Historical Events on January 31

Events 1 - 200 of 214

• 314 St Silvester I begins his reign as Catholic Pope

• 1531 King Ferdinand of Austria and King John Zapolya of Hungary officially recognise each other
• 1578 Battle of Gembloux (Gembloers); Spanish forces win decisive victor over coalition rebel forces
• 1596 Catholic League disbanded
• 1609 Wisselbank of Amsterdam established
• 1616 Rounding of Cape Horn for the first time by Dutch expedition of Jacques Le Maire and Willem Corneliszoon Schouten (they name Cape Hoorn after Schouten’s hometown) [1]
• 1627 Spanish government goes bankrupt
• 1675 Cornelia/Dina Olfaarts found not guilty of witchcraft
• 1679 Jean-Baptiste Lully's opera "Bellerophon" premieres at the Palais-Royal in Paris
• 1696 Revolt by undertakers after funeral reforms (Amsterdam)
• 1747 The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital, London

• 1814 Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of Argentina.
• 1817 Franz Grillparzer's "Die Ahnfrau" premieres in Vienna
• 1846 After the Milwaukee Bridge War, Juneautown and Kilbourntown unified as the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• 1849 Corn Laws abolished in Britain
• 1851 San Francisco Orphan's Asylum founded, 1st in California
• 1854 Dutch KNMI established (Royal Meteorological Institute)
• 1855 Government of Lord Aberdeen in the United Kingdom falls, following heavy scrutiny of the Crimean War
• 1855 Treaty of Neah Bay: Makah Reservation established in US Territory of Washington for Makah nation, preserving tribal rights but ceding over 300,000 acres to the US government [1]
• 1855 Western railroads blocked by snow
• 1861 Friedrich Hebbel's play "Siegfrieds Tod" premieres in Weimar
• 1861 State of Louisiana takes over US Mint at New Orleans (U.S Civil War)
• 1862 Astronomer Alvan Graham Clark makes first observation of Sirius B (first known white dwarf star) in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts while testing his new telescope
• 1863 1st black Civil War regiment, South Carolina Volunteers, mustered into US army
• 1865 Congress passes, by vote of 121-24, the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution, abolishing slavery in the United States – except as punishment for a crime [1] [2]

• 1867 Maronite nationalist leader Youssef Karam leaves Lebanon on board of a French ship for Algeria
• 1871 Millions of birds fly over western San Francisco, darkening the sky

• 1876 The United States orders all Native Americans to move into reservations
• 1891 First attempt of a republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto, Portugal
• 1893 "Westminster Gazette" begins publishing
• 1895 Jose Martí & others leave NYC for invasion of Spanish Cuba
• 1900 Final report of the USA's Philippine Commission is released, favoring territorial government for the islands with home rule in local affairs, but with US assumptions of ultimate responsibility for the government.

• 1901 Austro-Hungarian Empire: The Reichsrath, dissolved on September 7, 1900, by Emperor Franz Joseph, reopens after the recent elections sees the defeat of extremists

• 1901 Stanley Cup, Montreal Arena, Westmount, Quebec: Winnipeg Victorias edge Montreal Shamrocks, 2-1 to sweep challenge series, 2-0
• 1905 1st automobile to exceed 100 mph (161 kph), British daredevil Arthur Macdonald drive a Napier six-cylinder racing car named 'Samson' on sands of Daytona Beach, Florida, notching a top speed of 104 mph
• 1905 Carroll Wright appointed 1st Commissioner of Labor, USA
• 1906 Strongest instrumentally recorded earthquake then recorded at 8.8 on the Richter Scale, occurs off the coast of Ecuador and Colombia killing over 1,00 people
• 1911 Congress names San Francisco as Panama Canal opening celebration site
• 1916 Dutch Girl Guides form
• 1917 Germany notifies US that U-boats will attack neutral merchant ship
• 1917 Mexican President Carranza announces a new constitution with many liberal elements, most of which his regime is unable to implement
• 1918 A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.
• 1919 The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland: troops deployed against protesters for fear of a Bolshevik uprising
• 1920 1st daily Ukrainian language US newspaper, "Ukraïns'ki Shchodenni Visti "(Ukrainian Daily News), begins publishing in New York City; publication initially sponsored by the Ukrainian Section of the Communist Party
• 1920 Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity incorporates at Howard University

