Historical Events on Sunday, 11th January

11/01/2020

COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei: Municipal health officials in Wuhan announce the first recorded death from COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei was the first identified outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. It emerged as a cluster of mysterious pneumonia cases in Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei, China. A Wuhan hospital initially notified the local Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC) on December 27, 2019. By December 31, Wuhan CCDC confirmed a cluster of unknown pneumonia cases linked to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market after unverified documents appeared on the Internet. The outbreak got nationwide attention, with the National Health Commission (NHC) in Beijing sending medical experts to Wuhan the next day. On January 8, 2020, a new coronavirus was identified as the cause of the pneumonia. The sequence of the virus was published on an open-access database. The measures taken by the Chinese government have been controversial. They were praised by the World Health Organization (WHO) for improvements over their response to SARS-CoV-2. However, many in the international community criticized them for being deceptive, slow to publicly disclose key facts about the outbreak, and for aggressively censoring information related to the outbreak and public discontent from citizens online.

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11/01/2013

One French soldier and 17 militants are killed in a failed attempt to free a French hostage in Bulo Marer, Somalia.

On 11 January 2013, the French military launched an unsuccessful operation in Bulo Marer, Lower Shabelle, Somalia to rescue French hostage Denis Allex from the Islamic militant organization al-Shabaab. Allex was executed in response, and two French commandos, at least 17 al-Shabaab militants and at least eight civilians were killed in the firefight.

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11/01/2003

Illinois Governor George Ryan commutes the death sentences of 167 prisoners on Illinois's death row based on the Jon Burge scandal.

The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois, and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by popular suffrage of residents of the state. The governor is responsible for endorsing or vetoing laws passed by the Illinois General Assembly. The office also carries the power of pardon and commutation under state law. The governor is commander-in-chief of the state's land, air and sea forces when they are in state service. Illinois is one of 13 states that does not place a term limit for governor.

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11/01/1998

Over 100 people are killed in the Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria.

The Sidi-Hamed massacre took place on the night of January 11, 1998, in the town of Sidi-Hamed, 30 km south of Algiers. An estimated fifty gunmen participated, attacking children and adults; they bombed a café where films were being watched and a mosque in nearby Haouche Sahraoui, killing those who fled, and entered houses to kill those within. According to official figures, 103 people were killed and 70 injured, including two pro-government fighters and five of the attackers. Other sources indicate a higher toll; AFP supposedly counted over 120 corpses, and some Algerian newspapers claimed 400. Thirty girls were reportedly kidnapped. The massacre was generally blamed on the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria (GIA). One newspaper claimed that survivors blamed it on the Islamic Salvation Front (AIS).

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11/01/1996

Space Shuttle program: STS-72 launches from the Kennedy Space Center marking the start of the 74th Space Shuttle mission and the 10th flight of Endeavour.

The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its official program name was carried over from the 1969 plan for the Space Transportation System (STS) of reusable spacecraft. Only the shuttle and supporting rockets were funded for development; a proposed nuclear lunar shuttle in the plan was cancelled in 1972. It flew 135 missions and carried 355 astronauts from 16 countries, many on multiple trips.

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11/01/1995

51 people are killed in a plane crash in María La Baja, Colombia.

Intercontinental de Aviación Flight 256 was a scheduled flight from El Dorado International Airport, Bogotá, on a service to Rafael Núñez International Airport, Cartagena, and San Andrés. On 11 January 1995, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14 operating the flight crashed during its approach to Cartagena Airport, killing all but one of the 52 people on board. The sole survivor was a nine-year old girl who sustained minor injuries.

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11/01/1994

The Irish Government announces the end of a 15-year broadcasting ban on the IRA and its political arm Sinn Féin.

Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a country in Northwestern Europe. It consists of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. Its capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island, with a population of over 1.5 million. The sovereign state shares its only land border with Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, St George's Channel to the south-east and the Irish Sea to the east. It is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The legislature, the Oireachtas, consists of a lower house, Dáil Éireann; an upper house, Seanad Éireann; and an elected president who serves as the largely ceremonial head of state, but with some important powers and duties. The head of government is the Taoiseach, elected by the Dáil and appointed by the president, who appoints other government ministers.

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11/01/1986

The Gateway Bridge, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia is officially opened.

The Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges, formerly and still collectively referred to as the Gateway Bridge, are a pair of twin road bridges that carry the Gateway Motorway (M1) over the Brisbane River, skirting the eastern suburbs of the city of Brisbane. The western bridge carries traffic to the north and the eastern bridge carries traffic to the south. They are the most eastern crossings of the Brisbane River and the closest to Moreton Bay, crossing at the Quarries Reach and linking the suburbs of Eagle Farm and Murarrie. The original western bridge was opened on 11 January 1986 and cost A$92 million to build. The duplicate bridge was opened in May 2010, and cost $350 million.

