Historical Events on Sunday, 25th January

25/01/2019

A mining company's dam collapses in Brumadinho, Brazil, a south-eastern city, killing 270 people.

The Brumadinho dam disaster occurred on 25 January 2019 when a tailings dam at the Córrego do Feijão iron ore mine suffered a catastrophic failure. The dam, located 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) east of Brumadinho in Minas Gerais, Brazil, is owned by the mining company Vale, which was also involved in the Mariana dam disaster of 2015. The collapse of the dam released a mudflow that engulfed the mine's headquarters, including a cafeteria during lunchtime, along with houses, farms, inns, and roads downstream. 270 people died as a result of the collapse, of whom 259 were officially confirmed dead, in January 2019, and 11 others were reported as missing. As of January 2022, six people were still missing.

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25/01/2018

An Ariane 5 rocket is launched carrying SES-14, Al Yah 3, and NASA's Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk, but the satellites end up in the wrong orbit.

Ariane 5 is a retired European heavy-lift space launch vehicle operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It was launched from the Guiana Space Centre (CSG) in French Guiana. It was used to deliver payloads into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), low Earth orbit (LEO) or further into space. The launch vehicle had a streak of 82 consecutive successful launches between 9 April 2003 and 12 December 2017. In development since 2014, Ariane 6, a direct successor system was first launched in 2024.

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25/01/2015

A clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao in the Philippines kills 44 members of Special Action Force (SAF), at least 18 from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and five from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

The Mamasapano clash was a shootout that took place during a police operation by the Special Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) on January 25, 2015, in Tukanalipao, Mamasapano, then-undivided Maguindanao. The operation, codenamed Oplan Exodus, was intended to capture or kill wanted Malaysian terrorist and bomb-maker Zulkifli Abdhir and other Malaysian terrorists or high-ranking members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

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25/01/2013

At least 50 people are killed and 120 people are injured in a prison riot in Barquisimeto, Venezuela.

On 25 January 2013, a riot began at Uribana prison in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Initial reports gave at least 50 people killed and over 120 people injured, and by 27 January a death toll of 61 was reported. Officials on the first day of the riot faulted media for breaking news in advance that the prison would be searched by the military. As the riot continued into a second day, human rights groups faulted overcrowding and conditions in the gang-dominated prison.

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25/01/2011

The first wave of the Egyptian revolution begins throughout the country, marked by street demonstrations, rallies, acts of civil disobedience, riots, labour strikes, and violent clashes.

The following details a chronological summary of the 2011 Egyptian revolution from 25 January until Hosni Mubarak's resignation as president of Egypt on 11 February 2011.

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25/01/2010

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Na'ameh, Lebanon, killing 90.

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 was an international commercial flight scheduled from Beirut to Addis Ababa of a Boeing 737-8AS that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after takeoff from Rafic Hariri International Airport on 25 January 2010, killing all 90 people on board. This was the first fatal crash for Ethiopian Airlines since the hijack of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 in 1996.

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25/01/2006

Mexican professional wrestler Juana Barraza is arrested in connection with the serial killing of at least ten elderly women.

Lucha libre is the term for the style of professional wrestling originating in Mexico. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has developed into a unique form of the genre, characterized by colorful masks, rapid sequences of holds and maneuvers, and high-flying aerial techniques, some of which have been adopted by wrestlers in the United States, Japan, and elsewhere. The wearing of masks has developed special significance, and matches are sometimes contested in which the loser must permanently remove his mask, which is a wager with a high degree of weight attached. Tag team wrestling is especially prevalent in lucha libre, particularly matches with three-member teams, called trios.

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25/01/2005

A stampede at the Mandhradevi temple in Maharashtra, India kills at least 258.

The Mandher Devi temple stampede occurred on Tuesday, 25 January 2005 at Mandher Devi temple near Wai in Satara district in Indian state of Maharashtra. The stampede broke out as 300,000 people converged on the Mandher Devi temple to undertake the annual pilgrimage on the full moon day of Shakambhari Purnima, in January and for participation in a 24-hour-long festival that includes ritual animal sacrifices to the goddess. Festivities also include the devotees breaking coconuts at Mangirbaba temple near the entrance and dancing with the Goddess Kalubai's idol held high.

