January 13

Events

• 532 - The Nika riots break out, during the racing season at the Hippodrome in Constantinople, as a result of discontent with the rule of the Emperor Justinian I.
• 1435 - Sicut Dudum, forbidding the enslavement of the Guanche natives in Canary Islands by the Spanish, is promulgated by Pope Eugene IV.
• 1547 - Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, is sentenced to death for treason, on the grounds of having quartered his arms to make them similar to those of the King, Henry VIII of England.
• 1793 - Nicolas Jean Hugon de Bassville, representative of Revolutionary France, lynched by a mob in Rome
• 1797 - French Revolutionary Wars: A naval battle between a French ship of the line and two British frigates off the coast of Brittany ends with the French vessel running aground, resulting in over 900 deaths.
• 1815 - War of 1812: British troops capture Fort Peter in St. Marys, Georgia, the only battle of the war to take place in the state.
• 1822 - The design of the Greek flag is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus.
• 1833 - United States President Andrew Jackson writes to Vice President Martin Van Buren expressing his opposition to South Carolina's defiance of federal authority in the Nullification Crisis.
• 1840 - The steamship Lexington burns and sinks four miles off the coast of Long Island with the loss of 139 lives.
• 1842 - Dr. William Brydon, an assistant surgeon in the British East India Company Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War, becomes famous for being the sole survivor of an army of 4,500 men and 12,000 camp followers when he reaches the safety of a garrison in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
• 1847 - The Treaty of Cahuenga ends the Mexican–American War in California.
• 1849 - Establishment of the Colony of Vancouver Island.
• 1849 - Second Anglo-Sikh War – Battle of Chillianwala: British forces retreat from the Sikhs.
• 1879 - In Mozart Gardens Brooklyn Ada Anderson completed a great feat of pedestrianism - 2700 quarter miles in 2700 quarter hours, earning her $8000.
• 1888 - The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C.
• 1893 - The Independent Labour Party of the United Kingdom holds its first meeting.
• 1893 - U.S. Marines land in Honolulu, Hawaii from the to prevent the queen from abrogating the Bayonet Constitution.
• 1895 - First Italo-Ethiopian War: the war's opening battle, the Battle of Coatit, occurs; it is an Italian victory.
• 1898 - Émile Zola's J'accuse…! exposes the Dreyfus affair.
• 1908 - The Rhoads Opera House fire in Boyertown, Pennsylvania kills 171 people.
• 1910 - The first public radio broadcast takes place; a live performance of the operas Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci are sent out over the airwaves from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.
• 1915 - The 6.7 Avezzano earthquake shakes the Province of L'Aquila in Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI, killing between 29,978–32,610.
• 1920 - The Reichstag Bloodbath of January 13, 1920, the bloodiest demonstration in German history.
• 1935 - A plebiscite in Saarland shows that 90.3% of those voting wish to join Nazi Germany.
• 1939 - The Black Friday bushfires burn 20,000 square kilometers of land in Australia, claiming the lives of 71 people.
• 1942 - Henry Ford patents a plastic automobile, which is 30% lighter than a regular car.
• 1942 - World War II: First use of an aircraft ejection seat by a German test pilot in a Heinkel He 280 jet fighter.
• 1950 - British submarine collides with an oil tanker in the Thames Estuary, killing 64 men.
• 1950 - Finland forms diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.
• 1951 - First Indochina War: The Battle of Vĩnh Yên begins.
• 1953 - An article appears in Pravda accusing some of the most prestigious and prominent doctors, mostly Jews, in the Soviet Union of taking part in a vast plot to poison members of the top Soviet political and military leadership.
• 1958 - The Moroccan Army of Liberation ambushes a Spanish patrol in the Battle of Edchera.
• 1963 - Coup d'état in Togo results in the assassination of president Sylvanus Olympio.
• 1964 - Anti-Muslim riots break out in Calcutta, resulting in 100 deaths.
• 1964 - In Manchester, New Hampshire, fourteen-year-old Pamela Mason is murdered. Edward Coolidge is tried and convicted of the crime, but the conviction is set aside by the landmark Fourth Amendment case Coolidge v. New Hampshire.
• 1966 - Robert C. Weaver becomes the first African American Cabinet member when he is appointed United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
• 1968 - Johnny Cash performs live at Folsom State Prison.
• 1972 - Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia and President Edward Akufo-Addo of Ghana are ousted in a bloodless military coup by Colonel Ignatius Kutu Acheampong.
• 1978 - United States Food and Drug Administration requires all blood donations to be labeled "paid" or "volunteer" donors.
• 1982 - Shortly after takeoff, Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737 jet, crashes into Washington, D.C.'s 14th Street Bridge and falls into the Potomac River, killing 78 including four motorists.
• 1985 - A passenger train plunges into a ravine in Ethiopia, killing 428 in the worst railroad disaster in Africa.
• 1986 - A month-long violent struggle begins in Aden, South Yemen between supporters of Ali Nasir Muhammad and Abdul Fattah Ismail, resulting in thousands of casualties.
• 1988 - Lee Teng-hui becomes the first native Taiwanese President of the Republic of China.
• 1990 - Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor as he takes office as Governor of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia.
• 1991 - Soviet Union troops attack Lithuanian independence supporters in Vilnius, killing 14 people and wounding around 1000 others.
• 1993 - Space Shuttle program: Endeavour heads for space for the third time as STS-54 launches from the Kennedy Space Center.
• 1993 - The Chemical Weapons Convention is signed.
• 1998 - Alfredo Ormando sets himself on fire in St. Peter's Square, protesting against homophobia.
• 2001 - An earthquake hits El Salvador, killing more than 800.
• 2012 - The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia sinks off the coast of Italy due to the captain Francesco Schettino's negligence and irresponsibility. There are 32 confirmed deaths.
• 2018 - A false emergency alert warning of an impending missile strike in Hawaii caused widespread panic in the state.
• 2020 - Taal Volcano in the Philippines spews lava fountains while erupting in the crater.

