6 December

Events:

• 1534 - Spanish found Quito, Ecuador
• 1768 - First edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica is published
• 1790 - United States Congress moves from New York City to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• 1877 - First publication of the Washington Post
• 1884 - Washington Monument completed.
• 1917 - Finland declares its independence from Russia
• 1917 - Halifax explosion kills more than 1900 people, destroys part of the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
• 1921 - Irish Free State Agreement signed in London by British and Irish representatives
• 1922 - One year to the day after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty the Irish Free State comes into existence.
• 1933 - A federal judge rules that the James Joyce novel Ulysses is not obscene
• 1947 - Everglades National Park in Florida is dedicated.
• 1957 - A launchpad explosion thwarts the first United States attempt to launch a satellite (Project Vanguard).
• 1977 - South Africa grants independence to Bophuthatswana - not recognized by any other country
• 1978 - Spain approves its latest constitution in a referendum.
• 1989 - The École Polytechnique Massacre: a man kills 14 young women in Montreal, Quebec.
• 1992 - In Ayodhya, India, right-wing Hindus belonging to the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and allied organisations demolish the Babri Masjid, a 16th century mosque, which they claim was built upon the birth place of Lord Rama.
• 1997 - A Russian Antonov AN-124 transport cargo plane crashes into an apartment complex near Irkutsk, Siberia, killing 67

Births:

• 1421 - King Henry VI of England (d. 1471)
• 1478 - Baldassare Castiglione, Italian diplomat and author (d. 1529)
• 1586 - Niccoli Zucchi, Italian astronomer (d. 1670)
• 1731 - Sophie von La Roche, German author (d. 1807)
• 1778 - Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, physicist and chemist (d. 1850)
• 1805 - Adolf Reubke, organ builder (d. 1875)
• 1805 - Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, French magician (d. 1861)
• 1823 - Friedrich Max Müller, German Orientalist (d. 1900)
• 1833 - John Singleton Mosby, American Civil War Confederate guerrilla leader (d. 1916)
• 1863 - Charles Hall, chemist (d. 1914)
• 1872 - William S. Hart, actor (d. 1946)
• 1875 - Evelyn Underhill, English poet (d. 1941)
• 1886 - Joyce Kilmer, poet (d. 1918)
• 1887 - Lynne Fontanne, actress (d. 1983)
• 1890 - Rudolf Schlichter, painter, graphic artist and writer (d. 1955)
• 1892 - Lina Carstens, actress (d. 1978)
• 1892 - Sir Osbert Sitwell, English author (d. 1969)
• 1896 - Ira Gershwin, lyricist (d. 1983)
• 1898 - Alfred Eisenstaedt, photojournalist (d. 1995)
• 1900 - Agnes Moorhead, actress (d. 1974)
• 1903 - Tony Lazzeri, Baseball Hall of Famer
• 1905 - Jameds Braddock, boxing champion (d. 1974)
• 1908 - Pierre Graber, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 2003)
• 1913 - Eleanor Holm - American swimmer
• 1914 - Walter W. Kelley, President of ACR
• 1917 - Kamal Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze (d. 1977)
• 1920 - Dave Brubeck, jazz musician
• 1921 - Otto Graham, American football star
• 1928 - Bobby Van, singer (d. 1980)
• 1929 - Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor
• 1932 - Don King, boxing entrepreneur
• 1933 - Henryk Górecki, composer
• 1942 - Peter Handke, author, playwright
• 1948 - JoBeth Williams, actress
• 1953 - Thomas Hulce, actor
• 1955 - Steven Wright, comedian
• 1956 - Peter Buck, musician
• 1958 - Nick Park, film-maker and animator
• 1962 - Janine Turner, actress
• 1971 - Ryan White, AIDS activist (d. 1990)
• 1993 - Elián González, Cuban refugee

Deaths:

• 1185 - Afonso, first king of Portugal
• 1779 - Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, French painter
• 1868 - August Schleicher, linguist
• 1882 - Anthony Trollope, author
• 1889 - Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America
• 1892 - Werner von Siemens, German inventor and industrialist
• 1955 - Honus Wagner, baseball hall of fame
• 1956 - Dr. Bhimji Ramji Ambedkar, Lawer & Minsiter of Law, India
• 1985 - Bur Tillstrom, puppeteer
• 1988 - Roy Orbison, musician
• 1989 - Frances Bavier, actress
• 1993 - Don Ameche, actor
• 2001 - Gerhard Löwenthal, journalist
• 2001 - Philip Berrigan, civil rights activist

Holidays and Observances:

• National holiday of Finland
• Spanish Constitution Day
• Saint Nicholas Day

December 5 - December 7 - November 6 - January 6 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By