January 1

is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Here a calendar year refers to the order in which the months are displayed, January to December. The first day of the medieval Julian year was usually a day other than January 1. This day was adopted as the first day of the Julian year by some European countries between 1522 and 1579 (that is, before the creation of the Gregorian calendar in 1582). See beginning of the year. The British Empire (including its American colonies) did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752. This change can lead to dating confusion between Old Style and New Style dates. The Gregorian calendar as promulgated in 1582 did not specify that January 1 was to be either New Year's Day or the first day of its numbered year. Although England began its numbered year on March 25 (Lady Day) between the thirteenth century and 1752, January 1 was called New Year's Day, which was a holiday when gifts were exchanged. 364 days (365 in leap years) remain in the year after this day.

Events

45 BC - The Julian calendar first takes effect.
404 - Last known gladiator competition in Rome takes place.
630 - Prophet Muhammad sets out toward Mecca with the army that will capture it bloodlessly.
990 - Kievan Rus' adopts the Julian calendar.
1259 - Michael VIII Palaeologus proclaimed co-emperor of the Empire of Nicaea with his ward John IV Lascaris.
1438 - Albert II of Habsburg is crowned King of Hungary.
1600 - Scotland begins using the Julian calendar.
1651 - Charles II crowned King of Scotland.
1673 - Regular mail delivery begins between New York and Boston.
1700 - Russia begins using the Julian calendar.
1707 - John V is crowned King of Portugal.
1738 - Bouvet Island is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier.
1788 - First edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published.
1797 - Albany replaces New York City as the capital of New York.
1801 - Legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland is completed to form the United Kingdom.
1801 - The first known asteroid, 1 Ceres, is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi.
1804 - French rule ends in Haiti. Haiti becomes the first black republic and first country independent in the West Indies.
1808 - Importation of slavess into the United States is banned.
1818 - Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus is published.
1861 - Porfirio Diaz conquers Mexico City.
1863 - American Civil War: The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect in Confederate territory, though Abraham Lincoln had no jurisdiction there to enforce it.
1863 - The first claim under the Homestead Act is made by Daniel Freeman for a farm in Nebraska.
1875 - Midland Railway abolishes Second Class passenger facilities, leaving First Class and Third Class. Other British Railway companies followed Midland's lead during the rest of the year. (Third Class was renamed Second Class in 1956).
1880 - Ferdinand de Lesseps begins French construction of the Panama Canal.
1887 - Queen Victoria was proclaimed empress of India in Delhi.
1890 - The first Tournament of Roses is held in Pasadena, California.
1892 - Ellis Island opens to begin accepting immigrants to the United States.
1893 - Japan begins using the Gregorian calendar.
1894 - The Manchester Ship Canal, England, was officially opened to traffic.
1898 - New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, are joined on January 25 by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs.
1899 - Spanish rule ends in Cuba.
1901 - Nigeria becomes a British protectorate.
1901 - The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton is appointed the first Prime Minister.
1901 - The first official Mummers Parade is held.
1902 - The first Rose Bowl game is played in Pasadena, California, with the University of Michigan beating Stanford University by a score of 49-0.
1906 - British India officially adopts the Indian Standard Time
1908 - For the first time, a ball is dropped in New York City's Times Square to signify the start of the New Year at midnight.
1909 - Drilling began on the Lakeview Gusher.
1911 - Northern Territory is separated from South Australia and transferred to Commonwealth control.
1912 - The Republic of China is established.
1916 - German troops abandon Yaoundé and their Kamerun colony to British forces and begin the long march to Spanish Guinea.
1927 - Turkey adopts the Gregorian calendar: December 18, 1926 (Julian), is immediately followed by January 1, 1927 (Gregorian).
1934 - Alcatraz Island becomes a U.S federal prison.
1934 - Nazi Germany passes the "Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring".
1935 - Bucknell University wins the first Orange Bowl 26-0 over the University of Miami.
1937 - The first Cotton Bowl game is played in Dallas, Texas. TCU defeats Marquette University 16-6.
