1520 – After navigating through a strait at the southern end of South America, three ships under the command of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan reach the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first European ships to sail from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific.
1660 – The Royal Society forms in London (The Royal Society started from groups of physicians and natural philosophers, meeting at variety of locations, including Gresham College in London. They were influenced by the “new science”, as promoted by Francis Bacon in his New Atlantis, from approximately 1645 onwards. The Society’s motto, Nullius in verba, is Latin for “Take nobody’s word for it”. It was adopted to signify the Fellows’ determination to establish facts via experiments and comes from Horace’s Epistles, where he compares himself to a gladiator who, having retired, is free from control)
1680 – Giovanni Bernini, Italian sculptor/painter, dies at 81
1729 – Natchez Indians massacre 138 Frenchmen, 35 French women, and 56 children at Fort Rosalie, near the site of modern-day Natchez, Mississippi.
1757 – William Blake, London, poet/painter (Songs of Innocence & Experience), (d. 1827) Born
1785 – The Treaty of Hopewell is signed between the Confederation Congress of the United States of America and the Cherokee people
1785 – William Whipple, merchant/judge/signer (US Declaration of Independence), dies at 55
1811 – Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, premieres at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig.
1814 – The Times in London is for the first time printed by automatic, steam-powered presses built by the German inventors Friedrich Koenig and Andreas Friedrich Bauer, signaling the beginning of the availability of newspapers to a mass audience.
1820 – Friedrich Engels, Germany, social philosopher; Marx’s collaborator, Born
1821 – Panama declares independence from Spain
1843 – Ka Lahui: Hawaiian Independence Day – The Kingdom of Hawaii is officially recognized by the United Kingdom and France as an independent nation.
1853 – Olympia forms as capital of Washington Territory
1859 – Washington Irving, American author (Legend of Sleepy Hollow), dies of a heart attack at 76
1862 – American Civil War: In the Battle of Cane Hill, Union troops under General James G. Blunt defeat General John Marmaduke’s Confederates.
1866 – Henry Bacon, Watseka Illinois, American architect (Lincoln Memorial) Born
1871 – Ku Klux Klan trials began in Federal District Court in South Carolina
1895 – The first American automobile race takes place over the 54 miles from Chicago’s Jackson Park to Evanston, Illinois. Frank Duryea wins in approximately 10 hours.
1905 – Irish nationalist Arthur Griffith founds Sinn Féin as a political party with the main aim of establishing a dual monarchy in Ireland.
1907 – In Haverhill, Massachusetts, scrap-metal dealer Louis B. Mayer opens his first movie theater.
1914 – World War I: Following a war-induced closure in July, the New York Stock Exchange re-opens for bond trading.
1919 – American-born Lady Astor is elected as a Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. She is the first woman to sit in the House of Commons. (Countess Markievicz, the first to be elected, refused to sit.) She is an advocate of some form of Prohibition similar to the American model.
1920 – Irish War of Independence: Kilmichael Ambush – The Irish Republican Army ambush a convoy of British Auxiliaries and kill seventeen.
1925 – The Grand Ole Opry begins broadcasting in Nashville, Tennessee, as the WSM Barn Dance.
1929 – Berry Gordy, Jr., American songwriter and producer, founded Motown Records was born.
1936 – Celin Romero, Spanish-American guitarist (The Romeros) was born.
1939 – James Naismith, creator of basketball, dies at 78
1942 – In Boston, Massachusetts, a fire in the Cocoanut Grove nightclub kills 492 people.
1943 – World War II: Tehran Conference – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin meet in Tehran, Iran, to discuss war strategy.
1943 – Randy Newman, New Orleans, vocalist (Short People, Love LA, Raindrops) Born
1949 – Paul Shaffer, Thunder Bay Ont, orchestra leader (SNL, David Letterman) Born
1954 – Enrico Fermi, Italian/US nuclear physicist (Nobel 1938), dies of stomach cancer at 53
1962 – Matt Cameron, American drummer (Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Skin Yard, Temple of the Dog, Hater, and Wellwater Conspiracy) was born.
1962 – Jon Stewart, American comedian, actor, and television host was born.
1964 – Vietnam War: National Security Council members agree to recommend that U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson adopt a plan for a two-stage escalation of bombing in North Vietnam.
1964 – Mariner 4 launched; 1st probe to fly by Mars
1965 – Vietnam War: In response to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson’s call for “more flags” in Vietnam, Philippine President-elect Ferdinand Marcos announces he will send troops to help fight in South Vietnam.
1966 – Sam Seder, American comedian, born
1968 – John Lennon is fined £150 for unauthorized drug possession
1971 – Wasfi Tal, Jordan’s PM, assassinated by Black Sept in Cairo
1971 – Fred Quilt, a leader of the Tsilhqot’in First Nation suffers severe abdominal injuries allegedly caused by Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers; he dies two days later.
1973 – Arab League summit in Algiers recognizes Palestine
1973 – Jade Puget, American musician (AFI) Born
1974 – John Lennon’s last concert appearance (Elton John concert in Madison Square Garden NYC)
1975 – Bobby Orr plays his last game for the Boston Bruins
1980 – Iran–Iraq War: Operation Morvarid – The bulk of the Iraqi Navy is destroyed by the Iranian Navy in the Persian Gulf. (Commemorated in Iran as Navy Day.)
1984 – Over 250 years after their deaths, William Penn and his wife Hannah Callowhill Penn are made Honorary Citizens of the United States.
1988 – Picasso’s “Acrobat & Harlequin” sells for $38.46 million
1990 – Margaret Thatcher resigns as Britain’s PM, replaced by John Major
1993 – Jerry Edmonton, Canadian drummer (Steppenwolf and The Sparrows) (b. 1946) died.
1993 – Garry Moore, TV host (I’ve Got A Secret), dies of emphysema at 78
1994 – Norway votes against joining European Union
1994 – Jerry Rubin, US anti-war activist (Youth Party), dies at 56
Then he went to work on Wall St…………….
1994 – Ronald “Buster” Edwards, Great Train Robber, commits suicide at 62
1994 – In Portage, Wisconsin, convicted serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is clubbed to death by an inmate in the Columbia Correctional Institution gymnasium.
1997 – Final episode of “Beavis & Butt-head” on MTV
2001 – Enron Corp., once the world’s largest energy trader employing over 20,000 employees share price has now dropped below one dollar from a high of $90.00 per share following would-be rescuer Dynegy Inc. backing out of an $8.4 billion deal to take Enron over. Speculation is now on when not if Enron will file bankruptcy. On 2nd December Enron did file bankruptcy and later as details became available it was shown that a number of top executive knew of the imminent collapse and dumped their shares at high prices while still telling investors to buy the shares as a great investment, consequently a number of those former executives were indicted on securities fraud and related charges.
2003 – Bush had made a very important decision to be announced just in time for Thanksgiving Day. Henry Kissinger, the former Secretary of State, was giving the responsibility of investigating actions leading up to and after the September 11, 2001 attack. Bush was criticized for making this decision on a day when not many people may have heard about it-and for political reasons as well. Unfortunately, Kissinger was noted for some of his mistakes while involved in the Vietnam War, and that was a major reason critics were cynical.
2010 – Leslie Nielsen, Canadian actor, Airplane series (b. 1926) Dies
2011 – Patrice O’Neal, American stand-up comedian (b. 1969) Dies