November 21Birthdays & History

On this day: November 21 in history

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

1. 164 BCJudas Maccabeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, rededicates the Temple in Jerusalem, an event that is commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah. (25 Kislev 3597 in the Hebrew calendar.)Middle East
2. 235Pope Anterus succeeds Pontian as the nineteenth pope.Europe
3. 1386Timur of Samarkand captures and sacks the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, taking King Bagrat V of Georgia captive.AsiaEurope
4. 1620Plymouth Colony settlers sign the Mayflower Compact (November 11, O.S.)North America
5. 1676The Danish astronomer Ole Rømer presents the first quantitative measurements of the speed of light.Europe
6. 1783In Paris, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes make the first untethered hot air balloon flight.Europe
7. 1789North Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution and is admitted as the 12th U.S. state.North America
8. 1851Mutineers take control of the Chilean penal colony of Punta Arenas in the Strait of Magellan.Latin America
9. 1861American Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis appoints Judah Benjamin Secretary of War.North America
10. 1877Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record and play sound.North America
11. 1894Port Arthur, China, falls to the Japanese, a decisive victory of the First Sino-Japanese War; Japanese troops are accused of massacring the remaining inhabitants.AsiaAsia
12. 1900Claude Monet's paintings shown at Gallery Durand-Ruel in Paris.Europe
13. 1902The Philadelphia Football Athletics defeat the Kanaweola Athletic Club of Elmira, New York, 39–0, in the first-ever professional American football night game.North America
14. 1905Albert Einstein's paper that leads to the mass–energy equivalence formula, E = mc², is published in the journal Annalen der Physik.Europe
15. 1910Sailors on board Brazil's warships including the Minas Gerais, São Paulo, and Bahia, violently rebel in what is now known as the Revolta da Chibata (Revolt of the Lash).Latin America
16. 1916World War I: Mines from SM U-73 sink HMHS Britannic, the largest ship lost in the war.Europe
17. 1918The Flag of Estonia, previously used by pro-independence activists, is formally adopted as the national flag of the Republic of Estonia.Europe
18. 1918A pogrom takes place in Lwów (now Lviv); over three days, at least 50 Jews and 270 Ukrainian Christians are killed by Poles.Europe
19. 1918The Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918 is passed, allowing women to stand for Parliament in the UK.Europe
20. 1920Irish War of Independence: On "Bloody Sunday" in Dublin, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) assassinated a group of British Intelligence agents, and British forces killed 14 civilians at a Gaelic football match at Croke Park.Europe
21. 1922Rebecca Latimer Felton of Georgia takes the oath of office, becoming the first female United States Senator.North America
22. 1927Columbine Mine massacre: Striking coal miners are allegedly attacked with machine guns by a detachment of Colorado state police dressed in civilian clothes.North America
23. 1942The completion of the Alaska Highway (also known as the Alcan Highway) is celebrated (however, the highway is not usable by standard road vehicles until 1943).North America
24. 1944World War II: American submarine USS Sealion sinks the Japanese battleship Kongō and Japanese destroyer Urakaze in the Formosa Strait.North AmericaAsiaAsia
25. 1945The United Auto Workers strike 92 General Motors plants in 50 cities to back up worker demands for a 30-percent raise.North America
26. 1950Two Canadian National Railway trains collide in northeastern British Columbia in the Canoe River train crash; the death toll is 21, with 17 of them Canadian troops bound for Korea.North AmericaEuropeAsia
27. 1953The Natural History Museum, London announces that the "Piltdown Man" skull, initially believed to be one of the most important fossilized hominid skulls ever found, is a hoax.Europe
28. 1954People's Action Party, an eventual dominative political party in Singapore, was established.Asia
29. 1959American disc jockey Alan Freed, who had popularized the term "rock and roll" and music of that style, is fired from WABC radio over allegations he had participated in the payola scandal.North America
30. 1961"La Ronde" opens in Honolulu, the first revolving restaurant in the United States.North America
31. 1962The Chinese People's Liberation Army declares a unilateral ceasefire in the Sino-Indian War.AsiaNorth America
32. 1964Second Vatican Council: The third session of the Roman Catholic Church's ecumenical council closes.Europe
33. 1964The Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge opens to traffic. At the time it is the world's longest bridge span.North America
34. 1967Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland tells news reporters: "I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing."AsiaNorth America
35. 1969The first permanent ARPANET link is established between UCLA and SRI.North America
