Historical Events on Saturday, 20th December

20/12/2024

Six people are killed and over 200 are injured when an anti-Islam activist drives a car into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany.

On 20 December 2024, an SUV was driven into a crowd at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, killing 6 people and injuring 309 others. The driver of the car, allegedly 50-year-old anti-Islam activist Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen, was arrested at the scene. German authorities have described the suspect as an Islamophobe. Investigators continue to search for a motive, which remains unknown. The Federal Prosecutor General classified the attack not as an act of terrorism, but as a rampage.

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A mass stabbing occurs in a primary school in Zagreb, Croatia, in which a 7-year-old pupil is killed and six more are injured by a knife-wielding 19-year-old male.

On 20 December 2024, a mass stabbing occurred at Prečko Elementary School in Zagreb, Croatia. 19-year-old Leonardo Mušančić stabbed seven individuals, resulting in the death of a 7-year-old student. Six others, five students and a teacher, also sustained injuries.

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20/12/2022

A Vega C rocket carrying two Pléiades Neo satellites fails after liftoff.

Vega C, or Vega Consolidation, is a European expendable, medium-lift launch vehicle developed and produced by Avio. It is an evolution of the original Vega launcher, designed to offer greater launch performance and flexibility.

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20/12/2019

The United States Space Force becomes the first new branch of the United States Armed Forces since 1947.

The United States Space Force (USSF) is the space service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and was established on 20 December 2019. Part of the United States Department of Defense, it is one of the six armed forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the second independent space force to have been formed, after the Russian Space Forces; together with that of China, it is one of only two still extant.

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20/12/2016

Aerosucre Flight 157 crashes during takeoff from Germán Olano Airport in Puerto Carreño, Colombia, killing five people.

Aerosucre Flight 157 was a domestic cargo flight from Germán Olano Airport in Puerto Carreño, Colombia, to El Dorado International Airport, Bogotá. On 20 December 2016, the Boeing 727-2J0F operating the route overran the runway during takeoff, striking the perimeter fence and other obstacles before becoming airborne, ultimately losing control and crashing 4 nmi from the airport. Of the six people on board, only one survived, with severe injuries.

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20/12/2007

Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch in the history of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years and 243 days.

Elizabeth II was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime and was the monarch of 15 realms at her death. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days is the longest of any British monarch, the second-longest of any sovereign state, and the longest of any queen regnant in history.

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The Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, and O Lavrador de Café by Brazilian modernist painter Cândido Portinari, are stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art in Brazil. Both will be recovered a few weeks later.

Portrait of Suzanne Bloch is an oil on canvas painting executed by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso in Paris in 1904, towards the end of his Blue Period. The subject, Suzanne Bloch, was a singer known for her Wagner interpretations, and the sister of the violinist Henri Bloch. The painting is housed in the São Paulo Museum of Art.

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20/12/2004

A gang of thieves steal £26.5 million worth of currency from the Donegall Square West headquarters of Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, one of the largest bank robberies in British history.

On 20 December 2004, £26.5 million in cash was stolen from the headquarters of Northern Bank on Donegall Square West in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Having taken family members of two bank officials hostage, an armed gang forced the workers to help them steal both used and unused pound sterling banknotes. The money was then loaded into a van and driven away in two trips. This was one of the largest bank robberies in the history of the United Kingdom.

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20/12/1999

Macau is handed over to China by Portugal.

Macau or Macao is a special administrative region of China. It consists of the Macau Peninsula, the islands of Taipa and Coloane, the Cotai reclamation zone between Taipa and Coloane, and several smaller islets. It borders Zhuhai to the north and west, and it lies west of Hong Kong, separated by the Pearl River estuary. With a population of about 720,000 people and a land area of 32.9 square kilometres (12.7 sq mi), it is the most densely populated region in the world.

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20/12/1995

American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757, crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia, killing 159 of the 163 people on board.

