Browse Historical Events by Month:
Victories, births, and treaties. Explore the significant historical events and milestones that occurred in December. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
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During his first voyage, Columbus lands on December 6, 1492, on what is now the north coast of Haiti at a bay he named San Nicolas going on to name the Island, "La Isla Española", which was later Anglicized to Hispaniola. His arrival on the island followed his initial landing in the Bahamas on October 12, 1492. Hispaniola went on to became a base for future Spanish colonization of the Americas.
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Christopher Columbus Flagship, the Santa María, runs aground on Christmas Day 1492, on a reef off the northwest coast of what is now Haiti but the exact location remains a mystery. The ship was declared a total loss, and its timbers were salvaged to build the Fort which he named "La Navidad", the first European settlement in the New World, where 39 members of Columbus's crew were left behind.
Columbus left for Spain in January of 1493, with the other two ships, the Niña and the Pinta. Columbus returned to the settlement a year later to find it destroyed, the fort in ruins and his men gone.It is believed the Taíno people had retaliated against the European mistreatment and violence, killing the men and burning the fort.
Martin Luther throws a copy of the Papal bull, Exsurge Domine (“Arise O Lord”) into a bonfire after the expiration of the period stipulated in the bull from Pope Leo X for Luther to recant his teachings.
Luther refused and continued to rebuke the papacy. As a result, Luther was excommunicated on Jan 3, 1521. More
Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama passes away in India during his second voyage to the East.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the most important religious icons in Mexico, is believed to have appeared to Juan Diego on four occasions between December 9 and 12, 1531. More
Ivan IV, known as Ivan the Terrible, is proclaimed Grand Prince of Moscow on December 4, 1533, at the age of three after the death of his father, Grand Prince Vasily III. He ruled under the regency of his mother, Yelena Glinskaya, until her death in 1538.
His mother's death was followed by a period of intense power struggles among nobles. Ivan was crowned "Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia" on January 16, 1547, at the age of 16, marking the beginning of a new era for Russia, with a more centralized and powerful ruler at its head.
King James V of Scotland dies on December 14, 1542, leaving his infant daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots, as his heir. He died just six days after Mary was born, following a military defeat at the Battle of Solway Moss.
The Council of Trent concludes its discussions on the Catholic Church Counter-Reformation on December 4, 1563. The decrees of the council were later confirmed by Pope Pius IV in the bull Benedictus Deus on January 26, 1564.
The Council met intermittently over 18 years beginning on December 13, 1545. It reaffirmed Catholic doctrines on salvation, sacraments, and the biblical canon, while also standardizing the mass, implementing disciplinary reforms and the establishment of seminaries for the proper training of priests and requiring bishops to reside in their dioceses.
Boxing Day, also known as St Stephen's Day. or Offering Day, is celebrated on December 26th in the UK and Commonwealth nations. It originated as a day for the wealthy to give "Christmas boxes" with gifts, money, or leftovers to servants and the poor after they worked on Christmas day, as thanks for year-round service and also give a day off and for churches to distribute alms.
Now, it's a popular holiday known for huge post-Christmas sales, major sporting events (soccer, horse racing), and relaxing family time with Christmas leftovers, evolving from a charitable tradition to a mix of shopping, sports, and rest.
The first observation of Neptune is recorded by Galileo with his small telescope on December 28, 1612. He believed it to be a fixed star rather than a planet. More than 200 years later, on September 23 1846, the ice giant Neptune became the first planet located through mathematical predictions rather than through regular observations of the sky. More
The Mayflower arrive and anchors at modern-day Plymouth Harbor, Massachusetts on December 1, 1620, after spending some time in Cape hook (known today as Provincetown Harbor). Several small scouting groups were sent ashore to collect firewood and scout for a good place to build their settlement. (All dates shown per the Gregorian calendar. The old style calenda dates are 10 days earlier e.g. December 1 was November 11 in the Old Style calendar)
The Pilgrims had their first encounter with Native Americans on December 18, 1620. The shallop lands at Plymouth Rock on December 21, 1620. This date is now celebrated as "Forefathers Day". They went on to establish their Colony on a site chosen for its defensive location and access to fresh water and decided to call it Plymouth. The Pilgrims began building their settlement on January 4, 1621. Thirteen years before in 1607, 104 settlers aboard three ships had landed in Virginia at a place they named Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the New World. More
A major eruption of Mount Vesuvius takes place on December 16, 1631 killing an estimated 3,000 to 6000 people, burying villages on its slopes. The event marked a shift from long quiescent periods to more frequent activity.
The first documented recorded observation of a transit of Venus across the Sun is made by the English astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks from his home at Carr House in Much Hoole, near Preston in England on December 4, 1639
His meticulous calculations of the timing of the transit and those of his friend William Crabtree, who made his own observation from Broughton were the first to be recorded, and Horrocks' work helped to correct earlier astronomical tables and helped to refine the understanding of the solar parallax and the distance between the Earth and the Sun. His work was later published by Johannes Hevelius in the treatise Venus in sole visa.
King Charles I and the Scots reached a secret agreement in December 26, 1647, known as the Engagement, where by the Scots promised to support his restoration in exchange for him accepting Presbyterianism in Scotland and imposing it in England for three years.
This pact led to the Second English Civil War in 1648. However, the Scottish army under the Earl of Hamilton was defeated by Oliver Cromwell at the Battle of Preston. The loss ultimately contributed to Charles I's execution on January 30, 1649 by beheading, after being found guilty of treason.
Oliver Cromwell dissolves the English Barebones Parliament and introduces the Instrument of Government on December 12 1653, which established Cromwell as Lord Protector on December 16, 1653.
Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the French minister of finance, creates the Académie Royale d'Architecture. in 1671, under the authority of King Louis XIV. The academy's purpose was to formalize architectural practice, promote classical design, and provide expert advice on royal building projects.
The Battle of Lund, the deadliest battle of the Scanian war between Sweden, led by King Charles XI (Karl XI) and Denmark led by King Christian V takes place on December 4, 1676.
The battle resulted in a decisive victory by Sweden securing their control over Scania and forcing the Danish army to retreat. Swedish casualties were between 2,300 and 3,000, and Danish casualties between 6,000 and 9,000.
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Isaac Newton's manuscript "On the motion of bodies in an orbit"; (De Motu) which he had sent to Edmond Halley, is read to the Royal Society. The manuscript gave important mathematical derivations relating to the three relations now known as "Kepler's laws of planetary motion".
Before Newton's work, those derivations had not been generally regarded as scientific laws. After further encouragement from Halley, Newton went on to develop and write his book "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica" (Principia) which includes nearly all of the manuscript content. More
The Duke of Marlborough is dismissed from his command by Queen Anne during the War of the Spanish Succession.
The Ottoman Empire declares war on Venice, initiating the Seventh Ottoman-Venetian War. The war concluded two years later in 1718 with an Ottoman victory and the Treaty of Passarowitz.
Venice ceded its major possession, the Peloponnese, in the Greek peninsula, to the Ottomans. Venice was saved from a more significant defeat by the intervention of the Austrian Empire in 1716.
