JANUARY 1

1892 - Manuel Roxas y Acuna, the First President of the Philippine's Third Republic, is born.

1610 - Jupiter's innermost large moons are discovered by German astronomer Simon Marius; however, it will be Galileo who will officially report his independent discovery of the same some six months later.

1959 - The popular Cuban revolution headed by Fidel Castro deposes dictator Fulgencio Batista from power.

2002 - The Euro, official currency of the European Union, begins circulation in 12 countries of Europe.

DECEMBER 31

1933 - Rafael Palma, Filipino statesman, writer, and educator, resigns as University of the Philippines president over his defense of the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Law, the fruit of the 1933 Osmena-Roxas mission to seek independence from United States colonial rule.

1879 - The electric incandescent light bulb is demonstrated for the first time by Thomas Edison who states: "We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles."

1946 - United States President Harry Truman officially puts an end to World War II.

1963 - The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as Central African Federation (CAF), which is a semi-independent state under the British Crown is formally disbanded.

DECEMBER 30

1896 - Jose Mercado Rizal, influential Filipino patriot and reformist leader, is executed by Spanish colonial authorities in Bagumbayan; during the subsequent American colonial rule, he will be sponsored as Philippine national hero.

1906 - Persia (Iran) becomes a constitutional monarchy when the Mozaffar al-Din Shah signed the country's first constitution following public unrest and call for Prime Minister Einoddoleh's resignation.

1922 - The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) is formed post-revolutionarily--composed of Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia and the Transcaucasian Federation of what would be Georgian, Azerbaijan, and Armenian republics.

1993 - The Vatican and Israel sign an accord of mutual recognition in the bid to halt hostilities between Christians and Jews.

DECEMBER 29

1896 - The trial of Mariano Ordenanza and revolutionaries from Bicol and other parts of the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period starts in Manila; Ordenanza will be meted 20 years in Bilibid prison while others will either be deported or be executed at Bagumbayan.

1890 - The United States Army massacres 146 Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee Creek, the final major chapter of the Indian Wars.

1975 - A radical new British legislation gives women the right to equal status and pay.

1996 - Thirty-six years of Guatemalan conflict is ended with the signing of a peace accord.

DECEMBER 28

1898 - Imperialistic American forces land in Negros, Philippines; the cantonal government established in Bacolod during the revolution against Spain will soon fall, with Juan Anacleto Araneta urging his comrades to surrender to the US.

1612 - Neptune is observed for the first time by astronomer Galileo Galilee who wrongly catalogs it not as a planet but as a fixed star.

1768 - King Taksin is crowned following his pursuit of the liberation of Siam (Thailand) from Burmese occupation.

1895 - The first commercial movie is screened at the Grand Cafe in Paris, France.

DECEMBER 27

1875 - Juan Sumulong, Filipino revolutionary and "Brains of the Opposition" in the time of President Manuel Quezon during the American colonial period, is born in Antipolo, Rizal.

1837 - English naturalist Charles Darwin begins his five-year voyage aboard the HMS Beagle; the knowledge he will learn from the voyage will help him formulate his evolution theory on natural selection.

1979 - The Soviet Union invades Afghanistan and installs Babrak Karmal as president in place of Hafizullah Amin.

2001 - US President George W. Bush permanently normalizes bilateral trade relations with the People's Republic of China. 

DECEMBER 26

1941 - Manila, Philippines is declared an "open city" by colonial US Gen. Douglas MacArthur in the bid to spare it from ground and air attacks by invading Japanese forces during World War II.

1985 - Dian Fossey is found murdered in her camp in Rwanda; her zoological work, including the book "Gorillas in the Mist," added immensely to the knowledge about gorillas.

1990 - Fatwa on Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses," is uphold by Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei; the legal opinion calls for the death sentence on Rushdie for his book's alleged blasphemous attack against Islamic prophet Mohammed.

2004 - More than 10,000 people are killed by the Asian tsunami caused by an earthquake that occurred under the Indian Ocean.

DECEMBER 25

1898 - The decree declaring December 30 as Jose Rizal Day appears in the Christmas Day issue of El Heraldo de la Revolucion, the official organ of the Philippine revolutionary government under Emilio Aguinaldo.

274 - A temple is dedicated to Sol Invictus by Roman Emperor Aurelian on this day believed to be the winter solstice and day of Sun's rebirth.

1758 - The first sighting of Halley's comet on its return, as earlier predicted by Edmund Halley, is made by Johann Georg Palitzsch, a Saxon (early German) farmer and amateur astronomer.