  Births

• 5 BC - Guangwu of Han, Chinese emperor
• 101 - Lucius Aelius, Roman adopted son of Hadrian
• 915 - Al-Hakam II, Umayyad caliph
• 1334 - Henry II, king of Castile and León
• 1338 - Jeong Mong-ju, Korean civil minister, diplomat and scholar
• 1400 - Infante John, Constable of Portugal
• 1477 - Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland
• 1505 - Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg
• 1562 - Mark Alexander Boyd, Scottish poet and soldier
• 1596 - Jan van Goyen, Dutch painter and illustrator
• 1610 - Maria Anna of Bavaria, archduchess of Austria
• 1616 - Antoinette Bourignon, French-Flemish mystic and author
• 1651 - Henry Booth, 1st Earl of Warrington, English soldier and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer
• 1683 - Christoph Graupner, German harpsichord player and composer
• 1720 - Richard Hurd, English bishop
• 1749 - Maler Müller, German poet, painter, and playwright
• 1787 - John Davis, American lawyer and politician, 14th Governor of Massachusetts
• 1804 - Paul Gavarni, French illustrator
• 1805 - Thomas Dyer, American lawyer and politician, 18th Mayor of Chicago
• 1808 - Salmon P. Chase, American jurist and politician, 6th Chief Justice of the United States
• 1810 - Ernestine Rose, American suffragist, abolitionist, and freethinker
• 1812 - Victor de Laprade, French poet and critic
• 1832 - Horatio Alger, Jr., American novelist and journalist
• 1845 - Félix Tisserand, French astronomer and academic
• 1858 - Oskar Minkowski, Lithuanian-German biologist and academic
• 1859 - Kostis Palamas, Greek poet and playwright
• 1861 - Max Nonne, German neurologist and academic
• 1864 - Wilhelm Wien, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1865 - Princess Marie of Orléans
• 1866 - Vasily Kalinnikov, Russian bassoon player and composer
• 1866 - George Gurdjieff, Russian-French mystic and philosopher
• 1869 - Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta
• 1870 - Ross Granville Harrison, American biologist and anatomist
• 1878 - Lionel Groulx, Canadian priest and historian
• 1881 - Essington Lewis, Australian engineer and businessman
• 1883 - Nathaniel Cartmell, American runner and coach
• 1885 - Alfred Fuller, Canadian-American businessman, founded the Fuller Brush Company
• 1886 - Art Ross, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
• 1887 - Sophie Tucker, Russian-born American singer and actress
• 1890 - Jüri Uluots, Estonian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Estonia
• 1892 - Ermanno Aebi, Italian-Swiss footballer
• 1893 - Charles Arnison, English lieutenant and pilot
• 1893 - Roy Cazaly, Australian footballer and coach
• 1893 - Clark Ashton Smith, American poet, sculptor, painter, and author
• 1893 - Chaim Soutine, Belarusian-French painter
• 1900 - Shimizugawa Motokichi, Japanese sumo wrestler
• 1900 - Gertrude Mary Cox, American mathematician
• 1901 - A. B. Guthrie, Jr., American novelist, screenwriter, historian
• 1901 - Mieczysław Żywczyński, Polish priest and historian
• 1902 - Karl Menger, Austrian-American mathematician from the Vienna Circle
• 1904 - Richard Addinsell, English composer
• 1904 - Nathan Milstein, Ukrainian-American violinist and composer
• 1904 - Dick Rowley, Irish footballer, centre forward
• 1905 - Kay Francis, American actress
• 1905 - Jack London, English sprinter and pianist
• 1906 - Zhou Youguang, Chinese linguist, sinologist, and academic
• 1909 - Helm Glöckler, German race car driver
• 1910 - Yannis Tsarouchis, Greek painter and illustrator
• 1911 - Joh Bjelke-Petersen, New Zealand-Australian farmer and politician, 31st Premier of Queensland
• 1914 - Osa Massen, Danish-American actress
• 1914 - Ted Willis, Baron Willis, English author, playwright, and screenwriter
• 1919 - Robert Stack, American actor
• 1921 - Necati Cumalı, Greek-Turkish author and poet
• 1921 - Dachine Rainer, American-English author and poet
• 1921 - Arthur Stevens, English footballer, outside right (d. 2007