American Airlines Flight 965 was a regularly scheduled flight from Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida, to Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport in Cali, Colombia. On December 20, 1995, the Boeing 757-200 flying this route crashed into a mountain in Buga, Colombia, around 9:40 pm killing 151 of the 155 passengers and all 8 crew members.

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20/12/1991

A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.

Palestina Zein "Tina" Isa was a Brazilian-American teenage girl murdered in an honor killing in St. Louis, Missouri, by her parents, Zein and Maria Isa. Her death was recorded on audiotape during Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) surveillance on Zein Isa due to his association with the Abu Nidal Organization (ANO). He and his wife were both convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Zein Isa died of diabetes before he could be executed. Maria Isa was later resentenced to life imprisonment and died in prison.

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20/12/1989

The United States invasion of Panama deposes Manuel Noriega.

The United States invasion of Panama began in mid-December 1989 during the presidency of George H. W. Bush. The 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. The Panama Defense Forces (PDF) were dissolved, and president-elect Guillermo Endara was sworn into office.

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20/12/1988

War on drugs: The United Nations agrees upon and promulgates the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, one of three major drug control treaties currently in force.

The war on drugs, sometimes referred to in the 21st century as the war on cartels in contexts of military intervention and counterterrorism, is a global anti-narcotics campaign led by the United States federal government, ramped up after 9/11, including drug prohibition and foreign assistance, with the aim of reducing the illegal drug trade in the US. The initiative's efforts includes policies intended to discourage the production, distribution, and consumption of psychoactive drugs that the participating governments, through United Nations treaties, have made illegal.

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20/12/1987

In the worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker MT Vector in the Tablas Strait of the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).

MV Doña Paz was a Japanese-built and Philippine-registered passenger ferry that sank after she collided with the oil tanker Vector on December 20, 1987. Built by Onomichi Dockyard Co., Ltd. of Hiroshima, Japan, the ship was launched on April 25, 1963 as the Himeyuri Maru with a passenger capacity of 608. In October 1975, the Himeyuri Maru was bought by Sulpicio Lines and renamed the Don Sulpicio. After a fire aboard in June 1979, the ship was refurbished and renamed Doña Paz.

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20/12/1985

Pope John Paul II announces the creation of World Youth Day.

Pope John Paul II was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death in 2005. He was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in the 16th century, as well as the third-longest-serving pope in history, after St. Peter and Pius IX.

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20/12/1984

The Summit Tunnel fire, one of the largest transportation tunnel fires in history, burns after a freight train carrying over one million liters of gasoline derails near the town of Todmorden, England, in the Pennines.

The Summit Tunnel fire occurred on 20 December 1984, when a dangerous goods train caught fire while passing through the Summit Tunnel on the railway line between Littleborough and Todmorden on the Greater Manchester/West Yorkshire border, England.

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Disappearance of Jonelle Matthews from Greeley, Colorado. Her remains were discovered on July 23, 2019, located about 24 km (15 mi) southeast of Jonelle's home. The cause of death "was a gunshot wound to the head."

Jonelle Renee Matthews was a 12-year-old American girl who disappeared near Greeley, Colorado, on December 20, 1984. Her remains were discovered on July 24, 2019, by construction workers installing a new pipeline 15 miles (24 km) from her home. Steven Pankey was sentenced to life imprisonment on October 31, 2022, after his arrest and trial for Matthews's murder.

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20/12/1977

With the approval of the State Council, China's two largest newspapers, the People's Daily and the Guangming Daily, publish in full for the first time the Second Chinese Character Simplification Scheme.

The State Council of the People's Republic of China, synonymous with Central People's Government, is the supreme administrative organ of the country's unified state apparatus and the executive organ of the National People's Congress (NPC), the supreme organ of state power. It is composed of a premier, vice premiers, state councilors, ministers, chairpersons of commissions, an auditor-general, the governor of the People's Bank of China, and a secretary-general.