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25/01/2003

Invasion of Iraq: A group of people leave London, England, for Baghdad, Iraq, to serve as human shields, intending to prevent the U.S.-led coalition troops from bombing certain locations.

The 2003 invasion of Iraq was the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion began on 20 March 2003 and lasted just over one month, including 26 days of major combat operations. The invasion was conducted by a United States-led coalition of mainly American, British, Australian, and Polish troops.

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25/01/1999

A 6.0 magnitude earthquake hits western Colombia killing at least 1,000.

The moment magnitude scale is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude based on its seismic moment. Mw was defined in a 1979 paper by Thomas C. Hanks and Hiroo Kanamori. Similar to the local magnitude/Richter scale (ML ) defined by Charles Francis Richter in 1935, it uses a logarithmic scale; small earthquakes have approximately the same magnitudes on both scales. Despite the difference, news media often use the term "Richter scale" when referring to the moment magnitude scale.

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25/01/1998

During a historic visit to Cuba, Pope John Paul II demands political reforms and the release of political prisoners while condemning US attempts to isolate the country.

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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A suicide attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Sri Lanka's Temple of the Tooth kills eight and injures 25 others.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the northeast of the island in response to violent persecution and discriminatory policies against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan government.

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25/01/1996

Billy Bailey becomes the last person to be hanged in the United States.

Billy Bailey was an American convicted murderer who was hanged in Delaware in 1996. He became the third person to be hanged in the United States since 1965, and the first person hanged in Delaware in 50 years. As of 2026, he remains the last person to be lawfully executed by hanging in the United States.

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25/01/1995

The Norwegian rocket incident: Russia almost launches a nuclear attack after it mistakes Black Brant XII, a Norwegian research rocket, for a US Trident missile.

On January 25, 1995, a team of Norwegian and American scientists launched a Black Brant XII four-stage sounding rocket from the Andøya Rocket Range off the northwestern coast of Norway. The rocket carried scientific equipment to study the aurora borealis over Svalbard, and flew on a high northbound trajectory, which included an air corridor that stretches from Minuteman III nuclear missile silos in North Dakota all the way to Moscow, the capital city of Russia. The rocket eventually reached an altitude of 1,453 kilometers (903 mi), resembling a US Navy submarine-launched Trident missile. Fearing a high-altitude nuclear attack that could blind Russian radar, Russian nuclear forces went on high alert, and the "nuclear briefcase" was taken to Russian president Boris Yeltsin, who then had to decide whether to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike against the United States. Russian observers determined that there was no nuclear attack and no retaliation was ordered.

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25/01/1994

The spacecraft Clementine by BMDO and NASA is launched.

Clementine was a joint space project between the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and NASA, launched on January 25, 1994. Its objective was to test sensors and spacecraft components in long-term exposure to space and to make scientific observations of both the Moon and the near-Earth asteroid 1620 Geographos.

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25/01/1993

Five people are shot outside the CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Two are killed and three wounded.

On January 25, 1993, outside of CIA Headquarters campus in Langley, Virginia, Pakistani national Mir Aimal Kansi shot and killed two CIA employees in their cars as they were waiting at a stoplight and wounded three others. In a prison interview, Kansi said the shooting was politically motivated: "I was real angry with the policy of the U.S. government in the Middle East, particularly toward the Palestinian people."

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25/01/1990

Avianca Flight 052 crashes in Cove Neck, New York, killing 73.

Avianca Flight 052 was a regularly scheduled flight from Bogotá, Colombia, to New York City, United States, via Medellín, Colombia, that crashed on January 25, 1990, at 21:34 (UTC−05:00). The Boeing 707 flying this route ran out of fuel after a failed attempt to land at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), causing the aircraft to crash onto a hillside in the small village of Cove Neck, New York, on the north shore of Long Island. Eight of the nine crew members and 65 of the 149 passengers on board were killed. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the crash occurred due to the flight crew failing to properly declare a fuel emergency, failure to use an airline operational control dispatch system, inadequate traffic flow management by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the lack of standardized understandable terminology for pilots and controllers for minimum and emergency fuel states.

