition of 1851." Source: British Periodicals database or Nineteenth Century Serials Edition Archived 17 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine

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1 December 1955 – American Civil Rights Movement: In Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man and is arrested for violating the city's racial segregation laws, an incident which leads to that city's bus boycott.

Rosa Parks

American civil rights activist (1913–2005)

For other uses, see Rosa Parks (disambiguation).

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement, best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "the first lady of civil rights" and "the mother of the freedom movement".^[1]

Parks became an NAACP activist in 1943, participating in several high-profile civil rights campaigns. On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks rejected bus driver James F. Blake's order to vacate a row of four seats in the "colored" section in favor of a white female passenger who had complained to the driver, once the "white" section was filled.^[2] Parks was not the first person to resist bus segregation,^[3] but the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) believed that she was the best candidate for seeing through a court challenge after her arrest for civil disobedience in violating Alabama segregation laws, and she helped inspire the black community to boycott the Montgomery buses for over a year. The case became bogged down in the state courts, but the federal Montgomery bus lawsuit Browder v. Gayle resulted in a November 1956 decision that bus segregation is unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.^[4]

Parks's act of defiance and the Montgomery bus boycott became important symbols of the movement. She became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation, and organized and collaborated with civil rights leaders, including Edgar Nixon and Martin Luther King Jr. At the time, Parks was employed as a seamstress at a local department store and was secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP. She had recently attended the Highlander Folk School, a Tennessee center for training activists for workers' rights and racial equality. Although widely honored in later years, she also suffered for her act; she was fired from her job and received death threats for years afterwards.^[5] Shortly after the boycott, she moved to Detroit, where she briefly found similar work. From 1965 to 1988, she served as secretary and receptionist to John Conyers, an African-American US Representative. She was also active in the black power movement and the support of political prisoners in the US.

After retirement, Parks wrote her autobiography and continued to insist that there was more work to be done in the struggle for justice.^[6] She received national recognition, including the NAACP's 1979 Spingarn Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold Medal, and a posthumous statue in the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall. Upon her death in 2005, she was the first woman to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda. California and Missouri commemorate Rosa Parks Day on her birthday, February 4, while Ohio, Oregon, and Texas commemorate the anniversary of her arrest, December 1.^[7]

1. ^ Pub. L. 106–26 (text) (PDF). Retrieved November 13, 2011. The quoted passages can be seen by clicking through to the text or PDF.
2. ^ "An Act of Courage, The Arrest Records of Rosa Parks". National Archives. August 15, 2015. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
3. ^ González, Juan; Amy Goodman (March 29, 2013). "The Other Rosa Parks: Now 73, Claudette Colvin Was First to Refuse Giving Up Seat on Montgomery Bus". Democracy Now!. Pacifica Radio. 25 minutes in. Archived from the original on December 12, 2019. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
4. ^ Branch, Taylor (1988). "Parting the Waters: America in the King Years". Simon & Schuster. Archived from the original on May 23, 2013. Retrieved February 5, 2013.
5. ^ "Commentary: Rosa Parks' Role In The Civil Rights Movement". Weekend Edition Sunday. NPR. June 13, 1999. ProQuest 190159646.
6. ^ Theoharis, Jeanne (December 1, 2015). "How History Got Rosa Parks Wrong". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 5, 2016. Retrieved September 12, 2016.
7. ^ "HB 3481, 87th Regular Session". Legislative Reference Library of Texas. September 1, 2021. Archived from the original on October 21, 2021. Retrieved November 30, 2021.

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2 December 1823 – Monroe Doctrine: In a State of the Union message, U.S. President James Monroe proclaims American neutrality in future European conflicts, and warns European powers not to interfere in the Americas

Monroe Doctrine

US foreign policy regarding the Western Hemisphere first articulated in 1823

For the "Fort Monroe Doctrine", see Contraband (American Civil War). For the 1896 film, see The Monroe Doctrine (film). For the album, see Farside (band).

James Monroe, 5th President of the United States

Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, author of the Monroe Doctrine and 6th President of the United States

The Monroe Doctrine is a United States foreign policy position that opposes European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. It holds that any intervention in the political affairs of the Americas by foreign powers is a potentially hostile act against the United States.^[1] The doctrine was central to American grand strategy in the 20th century.^[2]

President James Monroe first articulated the doctrine on December 2, 1823, during his seventh annual State of the Union Address to Congress (though it would not be named after him until 1850).^[3] At the time, nearly all Spanish colonies in the Americas had either achieved or were close to independence. Monroe asserted that the New World and the Old World were to remain distinctly separate spheres of influence,^[4] and thus further efforts by European powers to control or influence sovereign states in the region would be viewed as a threat to U.S. security.^[5][6] In turn, the United States would recognize and not interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal affairs of European countries.

Because the U.S. lacked both a credible navy and army at the time of the doctrine's proclamation, it was largely disregarded by the colonial powers. While it was successfully enforced in part by the United Kingdom, who used it as an opportunity to enforce its own Pax Britannica policy, the doctrine was still broken several times over the course of the 19th century, notably with the Second French intervention in Mexico. By the turn of the 20th century, however, the United States itself was able to successfully enforce the doctrine, and it became seen as a defining moment in the foreign policy of the United States and one of its longest-standing tenets. The intent and effect of the doctrine persisted for over a century after that, with only small variations, and would be invoked by many American statesmen and several American presidents, including Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan.

After 1898, the Monroe Doctrine was reinterpreted by lawyers and intellectuals as promoting multilateralism and non-intervention. In 1933, under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the United States affirmed this new interpretation, namely through co-founding the Organization of American States.^[7] Into the 21st century, the doctrine continues to be variably denounced, reinstated, or reinterpreted.

1. ^ Mark T. Gilderhus, "The Monroe doctrine: meanings and implications." Presidential Studies Quarterly 36.1 (2006): 5–16 online Archived September 25, 2022, at the Wayback Machine
2. ^ Sexton, Jay (2023). "The Monroe Doctrine in an Age of Global History". Diplomatic History. 47 (5): 845–870. doi:10.1093/dh/dhad043. ISSN 0145-2096.
3. ^ "Monroe Doctrine". Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). 2002.
4. ^ New Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (15th ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. p. 269. ISBN 1-59339-292-3.
5. ^ "Monroe Doctrine". HISTORY. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
6. ^ "The Monroe Doctrine (1823)". Basic Readings in U.S. Democracy. United States Department of State. Archived from the original on January 8, 2012.
7. ^ Scarfi, Juan Pablo (2014). "In the Name of the Americas: The Pan-American Redefinition of the Monroe Doctrine and the Emerging Language of American International Law in the Western Hemisphere, 1898–1933". Diplomatic History. 40 (2): 189–218. doi:10.1093/dh/dhu071.