36. 1969U.S. President Richard Nixon and Japanese Premier Eisaku Satō agree on the return of Okinawa to Japanese control in 1972. The U.S. retains rights to bases on the island, but these are to be nuclear-free.North AmericaAsia
37. 1970Vietnam War: Operation Ivory Coast: A joint United States Air Force and Army team raids the Sơn Tây prisoner-of-war camp in an attempt to free American prisoners of war thought to be held there.AsiaAfricaNorth America
38. 1971Indian troops, partly aided by Mukti Bahini (Bengali guerrillas), defeat the Pakistan army in the Battle of Garibpur.Asia
39. 1972Voters in South Korea overwhelmingly approve a new constitution, giving legitimacy to Park Chung Hee and the Fourth Republic.Asia
40. 1974The Birmingham pub bombings kill 21 people. The Birmingham Six are sentenced to life in prison for the crime but are later exonerated.Europe
41. 1977Minister of Internal Affairs Allan Highet announces that the national anthems of New Zealand shall be the traditional anthem "God Save the Queen" and "God Defend New Zealand".Oceania
42. 1979The United States Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, is attacked by a mob and set on fire, killing four.North AmericaAsia
43. 1980A deadly fire breaks out at the MGM Grand Hotel in Paradise, Nevada (now Bally's Las Vegas). Eighty-five people are killed and more than 650 are injured in the worst disaster in Nevada history.North America
44. 1985United States Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard is arrested for spying after being caught giving Israel classified information on Arab nations. He is subsequently sentenced to life in prison.North AmericaMiddle East
45. 1986National Security Council member Oliver North and his secretary start to shred documents allegedly implicating them in the Iran–Contra affair.Middle East
46. 1989Aeroflot Flight 37577 crashes on approach to Sovetsky Airport, killing 32.Europe
47. 1990Bangkok Airways Flight 125 crashes on approach to Samui Airport, killing 38.Asia
48. 1992A major tornado strikes the Houston, Texas area during the afternoon. Over the next two days the largest tornado outbreak ever to occur in the US during November spawns over 100 tornadoes.North America
49. 1995The Dayton Agreement is initialed at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio, ending three and a half years of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.North AmericaEurope
50. 1996Humberto Vidal explosion: Thirty-three people die when a Humberto Vidal shoe shop in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico explodes.Latin America
51. 1998Finnish satanist Jarno Elg kills a 23-year-old man and performs a ritual-like cutting and eating of body parts in Hyvinkää, Finland.Europe
52. 2002NATO invites Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members.Europe
53. 2002Arturo Guzmán Decena, founder of Los Zetas and high-member of the Gulf Cartel, is killed in a shoot-out with the Mexican Army and the police.Latin America
54. 2004The Paris Club agrees to write off 80% (up to $100 billion) of Iraq's external debt.EuropeMiddle East
55. 2004China Eastern Airlines Flight 5210 crashes after takeoff from Baotou Donghe Airport, killing 55.Asia
56. 2004The second round of the Ukrainian presidential election is held, giving rise to massive protests and controversy over the election's integrity.Europe
57. 2004Dominica is hit by the most destructive earthquake in its history. The northern half of the island sustains the most damage, especially the town of Portsmouth. In neighboring Guadeloupe, one person is killed.Latin America
58. 2006Anti-Syrian Lebanese politician and government minister Pierre Gemayel is assassinated in suburban Beirut.Middle East
59. 2009A mine explosion in Heilongjiang, China kills 108.Asia
60. 2012At least 28 are wounded after a bomb is thrown onto a bus in Tel Aviv.Middle East
61. 2013Fifty-four people are killed when the roof of a shopping center collapses in Riga, Latvia.Europe
62. 2013Massive protests start in Ukraine after President Viktor Yanukovych suspended signing the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement.Europe
63. 2014A stampede in Kwekwe, Zimbabwe caused by the police firing tear gas kills at least eleven people and injures 40 others.Africa
64. 2015The government of Belgium imposes a security lockdown on Brussels, including the closure of shops, schools, and public transportation, due to potential terrorist attacks.Europe
65. 2017Robert Mugabe formally resigns as President of Zimbabwe, after thirty-seven years in office.Africa
66. 2019Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is indicted on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.Middle East
67. 2019Tesla launches the SUV Cybertruck. A gaffe occurs during the launch event when its "unbreakable" windows shatter during demonstration.North America
68. 2021An SUV plows through a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, killing six and injuring 62.North America
69. 2022A magnitude 5.6 earthquake on the Indonesian island of Java kills between 335 and 602 people.Asia

Source: Wikipedia "November 21" / CC BY-SA 4.0