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25/01/1986

The National Resistance Movement topples the government of Tito Okello in Uganda.

The National Resistance Movement has been the ruling party in Uganda since 1986.

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25/01/1980

Mother Teresa is honored with India's highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna.

Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, better known as Mother Teresa or Saint Mother Teresa, was an Albanian-Indian Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of Charity and a Catholic saint. Born in Skopje, then part of the Ottoman Empire, she was raised in a devoutly Catholic family. At the age of 18, she moved to Ireland to join the Sisters of Loreto and later to India, where she lived most of her life and carried out her missionary work. On 4 September 2016, she was canonised by the Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta. The anniversary of her death, 5 September, is now observed as her feast day.

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25/01/1979

Pope John Paul II starts his first official papal visits outside Italy to The Bahamas, Dominican Republic, and Mexico.

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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25/01/1971

Charles Manson and four "Family" members (three of them female) are found guilty of the 1969 Tate–LaBianca murders.

Charles Milles Manson was an American criminal, cult leader, and musician who was the founder of the Manson Family. He gained notoriety for ordering the Tate–LaBianca murders, where his followers murdered nine people around Los Angeles in 1969. The scale of the crimes, targeting notable Hollywood figures such as Sharon Tate, was a factor in the end of the counterculture of the 1960s.

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Idi Amin leads a coup deposing Milton Obote and becomes Uganda's president.

Idi Amin Dada was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 until his overthrow in 1979. He rose through military ranks until he became commander of all Ugandan armed forces in 1970. In 1971, he overthrew president Milton Obote, subsequently ruling as a dictator. His administration carried out human rights abuses, including mass killings, and collapsed the Ugandan economy. He was ousted from power in 1979 after launching an unsuccessful war on Tanzania. He lived in exile for the rest of his life.

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25/01/1969

Brazilian Army captain Carlos Lamarca deserts in order to fight against the military dictatorship, taking with him ten machine guns and 63 rifles.

The Brazilian Army is the branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces responsible, externally, for defending the country in eminently terrestrial operations and, internally, for guaranteeing law, order and the constitutional branches, subordinating itself, in the Federal Government's structure, to the Ministry of Defense, alongside the Brazilian Navy and Air Force. The Military Police and Military Firefighters Corps are legally designated as reserve and auxiliary forces to the army. Its operational arm is called Land Force. It is the largest army in South America and the largest branch of the Armed Forces of Brazil.

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25/01/1967

South Vietnamese junta leader and Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky fires rival, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Nguyen Huu Co, while the latter is overseas on a diplomatic visit.

South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam, was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered recognition in 1949 as the associated State of Vietnam within the French Union, with its capital at Saigon. Since 1950, it was a member of the Western Bloc during the Cold War. Following the 1954 partition of Vietnam, it became known as South Vietnam and was established as a republic in 1955. Its sovereignty was recognized by the United States and 87 other nations, though it failed to gain admission into the United Nations as a result of a Soviet veto in 1957. It was succeeded by the communist-controlled Republic of South Vietnam in 1975. In 1976, the Republic of South Vietnam and North Vietnam merged to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

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25/01/1964

Blue Ribbon Sports, which would later become Nike, is founded by University of Oregon track and field athletes.

Nike, Inc. is an American athletic footwear and apparel corporation headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon. It is the world's largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment, with revenue in excess of US$46 billion in its fiscal year 2022.

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25/01/1961

In Washington, D.C., US President John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential television news conference.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the youngest person elected president, at 43 years, and the first Catholic president. Kennedy served at the height of the Cold War, and the majority of his foreign policy concerned relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba. A member of the Democratic Party, Kennedy represented Massachusetts in both houses of the United States Congress before his presidency.

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Walt Disney Productions released the animated feature One Hundred and One Dalmatians, based on Dodie Smith's 1956 children's novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians.

Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company that is a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios, a division of Disney Entertainment, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company. Founded on October 16, 1923, the studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios unit and is based at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. Animated films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios are also released under the studio banner. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures distributes and markets the films produced by Walt Disney Pictures.

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25/01/1960

The National Association of Broadcasters in the United States reacts to the "payola" scandal by threatening fines for any disc jockeys who accept money for playing particular records.

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a conservative trade association and lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States. The NAB represents more than 8,300 terrestrial radio and television stations as well as broadcast networks.

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25/01/1949

The first Emmy Awards are presented in the United States; the venue is the Hollywood Athletic Club.

The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categories. The two events that receive the most media coverage are the Primetime Emmy Awards and the Daytime Emmy Awards, which recognize outstanding work in American primetime and daytime entertainment programming, respectively. Other notable American national Emmy events include the Children's & Family Emmy Awards for children's and family-oriented television programming, the Sports Emmy Awards for sports programming, News and Documentary Emmy Awards for news and documentary shows, and the Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards and the Primetime Engineering Emmy Awards for technological and engineering achievements. Regional Emmy Awards are also presented throughout the country at various times through the year, recognizing excellence in local television. In addition, the International Emmy Awards honor excellence in TV programming produced and initially aired outside the United States.

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25/01/1947

Thomas Goldsmith Jr. files a patent for a "Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device", the first ever electronic game.

Thomas Toliver Goldsmith Jr. was an American television pioneer, the co-inventor of the cathode-ray tube amusement device, and a professor of physics at Furman University.

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25/01/1946

The United Mine Workers rejoins the American Federation of Labor.

The United Mine Workers of America is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the United States and Canada. Although its main focus has always been on workers and their rights, the UMW of today also advocates for better roads, schools, and universal health care. By 2014, coal mining had largely shifted to open pit mines in Wyoming, and there were only 60,000 active coal miners. The UMW was left with 35,000 members, of whom 20,000 were coal miners, chiefly in underground mines in Kentucky and West Virginia. However it was responsible for pensions and medical benefits for 40,000 retired miners, and for 50,000 spouses and dependents.

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United Nations Security Council Resolution 1 relating to Military Staff Committee is adopted.

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1 was adopted without a vote on 25 January 1946. The Council called for the Military Staff Committee to meet for the first time in London on 1 February 1946.

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25/01/1945

World War II: The Battle of the Bulge ends.

The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during the Second World War, taking place from 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945. It was referred to by the Germans as Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein and was launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. The offensive was intended to stop Allied use of the Belgian port of Antwerp and to split the Allied lines, allowing the Germans to encircle and destroy each of the four Allied armies and force the western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty in the Axis powers' favor.

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25/01/1942

World War II: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.

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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25/01/1941

Pope Pius XII elevates the Apostolic Vicariate of the Hawaiian Islands to the dignity of a diocese. It becomes the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.

Pope Pius XII was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958.

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25/01/1937

The Guiding Light debuts on NBC radio from Chicago. In 1952 it moves to CBS television, where it remains until September 18, 2009.

Guiding Light is an American daytime soap opera. It aired for 57 years on television between June 30, 1952, and September 18, 2009, but began even earlier as a radio serial on January 19, 1937. With 72 years of radio and television runs, it is the longest-running American soap opera, ahead of General Hospital.

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25/01/1932

Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese National Revolutionary Army begins the defense of Harbin.

The Second Sino-Japanese War, known in China as the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, was fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is often regarded as the beginning of World War II in Asia, as the wars became heavily intertwined after Japan's entry into World War II. It was the largest Asian war in the 20th century.

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Alt Llobregat insurrection suppressed in Central Catalonia, Spain.

The Alt Llobregat insurrection was a revolutionary general strike which took place in central Catalonia, in the northeast of Spain, in January 1932. Initially organised as a wildcat strike by miners in Fígols, who were protesting against low wages and poor working conditions, it soon turned into a general revolt and spread throughout the region. Workers seized local institutions, disarmed the police and proclaimed libertarian communism, all without any killing taking place. Within a week, the rebellion was suppressed by the Spanish Army. A subsequent rebellion in Aragon was also suppressed. In the wake of the insurrection, many anarchist activists were imprisoned or deported. The suppression of the insurrection caused a split in the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, with its radical faction ultimately taking control of the organisation and the moderate faction splitting off to form the Syndicalist Party. Further insurrections were carried out by CNT activists in January and December 1933.