  Deaths

• 86 BC - Gaius Marius, Roman general and politician
• 533 - Remigius, French bishop and saint
• 614 - Mungo, English-Scottish bishop and saint
• 703 - Jitō, Japanese emperor
• 858 - Æthelwulf, king of Wessex
• 888 - Charles the Fat, Frankish king and emperor
• 927 - Berno of Cluny, Frankish monk and abbot
• 1001 - Fujiwara no Teishi, Japanese empress
• 1147 - Robert de Craon, Grand Master of the Knights Templar
• 1151 - Suger, French historian and politician
• 1177 - Henry II, count palatine and duke of Austria
• 1321 - Bonacossa Borri, Italian noblewoman
• 1330 - Frederick I, duke and king of Germany
• 1363 - Meinhard III, German nobleman
• 1400 - Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester, English politician
• 1599 - Edmund Spenser, English poet, Chief Secretary for Ireland
• 1612 - Jane Dormer, English lady-in-waiting
• 1625 - Jan Brueghel the Elder, Flemish painter
• 1684 - Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk, English nobleman
• 1691 - George Fox, English religious leader, founded the Religious Society of Friends
• 1717 - Maria Sibylla Merian, German entomologist and illustrator
• 1775 - Johann Georg Walch, German theologian and author
• 1790 - Luc Urbain de Bouëxic, French admiral
• 1796 - John Anderson, Scottish philosopher and educator
• 1832 - Thomas Lord, English cricketer, founded Lord's Cricket Ground
• 1838 - Ferdinand Ries, German pianist and composer
• 1860 - William Mason, American surgeon and politician
• 1864 - Stephen Foster, American composer and songwriter
• 1872 - William Scamp, English architect and engineer
• 1882 - Wilhelm Mauser, German engineer and businessman, co-founded the Mauser Company
• 1885 - Schuyler Colfax, American journalist and politician, 17th Vice President of the United States
• 1889 - Solomon Bundy, American lawyer and politician
• 1905 - George Thorn, Australian farmer and politician, 6th Premier of Queensland
• 1906 - Alexander Stepanovich Popov, Russian physicist and academic
• 1907 - Jakob Hurt, Estonian theologist and linguist
• 1915 - Mary Slessor, Scottish-Nigerian missionary
• 1916 - Victoriano Huerta, Mexican military officer and president, 1913–1914
• 1923 - Alexandre Ribot, French academic and politician, Prime Minister of France
• 1924 - Georg Hermann Quincke, German physicist and academic
• 1929 - Wyatt Earp, American police officer
• 1929 - H. B. Higgins, Irish-Australian judge and politician, 3rd Attorney-General for Australia
• 1934 - Paul Ulrich Villard, French physicist and chemist
• 1941 - James Joyce, Irish novelist, short story writer, and poet
• 1943 - Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Swiss painter and sculptor
• 1956 - Lyonel Feininger, German-American painter and illustrator
• 1957 - A. E. Coppard English poet and short story writer
• 1958 - Jesse L. Lasky, American film producer, co-founded Paramount Pictures
• 1962 - Ernie Kovacs, American actor and game show host
• 1963 - Sylvanus Olympio, Togolese businessman and politician, President of Togo
• 1967 - Anatole de Grunwald, Russian-English screenwriter and producer
• 1971 - Robert Still, English composer and educator
• 1973 - Sabahattin Eyüboğlu, Turkish screenwriter and producer
• 1974 - Raoul Jobin, Canadian tenor and educator
• 1974 - Salvador Novo, Mexican playwright and poet
• 1976 - Margaret Leighton, English actress
• 1977 - Henri Langlois, Turkish-French historian, co-founded the Cinémathèque Française