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20/12/1973

Assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco: A car bomb planted by ETA in Madrid kills three people, including the Prime Minister of Spain, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco.

On 20 December 1973, Luis Carrero Blanco, the Prime Minister of Spain, was assassinated when a cache of explosives in a tunnel set up by the Basque separatist group ETA was detonated. The assassination, also known by its code name Operación Ogro or Ogro Operazioa, is considered to have been the biggest attack against the Francoist State since the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939 and had far-reaching consequences within the politics of Spain.

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20/12/1970

Koza riot: After a series of hit-and-runs and other vehicular incidents involving American service personnel, roughly 5,000 Okinawans take to the streets, clashing with American law enforcement in protest against the U.S. occupation of Okinawa.

The Koza riot was a violent and spontaneous protest against the US military presence in Japan on the night of December 20, 1970 and into the morning of the following day in Koza, now part of the city of Okinawa. Roughly 5,000 Okinawans clashed with roughly 700 US military police officers in an event which has been regarded as symbolic of Okinawan anger against 25 years of US military administration. The immediate trigger was a US serviceman hitting an Okinawan man while drunk driving. In the riot, approximately 60 Americans and 27 Okinawans were injured, 80 cars were burned, US military police used tear gas, and several buildings on Kadena Air Base were destroyed or heavily damaged.

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20/12/1968

The Zodiac Killer murders his first two officially confirmed victims, David Arthur Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, on Lake Herman Road in Benicia, California, United States.

The Zodiac is the pseudonym of an unidentified serial killer who murdered at least five people in the San Francisco Bay Area between December 1968 and October 1969. The Zodiac attacked three couples and a cab driver in Benicia, Vallejo, unincorporated Napa County, and the city of San Francisco. Two of the Zodiac's seven victims survived.

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20/12/1960

Vietnam War: The National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, popularly known as the Viet Cong, is formally established in Tân Lập village, present day Tây Ninh province.

The Vietnam War was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. The conflict was the second of the Indochina wars and a proxy war of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and US. The Vietnam War was one of the postcolonial wars of national liberation, a theater in the Cold War, and a civil war, with civil warfare a defining feature from the outset. Direct US military involvement escalated from 1965 until US forces were withdrawn in 1973. The fighting spilled into the Laotian and Cambodian civil wars, which ended with all three countries becoming communist in 1975.

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20/12/1957

The initial production version of the Boeing 707 makes its first flight.

The Boeing 707 is an early American long-range narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, the initial 707-120 first flew on December 20, 1957. Pan Am began regular 707 service on October 26, 1958. With versions produced until 1979, the 707 is a swept wing quadjet with podded engines. Its larger fuselage cross-section allowed six-abreast economy seating, retained in the later 720, 727, 737, and 757 models.

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20/12/1955

Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom.

Cardiff is the capital and largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of 383,919 in 2024 and forms a principal area officially known as the City and County of Cardiff. The city is the eleventh largest in the United Kingdom. Located in the southeast of Wales and in the Cardiff Capital Region, Cardiff is the county town of the historic county of Glamorgan and in 1974–1996 of South Glamorgan. It belongs to the Eurocities network of the largest European cities. A small town until the early 19th century, its prominence as a port for coal when mining began in the region helped its expansion. In 1905, it was ranked as a city and in 1955 proclaimed capital of Wales. The Cardiff urban area covers a larger area outside the county boundary, including the towns of Dinas Powys and Penarth.

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20/12/1952

A United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington, killing 87 of the 115 people on board.

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is a part of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and is one of the six armed forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal Corps, the Air Force was established by transfer of personnel from the Army Air Forces with the enactment of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the second youngest branch of the United States Armed Forces and the fourth in order of precedence. The United States Air Force articulates its core missions as air supremacy, global integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.

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20/12/1951

The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs.