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25/01/1924

The 1924 Winter Olympics opens in Chamonix, in the French Alps, inaugurating the Winter Olympic Games.

The 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the I Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Chamonix 1924, were a winter multi-sport event which was held in 1924 in Chamonix, France. Organized by the French Olympic Committee and held as part of an "International Winter Sports Week", the competitions took place in Chamonix and Haute-Savoie, France, from 25 January to 5 February 1924. Although not initially termed "Winter Olympics", the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to retrospectively grant the Chamonix competitions the status of the first Winter Olympic Games at the committee's 26th session on May 6, 1926.

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25/01/1918

The Ukrainian People's Republic declares independence from Soviet Russia.

The Ukrainian People's Republic (UPR) was a short-lived state in Eastern Europe. Prior to its proclamation, the Central Council of Ukraine was elected in March 1917 as a result of the February Revolution, and in June declared Ukrainian autonomy within Russia, which was later recognized by the Russian Provisional Government. Following the October Revolution, the Central Council of Ukraine denounced the Bolshevik seizure of power and proclaimed the establishment of the Ukrainian People's Republic in the approximate territory Russian governorates of Kiev, Volhynia, Kharkov, Kherson, Yekaterinoslav, Poltava, Chernigov and Podolia. The republic formally declared its independence from Russia on 22 January 1918.

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The Finnish Defence Forces (The White Guards) are established as the official army of independent Finland, and Baron C. G. E. Mannerheim is appointed its Commander-in-Chief.

The Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) are the military of Finland. The Finnish Defence Forces consist of the Finnish Army, the Finnish Navy, and the Finnish Air Force. In wartime, the Finnish Border Guard becomes part of the Finnish Defence Forces.

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25/01/1917

Sinking of the SS Laurentic after hitting two German mines off the coast of northwest Ireland.

SS Laurentic was a British transatlantic ocean liner built in Belfast, Ireland, and launched in 1908. She is an early example of a ship whose propulsion combined reciprocating steam engines with a low-pressure steam turbine.

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25/01/1915

Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service, speaking from New York to Thomas Watson in San Francisco.

Alexander Graham Bell was a Scottish-born Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1885.

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25/01/1909

Richard Strauss's opera Elektra receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera.

Richard Georg Strauss was a German composer and conductor known for his tone poems and operas. A leading figure of the late Romantic and early Modern era, and a successor to Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt, he combined, along with his friend Gustav Mahler, subtleties of orchestration with an advanced harmonic style.

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25/01/1890

Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.

Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, better known by her pen name Nellie Bly, was an American journalist who was widely known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days in emulation of Jules Verne's fictional character Phileas Fogg, and for an exposé in which she worked undercover to report on a mental institution from within. She ushered in the era of stunt girl reporting and helped advance a new kind of immersion journalism.

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25/01/1881

Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company.

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, which include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and early versions of the electric light bulb, have had a widespread impact on the modern industrialized world. He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the process of invention, working with many researchers and employees. He established the first industrial research laboratory.

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25/01/1879

The Bulgarian National Bank is founded.

The Bulgarian National Bank is the central bank for Bulgaria within the Eurosystem. Before the country adopted the euro on 1 January 2026, it was responsible for issuing the former national currency, the lev.

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25/01/1858

The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn is played at the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter, Victoria, and Friedrich of Prussia, and becomes a popular wedding processional.

Felix Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" in C major, written in 1842, is one of the best known of the pieces from his suite of incidental music to Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream. It is one of the most frequently used wedding marches, generally being played on a church pipe organ.

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25/01/1819

University of Virginia chartered by Commonwealth of Virginia, with Thomas Jefferson one of its founders.