1939 - The first Vienna New Year's Concert is held.
1942 - The Declaration by the United Nations is signed by twenty-six nations.
1946 - First civil flight from Heathrow Airport.
1948 - British railways are nationalised to form British Rail.
1948 - After partition, India declines to pay the agreed share of Rs.550 million in cash balances to Pakistan.
1949 - UN Cease-fire orders to operate in Kashmir from one minute before midnight. War between India and Pakistan stops accordingly.
1956 - The Republic of the Sudan achieves independence from the Egyptian Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
1958 - The European Community is established.
1959 - Cultivars of plants named after this date must be named in a modern language, not in Latin.
1959 - Fulgencio Batista, president of Cuba, is overthrown by Fidel Castro's forces during the Cuban Revolution.
1960 - The Republic of Cameroon achieves independence from France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
1962 - Western Samoa achieves independence from New Zealand; its name is changed to the Independent State of Western Samoa.
1964 - The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is divided into the independent republics of Zambia and Malawi, and the British-controlled Rhodesia.
1966 - Twelve day New York City transit strike begins.
1970 - Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Miles, and Billy Cox are recorded live at the Fillmore East. The resulting album, Band of Gypsys, is the last Hendrix album to be released before his death.
1971 - Cigarette advertisements are banned on American television.
1973 - The Kingdom of Denmark, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland are admitted into the European Community.
1978 - Air India Flight 855 Boeing 747 explodes and crashes into the sea off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
1979 - Formal diplomatic relations are established between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America.
1981 - The Republic of Greece is admitted into the European Community.
1981 - The Republic of Palau achieves self-government though it is not independent from the United States.
1982 - Peruvian Javier Pérez de Cuéllar becomes the first Latin American to hold the title of Secretary-General of the United Nations.
1983 - The ARPANET officially changes to using the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet.
1984 - AT&T; is broken up into twenty-two independent units.
1984 - The Sultanate of Brunei becomes independent of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
1985 - The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
1985 - The first British mobile phone call is made by Ernie Wise to Vodafone.
1986 - Aruba becomes independent of Curaçao, though it remains in free association with the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
1986 - The Kingdom of Spain and the Portuguese Republic are admitted into the European Community.
1988 - The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America comes into existence, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.
1990 - David Dinkins was sworn in as New York City's first black mayor.
1993 - Dissolution of Czechoslovakia: Czechoslovakia is divided into the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic.
1993 - A single market within the European Community is introduced.
1994 - The Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiates twelve days of armed conflict in the Mexican State of Chiapas.
1994 - The North American Free Trade Agreement comes into effect.
1994 - The European Economic Area comes into effect.
1995 - The World Trade Organization comes into effect.
1995 - The Kingdom of Sweden and the republics of Austria and Finland are admitted into the European Union.
1995 - The Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe becomes the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
1995 - The Draupner wave in the North Sea in Norway is detected, confirming the existence of freak waves.
1996 - Curaçao gains limited self-government, though it remains within free association with the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
1997 - The Republic of Zaïre officially joins the World Trade Organization, as Zaïre.
1999 - The Euro currency is introduced.
2000 - As the world celebrates, no major crisis arises from the dreaded Y2K computer 'millennium bug'.
2002 - Euro banknotes and coins become legal tender in twelve of the European Union's member states.
2002 - Taiwan officially joins the World Trade Organization, as Chinese Taipei.
2002 - The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992, officially enters into force.
2006 - Sydney, Australia swelters in 45C heat, a record for the city.
2006 - The actor Steven Culp's sister and her family are brutally murdered in Richmond, Virginia.