• 1923 Montreal Canadiens beat Hamilton Tigers, 5-4 at the Mount Royal Arena, Montreal; first penalty-free game played in NHL history

• 1924 Herma Szabo of Austria wins the ladies figure skating gold medal at the Chamonix Winter Olympics; only women's event at the Games
• 1925 Premier Ahmed Zogu becomes president of Angola
• 1927 Internationall allied military command in Germany disbands

• 1928 Scotch tape 1st marketed by 3-M Company

• 1930 1st US glider flight from a dirigible, Lakehurst, New Jersey
• 1931 Philip Barry's play "Tomorrow & Tomorrow" premieres in NYC
• 1932 US railway unions accept 10% wage reduction

• 1936 "Green Hornet" radio show is 1st heard on WXYZ Radio in Detroit
• 1940 C Turney & J Horwin's "My Dear Children" premieres in NYC
• 1941 Anti-German demonstration in Haarlem, Netherlands
• 1941 British army Layforce commando units set sail

• 1943 Chile breaks off relations with Germany & Japan

• 1944 U-592 sunk off Ireland
• 1944 US forces invade Kwajalein Atoll
• 1945 Soviet troops reach the Oder River, less that 50 miles from Berlin
• 1945 US 4th Infantry division occupies Elcherrath
• 1946 Yugoslavia adopts new constitution, becomes a federal republic
• 1948 An unprecedented 3-way tie for the silver medal in the 500m speed skating at the St. Moritz Winter Olympics; Americans Robert Fitzgerald & Ken Bartholomew, and Thomas Byberg of Norway are equal on 43.2s; Finn Helgesen of Norway wins gold, 43.1s

• 1948 Magnetic tape recorder developed by Wireway
• 1948 Sweden sweeps the medals in the 18km cross country event at the St. Moritz Winter Olympics; Martin Lundström takes gold ahead of countrymen Nils Östensson and Gunnar Eriksson
• 1948 Swiss pair Felix Endrich & Friedrich Waller beat countrymen Fritz Feierabend & Paul Eberhard to win the 2-man bobsleigh gold medal at the St. Moritz Winter Olympics; silver medallist Feierabend is team coach
• 1949 1st US daytime soap on TV "These Are My Children" (NBC in Chicago)

• 1952 Detroit Tigers Harry Heilmann & Pittsburgh Pirates Paul Waner elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
• 1952 Dutch Lutheran Church reunites after 1½ centuries
• 1953 "Princess Victoria" capsized off Stanraer Scotland; 133 die
• 1953 Hurricane-like winds flood Netherlands, drowning 1,835

• 1955 RCA demonstrates 1st music synthesizer
• 1956 Austrian skier Toni Sailer wins the slalom at the Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics for his 2nd gold medal of the Games; sweeps all 3 alpine skiing events

• 1956 Juscelino Kubitschek becomes president of Brazil
• 1957 Eight people on the ground in Pacoima, California are killed following the mid-air collision between a Douglas DC-7 airliner and a Northrop F-89 Scorpion fighter jet.
• 1957 Trans-Iranian oil pipe line finished

• 1958 Earth's radiation belt first discovered by space scientist James van Allen and his team at Iowa University [1]
• 1958 US launches their 1st artificial satellite, Explorer 1