The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville City and Albemarle County in Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his Academical Village, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its original governing Board of Visitors included three U.S. presidents: Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe, the latter as sitting president of the United States at the time of its foundation. As its first two rectors, presidents Jefferson and Madison played key roles in the university's foundation, with Jefferson designing both the original courses of study and the university's original architecture. The original campus contains President Monroe's former residence and law office, today used as a residential college.

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25/01/1792

The London Corresponding Society is founded.

The London Corresponding Society (LCS) was a federation of local reading and debating clubs that in the decade following the French Revolution agitated for the democratic reform of the British Parliament. In contrast to other reform associations of the period, it drew largely upon working men and was itself organised on a formal democratic basis. At its height of its popularity in late 1795, the Society had upwards of 5,000 subscribing members, and was able to broadcast its demands for universal (male) suffrage and annual parliaments to meetings and rallies attended by tens of thousands of unenfranchised working people.

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25/01/1791

The British Parliament passes the Constitutional Act of 1791 and splits the old Province of Quebec into Upper Canada and Lower Canada.

The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a new unified Kingdom of Great Britain and created the parliament of Great Britain located in the former home of the English parliament in the Palace of Westminster, near the City of London. This lasted nearly a century, until the Acts of Union 1800 merged the separate British and Irish Parliaments into a single Parliament of the United Kingdom with effect from 1 January 1801.

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25/01/1787

Shays' Rebellion: The rebellion's largest confrontation, outside the Springfield Armory, results in the killing of four rebels and the wounding of twenty.

Shays's Rebellion was an armed uprising in Western Massachusetts and Worcester in response to a debt crisis among the citizenry and in opposition to the state government's increased efforts to collect taxes on both individuals and their trades. The fighting took place in the areas around Springfield during 1786 and 1787. Historically, scholars have argued that the four thousand rebels, called Shaysites, who protested against economic and civil rights injustices by the Massachusetts government were led by Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays. By the early 2020s, scholarship has suggested that Shays's role in the protests was significantly exaggerated.

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25/01/1704

The Apalachee massacre: A combined British and Muscogee force from the Province of Carolina destroys the main fortified mission of Ayubale, breaking Spain's hold on Spanish Florida.

The Apalachee massacre was a series of raids by English colonists from the Province of Carolina and their Muscogee allies against a largely peaceful Apalachee population in northern Spanish Florida which took place in January 1704 during Queen Anne's War. Against limited Spanish and Apalachee resistance, a network of Catholic missions was destroyed by the raiders; most of their population were either killed, captured, fled to larger Spanish and French outposts, or voluntarily joined the English.

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25/01/1650

As part of the purges following the Great Potosí Mint Fraud of 1649 Francisco Gómez de la Rocha, a rich former corregidor of Potosí, is executed.

The Great Potosí Mint Fraud of 1649 was a financial fraud involving the fineness of silver coinage that began in Potosí, Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru, now Bolivia. The scandal had worldwide effects that lasted for decades.

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25/01/1585

Walter Raleigh is knighted, shortly after renaming North America region "Virginia", in honor of Elizabeth I, Queen of England, sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".

Sir Walter Raleigh was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellion in Ireland, helped defend England against the Spanish Armada and held political positions under Elizabeth I.

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25/01/1575

Luanda, the capital of Angola, is founded by the Portuguese navigator Paulo Dias de Novais.

Luanda is the capital and largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport, and also the capital of the Luanda Province. Luanda and its metropolitan area is the most populous Portuguese-speaking national capital in the world and the most populous Lusophone city outside Brazil. In 2024 the population reached more than 8.8 million inhabitants.

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25/01/1573

Battle of Mikatagahara: In Japan, Takeda Shingen defeats Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The Battle of Mikatagahara took place during the Sengoku period of Japan between Takeda Shingen and Tokugawa Ieyasu in Tōtōmi Province on January 25, 1573. Shingen attacked Ieyasu on the plain of Mikatagahara north of Hamamatsu during his campaign against Oda Nobunaga while seeking a route from Kōfu to Kyoto. The Tokugawa-Oda force was almost totally annihilated by the Takeda after being encircled and many of Ieyasu's retainers were killed in the battle. Ieyasu and his surviving men were forced to retreat before launching a minor counterattack to delay Shingen's march towards Kyoto.