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11/01/1983

United Airlines Flight 2885 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, killing three.

United Airlines Flight 2885 was a scheduled cargo flight from Cleveland to Los Angeles, with stopover in Detroit. On January 11, 1983, a DC-8 operating as Flight 2885 crashed after take-off from Detroit, killing all three crew members. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation determined that the cause for the crash was pilot error. A radioactive package was found on board, but no radioactive material was spilled.

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11/01/1977

The first episode of Finnish children's TV show Pikku Kakkonen ("Little Number Two") is aired on Yle TV2.

Pikku Kakkonen is an ongoing Finnish magazine-type children's TV show shown on Yle TV2. The first episode aired on 11 January 1977. It finished with a bedtime story read by the late Lasse Pöysti (1927–2019) and an East German Sandman animation, setting the format for hundreds of later episodes. Currently the series airs twice a day on weekdays and once a day on weekends.

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11/01/1973

Major League Baseball owners vote in approval of the American League adopting the designated hitter position.

Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league in North America composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered the premier professional baseball league in the world. Each team plays 162 games per season, with Opening Day held during the last week of March or the first week of April. Six teams in each league then advance to a four-round postseason tournament in October, culminating in the World Series, a best-of-seven championship series between the two league champions first played in 1903. MLB is headquartered in New York City.

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11/01/1972

East Pakistan renames itself Bangladesh.

East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1956 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, with a coastline on the Bay of Bengal. To distinguish this region from India's state West Bengal, East Pakistan was known as "Pakistani Bengal". East Pakistanis were popularly known as "Pakistani Bengalis". In 1971, East Pakistan became the newly independent state Bangladesh, which means "country of Bengal" or "country of Bengalis" or "land of Bengalis" in the Bengali language.

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11/01/1966

The Tbilisi Metro is opened.

The Tbilisi Metro is a rapid transit system in the Georgian capital Tbilisi. Opened on 11 January 1966, it was the fourth metro system in the former Soviet Union. Like other ex-Soviet metros, most of the stations are very deep and vividly decorated.

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11/01/1964

Surgeon General of the United States Dr. Luther Terry, M.D., publishes the landmark report Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service saying that smoking may be hazardous to health, sparking national and worldwide anti-smoking efforts.

The surgeon general of the United States is the operational head of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) and thus a leading spokesperson on matters of public health in the federal government of the United States. The surgeon general's office and staff are known as the Office of the Surgeon General (OSG), which is housed within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health.

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11/01/1962

Cold War: While tied to its pier in Polyarny, the Soviet submarine B-37 is destroyed when fire breaks out in its torpedo compartment.

The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc. It began in the aftermath of the Second World War and ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term cold war is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers, though each supported opposing sides in regional conflicts known as proxy wars. In addition to the struggle for ideological and economic influence and an arms race in both conventional and nuclear weapons, the Cold War was expressed through technological rivalries such as the Space Race, espionage, propaganda campaigns, embargoes, and sports diplomacy.

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An avalanche on Huascarán in Peru causes around 4,000 deaths.

Huascarán, Nevado Huascarán or Mataraju is a mountain located in Yungay Province, Ancash Department, Peru. It is situated in the Cordillera Blanca range of the western Andes. The southern summit of Huascarán, which reaches 6,768 metres (22,205 ft), is the highest point in Peru, the northern Andes, and in all of the Earth's tropics. It is the fourth highest mountain in South America after Aconcagua, Ojos del Salado, and Monte Pissis. Huascarán is ranked 25th by topographic isolation.

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11/01/1961

Throgs Neck Bridge over the East River, linking New York City's boroughs of The Bronx and Queens, opens to road traffic.

The Throgs Neck Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City, carrying six lanes of Interstate 295 (I-295) over the East River where it meets the Long Island Sound. The bridge connects the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx with the Bay Terrace section of Queens.

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11/01/1959

36 people are killed when Lufthansa Flight 502 crashes on approach to Rio de Janeiro/Galeão International Airport in Brazil.

Lufthansa Flight 502 was a scheduled flight from Hamburg, Germany to Buenos Aires, Argentina on 11 January 1959. The flight was being operated by a Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation. On the leg between Senegal and Brazil the Super Constellation was on approach to Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport when it crashed near Flecheiras Beach just short of the runway. All 29 passengers and seven of the ten crew were killed. It was the first fatal accident involving the current Lufthansa since it was formed in 1955.