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3 December 1854 – Battle of the Eureka Stockade: More than 20 gold miners at Ballarat, Victoria, are killed by state troopers in an uprising over mining licences.

Battle of the Eureka Stockade

1854 military conflict in Victoria, Australia

This article is about the military conflict primarily. For political and social developments, and the origin and aftermath, see Eureka Rebellion. For the site of this battle, see Eureka Stockade Memorial Park.

The Battle of the Eureka Stockade was fought in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia on 3 December 1854, between gold miners and the colonial forces of Australia. It was the culmination of the 1851–1854 Eureka Rebellion during the Victorian gold rush. The fighting resulted in at least 27 deaths and many injuries, the majority of casualties being rebels. The miners had various grievances, chiefly the cost of mining permits and the officious way the system was enforced.

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Corfield, Wickham & Gervasoni 2004, p. xiv.
2. ^ Blake 2009, p. 195.
3. ^ Blake 2009, p. 198.
4. ^ ^{a b} "TO THE COLONISTS OF VICTORIA". The Argus. Melbourne. 10 April 1855. p. 7 – via Trove.
5. ^ Wright 2013, p. 428.

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4 December 1881 – The first edition of the Los Angeles Times is published.

Los Angeles Times

American daily newspaper covering the Greater Los Angeles area

"L.A. Times" redirects here. For the Travis album, see L.A. Times (album).

The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881.^[3] Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo since 2018,^[4] it is the sixth-largest newspaper in the nation and the largest in the Western United States with a print circulation of 118,760. It has 500,000 online subscribers, the fifth-largest among U.S. newspapers.^[5] Owned by Patrick Soon-Shiong and published by California Times, the paper has won over 40 Pulitzer Prizes since its founding.^[6][7][8][9]

In the 19th century, the paper developed a reputation for civic boosterism and opposition to labor unions, the latter of which led to the bombing of its headquarters in 1910. The paper's profile grew substantially in the 1960s under publisher Otis Chandler, who adopted a more national focus. As with other regional newspapers in California^[10] and the United States, the paper's readership has declined since 2010. It has also been beset by a series of ownership changes, staff reductions, and other controversies.

In January 2018, the paper's staff voted to unionize and finalized their first union contract on October 16, 2019.^[11] The paper moved out of its historic headquarters in downtown Los Angeles to a facility in El Segundo, near the Los Angeles International Airport, in July 2018. Since 2020, the newspaper's coverage has evolved away from national and international news and toward coverage of California and especially Southern California news.

In January 2024, the paper underwent its largest percentage reduction in headcount—amounting to a layoff of over 20%, including senior staff editorial positions—in an effort to stem the tide of financial losses and maintain enough cash to be viably operational through the end of the year in a struggle for survival and relevance as a regional newspaper of diminished status.^[12][13][14]

1. ^ Turvill, William (June 24, 2022). "Top 25 US newspaper circulations: Print sales fall another 12% in 2022". Press Gazette. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
2. ^ "Top 25 U.S. Newspapers For March 2013". Alliance for Audited Media. April 30, 2013. Archived from the original on June 11, 2013. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
3. ^ "The Los Angeles Times". www.laalmanac.com. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
4. ^ "Los Angeles Times | History, Ownership, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
5. ^ Turvill, William (June 24, 2022). "Top 25 US newspaper circulations: Print sales fall another 12% in 2022". Press Gazette. Retrieved July 12, 2022.
6. ^ Chang, Andrea; James, Andrea (April 13, 2018). "Patrick Soon-Shiong — immigrant, doctor, billionaire, and soon, newspaper owner — starts a new era at the L.A. Times". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
7. ^ Corey Frost; Karen Weingarten; Doug Babington; Don LePan; Maureen Okun (May 30, 2017). The Broadview Guide to Writing: A Handbook for Students (6th ed.). Broadview Press. pp. 27–. ISBN 978-1-55481-313-1. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
8. ^ James, Meg (February 19, 2021). "Patrick Soon-Shiong affirms commitment to the Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 27, 2024. Soon-Shiong, a biotech entrepreneur, and his wife, Michele, purchased The Times and the Union-Tribune in June 2018 for $500 million. Since then the company, now called California Times, has embarked on an unprecedented hiring spree, adding more than 150 journalists to The Times.
9. ^ Caulfield, Mike (January 8, 2017), "National Newspapers of Record", Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers, Pressbooks Create, retrieved July 20, 2020
10. ^ Shelby Grad (May 25, 2024). "The fate of California newspapers could be sealed in coming months. Do 'carnage' and 'catastrophe' await?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
11. ^ James, Meg (October 17, 2019). "Los Angeles Times reaches historic agreement with its newsroom union". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
12. ^ Robertson, Katie; Mullin, Benjamin (January 23, 2024). "Los Angeles Times to Slash Newsroom by Over 20%". The New York Times. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
13. ^ Barrionuevo, Alexei; Knolle, Sharon; Korach, Natalie (January 25, 2024). "Chaos, Fury Engulf Los Angeles Times in Historic Cuts to Newsroom". The Wrap. Retrieved January 27, 2024.
14. ^ James, Meg (January 23, 2024). "L.A. Times to lay off at least 115 people in the newsroom". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 27, 2024.

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5 December 1848 – California Gold Rush: In a message to the United States Congress, U.S. President James K. Polk confirms that large amounts of gold had been discovered in California.

California gold rush

Gold rush from 1848 until 1855

For the film, see California Gold Rush (film).

The California gold rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California.^[1] The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad.^[2] The sudden influx of gold into the money supply reinvigorated the American economy; the sudden population increase allowed California to go rapidly to statehood in the Compromise of 1850. The gold rush had severe effects on Native Californians and accelerated the Native American population's decline from disease, starvation, and the California genocide.