1914 - German trooops in the Ypres, Belgian region initiate informal Christmas truce during World War I by singing Christmas carols.

DECEMBER 24

1898 - Filipino Visayan revolutionaries led by Gen. Martin Delgado triumph as the Spanish Governor-General Diego de los Rios evacuates Iloilo.

1777 - Kiritimati (Christmas Island) is discovered by British explorer Capt. James Cook.

1865 - The notorious white supremacy group Ku Klux Klan is founded as a secret society in Pulaski, Tennessee, USA by Confederate veterans.

1962 - The last of over 1,000 prisoners who took part in the disastrous US-supported Bay of Pigs Cuban invasion lands on American soil following a ransom deal with Pres. Fidel Castro.

DECEMBER 23

1941 - US Gen. Douglas MacArthur starts withdrawing from Manila to the peninsular province of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II as the Japanese forces take the Northern Pacific Wake Island.

1672 - Rhea, Saturn's satellite, is discovered by Giovanni Cassini.

1888 - Renowned Post-Impressionist painter Vincent Willem van Gogh cuts off his ear out of severe depression.

1956 - The Suez Crisis ends as British and French forces abandon their armed occupation of the region following Egypt's nationalisation of the important human-made waterway.

DECEMBER 22

1965 - Tomas B. Mapua, renowned Filipino architect and founder of the Mapua Institute of Technology, dies. 

1603 - Emperor Mehmed III dies; he is notorious in Ottoman history for having ordered the murder of 19 of his brothers/half-brothers and over 20 of his sisters/half-sisters.

1972 - Fourteen survivors are found by the Chilean Air Force in the Andes ten weeks after their plane crashed.

2001 -Hamid Karzai is sworn is as Afghanistan President following the country's first popular elections.

DECEMBER 21

1581 - The cathedral of Manila in the Philippines is erected by Msgr. Domingo de Salazar by virtue of the bull of Pope Gregory XIII.

1598 - Revolting Mapuche deals Spanish troops in Southern Chile a severe defeat; will eventually halt all European colonization of Mapuche territories.

1898 - Pierre and Marie Curie discover the element radium.

1968 - Apollo 8, the first manned lunar mission, is launched.

DECEMBER 20

1858 - Jose S. Libornio, composer and military band conductor, is born in Sta. Ana, Manila; he will become a hero in Peru where he will compose his adopted country's National Army March.

69 AD - Vespasian, a general under former Roman Emperor Nero, enters Rome to claim the empire after defeating the short-lived emperor Vitellius.

1522 - Sulayman the Magnificent spares the lives of the remaining Knight of Rhodes who have surrendered to him.

1957 - Rock and roll superstar Elvis Presley is drafted into the United States army.

DECEMBER 19

1899 - US Gen. Henry W. Lawton is killed in the Battle of San Mateo by Gen. Licerio I. Geronimo's forces during the Philippine-American War.

1271 - China's Yuan Dynasty officially commences as Mongolian conqueror Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" in the bid to sinicize his image and win the hearts of the more numerous Chinese.

1972 - Idi Amin gives British workers in Uganda an ultimatum to either leave the country or accept the 40% pay reduction, in line with his nationalization policy.

1984 - Britain signs the Joint Sino-British Declaration returning Hong Kong to China.

DECEMBER 18

1856 - Graciano Lopez y Jaena, Filipino patriot, great orator and propagandist, is born in Jaro, Iloilo.

1865 - Slavery is abolished with the adoption of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

1941 - Japanese forces invade Hong Kong during World War II.

1985- A Malaysian court rejects the 11th hour appeal of two Australians who received the death penalty for smuggling heroin.

DECEMBER 17

1941 - Filipino freedom-fighter Wenceslao Q. Vinzons leads his guerilla unit in his first big battle against the Japanese forces in Laniton during World War II.

1398 - Timur, 14th century conqueror of Western and Central Asia, subjugates the armies of Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud in Delhi.

1903 - The airplane built by the Wright brothers makes the world's first sustained flight near Kitty Hawk in North Carolina.

1996 - Six Red Cross aid workers are killed in Chechnya during the First Chechen War with Russia.

DECEMBER 16

1916 - Sculptor, painter, and Filipino revolutionary Telesforo Sucgang dies; his famous works include the portrait of Spain's King Alfonso XIII and the execution of Jose Rizal.

755 - The An shi Rebellion during the Tang Dynasty is initiated by Gen. An Lushan; it will last for 7 years and supposedly take an estimated death toll of as high as 36 million.

