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On This Day in History: January 18

Explore the historical events that shaped our world on January 18th. From major milestones to cultural achievements, see what happened on this day in history. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.

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1254, c. January 18

The Cortes of Leiria in Portugal is convened by King Afonso III to address various issues in the kingdom. It was the first Portuguese assembly to broadened representation and include representatives (burghers) from the municipalities, alongside the nobles and clergy, to discuss taxes and trade laws, establishing an important precedent for royal power and consent.

Afonso III used this assembly to gain support for his policies, including taxing the burghers and challenging Rome, marking a shift in Portuguese governance.

1367 CE, January 18

King Peter I of Portugal dies on January 18, 1367 and is succeeded by his son Ferdinand I of Portugal.

1535 CE, January 18

The city of Lima, Peru, is founded on January 18, 1535 by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro on the central coast of Peru. The city was known as "Ciudad de Los Reyes" or "City of the Kings" because in the Julian calendar. in use at that time, the date corresponded to the holiday of Epiphany, when the Three Kings visited the baby Jesus,

Cathedral of Lima, Peru. (1854) - The Cathedral Foundation Stone was laid by Francisco Pizarro (1535)
Source: Exploration of the Valley of Amazon vol.1 by Lieutenant William Lewis Herndon, U.S.N. Author William Lewis Herndon (1813–1857)

commons.wikimedia.org

1593 CE, January 18

King Naresuan of Siam, kills the Crown Prince of Burma Mingyi Swa, in a legendary elephant-back duel at the Battle of Nong Sarai, marking a turning point in Burmese-Siamese conflicts and leading to Siamese independence. January 18th, is celebrated as Royal Thai Armed Forces Day.

Thailand was formerly known as Siam and officially changed its name in 1939. It briefly reverted to Siam in 1945 before Thailand in 1949. The name Thailand" means "Land of the Free, a proud reference to never being colonized.

1778 CE, January 18

English Captain James Cook, traveling aboard the 100-foot flagship HMS Resolution and its 90-foot companion HMS Discovery. sights O‘ahu on January 18, 1778, becoming the first Europeans to encounter and set foot on the Hawaiian Islands when they land two days later at Waimea on Kaua‘i.

After a short stay Capitan Cook went on to explore the west coast of North America, to continue his search for the Northwest Passage. A year later, he returned to Hawaii where he was killed by the Hawaiian natives at Kealakekua Bay on February 14, 1779 after he attempted to kidnap Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the ruling chief (aliʻi nui) of the island and hold him in exchange for the return of a small stolen cutter. A fatal error that led to his death. Cook's arrival in Hawaii eventually led to large migrations of Europeans and Americans to the islands resulting a century later in 1893, in the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii by pro-American elements. More

1803 CE, January 18

Thomas Jefferson secretly commissions Meriwether Lewis on January 18, 1803, to lead the Corps of Discovery and explore the newly acquired Louisiana Territory.

Thomas Jefferson tasked them to finding a water route to the Pacific, mapping the land, studying its resources, and establishing trade with Native American tribes. The expedition was later joined by William Clark and became a pivotal exploration in support of American expansion and scientific understanding of the West.

1871 CE, January 18

Wilhelm I is proclaimed the first German Emperor on January 18, 1871 in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles following the German victory in the Franco-Prussian War, as the French army surrendered in Sedan. and the unification of German states into the German Empire takes place.

The selection of Versailles and particularly the Hall of Mirrors, where Louis XIV once held court, was a deliberate symbolic act to humiliate France and assert German dominance.

1911 CE, January 18

The first landing of an aircraft on a ship occurs on January 18, 1911, as Eugene Ely lands a Curtiss Pusher biplane on the USS Pennsylvania in San Francisco Bay.

1912 CE, January 18

British explorer Robert Falcon Scott and four members of his expedition reached the South Pole on January 18, 1912, only to discover that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had reached the South Pole five weeks earlier, on December 14, 1911. Scott and his men died when trying to return to their base camp.

1919 CE, January 18

The Paris Peace Conference convenes at Versailles just outside Paris on January 18, 1919. The conference was called to establish the terms of the peace after World War I.

The conference resulted in several treaties, most notably the Treaty of Versailles with Germany, which was signed on June 28, 1919. The treaty's terms led to political instability and resentment in Germany, which ultimately fueled extremist movements like the Nazis and contributed to the outbreak of World War II. More