• 1961 Ham the chimpanzee is 1st primate in space (158 miles) aboard Mercury/Redstone 2
• 1961 Houston voters approve bond to finance luxury domed stadium
• 1961 Kanhai completes twin tons (117 & 115) v Aust at Adelaide
• 1961 NATO Secretary-General Paul-Henri Spaak says he'll resign
• 1961 USAF launches Samos spy satellite to replace U-2 flights
• 1961 West Indian cricket batsman Rohan Kanhai scores back-to-back centuries in the drawn 4th Test against Australia in Adelaide; follows 1st innings 117 with 115 in 2nd knock
• 1962 Samuel Gravely assumes command of destroyer escort "USS Falgout", first African American to command a combat ship
• 1962 USAF General Charles P. Cabell ends term as deputy director of CIA

• 1965 19th century pitcher James 'Pud' Galvin elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
• 1966 Belgian state police kills 2 striking mine workers
• 1966 Bill Lawry (119) & Bob Simpson (225) complete match-winning 244 opening stand in Australia's 1st innings, 4th Test v England in Adelaide
• 1966 USSR launches Luna 9 towards Moon
• 1968 Bobby Simpson takes 5-59 v India in his last Test for ten years
• 1968 Nauru (formerly Pleasant Island) declares independence from Australia
• 1968 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1969 Vice Admiral Rufus L Taylor, USN, ends term as deputy director of CIA
• 1970 Grateful Dead members and entourage busted, down on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana on LSD charges [1]

• 1971 Apollo 14 launched, 1st landing in lunar highlands

• 1971 Special Veterans Committee adds 6 former players and 1 executive to the Baseball Hall of Fame: Dave Bancroft, Jake Beckley, Chick Hafey, Harry Hooper, Joe Kelley, Rube Marquard and George Weiss

• 1972 Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev becomes 11th King of Nepal
• 1972 British Home Secretary Reginald Maudling to House of Commons on 'Bloody Sunday', "The Army returned the fire directed at them with aimed shots and inflicted a number of casualties on those who were attacking them with firearms and with bombs"
• 1972 Military coup ousts civilian government of Ghana
• 1972 US launches HEOS A-2 for interplanetary observations (396/244,998)

• 1976 "Love Rollercoaster" by Ohio Players hits #1
• 1976 In his final Test, West Indian cricket spin bowler Lance Gibbs dismisses Australian opener Ian Redpath for 101 in 6th Test in Melbourne; becomes highest Test wicket-taker at 308
• 1977 Frenchman Francois Claustre freed, after 33 months as hostage in Chad

• 1977 The Pompidou Centre, designed by architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, housing the greatest collection of modern and contemporary art in Europe, is inaugurated in Paris [1]
• 1978 Israel turns 3 milt outposts in West Bank into civilian settlements
• 1980 Police storm occupied Spanish embassy in Guatemala City, killing 41
• 1981 "The Tide Is High" by Blondie hits #1
• 1981 Gaetan Boucher skates world record 1000m (1:13.39)
• 1982 10 Arabian oryx (extinct except in zoos) released in Oman
• 1982 Gustafson skates world record 10 km (14:26.59)
• 1983 In an effort to reduce driving deaths, a new law in UK requires drivers and front-seat passengers to wear seatbelts
• 1984 Edwin Newman retires from NBC News after 35 years with the network
• 1984 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

• 1986 Mary Lund of Minneapolis, 1st female recipient of an artificial heart receives a donor heart
• 1987 United Steel workers union ratified a concessionary with USX Corp
• 1988 Barge sinks near Anacortes, WA, spills 70,000 gallons of oil