The effects of the gold rush were substantial. Whole indigenous societies were attacked and pushed off their lands by the gold-seekers, called "forty-niners" (referring to 1849, the peak year for gold rush immigration). Outside of California, the first to arrive were from Oregon, the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), and Latin America in late 1848. Of the approximately 300,000 people who came to California during the gold rush, about half arrived by sea and half came overland on the California Trail and the California Road; forty-niners often faced substantial hardships on the trip. While most of the newly arrived were Americans, the gold rush attracted thousands from Latin America, Europe, Australia, and China. Agriculture and ranching expanded throughout the state to meet the needs of the settlers. San Francisco grew from a small settlement of about 200 residents in 1846 to a boomtown of about 36,000 by 1852. Roads, churches, schools and other towns were built throughout California. In 1849, a state constitution was written. The new constitution was adopted by referendum vote; the future state's interim first governor and legislature were chosen. In September 1850, California became a state.

At the beginning of the gold rush, there was no law regarding property rights in the goldfields and a system of "staking claims" was developed. Prospectors retrieved the gold from streams and riverbeds using simple techniques, such as panning. Although mining caused environmental harm, more sophisticated methods of gold recovery were developed and later adopted around the world. New methods of transportation developed as steamships came into regular service. By 1869, railroads were built from California to the eastern United States. At its peak, technological advances reached a point where significant financing was required, increasing the proportion of gold companies to individual miners. Gold worth tens of billions of today's US dollars was recovered, which led to great wealth for a few, though many who participated in the California gold rush earned little more than they had started with.

1. ^ "[E]vents from January 1848 through December 1855 [are] generally acknowledged as the 'Gold Rush'. After 1855, California gold mining changed and is outside the 'rush' era.""The Gold Rush of California: A Bibliography of Periodical Articles". California State University, Stanislaus. 2002. Archived from the original on July 1, 2007. Retrieved January 23, 2008.
2. ^ "California Gold Rush, 1848–1864". Learn California.org, a site designed for the Secretary of State of California. Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved August 22, 2011.

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6 December 1967 – Adrian Kantrowitz performs the first human heart transplant in the United States.

Adrian Kantrowitz

American cardiac surgeon (1918–2008)

Adrian Kantrowitz (October 4, 1918 – November 14, 2008) was an American cardiac surgeon whose team performed the world's second heart transplant attempt (after Christiaan Barnard)^[1] at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York on December 6, 1967.^[2][3] The infant lived for only six hours. At a press conference afterwards, Kantrowitz emphasized that he considered the operation to have been a failure.^[4]

Kantrowitz also invented the intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP), a left ventricular assist device (L-VAD), and an early version of the implantable pacemaker.^[2]

In 1981, Kantrowitz became a founding member of the World Cultural Council.^[5]

1. ^ A Brief History of Heart Transplantation, Columbia University
2. ^ ^{a b} McRae, Donald (2006). Every Second Counts: The Race to Transplant the First Human Heart, New York: Penguin (Berkley/Putnam).
3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Every Second Counts, Donald McRae, pages 215 to 220 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Heart: An American Medical Odyssey, Dick Cheney, Jonathan Reiner, MD, Liz Cheney, 2013 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
5. ^ "About Us". World Cultural Council. Retrieved November 8, 2016.

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7 December 1703 – The Great Storm of 1703, the greatest windstorm ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain, makes landfall. Winds gust up to 120 mph, and 9,000 people die.

Great storm of 1703

English extratropical cyclone

The Great storm of 1703 was a destructive extratropical cyclone that struck central and southern England on 26 November 1703. High winds caused 2,000 chimney stacks to collapse in London and damaged the New Forest, which lost 4,000 oaks. Ships were blown hundreds of miles off-course, and over 1,000 sea men died on the Goodwin Sands alone. News bulletins of casualties and damage were sold all over England – a novelty at that time. The Church of England declared that the storm was God's vengeance for the sins of the nation. Daniel Defoe thought it was a divine punishment for poor performance against Catholic armies in the War of the Spanish Succession.

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8 December 1980 – John Lennon is murdered by Mark David Chapman in front of The Dakota in New York City.

John Lennon

English musician and member of the Beatles (1940–1980)

"Lennon" redirects here. For other uses, see Lennon (disambiguation) and John Lennon (disambiguation).

John Winston Ono Lennon^{[nb 1]} (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and political activist. After a troubled childhood, he gained worldwide fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. His songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney remains the most successful in history.^[3]

Born in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager. In 1956, he formed the Quarrymen, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Lennon initially was the group's de facto leader, a role he gradually seemed to cede to McCartney. Through his songwriting in the Beatles, he embraced myriad musical influences, initially writing and co-writing rock and pop-orientated hit songs in the band's early years, then later incorporating experimental elements into his compositions in the latter half of the Beatles' career as his songs became known for their increasing innovation. Lennon soon expanded his work into other media by participating in numerous films, including How I Won the War, and authoring In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works, both collections of nonsense writings and line drawings. Starting with "All You Need Is Love", his songs were adopted as anthems by the anti-war movement and the counterculture of the 1960s.

In 1969, he started the Plastic Ono Band with his second wife, multimedia artist Yoko Ono, held the two-week-long anti-war demonstration bed-in for peace, and left the Beatles to embark on a solo career. Lennon and Ono collaborated on many works, including a trilogy of avant-garde albums and several more films. After the Beatles disbanded, Lennon released his solo debut John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and the international top-10 singles "Give Peace a Chance", "Instant Karma!", "Imagine", and "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)". Moving to New York City in 1971, his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a three-year deportation attempt by the Nixon administration. Lennon and Ono separated from 1973 to 1975, during which time he produced Harry Nilsson's album Pussy Cats. He also had chart-topping collaborations with Elton John ("Whatever Gets You thru the Night") and David Bowie ("Fame"). Following a five-year hiatus, Lennon returned to music in 1980 with the Ono collaboration Double Fantasy. He was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman, three weeks after the album's release.

As a performer, writer or co-writer, Lennon had 25 number-one singles in the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Double Fantasy, his second-best-selling non-Beatles album, won the 1981 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.^[4] That year, he won the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In 2002, Lennon was voted eighth in a BBC history poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth-greatest singer and 38th greatest artist of all time. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (in 1997) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (twice, as a member of the Beatles in 1988 and as a solo artist in 1994).