Experimental Breeder Reactor I (EBR-I) is a decommissioned research reactor and U.S. National Historic Landmark located in the desert about 18 miles (29 km) southeast of Arco, Idaho. It was the world's first breeder reactor. At 1:50 p.m. on December 20, 1951, it became one of the world's first electricity-generating nuclear power plants when it produced sufficient electricity to illuminate four 200-watt light bulbs. EBR-I soon generated sufficient electricity to power its building and the town of Arco, and continued to be used for experimental research until it was decommissioned in 1964. The museum is open for visitors from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend.

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20/12/1948

Indonesian National Revolution: The Dutch military captures Yogyakarta, the temporary capital of the newly formed Republic of Indonesia.

The Indonesian National Revolution, also known as the Indonesian War of Independence, was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during postwar and postcolonial Indonesia. It took place between Indonesia's declaration of independence in 1945 and the Netherlands' transfer of sovereignty over the Dutch East Indies to the Republic of the United States of Indonesia at the end of 1949.

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20/12/1946

It's a Wonderful Life premieres at the Globe Theatre in New York to mixed reviews.

It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas fantasy drama film directed and produced by Frank Capra. It is based on the short story and booklet "The Greatest Gift", self-published by Philip Van Doren Stern in 1943, which itself is loosely based on the 1843 Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol.

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An earthquake in Nankaidō, Japan causes a tsunami which kills at least one thousand people and destroys 36,000 homes.

The 1946 Nankai earthquake was a great earthquake in Nankaidō, Japan. It occurred on December 21, 1946, at 04:19 JST. The earthquake measured between 8.1 and 8.4 on the moment magnitude scale, and was felt from Northern Honshū to Kyūshū. It occurred almost two years after the 1944 Tōnankai earthquake, which ruptured the adjacent part of the Nankai megathrust.

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20/12/1942

World War II: Japanese air forces bomb Calcutta, India.

The Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAS) or Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF), Japanese: 大日本帝國陸軍航空部隊, romanized: Dainippon Teikoku Rikugun Kōkūbutai, lit. 'Greater Japan Empire Army Air Corps') was the aviation force of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). Its primary mission was to provide tactical close air support for ground forces, as well as a limited air interdiction capability. The IJAAS also provided aerial reconnaissance to other branches of the IJA. While the IJAAS engaged in strategic bombing of cities such as Shanghai, Nanjing, Canton, Chongqing, Rangoon, and Mandalay, this was not the primary mission of the IJAAS, and it lacked a heavy bomber force.

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20/12/1941

World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers", in Kunming, China.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

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20/12/1940

Captain America Comics #1, containing the first appearance of the superhero Captain America, is published.

Captain America Comics is a comic book series featuring the superhero character Captain America. The series was originally published by Timely Comics from 1941 to 1950, with a brief revival by Atlas Comics in 1954.

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20/12/1924

Adolf Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison.

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Germany during the Nazi era from 1933 until his suicide in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor of Germany in 1933 and then taking the title of Führer und Reichskanzler in 1934. Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 under his leadership marked the outbreak of the Second World War. Throughout the ensuing conflict, Hitler was closely involved in the direction of German military operations and was central to the perpetration of the Holocaust, the genocide of about six million Jews and millions of other victims.

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20/12/1917

Cheka, the first Soviet secret police force, is founded.

The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission, abbreviated as VChK, and commonly known as the Cheka, was the first Soviet secret police organization. It was established on 20 December [O.S. 7 December] 1917 by the Council of People's Commissars of the Russian SFSR, and was led by Felix Dzerzhinsky. By the end of the Russian Civil War in 1922, the Cheka had at least 200,000 personnel.

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20/12/1915

World War I: The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli.

World War I, or the First World War, also known as The Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Central Powers. Major areas of conflict included Europe and the Middle East, as well as parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific. The war saw important developments in weaponry including tanks, aircraft, artillery, machine guns, and chemical weapons. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, it resulted in an estimated 15 to 22 million military and civilian casualties and genocide. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in the deadly Spanish flu pandemic.