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11/01/1957

The African Convention is founded in Dakar, Senegal.

African Convention was a political party in French West Africa, originally formed at a meeting in Dakar on 11 January 1957. The CA consisted of the Senegalese Popular Bloc (BPS) of Léopold Sédar Senghor, the African Popular Movement of Nazi Boni in Upper Volta, and the Nigerien Democratic Front (FDN) of Zodi Ikhia in Niger.

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11/01/1949

The first "networked" television broadcasts took place as KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania goes on the air connecting the east coast and mid-west programming.

KDKA-TV, branded CBS Pittsburgh, is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations division, and is sister to WPKD-TV, an independent station. The two outlets share studios at the Gateway Center in Downtown Pittsburgh; KDKA-TV's transmitter is located in the city's Perry North neighborhood.

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11/01/1946

Enver Hoxha, Secretary General of the Communist Party of Albania, declares the People's Republic of Albania with himself as head of state.

Enver Halil Hoxha was an Albanian communist revolutionary, statesman, Marxist–Leninist political theorist, and dictator who was the leader of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania from 1941 until his death, a member of its Politburo, chairman of the Democratic Front of Albania, and commander-in-chief of the Albanian People's Army. He was the twenty-second prime minister of Albania from 1944 to 1954 and at various times served as his own foreign minister and defence minister.

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11/01/1943

The Republic of China agrees to the Sino-British New Equal Treaty and the Sino-American New Equal Treaty.

The Republic of China (ROC) established its rule over Mainland China on 1 January 1912 following the Xinhai Revolution, which overthrew the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and ended China's imperial history. The Beiyang government in Beijing was the internationally recognized government of the ROC from 1912 to 1928, with regional warlords occupying parts of the country after the death of Beiyang leader Yuan Shikai in 1916. In 1926, the Kuomintang (KMT) launched the Northern Expedition, which eventually reunified the country in 1928 and the KMT-led Nationalist government ruled the ROC as a one-party state with Nanjing as the capital. In 1949, the KMT was defeated in the Chinese Civil War and lost control of mainland China to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP established the People's Republic of China (PRC) while the ROC was forced to retreat to Taiwan, and it retains rule over Taiwan Area to date. The ROC is recorded as a founding member of both the League of Nations and the United Nations. The ROC claimed 11.4 million km2 (4.4 million sq mi) of territory, and its population of 541 million in 1949 made it the most populous country in the world.

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Italian-American anarchist Carlo Tresca is assassinated in New York City.

Carlo Tresca was an Italian-American dissident, newspaper editor, orator, and labor organizer and activist who was a leader of the Industrial Workers of the World during the 1910s. He is remembered as a leading public opponent of fascism, Stalinism, and Mafia infiltration of the trade unions for the purposes of labor racketeering and corruption.

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11/01/1942

World War II: Japanese forces capture Kuala Lumpur, the capital of the Federated Malay States.

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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World War II: Japanese forces attack Tarakan in Borneo, Netherlands Indies (Battle of Tarakan)

Tarakan is an island and co-extensively the sole city within the Indonesian province of North Kalimantan. The island city is the largest urban area in North Kalimantan population-wise and is located in northern Borneo, midway along the coast of the province. The city boundaries are co-extensive with the island. Once a major oil-producing region during the colonial period, Tarakan had great strategic importance during the Pacific War and was among the first Japanese targets early in the conflict. It is the sole city within the Indonesian province of North Kalimantan. According to Statistics Indonesia, the city had a population of 193,370 at the 2010 Census and 242,786 inhabitants at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2024 was 255,310.

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11/01/1935

Amelia Earhart becomes the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California.

Amelia Mary Earhart was an American aviator and aviation pioneer who became one of the most celebrated figures of early flight.

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11/01/1927

Louis B. Mayer, head of film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), announces the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, at a banquet in Los Angeles, California.

Louis Burt Mayer was a Canadian-American film producer and co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios (MGM) in 1924. Under Mayer's management, MGM became the film industry's most prestigious movie studio, accumulating the largest concentration of leading writers, directors, and stars in Hollywood.

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11/01/1923

Occupation of the Ruhr: Troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area to force Germany to make its World War I reparation payments.

The occupation of the Ruhr was the period from 11 January 1923 to 25 August 1925 when French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr region of Weimar Republic Germany.

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11/01/1922

Leonard Thompson becomes the first person to be injected with insulin.

Leonard Thompson was the first person to have received an injection of insulin as a treatment for type 1 diabetes.

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11/01/1917

The Kingsland munitions factory explosion occurs, possibly as a result of German sabotage.