1. ^ Christgau, Robert. "John Lennon | Biography, Songs, Albums, Death, & Facts". Britannica. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
2. ^ Coleman 1984b, p. 64.
3. ^ Newman, Jason (23 August 2011). "It Takes Two: 10 Songwriting Duos That Rocked Music History". Billboard. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 5 October 2017. By any measure, no one comes close to matching the success of The Beatles' primary songwriters.
4. ^ "24th Annual GRAMMY Awards | GRAMMY.com". grammy.com.

Cite error: There are <ref group=nb> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nb}} template (see the help page).

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8 December 1980 – John Lennon is murdered by Mark David Chapman in front of The Dakota in New York City.

John Lennon

English musician and member of the Beatles (1940–1980)

"Lennon" redirects here. For other uses, see Lennon (disambiguation) and John Lennon (disambiguation).

John Winston Ono Lennon^{[nb 1]} (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and political activist. After a troubled childhood, he gained worldwide fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. His songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney remains the most successful in history.^[3]

Born in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager. In 1956, he formed the Quarrymen, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Lennon initially was the group's de facto leader, a role he gradually seemed to cede to McCartney. Through his songwriting in the Beatles, he embraced myriad musical influences, initially writing and co-writing rock and pop-orientated hit songs in the band's early years, then later incorporating experimental elements into his compositions in the latter half of the Beatles' career as his songs became known for their increasing innovation. Lennon soon expanded his work into other media by participating in numerous films, including How I Won the War, and authoring In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works, both collections of nonsense writings and line drawings. Starting with "All You Need Is Love", his songs were adopted as anthems by the anti-war movement and the counterculture of the 1960s.

In 1969, he started the Plastic Ono Band with his second wife, multimedia artist Yoko Ono, held the two-week-long anti-war demonstration bed-in for peace, and left the Beatles to embark on a solo career. Lennon and Ono collaborated on many works, including a trilogy of avant-garde albums and several more films. After the Beatles disbanded, Lennon released his solo debut John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and the international top-10 singles "Give Peace a Chance", "Instant Karma!", "Imagine", and "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)". Moving to New York City in 1971, his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a three-year deportation attempt by the Nixon administration. Lennon and Ono separated from 1973 to 1975, during which time he produced Harry Nilsson's album Pussy Cats. He also had chart-topping collaborations with Elton John ("Whatever Gets You thru the Night") and David Bowie ("Fame"). Following a five-year hiatus, Lennon returned to music in 1980 with the Ono collaboration Double Fantasy. He was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman, three weeks after the album's release.

As a performer, writer or co-writer, Lennon had 25 number-one singles in the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Double Fantasy, his second-best-selling non-Beatles album, won the 1981 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.^[4] That year, he won the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In 2002, Lennon was voted eighth in a BBC history poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth-greatest singer and 38th greatest artist of all time. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame (in 1997) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (twice, as a member of the Beatles in 1988 and as a solo artist in 1994).

1. ^ Christgau, Robert. "John Lennon | Biography, Songs, Albums, Death, & Facts". Britannica. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
2. ^ Coleman 1984b, p. 64.
3. ^ Newman, Jason (23 August 2011). "It Takes Two: 10 Songwriting Duos That Rocked Music History". Billboard. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 5 October 2017. By any measure, no one comes close to matching the success of The Beatles' primary songwriters.
4. ^ "24th Annual GRAMMY Awards | GRAMMY.com". grammy.com.

Cite error: There are <ref group=nb> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=nb}} template (see the help page).

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9 December 1851 – The first YMCA in North America is established in Montreal.

YMCA

Worldwide youth organization

This article is about the organization. For the Village People song, see Y.M.C.A. (song). For other uses, see YMCA (disambiguation).

YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches worldwide.^[1] It was founded in London on 6 June 1844 by George Williams as the Young Men's Christian Association. The organization's stated aim is to put Christian values into practice by developing a healthy body, mind, and spirit.

From its inception, YMCA grew rapidly, ultimately becoming a worldwide movement founded on the principles of muscular Christianity. Local YMCAs deliver projects and services focused on youth development through a wide variety of youth activities, including providing athletic facilities, holding classes for a wide variety of skills, promoting Christianity, and humanitarian work.

YMCA is a non-governmental federation, with each independent local YMCA affiliated with its national organization. The national organizations, in turn, are part of both a geographically regional area alliance and the World Alliance of YMCA. YMCA programs vary between nations and regions, but are all based on the principles espoused in the Paris Basis.

The YMCA is a parachurch organization based on Protestant values.^[2][3] Similar organizations include the YWCA, and the Young Men's Hebrew Association (YMHA).

In popular culture, the YMCA is the subject of the 1978 song "Y.M.C.A." by the Village People.

1. ^ "Blue Book". World Alliance of YMCAs. 10 July 2018. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
2. ^ Heath, Gordon L. (31 October 2016). American Churches and the First World War. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 9781532601149.
3. ^ Ferentinos, Susan (16 December 2014). Interpreting LGBT History at Museums and Historic Sites. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780759123748.

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10 December 1799 – France adopts the metre as its official unit of length.

Unit of length

Reference value of length

A unit of length refers to any arbitrarily chosen and accepted reference standard for measurement of length. The most common units in modern use are the metric units, used in every country globally. In the United States the U.S. customary units are also in use. British Imperial units are still used for some purposes in the United Kingdom and some other countries. The metric system is sub-divided into SI and non-SI units.^[1][2][3]

1. ^ Cardarelli, François (2003). Encyclopaedia of Scientific Units, Weights, and Measures: Their SI Equivalences and Origins. Springer. ISBN 9781852336820.
2. ^ Hinkelman, Edward G.; Sibylla Putzi (2005). Dictionary Of International Trade: Handbook Of The Global Trade Community. World Trade Press. p. 245. ISBN 9781885073723.
3. ^ Judson, Lewis Van Hagen (1960). Units of Weight and Measure (United States Customary and Metric): Definitions and Tables of Equivalents, Issue,233. U.S. Department of Commerce, National Bureau of Standards. pp. 3–4. Retrieved 16 October 2012.

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11 December 2005 – Cronulla riots: Thousands of White Australians demonstrate against ethnic violence resulting in a riot against anyone thought to be Lebanese in Cronulla, New South Wales; these are followed up by retaliatory ethnic attacks on Cronulla.

2005 Cronulla riots

Civil disturbance in New South Wales, Australia

The 2005 Cronulla riots were a series of race riots in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It began in the beachside suburb of Cronulla on 11 December, and spread over to additional suburbs the next few nights.