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20/12/1860

South Carolina becomes the first state to attempt to secede from the United States with the South Carolina Declaration of Secession.

South Carolina is a state in the Southeastern, South Atlantic and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia to the west and south across the Savannah River. Along with North Carolina, it makes up the Carolinas region of the East Coast. South Carolina is the 11th-smallest and 23rd-most populous U.S. state with a recorded population of 5,118,425 according to the 2020 census. In 2019, its GDP was $213.45 billion. South Carolina is composed of 46 counties. The capital is Columbia with a population of 136,632 in 2020; while its most populous city is Charleston with a 2020 population of 150,227. The Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC Combined Statistical Area is the most populous combined metropolitan area in the state, with an estimated 2023 population of 1,590,636.

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20/12/1848

French presidential election: Having won the popular vote in a landslide, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte is inaugurated in the chamber of the National Assembly as the first (and only) president of the French Second Republic.

Presidential elections were held for the first time in France on 10 and 11 December 1848, electing the first and only president of the Second Republic. This election marked the birth of the Second Republic and the dramatic end of the July Monarchy, a transformation born of the February Revolution's fervour.

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20/12/1832

HMS Clio under the command of Captain Onslow arrives at Port Egmont under orders to take possession of the Falkland Islands.

HMS Clio was a Cruizer-class brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched at James Betts' shipyard in Mistleythorn in Essex on 10 January 1807. Her establishment was 71 officers and men, 24 boys and 20 marines. She served in the Baltic during the Napoleonic Wars, accomplished the re-establishment of British rule on the Falkland Islands in 1833, and participated in the First Opium War. She was broken up in 1845.

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20/12/1808

Peninsular War: The Siege of Zaragoza begins.

The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by the Iberian nations Spain and Portugal, along with the United Kingdom, against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain, it is considered to overlap with the Spanish War of Independence. It overlapped with the War of the Fifth Coalition (1809) and the War of the Sixth Coalition (1812–1814).

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20/12/1803

The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.

The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. This consisted of most of the land in the Mississippi River's drainage basin west of the river. In return for fifteen million dollars, or approximately eighteen dollars per square mile ($7/km2), the United States nominally acquired a total of 828,000 sq mi of land now in the Central United States. However, France only controlled a small fraction of this area, most of which was inhabited by Native Americans; effectively, for the majority of the area, the United States bought the preemptive right to obtain Indian lands by treaty or by conquest, to the exclusion of other colonial powers.

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20/12/1334

Cardinal Jacques Fournier, a Cistercian monk, is elected Pope Benedict XII.

A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. Cardinals are chosen and formally created by the pope, and typically hold the title for life. Collectively, they constitute the College of Cardinals. The most solemn responsibility of the cardinals is to elect a new pope in a conclave when the Holy See is vacant. With a few historical exceptions, popes are elected from among the College of Cardinals.

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20/12/1192

Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after the Third Crusade.

Richard I, known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard Cœur de Lion because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine, and Gascony; Lord of Cyprus; Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes; and was overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period. He was the third of five sons of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and was therefore not expected to become king, but his two elder brothers predeceased their father.

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20/12/1046

Emperor Henry III convenes the synod of Sutri to mediate between different claimants to the papacy.

Henry III, called Heinrich the Pious, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1046 until his death in 1056. A member of the Salian dynasty, he was the eldest son of Conrad II and Gisela of Swabia.

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20/12/0944

Byzantine Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos is arrested by two of his sons, forced to abdicate and to live as a monk for the rest of his life.

The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, which fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised sovereign authority are included, to the exclusion of junior co-emperors who never attained the status of sole or senior ruler, as well as of the various usurpers or rebels who claimed the imperial title.

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20/12/0069

Antonius Primus enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor for Nero's former general Vespasian.

AD 69 (LXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the consulship of Galba and Vinius. The denomination AD 69 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

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