Births

766 - Ali ar-Rida, Shia Imam (d. 818)
1431 - Pope Alexander VI (d. 1503)
1449 - Lorenzo de Medici, Italian statesman (d. 1492)
1484 - Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss Protestant leader (d. 1531)
1516 - Margareta Leijonhufvud, queen of Gustav I of Sweden (d. 1551)
1557 - Stephen Bocskay, Prince of Transylvania (d. 1606)
1600 - Friedrich Spanheim, Dutch theologian (d. 1649)
1614 - John Wilkins, English Bishop of Chester (d. 1672)
1618 - Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Spanish painter (d. 1682)
1638 - Emperor Go-Sai of Japan (d. 1685)
1648 - Elkanah Settle, English writer (d. 1724)
1655 - Christian Thomasius, German jurist (d. 1728)
1684 - Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch classical scholar (d. 1748)
1704 - Soame Jenyns, English writer (d. 1787)
1711 - Franz Freiherr von der Trenck, Austrian soldier (d. 1749)
1714 - Kristijonas Donelaitis, Lithuanian poet (d. 1780)
1735 - Paul Revere, American patriot (d. 1818)
1750 - Frederick Muhlenberg, 1st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1801)
1752 - Betsy Ross, American seamstress (d. 1836)
1774 - André Marie Constant Duméril, French zoologist (d. 1860)
1823 - Sándor Petőfi, Hungarian poet and revolutionary (d. 1849)
1833 - Robert Lawson, New Zealand architect (d. 1902)
1848 - John Goff, Irish lawyer (d. 1924)
1854 - Sir James George Frazer, Scottish anthropologist (d. 1941)
1860 - George Washington Carver, American educator (d. 1943)
1863 - Pierre de Coubertin, French Olympic Games initiator(d. 1937)
1864 - Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer (d. 1946)
1868 - Snitz Edwards, American actor (d. 1937)
1873 - Mariano Azuela, Mexican novelist (d. 1952)
1874 - Gustave Whitehead, German-born inventor (d. 1927)
1874 - Frank Knox, American Secretary of the Navy (d. 1944)
1876 - Harriet Brooks, Canadian physicist (d. 1933)
1878 - Agner Krarup Erlang, Danish scientist (d. 1929)
1879 - E. M. Forster, English novelist (d. 1970)
1881 - Vajiravudh, King of Thailand (d. 1925)
1883 - Gabrielle Chanel, French Designer (d. 1971)
1887 - Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral (d. 1945)
1890 - Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer (d. 1966)
1892 - Artur Rodziński, Croatian conductor (d. 1958)
1894 - Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian mathematician (d. 1974)
1895 - J. Edgar Hoover, American FBI director (d. 1972)
1900 - Xavier Cugat, Spanish musician (d. 1990)
1900 - Chiune Sugihara, Japanese diplomat(d. 1986)
1902 - Buster Nupen, South African cricketer (d. 1977)
1904 - Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani politician (d. 1982)
1904 - Ethan Allen, American baseball player (d. 1993)
1905 - Kamatari Fujiwara, Japanese actor (d. 1985)
1906 - Giovanni D'Anzi, Italian songwriter (d. 1974)
1909 - Dana Andrews, American actor (d. 1992)
1909 - Barry M. Goldwater, American politician (d. 1998)
1911 - Hank Greenberg, American baseball player (d. 1986)
1912 - Kim Philby, British spy (d. 1988)
1917 - Jule Gregory Charney, American meteorologist (d. 1981)
1917 - Albert Mol, Dutch actor (d. 2004)