The riots were triggered by an event the previous Sunday, when an altercation turned physical between a group of youths of Middle Eastern appearance and lifeguards on Cronulla beach. Following the reporting of this event by the tabloid media and "shock jocks" on local radio, a racially motivated gathering was organised via chain texting for the following weekend.

A crowd gathered at Cronulla on the morning of Sunday, 11 December, and, by midday, approximately 5,000 people had gathered near the beach. The gathering turned violent and the police attempted to protect individuals of ethnic minority groups who were attacked by the rioters. Violence spread to other southern suburbs of Sydney, where assaults occurred, including two stabbings and attacks on ambulances and police officers. Travel warnings for Australia were issued by some countries but were later removed.

The riots were widely condemned by local, state, and federal members of parliament, police, local community leaders, and residents of Cronulla and adjacent areas. An abnormally large number of arrests were made over the subsequent months thanks to a giant police effort, from both the initial riot on 11 December and the retaliations over the subsequent nights. Some media were criticised and well-known radio personality Alan Jones was formally censured and fined for his inflammatory broadcasts during that week.

1. ^ "Mobs rampage in Cronulla". The Sydney Morning Herald. 11 December 2005. Archived from the original on 13 December 2005.
2. ^ Baden, Samantha (14 December 2005). "Police guard churches as tension rises". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australian Associated Press. Archived from the original on 8 November 2012.

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12 December 2000 – The United States Supreme Court releases its decision in Bush v. Gore.

Bush v. Gore

2000 U.S. Supreme Court case

This article is about the Supreme Court case. For the presidential race with which the case was concerned, see 2000 United States presidential election.

2000 United States Supreme Court case

Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court on December 12, 2000, that settled a recount dispute in Florida's 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. On December 8, the Florida Supreme Court had ordered a statewide recount of all undervotes, over 61,000 ballots that the vote tabulation machines had missed. The Bush campaign immediately asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the decision and halt the recount. Justice Antonin Scalia, contending that all the manual recounts being performed in Florida's counties were illegitimate, urged his colleagues to grant the stay immediately.^[1] On December 9, the five conservative justices on the Court granted the stay, with Scalia citing "irreparable harm" that could befall Bush, as the recounts would cast "a needless and unjustified cloud" over Bush's legitimacy. In dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that "counting every legally cast vote cannot constitute irreparable harm."^[1] Oral arguments were scheduled for December 11.

In a 5–4 per curiam decision, the Court ruled, strictly on equal protection grounds, that the recount be stopped. Specifically, it held that the use of different standards of counting in different counties violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution; the case had also been argued on Article II jurisdictional grounds, which found favor with only Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and William Rehnquist. The Court then ruled as to a remedy, deciding against the one, proposed by Justices Stephen Breyer and David Souter, of sending the case back to Florida to complete the recount using a uniform statewide standard before the scheduled December 18 meeting of Florida's electors in Tallahassee.^[1] Instead, the majority held that no alternative method could be established within the discretionary December 12 "safe harbor" deadline set by Title 3 of the United States Code (3 U.S.C.), § 5, which the Florida Supreme Court had stated that the Florida Legislature intended to meet.^[2] The Court, holding that not meeting the "safe harbor" deadline would violate the Florida Election Code, rejected an extension of the deadline to allow the Florida court to finish counting disputed ballots under uniform guidelines requested in a remedy proposed by Breyer and Souter. That deadline arrived two hours after the release of the Court's decision.

The Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore was among the most controversial in U.S. history, as it allowed Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris's vote certification to stand, giving Bush Florida's 25 electoral votes. Florida's votes gave Bush, the Republican nominee, 271 electoral votes, one more than the 270 required to win the Electoral College. This meant the defeat of Democratic candidate Al Gore, who received 266 electoral votes.^[a] Media organizations later analyzed the ballots and found that, under specified criteria, the original limited recount of undervotes in several large counties would have resulted in a Bush victory, but according to the Florida Ballot Project, a statewide recount would have shown that Gore received the most votes. Florida later retired the punch-card voting machines that produced the ballots disputed in the case.^[3][4][5]

1. ^ ^{a b c} Margolick, David (March 19, 2014). "Behind the aftermath of the 2000 U.S. election". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on April 16, 2024. Retrieved November 1, 2024.
2. ^ "Search – Supreme Court of the United States". www.supremecourt.gov.
3. ^ Cite error: The named reference FBP was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
4. ^ Cite error: The named reference battle was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
5. ^ Cite error: The named reference NORCc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

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13 December 1642 – Abel Tasman is the first recorded European to sight New Zealand.

Abel Tasman

Dutch seafarer, explorer and merchant (1603–1659)

For other uses, see Abel Tasman (disambiguation).

Abel Janszoon Tasman (Dutch: [ˈaːbəl ˈjɑnsoːn ˈtɑsmɑn]; 1603 – 10 October 1659) was a Dutch seafarer and explorer, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was responsible for the naming of New Zealand, as well as being the namesake for Tasmania.

Born in 1603 in Lutjegast, Netherlands, Tasman started his career as a merchant seaman and became a skilled navigator. In 1633, he joined the VOC and sailed to Batavia, now Jakarta, Indonesia. He participated in several voyages, including one to Japan. In 1642, Tasman was appointed by the VOC to lead an expedition to explore the uncharted regions of the Southern Pacific Ocean. His mission was to discover new trade routes and to establish trade relations with the native inhabitants. After leaving Batavia, Tasman sailed westward to Mauritius, then south to the Roaring Forties, then eastward, and reached the coast of Tasmania, which he named Van Diemen's Land after his patron. He then sailed north east, and was the first European to discover the west coast of New Zealand, which he named Staten Landt, but later renamed Nieuw Zeeland after the Dutch province of Zeeland.

Despite his achievements, Tasman's expedition was not entirely successful. The encounter with the Māori people on the South Island of New Zealand resulted in a violent confrontation, which left four of Tasman's men dead. He returned to Batavia without having made any significant contact with the native inhabitants or establishing any trade relations. Nonetheless, Tasman's expedition paved the way for further exploration and colonization of Australia and New Zealand by the British. Tasman continued to serve the Dutch East India Company until his death in 1659, leaving behind a legacy as one of the greatest explorers of his time.