The Kingsland explosion was an incident that took place during World War I at a munitions factory in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, U.S., on January 11, 1917. An arbitration commission in 1931 determined that, "In the Kingsland Case the Commission finds upon the evidence that the fire was not caused by any German agent." However, decades later, Germany paid damages to American claimants.

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11/01/1914

The Karluk, flagship of the Canadian Arctic Expedition, sinks after being crushed by ice.

Karluk was an American-built brigantine which, after many years' service as a whaler, was acquired by the Canadian government in 1913 to act as flagship to the Canadian Arctic Expedition. While on her way to the expedition's rendezvous at Herschel Island, Karluk became trapped in the Arctic pack ice and, after drifting for several months, was crushed and sank in January 1914. Of the 25 aboard, eleven died, either during the attempts to reach land by marching over the ice, or after arrival at the temporary refuge of Wrangel Island.

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11/01/1912

Immigrant textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts, go on strike when wages are reduced in response to a mandated shortening of the work week.

Lawrence is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, on the Merrimack River. At the 2020 census the city had a population of 89,143. Surrounding communities include Methuen to the north, Andover to the southwest, and North Andover to the east. Lawrence and Salem were the county seats of Essex County, until the state abolished county government in 1999. Lawrence is part of the Merrimack Valley.

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11/01/1908

Grand Canyon National Monument is created.

Grand Canyon National Park is a national park of the United States located in northwestern Arizona, the 15th site to have been named as a national park. The park's central feature is the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, which is often considered one of the Wonders of the World. The park, which covers 1,217,262 acres of unincorporated area in Coconino and Mohave counties, received more than 4.9 million recreational visitors in 2024. The Grand Canyon was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979. The park celebrated its 100th anniversary on February 26, 2019.

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11/01/1879

The Anglo-Zulu War begins.

The Anglo-Zulu War, or simply the Zulu War, was fought in present-day South Africa from January to early July 1879 between forces of the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Two famous battles of the war were the Zulu victory at Isandlwana and the British defence at Rorke's Drift.

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11/01/1863

American Civil War: The three-day Battle of Arkansas Post concludes as General John McClernand and Admiral David Dixon Porter capture Fort Hindman and secure control over the Arkansas River for the Union.

The Battle of Arkansas Post, also known as the Battle of Fort Hindman, was fought from January 9 to 11, 1863, along the Arkansas River at Arkansas Post, Arkansas, as part of the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. Confederate forces constructed Fort Hindman near Arkansas Post in late 1862. Also in late 1862, Major General John A. McClernand of the Union army was authorized to recruit troops in the Midwest for an expedition down the Mississippi River against Vicksburg, Mississippi. Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant began an overland campaign against Vicksburg along the Mississippi Central Railroad in November. He and Union General-in-Chief Henry Halleck did not trust McClernand, and through machinations placed the start of the riverine movement against Vicksburg under the command of Major General William T. Sherman before McClernand could arrive. Sherman's movement was defeated at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou in late December, and Confederate cavalry raids forced Grant to abandon his overland campaign.

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American Civil War: CSS Alabama encounters and sinks the USS Hatteras off Galveston Lighthouse in Texas.

CSS Alabama was a screw sloop-of-war built in 1862 for the Confederate States Navy. She was built in Birkenhead on the River Mersey opposite Liverpool, England, by John Laird Sons and Company. Launched as Enrica, she was fitted out as a cruiser and commissioned as CSS Alabama on August 24, 1862. Under Captain Raphael Semmes, Alabama served as a successful commerce raider, attacking, capturing, and burning Union merchant and naval ships in the North Atlantic, as well as intercepting American grain ships bound for Europe. The Alabama continued through the West Indies and further into the East Indies, destroying over seven ships before returning to Europe. On June 11, 1864, the Alabama arrived at Cherbourg, France, where she was overhauled. Shortly after, a Union sloop-of-war, USS Kearsarge, arrived; and on June 19, the Battle of Cherbourg commenced outside the port of Cherbourg, France, whereby the Kearsarge sank the Alabama in approximately one hour after the Alabama's opening shot.

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11/01/1861

American Civil War: Alabama secedes from the United States.

The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union to preserve slavery in the United States, which they saw as threatened because of the election of Abraham Lincoln and the growing abolitionist movement in the North. The war lasted a little over four years, ending with Union victory, the dissolution of the Confederacy and the abolition of slavery, freeing four million African Americans.

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11/01/1851

Taiping Rebellion: Hong Xiuquan proclaims the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, starting the Jintian Uprising.