1918 - Patrick Anthony Porteous, Scottish Victoria Cross recipient (d. 2000)
1919 - J. D. Salinger, American novelist
1920 - Virgilio Savona, Italian singer (Quartetto Cetra)
1921 - Isma'il Raji' al-Faruqi, Palestinian-born philosopher (d. 1986)
1922 - Rocky Graziano, American boxer (d. 1990)
1925 - Stymie Beard, American actor (d. 1981)
1927 - Vernon L. Smith, American economist, Bank of Sweden Prize winner
1927 - Doak Walker, American football star (d. 1998)
1928 - Ernest Tidyman, American writer (d. 1984)
1930 - Hossain Mohammad Ershad, President of Bangladesh
1933 - Frederick Lowy, Canadian medical educator
1933 - Joe Orton, English writer (d. 1967)
1938 - Robert Jankel, British coachbuilder (d. 2005)
1940 - Frank Langella American actor
1942 - Martin Frost, American politician
1942 - Country Joe McDonald, American musician (Country Joe and the Fish)
1942 - Gennadi Sarafanov, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 2005)
1943 - Don Novello, American actor
1943 - Jimmy Hart, Wrestling manager
1945 - Jacky Ickx, Belgian race car driver
1946 - Rivelino, Brazilian football player
1947 - Jon Corzine, American politician
1947 - Paula Tsui, Hong Kong singer
1948 - Pavel Grachev, Russian general
1951 - Ashfaq Hussain, Urdu poet
1953 - Greg Carmichael, British guitarist
1954 - Robert Menendez, American politician
1956 - Mark R. Hughes, American enterpeneur (d. 2000)
1957 - Luis Guzmán, Puerto Rican actor
1958 - Grandmaster Flash, Barbados-born musician
1959 - Azali Assoumani, Comorese president
1960 - Adelaide Ferreira, Portuguese singer
1961 - Mark Wingett, British actor
1964 - Dedee Pfeiffer, American actress
1966 - Anna Burke, Australian politician
1966 - Embeth Davidtz, American actress
1967 - Derrick Thomas, American football player (d. 2000)
1968 - Davor Šuker, Croatian footballer
1969 - Verne Troyer, American actor
1970 - Gabriel Jarret, American actor
1970 - Kimberly Page, American actress
1971 - Paul Luscher, singer/songwriter
1971 - Bobby Holik, Czech hockey player
1972 - Neve McIntosh, Scottish actress
1972 - Lilian Thuram, French footballer
1975 - Joe Cannon, American soccer player
1975 - Robert Westerholt, Dutch guitarist (Within Temptation)
1976 - Caleb Wyatt, American motocross rider
1977 - Hasan Salihamidžić, Bosnian footballer
1978 - Nina Bott, German actress
1978 - Jared Fogle, American personality
1978 - Phillip Mulryne, Northern Irish footballer
1978 - Paramahamsa Sri Nithyananda, Indian spiritual guru
1979 - Brody Dalle, Australian singer (The Distillers)
1979 - Koichi Domoto, Japanese artist
1980 - Elin Nordegren, Swedish model
1980 - Nils-Eric Johansson, Swedish footballer
1981 - Zsolt Baumgartner, Hungarian race car driver
1981 - Abdulkadir Kocak, Turkish boxer
1981 - Eden Riegel, American actress
1982 - David Nalbandian, Argentinian tennis player
1983 - Calum Davenport, English footballer
1984 - Michael Witt, Australian rugby league footballer
1984 - Jose Paolo Guerrero, Peruvian footballer
1985 - Steven Davis, Irish footballer
1985 - Don Paysan, Canadian professional wrestler
1992 - Martin Leung, Canadian trombone player
1996 - Mary Gibbs, American actress