1631 - Mt. Vesuvius in Pompeii, Italy erupts and unleashes seven lava flows that reach six kilometers unto the sea to form a big peninsula.

1990 - Haiti elects Jean-Bertrand Aristide as  president in its very first democratic electoral process.

DECEMBER 15

1660 - Filipino rebels during the early Spanish colonial period capture and ransack the village of Bagnotan, Lingayen under the leadership of Don Andres Malong.

1890 - Sioux chieftain "Sitting Bull," champion of the cause of Native Americans, is murdered.

1961 - German National Socialist officer Adolf Eichmann is sentenced to death in Israel for his role in the deportation and mass extermination of millions of Jews during World War II.

1989 - A demonstration in communist Romania is held and will later become a popular uprising that will commence the decline of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

DECEMBER 14

1897 - The Pact of Biak-na-Bato is signed (Dec. 14-15) with the aim of ending the armed hostilities between Spanish colonial forces and Filipino revolutionaries under Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo. 

1503 - Reputed birthdate of Nostradamus (Michel De Notredame),  famous medieval French seer and apothecary or pharmacist.

1972 - The United States' program to explore the moon ends with the return of Apollo 17, its last manned lunar space mission.

1985 - Wilma Mankiller becomes the first female American Indian tribe leader as she assumes the office of the principal chief of Oklahoma's Cherokee Nation.

DECEMBER 13

1920 - Death of Bonifacio F. Arevalo, Filipino propagandist and artist during the Spanish period. Arevalo was treasurer of the reformist La Liga Filipina; he was also the gold medal winner for sculpture during the 1895 Exposicion Regional de Filipinas.

1642 - New Zealand is discovered by Abel Tasma, a Dutch explorer.

1958 - The search for a tiny, bushy-tailed monkey, lost in space after being fired off into a Jupiter missile's nose cone, is cancelled.

2003 - Saddam Hussein, Iraq's former strongman, is captured after nine months of hiding from the occupying United States forces.

DECEMBER 12

1888 - A group of 21 young women from Malolos, Bulakan dare ask Gov.-Gen. Valeriano Weyler to authorize them to open a night school of Spanish language; informed of the admirable act, Jose Rizal will later write them the famous "Letter to the Young Women of Malolos" in Tagalog language.

1901 - The first long-range wireless (radio) message is transmitted across the Atlantic Ocean by Guglielmo Marconi.

1912 - Prince Boun Oum is born; he would become Prime Minister of Laos twice--from 1948-1950 and 1960-1962.

1963 - British East Africa (now Kenya) declares its independence from Britain.

1992 - Britain's royal Princess Anne remarries, tying the knot with Timothy Laurence, a Royal Navy commander.

DECEMBER 11

1844 - Nitrous oxide, more popularly known as "laughing gas," is first used in dentistry for its analgesic and anesthetic effects.

1936 - Edward VIII steps down as King of England to marry the American woman he loves, divorcee Wallis Simpson.

1941 - Germany and Italy make the declaration of war with the United States.

1979 - The British Parliament passes a bill declaring 14 years of  independence of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) as illegal.

DECEMBER 10

1898 - The US "acquires" the Philippines, Puerto Rico & Guam from Spain via the Treaty of Paris that ends the Spanish-American War; the valiant Philippine Revolution against Spain will continue as the Filipino-American War for many years.

1941 - Invading Japanese troops first land on Luzon island in the Philippines and, as well, on Guam during World War II.

1948 - The General Assembly of the United Nations votes 48-0 (8 abstentions: Byelorussia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, South Africa and Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, USSR, & Yugoslavia) to adopt the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

2004 - Thirty years after the Vietnam War, an American passenger jet lands again on Vietnamese soil for the first time.

DECEMBER 9

1819 - The pirate stronghold at Ras al Khaimah (today a political territory of the United Arab Emirates) is destroyed by troops of the British and East India Company.

1941 - China makes the declaration of war against the three major Axis powers--Japan, Germany, and Italy--during World War II.

1961 - Tanganyika (Tanzania) becomes independent from Britain. The small northwest area ruled by Belgium will later become Burundi and Rwanda.

1992 - American marines land in Somalia to spearhead the international humanitarian/military operation to restore order in the conflict- and famine-ridden African nation.

DECEMBER 8

1854 - The dogma of Immaculate Conception is proclaimed by Pope Pius IX, making Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, as free of Original Sin.

1949 - Communist guerilla army under Mao Zedong forces the retreat of the Kuomintang forces of the Chinese government to Formosa island (Taiwan).