The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War, Revolution, or Movement, was a civil war in China between the Qing dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The conflict lasted 14 years, from its outbreak in 1850 until the fall of Taiping-controlled Nanjing—which they had renamed Tianjing "heavenly capital"—in 1864. The last rebel forces were defeated in August 1871. Estimates of the conflict's death toll range between 20 million and 30 million people, representing 5–10% of China's population at that time. While the Qing ultimately defeated the rebellion, the victory came at a great cost to the state's economic and political viability.

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11/01/1820

The Great Savannah Fire of 1820 destroys over 400 buildings in Savannah, Georgia.

On January 11, 1820, a conflagration affected the city of Savannah, Georgia, United States, burning down almost 500 buildings and causing roughly $4 million in damages. It was the most severe fire in the city's history and one of the most damaging in the country at that time.

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11/01/1805

The Michigan Territory is created.

The Territory of Michigan was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 30, 1805, until January 26, 1837, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Michigan. Detroit was the territorial capital.

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11/01/1787

William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.

Frederick William Herschel was a German-British astronomer and composer. He frequently collaborated with his younger sister and fellow astronomer Caroline Herschel. Born in the Electorate of Hanover, he followed his father into the military band of Hanover, before immigrating to Britain in 1757 at the age of 19.

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11/01/1759

The first American life insurance company, the Corporation for Relief of Poor and Distressed Presbyterian Ministers and of the Poor and Distressed Widows and Children of the Presbyterian Ministers (now part of Unum Group), is incorporated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Life insurance is a contract insurance policy holder and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death of an insured person. Depending on the contract, other events such as physical complications or illness can also trigger payment. The policyholder typically pays a premium, either regularly or as one lump sum. The benefits may include other expenses, such as funeral expenses.

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11/01/1654

Arauco War: A Spanish army is defeated by local Mapuche-Huilliches as it tries to cross Bueno River in Southern Chile.

The Arauco War was a long-running conflict between colonial Spaniards and the Mapuche people, mostly fought in the Araucanía region of Chile. The conflict began at first as a reaction by the Mapuche to the Spanish conquerors attempting to establish cities and force the natives into servitude. It subsequently evolved over time into phases comprising drawn-out sieges, slave-hunting expeditions, pillaging raids, punitive expeditions, and renewed Spanish attempts to secure lost territories. Abduction of women and war rape was common on both sides.

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11/01/1569

First recorded lottery in England.

A lottery is a form of gambling that involves the drawing of numbers at random for a prize. Some governments outlaw lotteries, while others endorse them to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments. The most common regulations are prohibition of sale to minors and licensing of ticket vendors. Although lotteries were common in the United States and some other countries during the 19th century, by the beginning of the 20th century, most forms of gambling, including lotteries and sweepstakes, were illegal in the U.S. and most of Europe as well as many other countries. This remained so until well after World War II. In the 1960s, casinos and lotteries began to re-appear throughout the world as a means for governments to raise revenue without raising taxes.

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11/01/1158

Vladislaus II, Duke of Bohemia becomes King of Bohemia.

Vladislaus II or Vladislav II was the Duke of Bohemia from 1140 and then King of Bohemia from 1158 until his abdication in 1173. He was the second Bohemian king after Vratislaus II, but in neither case was the royal title hereditary.

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11/01/1055

Theodora is crowned empress of the Byzantine Empire.

Theodora Porphyrogenita was Byzantine Empress from 21 April 1042 to her death on 31 August 1056, and sole ruler from 11 January 1055. She was the last sovereign of the Macedonian dynasty that ruled the Byzantine Empire for almost 200 years.

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11/01/0930

Sack of Mecca by the Qarmatians.

The Sack of Mecca occurred on 11 January 930, when the Qarmatians of Bahrayn sacked the Muslim holy city amidst the rituals of the Hajj pilgrimage.

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11/01/0630

Conquest of Mecca: Muhammad and his followers conquer the city, and the Quraysh association of clans surrenders.

The conquest of Mecca was a military campaign undertaken by Muhammad and his companions during the Muslim–Quraysh War. They led the early Muslims in an advance on the Quraysh-controlled city of Mecca in December 629 or January 630. The fall of the city to Muhammad formally marked the end of the conflict between his followers and the Quraysh tribal confederation.

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11/01/0532

Nika riots in Constantinople: A quarrel between supporters of different chariot teams—the Blues and the Greens—in the Hippodrome escalates into violence.

The Nika riots, Nika revolt or Nika sedition took place against Byzantine emperor Justinian I in Constantinople over the course of a week in 532 AD. They are often regarded as the most violent riots in the city's history, with nearly half of Constantinople being burned or destroyed and tens of thousands of people killed.

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