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14 December 1287 – St. Lucia's flood: The Zuiderzee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses, killing over 50,000 people

St. Lucia's flood

Storm tide that affected the Netherlands and Northern Germany in 1287

St. Lucia's flood (Sint-Luciavloed) was a storm tide that affected the Netherlands and Northern Germany on 13/14 December 1287 (OS),^{[1][circular reference]} St. Lucia Day and the day after, killing approximately 50,000 to 80,000 people in one of the largest floods in recorded history. A low-pressure system mixed with a high tide caused the North Sea to rise over the seawalls and dikes, causing a large portion of the Netherlands and Northern Germany to be flooded. ^[2]

This disaster was similar to the North Sea flood of 1953, when an intense European windstorm coinciding with a high tide caused a huge storm surge. The St. Lucia flood had a major influence on the subsequent history of the Netherlands. As a result of this event, a vast percentage of the country's population was wiped out.^[3]

1. ^ "Sint-Luciavloed", Wikipedia (in Dutch), 2021-03-25, retrieved 2021-12-13
2. ^ Goolsby, Abe. "1287: St. Lucia's Flood Transformed the Netherlands". RFD. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
3. ^ "Zuiderzee floods". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 27, 2024.

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15 December 1869 – The short-lived Republic of Ezo is proclaimed in the Ezo area of Japan. It is the first attempt to establish a democracy in Japan.

Republic of Ezo

1869 short-lived state on Hokkaido

The Republic of Ezo (蝦夷共和國, Ezo Kyōwakoku) was a short-lived separatist state established in 1869 on the island of Ezo, now Hokkaido, by a part of the former military of the Tokugawa shogunate at the end of the Bakumatsu period in Japan. It was the first government to attempt to institute democracy in Japan, though voting was allowed only to the samurai caste. The Republic of Ezo existed for five months before being annexed by the newly established Empire of Japan.

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16 December 1707 – Most Recent Eruption of Mount Fuji.

Hōei eruption

Last major eruption of Mount Fuji (1707–08)

The Hōei eruption of Mount Fuji started on December 16, 1707 (during the Hōei era, 23rd day of the 11th month of the 4th year) and ended on February 24, 1708. It was the last confirmed eruption of Mount Fuji, with three unconfirmed eruptions reported from 1708 to 1854.^[2] The eruption took place during the reign of Emperor Higashiyama and the Shogun was Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. It is well known for the immense ash-fall it produced over eastern Japan and subsequent landslides and starvation across the country. Hokusai's One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji includes an image of the small crater at a secondary eruption site on the southwestern slope. The area where the eruption occurred is called Mount Hōei because it occurred in the fourth year of the Hōei era.^[3] Today, the crater of the main eruption can be visited from the Fujinomiya or Gotemba Trails on Mount Fuji.

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Fujisan". Global Volcanism Program. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2019-01-12.
2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Global Volcanism Program was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
3. ^ Cite error: The named reference s197 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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17 December 1892 – First issue of Vogue is published.

Vogue (magazine)

American fashion and lifestyle magazine

For any other use, see Vogue (disambiguation).

Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox magazine with unknown parameter "image-caption"

Vogue (stylized in all caps), also known as American Vogue, is a monthly fashion and lifestyle magazine that covers style news, including haute couture fashion, beauty, culture, living, and runway. It is part of the global collection of Condé Nast's VOGUE media.

Headquartered at One World Trade Center in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, Vogue began in 1892 as a weekly newspaper before becoming a monthly magazine years later. Since its founding, Vogue has featured numerous actors, musicians, models, athletes, and other prominent celebrities.

British Vogue, launched in 1916, was the first international edition, while the Italian version Vogue Italia has been called the top fashion magazine in the world.^[2] As of March 2024, there are 28 international editions. 11 of these editions are published by Condé Nast (British Vogue, Vogue Arabia, Vogue China, Vogue Deutsch, Vogue España, Vogue France, Vogue India, Vogue Italia, Vogue Japan, Vogue México y Latinoamérica, and Vogue Taiwan). The remaining 16 editions are published as licensees of Vogue.

1. ^ "Circulation for Consumer Magazines". Alliance for Audited Media. December 31, 2023. Archived from the original on July 31, 2024. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
2. ^ Press, Debbie (2004). Your Modeling Career: You Don't Have to Be a Superstar to Succeed. New York: Allworth Press. ISBN 978-1-58115-359-0. Archived from the original on August 10, 2023. Retrieved February 11, 2018.

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18 December 1833 – The national anthem of the Russian Empire, "God Save the Tsar!", is first performed.

God Save the Tsar!

Former national anthem of the Russian Empire

"God Save the Tsar!" (Russian: Боже, Царя храни!, IPA: [ˈboʐɨ tsɐˈrʲa xrɐˈnʲi]) was the national anthem of the Russian Empire. The song was chosen from a competition held in 1833 and was first performed on 18 December 1833. It was composed by violinist Alexei Lvov, with lyrics written by the court poet Vasily Zhukovsky. It was the anthem until the February Revolution of 1917, after which "Worker's Marseillaise" was adopted as the new national anthem until the overthrow of the Russian Provisional Government by the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution of the same year.

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18 December 1833 – The national anthem of the Russian Empire, "God Save the Tsar!", is first performed.

God Save the Tsar!

Former national anthem of the Russian Empire

"God Save the Tsar!" (Russian: Боже, Царя храни!, IPA: [ˈboʐɨ tsɐˈrʲa xrɐˈnʲi]) was the national anthem of the Russian Empire. The song was chosen from a competition held in 1833 and was first performed on 18 December 1833. It was composed by violinist Alexei Lvov, with lyrics written by the court poet Vasily Zhukovsky. It was the anthem until the February Revolution of 1917, after which "Worker's Marseillaise" was adopted as the new national anthem until the overthrow of the Russian Provisional Government by the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution of the same year.

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19 December 1924 – The last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost is sold in London, England.

Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost

Luxury car produced from 1906 to 1926

"Silver Ghost" redirects here. For other uses, see Silver Ghost (disambiguation).

For the luxury sedan produced by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and introduced in 2009, see Rolls-Royce Ghost.

