November 19Birthdays & History

On this day: November 19 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 461Libius Severus is declared emperor of the Western Roman Empire. The real power is in the hands of the magister militum Ricimer.Europe
2. 636The Rashidun Caliphate defeats the Sasanian Empire at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah in Iraq.Middle East
3. 1646The current Saint Peter's Basilica is consecrated in Rome, replacing an earlier basilica on the same site.Europe
4. 1794The United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign Jay's Treaty, which attempts to resolve some of the lingering problems left over from the American Revolutionary War.North AmericaEurope
5. 1802The Garinagu arrive at British Honduras (present-day Belize).EuropeLatin America
6. 1808Finnish War: The Convention of Olkijoki in Raahe ends hostilities in Finland.Europe
7. 1816Warsaw University is established.Europe
8. 1847The second Canadian railway line, the Montreal and Lachine Railroad, is opened.North America
9. 1863American Civil War: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address at the dedication ceremony for the military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.North America
10. 1881A meteorite lands near the village of Grossliebenthal, southwest of Odesa, Ukraine.Europe
11. 1885Serbo-Bulgarian War: Bulgarian victory in the Battle of Slivnitsa solidifies the unification between the Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia.Europe
12. 1911The Doom Bar in Cornwall claims two ships, Island Maid and Angele, the latter killing the entire crew except the captain.Europe
13. 1912First Balkan War: The Serbian Army captures Bitola, ending the five-century-long Ottoman rule of Macedonia.EuropeMiddle East
14. 1916Samuel Goldwyn and Edgar Selwyn establish Goldwyn Pictures.North America
15. 1941World War II: Battle between HMAS Sydney and HSK Kormoran. The two ships sink each other off the coast of Western Australia, with the loss of 645 Australians and about 77 German seamen.OceaniaEurope
16. 1942Mutesa II is crowned the 35th and last Kabaka (king) of Buganda, prior to the restoration of the kingdom in 1993.Africa
17. 1942World War II: Battle of Stalingrad: Soviet Union forces under General Georgy Zhukov launch the Operation Uranus counterattacks at Stalingrad, turning the tide of the battle in the USSR's favor.Europe
18. 1943The Holocaust: Nazis liquidate Janowska concentration camp in Lemberg (Lviv), western Ukraine, murdering at least 6,000 Jews after a failed uprising and mass escape attempt.Europe
19. 1944World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces the sixth War Loan Drive, aimed at selling US$14 billion in war bonds to help pay for the war effort.North America
20. 1944The founding congress of the Communist Party of Transcarpathian Ukraine is held in Mukachevo.Europe
21. 1944World War II: Thirty members of the Luxembourgish resistance defend the town of Vianden against a larger Waffen-SS attack in the Battle of Vianden.Europe
22. 1946Afghanistan, Iceland and Sweden join the United Nations.AsiaEurope
23. 1950US General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes Supreme Commander of NATO-Europe.North AmericaEurope
24. 1952Greek Field Marshal Alexander Papagos becomes the 152nd Prime Minister of Greece.Europe
25. 1954Télé Monte Carlo, Europe's oldest private television channel, is launched by Prince Rainier III.Europe
26. 1955National Review publishes its first issue.North America
27. 1967The establishment of TVB, the first wireless commercial television station in Hong Kong.Asia
28. 1969Apollo program: Apollo 12 astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean land at Oceanus Procellarum (the "Ocean of Storms") and become the third and fourth humans to walk on the Moon.World
29. 1969Association football player Pelé scores his 1,000th goal.Latin America
30. 1977TAP Air Portugal Flight 425 crashes in the Madeira Islands, killing 131.Europe
31. 1979Iran hostage crisis: Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini orders the release of 13 female and black American hostages being held at the US Embassy in Tehran.Middle EastNorth America
32. 1984San Juanico disaster: A series of explosions at the Pemex petroleum storage facility at San Juan Ixhuatepec in Mexico City starts a major fire and kills about 500 people.Latin America
33. 1985Cold War: In Geneva, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time.EuropeNorth America
34. 1985Pennzoil wins a US$10.53 billion judgment against Texaco, in the largest civil verdict in the history of the United States, stemming from Texaco executing a contract to buy Getty Oil after Pennzoil had entered into an unsigned, yet still binding, buyout contract with Getty.North America
35. 1985Police in Baling, Malaysia, lay siege to houses occupied by an Islamic sect of about 400 people led by Ibrahim Mahmud.Asia
36. 1988Serbian communist representative and future Serbian and Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević publicly declares that Serbia is under attack from Albanian separatists in Kosovo as well as internal treachery within Yugoslavia and a foreign conspiracy to destroy Serbia and Yugoslavia.Europe
37. 1993A factory fire killed 87 and injured 51 in Shenzhen, China.Asia
38. 1994In the United Kingdom, the first National Lottery draw is held. A £1 ticket gave a one-in-14-million chance of correctly guessing the winning six out of 49 numbers.Europe
39. 1996Space Shuttle program: Columbia is launched on STS-80, which would become the longest mission in the program at 17 days. On this mission, astronaut Story Musgrave becomes the only astronaut to fly on all five space shuttles.World
40. 1996A Beechcraft 1900 and a Beechcraft King Air collide at Quincy Regional Airport in Quincy, Illinois, killing 14.North America
41. 1997Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-87.World
42. 1998Clinton–Lewinsky scandal: The United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee begins impeachment hearings into U.S. President Bill Clinton.North America
43. 1999John Carpenter becomes the first person to win the top prize in the TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?North America
44. 1999Shenzhou 1: The People's Republic of China launches its first Shenzhou spacecraft.Asia
45. 2001The Aviation and Transportation Security Act is enacted by the 107th United States Congress in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Act created the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).North America
46. 2002The Greek oil tanker Prestige splits in half and sinks off the coast of Galicia, releasing over 76,000 m3 (20 million US gal) of oil in the largest environmental disaster in Spanish and Portuguese history.EuropeNorth America
47. 2004The worst brawl in NBA history results in several players being suspended. Several players and fans are charged with assault and battery.North America
48. 2010The first of four explosions takes place at the Pike River Mine in New Zealand. Twenty-nine people are killed in the nation's worst mining disaster since 1914.Oceania
49. 2013A double suicide bombing at the Iranian embassy in Beirut kills 23 people and injures 160 others.Middle East
50. 2022A gunman kills five and injures 17 at Club Q, a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado.North America
51. 2023The 2023 Cricket World Cup final takes place at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, played between host nation India and Australia.AsiaOceania

Source: Wikipedia "November 19" / CC BY-SA 4.0