• 1978 - Hubert Humphrey, American pharmacist, academic, and politician, 38th Vice President of the United States
• 1978 - Joe McCarthy, American baseball player and manager
• 1979 - Donny Hathaway, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
• 1979 - Marjorie Lawrence, Australian-American soprano
• 1980 - Andre Kostelanetz, Russian-American conductor
• 1982 - Marcel Camus, French director and screenwriter
• 1983 - René Bonnet, French race car driver and engineer
• 1986 - Abdul Fattah Ismail, Yemeni educator and politician, 4th President of South Yemen
• 1986 - Kevin Longbottom, Australian rugby league player
• 1988 - Chiang Ching-kuo, Chinese politician, President of the Republic of China
• 1993 - Camargo Guarnieri, Brazilian composer and conductor
• 1995 - Max Harris, Australian journalist, poet, and author
• 2002 - Frank Shuster, Canadian actor, comedian, and screenwriter
• 2003 - Norman Panama, American director and screenwriter
• 2004 - Arne Næss, Jr., Norwegian businessman and mountaineer
• 2005 - Earl Cameron, Canadian journalist
• 2005 - Nell Rankin, American soprano and actress
• 2006 - Frank Fixaris, American journalist and sportscaster
• 2006 - Marc Potvin, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
• 2007 - Michael Brecker, American saxophonist and composer
• 2007 - Danny Oakes, American race car driver
• 2008 - Johnny Podres, American baseball player and coach
• 2009 - Dai Llewellyn, Welsh humanitarian activist and politician
• 2009 - Patrick McGoohan, Irish-American actor, director, and producer
• 2009 - Mansour Rahbani, Lebanese poet, composer, and producer
• 2009 - W. D. Snodgrass, American poet
• 2009 - Nancy Bird Walton, Australian pilot
• 2010 - Teddy Pendergrass, American singer-songwriter
• 2011 - Albert Heijn, Dutch businessman
• 2012 - Rauf Denktaş, Turkish-Cypriot lawyer and politician, 1st President of Northern Cyprus
• 2012 - Guido Dessauer, German physicist and engineer
• 2012 - Miljan Miljanić, Serbian footballer and manager
• 2013 - Diogenes Allen, American philosopher and theologian
• 2013 - Rodney Mims Cook, Sr., American lieutenant and politician
• 2013 - Chia-Chiao Lin, Chinese-American mathematician and academic
• 2014 - Bobby Collins, Scottish footballer and manager
• 2014 - Randal Tye Thomas, American journalist and politician
• 2014 - Waldemar von Gazen, German general and lawyer
• 2015 - Mark Juddery, Australian journalist and author
• 2015 - Robert White, American soldier and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Paraguay
• 2016 - Brian Bedford, English-American actor and director
• 2016 - Giorgio Gomelsky, Georgian-American director, producer, songwriter, and manager
• 2016 - Lawrence Phillips, American football player
• 2017 - Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, English photographer and sometime member of the British royal family
• 2017 - Dick Gautier, American actor
• 2017 - Magic Alex, Greek electronics engineer
• 2019 - Phil Masinga, South African footballer

  Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day:
• *Blessed Veronica of Milan
• *Elian
• *Hilary of Poitiers
• *Mungo
• *St. Knut's Day or Tjugondag Knut, the last day of Christmas.
• *January 13
• Constitution Day
• Democracy Day
• Korean-American Day
• Liberation Day
• Old New Year's Eve, and its related observances:
• *Malanka
• Sidereal winter solstice's eve celebrations in South and Southeast Asian cultures; the last day of the six-month Dakshinayana period :
• *Bhogi
• *Lohri
• *Uruka
• Stephen Foster Memorial Day
• Yennayer