Motor vehicle

The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost name refers both to a car model and one specific car from that series. Originally named the "40/50 h.p." the chassis was first made at Royce's Manchester works, with production moving to Derby in July 1908, and also, between 1921 and 1926, in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. Chassis no. 60551, registered AX 201, was the car that was originally given the name "Silver Ghost". Other 40/50 hp cars were also given names, but the Silver Ghost title was taken up by the press, and soon all 40/50s were called by the name, a fact not officially recognised by Rolls-Royce until 1925, when the Phantom range was launched.

The Silver Ghost was the origin of Rolls-Royce's claim of making the "best car in the world" – a phrase coined not by themselves, but by the prestigious publication Autocar in 1907.^[3] The chassis and engine were also used as the basis of a range of Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars. In December 1923, four friends of Woodrow Wilson chipped in to buy the former president a Silver Ghost, just weeks before Wilson's death in February 1924. The car was modified so that Wilson, who was disabled, could enter and exit the car more easily.

1. ^ The Rolls-Royce Motor Car. Anthony Bird and Ian Hallows. Batsford Books. 2002 ISBN 0-7134-8749-6
2. ^ Cite error: The named reference kimes1996 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
3. ^ "1907-1918 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost pre-WW1". K500.com. Retrieved 20 December 2024.

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20 December 1989 – The United States invasion of Panama deposes Manuel Noriega.

United States invasion of Panama

1989 United States military invasion of Panama

The United States invaded Panama in mid-December 1989 during the presidency of George H. W. Bush. The stated purpose of the invasion was to depose the de facto ruler of Panama, General Manuel Noriega, who was wanted by U.S. authorities for racketeering and drug trafficking. The operation, codenamed Operation Just Cause, concluded in late January 1990 with the surrender of Noriega.^[9] The Panama Defense Forces (PDF) were dissolved, and President-elect Guillermo Endara was sworn into office.

Noriega, who had longstanding ties to United States intelligence agencies, consolidated power to become Panama's de facto dictator in the early 1980s. In the mid-1980s, relations between Noriega and the U.S. began to deteriorate due to fallout of the murder of Hugo Spadafora and the removal from office of President Nicolas Ardito Barletta. His criminal activities and association with other spy agencies came to light, and in 1988 he was indicted by federal grand juries on several drug-related charges. Negotiations seeking his resignation, which began under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, were ultimately unsuccessful. In 1989, Noriega annulled the results of the Panamanian general elections, which appeared to have been won by opposition candidate Guillermo Endara; President Bush responded by reinforcing the U.S. garrison in the Canal Zone. After a U.S. Marine officer was shot dead at a PDF roadblock, Bush authorized the execution of the Panama invasion plan.

On December 20, the U.S. invasion of Panama began. Panamanian forces were rapidly overwhelmed, although operations continued for several weeks. Endara was sworn in as president shortly after the start of the invasion. Noriega eluded capture for several days before seeking refuge in the Holy See diplomatic mission in Panama City. He surrendered on January 3, 1990, and was then flown to the U.S., where he was tried, convicted and sentenced to 40 years in prison.

The Pentagon estimated that 516 Panamanians were killed during the invasion, including 314 soldiers and 202 civilians. A total of 23 U.S. soldiers and 3 U.S. civilians were killed. The United Nations General Assembly, the Organization of American States and the European Parliament condemned the invasion as a violation of international law.^[10][11] The United States invasion of Panama can be seen as a rare example of democratization by foreign-imposed regime change that was effective long-term.^[12]

1. ^ "Veterans Preference and "Wartime" Service". archives.gov. August 15, 2016.
2. ^ "Operation Just Cause: The Invasion of Panama, December 1989". United States Army.
3. ^ Archibold, Randal C. (May 30, 2017). "Manuel Noriega, Dictator Ousted by U.S. in Panama, Dies at 83". The New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
4. ^ ^{a b} Rohter, Larry (April 1, 1990). "Panama and U.S. Strive to Settle on Death Toll". The New York Times. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
5. ^ Chomsky, Noam (1991). Deterring Democracy. Boston, MA: South End Press. p. 164. ISBN 9781466801530.
6. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Trent, Barbara (1992). The Panama Deception.
7. ^ Riding, Alan (June 24, 1990). "U.S. Sued in Death of a Journalist in Panama". The New York Times.
8. ^ "'It's Been Worth It': Bush—U.S. Troops Take Control of Panama". Los Angeles Times. December 21, 1989.
9. ^ Donnelly, Thomas; Roth, Margaret; Baker, Caleb (1991). Operation Just Cause: The Storming of Panama. Lexington Books. ISBN 0-669-24975-0.
10. ^ "United Nations, 88th plenary meeting of the General Assembly, Resolution 44/240: Effects of the military intervention of the United States of America in Panama on the situation in Central America" (PDF). documents.un.org. December 29, 1989. Retrieved November 16, 2024.
11. ^ "Texts adopted by the European Parliament - Resolution on the situation in panama p.73-74 in: Minutes of the sitting of Thursday, 18 January 1990 OJ C 38, p. 62–129, Official Journal of the European Communities". eur-lex.europa.eu. February 18, 1990. Retrieved November 16, 2024.
12. ^ Loxton, James (2022). "The Puzzle of Panamanian Exceptionalism". Journal of Democracy. 33 (1): 85–99. doi:10.1353/jod.2022.0006.

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21 December 1937 – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the world's first full-length animated feature, premieres at the Carthay Circle Theatre.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)

Animated Disney film

For the Disney franchise, see Snow White (franchise).

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Based on the 1812 German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, the production was supervised by David Hand, and was directed by a team of sequence directors, including Perce Pearce, William Cottrell, Larry Morey, Wilfred Jackson, and Ben Sharpsteen. It is the first animated feature film produced in the United States and the first cel animated feature film.^[3]

Snow White premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles, California, on December 21, 1937, and went into general release in the United States on February 4, 1938. Despite initial doubts from the film industry, it was a critical and commercial success, with international earnings of more than $8 million during its initial release against a $1.5 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1938 and briefly held the record of the highest-grossing sound film of all time. It was also the highest-grossing animated film for 55 years. The popularity of the film has led to its being re-released theatrically many times, until its home video release in the 1990s. Adjusted for inflation, it is one of the top-ten performers at the North American box office and is still the highest-grossing animated film. Worldwide, its inflation-adjusted earnings top the animation list.^[4]

Snow White was nominated for Best Musical Score at the Academy Awards in 1938, and the next year, producer Walt Disney was awarded an honorary Oscar for the film. This award was unique, consisting of one normal-sized, plus seven miniature Oscar statuettes. They were presented to Disney by Shirley Temple.^[5]

Its prototypical animated feature and use of fairy tale adaptations as well as technical innovation became a major milestone of the early animation industry, Snow White is widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made and creating the new form of the golden age of animation; Disney's take on the fairy tale has had a significant cultural effect, resulting in popular theme park attractions, a video game, a Broadway musical, and an upcoming live-action film.