• 1990 1st ever all-sports daily "National" begins publishing
• 1990 1st McDonalds in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow
• 1990 Jushin "Thunder" Liger beats Naoki Sano to become New Japan IWGP champ
• 1991 "Close-Up", Iranian film directed by Abbas Kiarostami, starring Hossain Sabzian and Mohsen Makhmalbaf, is released
• 1991 American pilot Robert Gibson flies record 27,040 feet (8,242 m) altitude in horizontal flight, over Houston, Texas (since superseded)
• 1991 Denver Nuggets Michael Adams becomes shortest NBAer to get a triple-double
• 1992 MTA raised tolls on most NYC bridges from $2.50 to $3.00
• 1993 Super Bowl XXVII, Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA: Dallas Cowboys beat Buffalo Bills, 52-17; MVP: Troy Aikman, Dallas, QB
• 1994 Barcelona opera theater "Gran Teatro del Liceo", built in 1847, burns down for the second time; re-built and re-opens in 1999
• 1994 Dow Jones hits a record 3,978.36

• 1996 50 people die and many more injured in a suicide bombing in Sri Lanka by separatist Tamil Tigers
• 1997 "Final Fantasy VII" is released by Square and Sony Computer Entertainment to PlayStation
• 1997 San Antonio forward Dominique Wilkins scores 27 points in the Spurs' 97-95 loss to Minnesota; gives him 26,009 career points; only the 6th NBA player to reach the 26k milestone
• 1998 STS 89 (Endeavour 12) lands

• 1999 Super Bowl XXXIII, Pro Player Stadium, Miami, FL: Denver Broncos beat Atlanta Falcons, 34-19; MVP: John Elway, Denver, QB
• 2000 Alaska Airlines flight 261 MD-83, experiencing horizontal stabilizer problems, crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point Mugu, California, killing all 88 persons aboard.
• 2000 Family GP Dr Harold Shipman is jailed for life for murdering 15 of his patients, making him Britain's most prolific convicted serial killer

• 2003 The Waterfall rail accident occurs near Waterfall, New South Wales, Australia; 7 die when train driver has a heart attack and safety system fails

• 2007 Suspects are arrested in Birmingham in the UK, accused of plotting the kidnap, holding and eventual beheading of a serving Muslim British soldier in Iraq
• 2009 In Kenya, at least 113 people are killed and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people.
• 2010 52nd Grammy Awards: "Use Somebody", Zac Brown Band win

• 2013 300 people are injured in a train collision in Pretoria, South Africa
• 2013 36 people are killed and 126 are injured in an explosion at Torre Ejecutiva Pemex, Mexico

• 2015 Atlanta Hawks set a new NBA monthly win record as they move to 17-0 for January, with a 91-85 win against the Philadelphia 76ers
• 2015 Australia defeats South Korea in football to win the 2015 AFC Asian Cup
• 2015 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees: Junior Seau, Jerome Bettis, Charles Haley, Will Shields, Tim Brown, Mick Tingelhoff
• 2015 Sergio Mattarella is elected President of Italy
• 2016 "World's Best Chef" French-Swiss Benoît Violier found dead after apparent suicide weeks after being named world's best by La Liste
• 2017 Philip Glass' Symphony No. 11, premieres with the Bruckner Orchester Linz conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, at Carnegie Hall in NYC
• 2017 Romanian government passes emergency decree to release prisoners and decriminalise corruption charges, triggering huge protests in Bucharest

• 2017 US President Donald Trump fires Attorney General Sally Yates after she instructs Justice Department officials not to defend Trump's travel ban
• 2018 Houston guard James Harden becomes first player in NBA history to log a 60-point triple-double with 60 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists, 4 steals and a block in Rockets' 114-107 win over Orlando Magic
• 2018 Trump administration formally suspends the Clean Water Act
• 2019 At least 20 newborns and children have died in last two months of the cold, trying to get to the Al-Ho Syrian refugee camp according to WHO
• 2019 Blockbuster NBA trade: NY Knicks send Kristaps Porziņģis, Tim Hardaway Jr., Courtney Lee & Trey Burke to Dallas Mavericks for Dennis Smith Jr., DeAndre Jordan, Wesley Matthews & 2 future 1st-round picks
• 2019 Catholic leaders in Texas name 286 priests and others accused of sexually abusing children, dating back to 1940

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