1980 - John Lennon, one of of the former members of the sensational Beatles band, is shot dead by a supposedly deranged fan, Mark David Chapman.

1987 - US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev sign the first historic agreement reducing the nuclear arsenals of the Cold War superpowers.

DECEMBER 7

1941 - Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, setting off its invasion of the Philippines, then a colony of the United States. The bombing breaks American neutrality in World War II.

1912 - The bust of the beautiful ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertiti, (ca. 1350 B.C. of the 18th Dynasty), is discovered by German archeologist Ludwig Borchard.

1937 - Dutch Minister Romme forbids married women from working.

2001 - Taliban forces in Afghanistan flee from their last stronghold of Kandahar following weeks of bombardment by United States warplanes.

DECEMBER 6

1991- The Philippines informs the United States that it has a year to complete withdrawal of forces from its military base facilities in the Southeast Asian country, following the RP Senate vote rejecting the renewal of the bases treaty.

1921 - Ireland, as the Irish Free State is declared independent, putting an end to a five-year struggle to be free from Britain.

1992 - Hindu militants numbering around 200,000 rip apart a Muslim mosque in Ayodha; at least 2,000 Muslims and Hindus will perish in the ensuing inter-communal violence.

1998 - Hugo Chavez Frias, left-wing leader of the Figh Republic Movement, is elected Venezuelan President.

DECEMBER 5

1945 - Five United States Navy Avenger torpedo bombers, on a routine training mission covering  the Bermuda Triangle,  disappear. The remains of a total of 27 men from Flight 19 and the rescue aircraft Mariner were never found, cementing the legend of the triangular area in the Atlantic Ocean.

771 - Charlemagne, future Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, becomes the sole King of France following his brother's death.

1950 - Chinese troops enter Pyongyang to help North Korea, after the retreat of the United Nations.

1988 - The globe's first nuclear-war-fighting satellite is launched by Shuttle Atlantis (STS-27).

DECEMBER 4

1951 - Mt. Hibokhibok (Catarman), dormant since 1875, erupts in the Philippines. The dehydrating superheated gases kill some 500 people in minutes.

1945 - The United States Senate approves the participation of the country in the United Nations.

1961 - Birth control pill is first made available to American women who wish to take oral contraception.

2003 - The Interpol places Charles Taylor, ex-Liberian President accused of war crimes, on its list of most wanted.

DECEMBER 3

1945 - KALIBAPI government is established in the Philippines under President Jose P. Laurel during the Japanese Occupation; the acronym stands for Kapisanan sa Paglilingkod sa Bagong Pilipinas.

1967 - The first successful heart transplant is performed in Cape Town, South Africa by Dr. Christiaan Barnar. 

1984 - Infamous Union Carbide gas leak leads to the death of more than 2,000 people and injury of over 200,000 others in India.

1992 - United Nations Security Council votes to send troops to famine-stricken Somalia.

DECEMBER 2

1899 - Filipino revolutionary patriot Gen. Gregorio del Pilar was killed by American colonial forces during the Battle of Tirad Pass in Ilocos Sur.

1942 - Atomic Age began with the the first controlled nuclear reaction

1975 - The current flag of Laos is first flown when anticolonialist Pathet Lao forces were able to depose the US-backed monarcy.

1851 - Napoleon Bonaparte staged the French coup d'état

1990 - First parliamentary elections held in reunified Germany

DECEMBER 1

1989 - Unsuccessful coup  is staged against the Corazon Aquino government by the combined forces of RAM (Reform the AFP Movement) and the Nationalist Army of the Philippines (NAP) .

1913 - Assembly line mode of production is introduced by the Ford Motor Company, allowing the mass production of automobiles.

1955 - Afro-American Rosa Parks is arrested, sparking a 381-day boycott of the Montgomery (Alabama) bus system and leading to the 1956 US Supreme Court decision than bans segregation in public transportation.

1959 - A treaty establishing the continent of Antarctica as a scientific preserve and protected against any military activity is signed by 12 nations includng the United States. 

1999 -  The genetic code of the 33.5 million bps comprising human chromosome 22's euchromatic portion is released into the public domain.

NOVEMBER 30

1863 - Birth of Andres Bonifacio, the "Father of Philippine Revolution," also referred to as the Supremo or "The Great Plebeian."

1939 - Finland is invaded by the Soviet Union during World War II.

1966 -  Barbados, a West Indies island, becomes independent from Great Britain.

1974 - The fossil remains of Lucy, a female human ancestor, are discovered in Ethiopia in the continent of Africa.

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