In 1989, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it as one of the first 25 films for preservation in the National Film Registry.^[6] The American Film Institute ranked it among the 100 greatest American films, and also named the film as the greatest American animated film of all time in 2008.

1. ^ Barrier 1999, p. 229.
2. ^ Cite error: The named reference gross was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
3. ^ Chaffee, Keith (October 28, 2019). "A Week to Remember: International Animation Day". Los Angeles Public Library. Archived from the original on August 11, 2023. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
4. ^ Records, Guinness World (2014). Guinness World Records. Vol. 60 (2015 ed.). Guinness World Records. pp. 160–161. ISBN 978-1-9088-4370-8. The 2015 edition of Guinness World Records does not provide an explicit figure for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. However, it does state that it is one of only two pre-1955 films—the other being Gone with the Wind—that are among the adjusted top ten. It placed tenth in the 2012 edition, and the eleventh highest-grossing film according to the 2015 edition is The Exorcist, which has grossed $1.794 billion adjusted to 2014 prices. The adjusted grosses for the other films on the chart increased by 4.2 percent between 2011 and 2014 according to Guinness and using this apparent rate of inflation would take the adjusted gross for Snow White from $1.746 billion at 2011 prices to $1.819 billion at 2014 prices.
5. ^ Gabler 2006, pp. 277–278.
6. ^ "Film Registry Picks First 25 Movies". Los Angeles Times. Washington, D.C. September 19, 1989. Archived from the original on May 5, 2020. Retrieved April 22, 2020.

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22 December 1971 – The international aid organization Doctors Without Borders is founded by Bernard Kouchner and a group of journalists in Paris, France.

Médecins Sans Frontières

International humanitarian medical non-governmental organisation

Not to be confused with Médecins du Monde.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF; pronounced [medsɛ̃ sɑ̃ fʁɔ̃tjɛʁ] ^ⓘ), also known as Doctors Without Borders, is a charity that provides humanitarian medical care. It is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) of French origin known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases.^[2] The organisation provides care for diabetes, drug-resistant infections, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, tropical and neglected diseases, tuberculosis, vaccines and COVID-19. In 2019, the charity was active in 70 countries with over 35,000 personnel; mostly local doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, logistical experts, water and sanitation engineers, and administrators.^[2] Private donors provide about 90% of the organisation's funding, while corporate donations provide the rest, giving MSF an annual budget of approximately US$1.63 billion.^[3]

MSF was founded in 1971, in the aftermath of the Biafran famine of the Nigerian Civil War, by a small group of French doctors and journalists who sought to expand accessibility to medical care across national boundaries and irrespective of race, religion, creed or political affiliation.^[4] MSF's principles and operational guidelines are highlighted in its Charter,^[5] the Chantilly Principles, and the later La Mancha Agreement.^[6] Governance is addressed in Section 2 of the Rules portion of this final document. MSF has an associative structure where operational decisions are made, independently, by the six operational centres (Amsterdam, Barcelona-Athens, Brussels, Geneva, Paris and West and Central Africa – with Headquarter office in Abidjan, Ivory Coast). Common policies on core issues are coordinated by the International Council, in which each of the 24 sections (national offices) is represented. The International Council meets in Geneva, Switzerland, where the International Office, which coordinates international activities common to the operational centres, is based.

MSF has general consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It received the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of its members' continued efforts to provide medical care in acute crises, as well as raising international awareness of potential humanitarian disasters.^[7] James Orbinski, who was the president of the organisation at the time, accepted the prize on behalf of MSF. Prior to this, MSF also received the 1996 Seoul Peace Prize.^[8] Christos Christou succeeded Joanne Liu as international president in June 2019.^[9]

1. ^ "Financial independence and accountability". Geneva, Switzerland: Médecins Sans Frontières. 4 June 2024. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
2. ^ ^{a b} "Our staff". msf.org. Archived from the original on 19 May 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
3. ^ "MSF International Financial Report 2016" (PDF). Retrieved 11 July 2021.
4. ^ "La création de Médecins Sans Frontières" (in French). Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without borders). La création de Médecins Sans Frontières. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
5. ^ "MSF's Charter – About MSF – MSF UK". msf.org.uk. Archived from the original on 21 April 2008. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
6. ^ "La Mancha Agreement". msf.dk. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2009.
7. ^ "MSF-USA: Special Report: The 10 Most Underreported Humanitarian Crises of 2005". Archived from the original on 28 December 2008.
8. ^ "Laureate 1996: Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)". The Seoul Peace Prize Cultural Foundation.
9. ^ "Ten Greeks Who Left Their Mark in 2019". GreekReporter.com. 26 December 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2022.

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23 December 1893 – The opera Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck is first performed.

Hansel and Gretel (opera)

Engelbert Humperdinck opera

Hansel and Gretel (German: Hänsel und Gretel) is an opera by nineteenth-century composer Engelbert Humperdinck, who described it as a Märchenoper (fairy-tale opera). The libretto was written by Humperdinck's sister, Adelheid Wette, based on the Grimm brothers' fairy tale of the same name. It is much admired for its folk music-inspired themes, one of the most famous being the "Abendsegen" ("Evening Benediction") from act 2.

The idea for the opera was proposed to Humperdinck by his sister, who approached him about writing music for songs that she had written for her children for Christmas based on "Hansel and Gretel". After several revisions, the musical sketches and the songs were turned into a full-scale opera.

Humperdinck composed Hansel and Gretel in Frankfurt in 1891 and 1892.^[1] The opera was first performed in the Hoftheater in Weimar on 23 December 1893, conducted by Richard Strauss. It has been associated with Christmas since its earliest performances and today it is still most often performed at Christmas time.

1. ^ Plaque: Scheffelstraße 1, Frankfurt am Main: "In this house in the years 1891 and 1892 Engelbert Humperdinck composed the opera Hänsel und Gretel"

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