Deaths

379 - Saint Basil of Caesarea (b. 330)
404 - Saint Telemachus
874 - Hasan al-Askari, eleventh Shia Imam (b. 846)
898 - Odo, Count of Paris (b. 860)
1204 - King Haakon III of Norway
1384 - King Charles II of Navarre (b. 1332)
1515 - King Louis XII of France (b. 1462)
1554 - Pedro de Valdivia, Spanish conquistador (bc. 1500)
1559 - Christian III of Denmark and Norway (b. 1503)
1560 - Joachim Du Bellay, French poet (bc. 1522)
1617 - Hendrik Goltzius, Dutch painter (b. 1558)
1679 - Jan Steen, Dutch painter
1716 - William Wycherley, English dramatist (bc. 1640)
1730 - Samuel Sewall, English-born judge (b. 1652)
1742 - Peregrine Bertie, 2nd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English statesman (b. 1686)
1748 - Johann Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b. 1667)
1759 - Jacques-Joachim Trotti, marquis de La Chétardie, French adventurer (b. 1705)
1766 - James Francis Edward Stuart, "The Old Pretender" (b. 1688)
1782 - Johann Christian Bach, German composer (b. 1735)
1789 - Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, English politician (b. 1716)
1793 - Francesco Guardi, Venetian painter (b. 1712)
1796 - Alexandre-Théophile Vandermonde, French mathematician (b. 1735)
1800 - Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton, French naturalist (b. 1716)
1817 - Martin Heinrich Klaproth, German chemist (b. 1743)
1862 - Mikhail Vasilievich Ostrogradsky, Russian physicist (b. 1801)
1869 - Martin W. Bates, U.S. Senator from Delaware (b. 1786)
1892 - Roswell B. Mason, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1805)
1894 - Heinrich Hertz, German physicist (b. 1857)
1912 - Pyotr Nikolaevich Lebedev, Russian phsyicist (b. 1866)
1919 - Mikhail Drozdovsky, Russian general (b. 1881)
1921 - Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1856)
1931 - Martinus Beijerinck, Dutch microbiologist and botanist (b. 1851)
1933 - Harriet Brooks, Canadian physicist (b. 1876)
1944 - Charles Turner, Australian cricketer (b. 1862)
1953 - Hank Williams, American singer (b. 1923)
1958 - Edward Weston, American photographer (b. 1886)
1960 - Margaret Sullavan, American actress (b. 1911)
1964 - Bechara El Khoury, President of Lebanon (b. 1890)
1971 - Saint Amphilochios, Ukrainian Orthodox Christian Saint (b. 1894)
1972 - Maurice Chevalier, French actor and singer (b. 1888)
1981 - Beulah Bondi, American actress (b. 1888)
1982 - Victor Buono, American actor (b. 1938)
1984 - Alexis Korner, British blues musician (b. 1928)
1985 - Kamatari Fujiwara, Japanese actor (b. 1905)
1986 - Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist (b. 1902)
1992 - Grace Hopper, American computer pioneer (b. 1906)
1994 - Lord Arthur Espie Porritt, Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1900)
1994 - Cesar Romero, American actor (b. 1907)
1995 - Fred West, British serial killer (suicide) (b. 1941)
1995 - Eugene Wigner, Hungarian physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1902)
1996 - Arleigh Burke, American admiral (b. 1901)
1997 - Townes Van Zandt, American musician (b. 1944)
1998 - Helen Wills Moody, American tennis player (b. 1905)
2000 - Colin Vaughan, Australian-born political journalist
2001 - Ray Walston, American actor (b. 1914)
2002 - Julia Phillips, American film producer (b. 1944)
2003 - Joe Foss, American politician and fighter pilot (b. 1915)
2005 - Shirley Chisholm, American politician (b. 1924)
2005 - Hugh John Frederick Lawson, 6th Baron Burnham, British newspaperman (b. 1931)
2005 - Bob Matsui, American politician (b. 1941)
2005 - Eugene J. Martin, American painter, artist (b. 1938)
2006 - Harry Magdoff, American magazine editor (b. 1913)
2006 - Bryan Harvey, American musician (b. 1956)

Holidays and observances

By Observance

Many countries around the world using Gregorian Calendar - New Year's Day; often celebrated at 0:01 with fireworks.
Last day of Kwanzaa
Public Domain Day in many countries. This is the day on which copyrights expire and works are put into the public domain.
World Day for Prayer for Peace
Z Day - People with last names beginning with the letter Z get to go first in line.

By Faith

The seventh day of Christmas (and eighth night of same) in Western Christianity.
Catholicism - Feast of the Circumcision (Old calendar).
Catholicism - Holy Day of Obligation in many countries. Final Day of Octave of Christmas, Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (New calendar).
Catholicism - National Migration Week begins (varying official support by the office of U.S. President, not strictly religious)

By Country

Cuba Liberation Day.
Haiti Independence Day.
Scotland: First day of New Year public Holiday (the second being January 2). Most shops and businesses closed on this day.
Slovakia: Establishment of Slovak Republic.
Sudan Independence Day.
Taiwan Founding of Republic of China Day.

By City

New Year’s Day Parade in London, United Kingdom.
Vienna New Year's Concert
Pasadena, California - The Tournament of Roses parade and, traditionally, the Rose Bowl football championship.

Day of the week

The day of the week of New Year determines the days of the week of 1 March of the previous year through 28 February of the new year, without distinguishing common years and leap years. It is the day before "Doomsday" of the previous year.

External links

December 31 - January 2 - December 1 - February 1 — listing of all days