• 1340 - King Edward III of England is declared King of France.
• 1500 - Vicente Yáñez Pinzón becomes the first European to set foot on Brazil.
• 1531 - Lisbon, Portugal hit by an earthquake--thousands die.
• 1564 - The Council of Trent issued its conclusions in the Tridentinum, establishing a distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.
• 1565 - Battle of Talikota, fought between the Vijayanagara Empire and the Islamic sultanates of the Deccan, leads to the subjugation, and eventual destruction of the last Hindu kingdom in India, and the consolidation of Islamic rule over much of the Indian subcontinent.
• 1589 - Job is elected as Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.
• 1699 - Treaty of Carlowitz signed.
• 1700 - The magnitude 9 Cascadia Earthquake took place off the west coast of the North America, as evidenced by Japanese records.
• 1736 - Stanislaus I of Poland abdicates his throne.
• 1788 - The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sails into Sydney Harbour to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on the continent. Commemorated as Australia Day
• 1808 - Rum Rebellion, the only successful (albeit short-lived) armed takeover of the government in Australia.
• 1837 - Michigan is admitted as the 26th U.S. state.
• 1838 - Tennessee enacts the first prohibition law in the United States
• 1841 - The United Kingdom formally occupies Hong Kong, which China later formally ceded.
• 1855 - Point No Point Treaty signed in Washington Territory.
• 1856 - First Battle of Seattle (1856). Marines from the USS Decatur drive off American Indian attackers after all day battle with settlers.
• 1861 - American Civil War: The state of Louisiana secedes from the Union.
• 1863 - American Civil War: General Ambrose Burnside is relieved of command of the Army of the Potomac after the disastrous Fredericksburg campaign. He is replaced by Joseph Hooker.
• 1863 - American Civil War: Massachusetts Governor receives permission from Secretary of War to raise a militia organization for men of African descent.
• 1870 - American Civil War: Virginia rejoins the Union.
• 1885 - Troops loyal to The Mahdi conquer Khartoum.
• 1905 - The Cullinan Diamond is found near Pretoria, South Africa at the Premier Mine.
• 1907 - The Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Mk III is officially introduced into British Military Service, and remains the oldest military rifle still in official use.
• 1911 - Glenn H. Curtiss flies the first successful seaplane.
• 1911 - Richard Strauss' opera Der Rosenkavalier receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera.
• 1920 - Former Ford Motor Co. executive Henry Leland launches the Lincoln Motor Company which he later sold to his former employer.
• 1930 - The Indian National Congress declares 26 January as Independence Day or as the day for Poorna Swaraj (Complete Independence) which occurred 20 years later.
• 1934 - The Apollo Theater reopens in Harlem, New York City.
• 1934 - German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact is signed.
• 1939 - Spanish Civil War: Troops loyal to nationalist General Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.
• 1942 - World War II: The first United States forces arrive in Europe landing in Northern Ireland.
• 1950 - India promulgates its constitution forming a republic and Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as its first president Republic Day.
• 1952 - Black Saturday in Egypt: riots burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.
• 1958 - Japanese ferry Nankai Maru capsized off southern Awaji Island, Japan, 167 killed.
• 1961 - John F. Kennedy appoints Janet G. Travell to be his physician. This is the first time a woman holds this appointment.
• 1962 - Ranger program: Ranger 3 is launched to study the moon. The space probe later missed the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km).
• 1965 - Hindi becomes the official language of India.
• 1966 - The Beaumont Children go missing from Glenelg Beach near Adelaide, South Australia.
• 1980 - Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations.
• 1988 - Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera has its first performance on Broadway at the Majestic Theatre in New York.
• 1991 - Mohamed Siad Barre is removed in Somalia, ending centralized government
• 1992 - Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia is going to stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons.
• 1998 - Lewinsky scandal: On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
• 2000 - Rap-metal band Rage Against the Machine plays in front of Wall Street, prompting an early closing of trading due to the crowds.
• 2001 - An earthquake hits Gujarat, India, causing more than 20,000 deaths.
• 2004 - President Hamid Karzai signs the new constitution of Afghanistan.
• 2004 - A whale explodes in the town of Tainan, Taiwan. A build-up of gas in the decomposing Sperm whale is suspected of causing the explosion.
• 2005 - Glendale train crash: Two trains derail killing 11 and injuring 200 in Glendale, California, near Los Angeles.
• 2005 - Condoleezza Rice is sworn in as U.S. Secretary of State, becoming the first African American woman to hold the post.
• 2006 - Western Union discontinues use of its telegram service.

Births