
Browse Historical Events by Day: What Happened on January 2nd?
Discover major events and cultural milestones that happened on this day — organized by year. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
Note: Sources for the historical content shown, include research and reviews of relevant Online History Resources or printed material. When possible, we show a link to a source which provides additional or unique perspective about the event.
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Jesus is presented at the Temple in Jerusalem in accordance with Jewish law.
Justin II succeeds his uncle Justinian I as Eastern Roman Emperor.
Pope Innocent II is elected.
Pope Clement V sends a letter to King Philip IV of France regarding the suppression of the Templars.
The Treaty of Melun is signed, temporarily ending hostilities between France and England.
The Peace of Szeged is signed, ending the 1443-1444 Crusade of Varna between Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.
Christopher of Bavaria, King of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, dies.
The Gutenberg Bible is completed, marking a pivotal moment in the history of printing.
The Ottomans capture Constantinople's strategically important region, the Morea, completing their conquest of the Byzantine Empire.
Granada, the last stronghold of the Moorish kingdom in Spain surrenders to Spain ending the Reconquest led by the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand II and Isabella I
Vasco da Gama departs from Lisbon on his first voyage to India.
King Ferdinand II of Aragon abandons the Kingdom of Naples, leaving it under the control of Louis XII of France.
King Henry VIII of England orders the burning of all Lutheran books.
The Council of Trent concludes its meetings, marking the end of the Council's discussions on church reform.
The Dutch buy Manhattan Island from Native Americans for trinkets and tools, founding New Amsterdam.
Tsar Peter the Great founds Saint Petersburg, Russia, as the new Russian capital.
American forces defeat the British at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek in the American Revolutionary War.
Georgia becomes the fourth State of the Union.
Stephen F. Austin receives a grant of land in Texas from Mexico, initiating American colonization.
The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City begins.
Alice Sanger becomes the first female White House staffer.
NASA's spacecraft Stardust flies within 155 miles from the comet P/Wild 2, and collects dust grains and the cometary material. Stardust sealed its collected matter inside a sample reentry capsule, which separated from Stardust and landed in the Utah desert on Jan. 15, 2006. They were later revealed to contain the amino acid glycine, an essential building block of life. More