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25/01/1554

São Paulo, Brazil, is founded by Jesuit priests.

São Paulo is the capital city of the state of the same name, as well as the most populous city in Brazil, South America, the Americas, and in both the Western and Southern Hemispheres. The city exerts international influence in commerce, finance, culture, gastronomy, arts, fashion, technology, entertainment and media, having been listed by UNESCO's Creative Cities Network as a "City of Film" and the title of "World Capital of Gastronomy", and by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) as an alpha global city. It is the largest urban area by population outside Asia and the most populous Portuguese-speaking city in the world. The city's name "São Paulo" honors Paul the Apostle and people from the city are known as paulistanos. The city's Latin motto is Non ducor, duco, which translates as "I am not led, I lead".

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25/01/1533

Henry VIII of England secretly marries his second wife Anne Boleyn.

Henry VIII was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. After the pope refused to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Henry passed legislation that severed England and Ireland from the Roman Catholic Church and established the monarch as Supreme Head of the Church of England, initiating the English Reformation. He subsequently married five more times; two marriages were annulled and two wives were executed.

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25/01/1515

Coronation of Francis I of France takes place at Reims Cathedral, where the new monarch is anointed with the oil of Clovis and girt with the sword of Charlemagne.

The accession of the king of France to the royal throne was legitimized by a ceremony performed with the Crown of Charlemagne at the Reims Cathedral. In late medieval and early modern times, the new king did not need to be anointed in order to be recognized as French monarch but ascended upon the previous monarch's death with the proclamation "Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi!"

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25/01/1494

Alfonso II becomes King of Naples.

Alfonso II was Duke of Calabria and ruled as King of Naples from 25 January 1494 to 23 January 1495. He was a soldier and a patron of Renaissance architecture and the arts.

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25/01/1479

The Treaty of Constantinople ends the 16-year-long First Ottoman–Venetian War.

The Treaty of Constantinople was signed on 25 January 1479, which officially ended the sixteen-year-long war between the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire. The Venetians were forced to hand over Scutari in Albania and the island of Lemnos and the Mani Peninsula in Greece; and acknowledge the loss of Negroponte (Euboea) and Croia. The treaty allowed a full restoration of Venetian trading privileges in the Ottoman Empire against an annual flat tax of 10,000 ducats, as well as a 100,000 ducats in arrears owed by Venetian citizens to the Porte.

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25/01/1348

A strong earthquake strikes the South Alpine region of Friuli in modern Italy, causing considerable damage to buildings as far away as Rome.

The 1348 Friuli earthquake, centered in the South Alpine region of Friuli, was felt across Europe on 25 January. The earthquake hit in the same year that the Great Plague ravaged Italy. According to contemporary sources, it caused considerable damage to structures; churches and houses collapsed and villages were destroyed.

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25/01/1327

Fourteen-year-old Edward III ascends the throne of England after his father the king is forced to abdicate by Queen Isabella and her lover, Roger Mortimer.

Edward III, also known as Edward of Windsor before accession, was King of England from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after the disastrous and unorthodox reign of his father, Edward II. Edward III transformed the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe. His fifty-year reign is one of the longest in English history, and saw vital developments in legislation and government, in particular the evolution of the English Parliament, as well as the ravages of the Black Death. He outlived his eldest son, Edward the Black Prince, and was succeeded by his grandson, Richard II.

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25/01/0750

In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to the overthrow of the dynasty.

The Battle of the Zab, also referred to in scholarly contexts as Battle of the Great Zāb River, took place on January 25, 750, on the banks of the Great Zab in what is now the modern country of Iraq. It spelled the end of the Umayyad Caliphate and the rise of the Abbasid Caliphate, which would last from 750 to 1258.

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25/01/0041

After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman emperor by the Senate.

AD 41 (XLI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of C. Caesar Augustus Germanicus and Cn. Sentius Saturninus. The denomination AD 41 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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