December 6

2024 Calendar

December 6 is the 340th day of the year (341st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 25 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

1060 - Bela I of Hungary is crowned king.
1240 - Mongol Empire's invasion of the Rus': Kiev under Danylo of Halych and Voivode Dmytro falls to the Mongols.
1534 – The city of Quito in Ecuador is founded by Spanish settlers.
1745 - Charles Edward Stuart's army begins its retreat during the Second Jacobite Rising, after getting as far south as Derby.
1768 – The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica is published.
1790 – The U.S. Congress moves from New York City to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1849 – American abolitionist Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery.
1865 – The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, banning slavery.
1877 - The first edition of the Washington Post is published.
1884 – The Washington Monument in Washington D.C. is completed.
1897 – London becomes the world's first city to host motorised taxi cabs.

1901 – 1950

1905 - In France, the senate votes for separation of church and state.
1907 - A coal mine explosion at Monongah, West Virginia kills 362 workers.
1916 – David Lloyd George becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1917 – Finland declares its independence from Russia.
1917 - A munitions explosion near Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, kills over 1,900 people.
1917 - World War I: The USS Jacob Jones is the first American destroyer to be sunk by enemy action when it is torpedoed by German submarine SM U-53.
1921 – The Anglo-Irish Treaty is 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.
1923 - The United Kingdom's most recent December general election (until 2019) is held.
1928 - The Colombian government sends military forces to suppress a month-long strike by United Fruit Company workers, resulting in an unknown number of deaths.
1941 - World War II: The United Kingdom and Canada declare war on Finland in support of the Soviet Union during the Continuation War.
1947 - The Everglades National Park is created in Florida.

1951 – 2000

1953 - Vladimir Nabokov completes his controversial novel Lolita.
1956 - A violent water polo match is played between Hungary and the Soviet Union during the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, shortly after the Soviet Union crsuhed the Hungarian Revolution.
1956 - At the 1956 Summer Olympics, 14-year-old swimmer Sandra Morgan becomes the youngest Olympic champion until that point.
1957 - Project Vanguard: A launchpad explosion on Vanguard TV3 ends the first US attempt to launch a satellite into Earth's orbit.
1967 - Adrian Kantrowitz performs US' first heart transplant.
1971 – Pakistan ends diplomatic ties with India following New Delhi's recognition of Bangladesh.
1973 – The United States House of Representatives votes 387 to 35 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States (on November 27, the Senate confirmed him 92 to 3).
1975 - The Troubles: Fleeing from police, a Provisional IRA unit takes a couple hostage in Balcombe Street in London, beginning a six-day siege.
1977 – South Africa grants independence to Bophuthatswana, although it is not recognized by any other country.
1978 – Spain approves its latest constitution in a referendum.
1982 - The Troubles: The Irish National Liberation Army bomb a pub frequently used by British soldiers in Ballykelly, Northern Ireland, killing 11 soldiers and 6 civilians.
1985 - The Boston Celtics pick up their only home loss of the 1985-86 NBA season, losing to the Portland Trail Blazers at Boston Garden. They establish the best single-season NBA home court record of all time.
1988 – The Australian Capital Territory is granted self-government.
1989 – At the École Polytechnique in Montreal, an anti-feminist gunman shoots and kills 14 young women.
1991 – The Yugoslav People's Army bombards Dubrovnik, Croatia, after laying siege to the city in May.
1992 – The burning of the Babr Masjid Mosque in Ayodhya, India by Hindu extremists begins.
1997 - A Russian Antonov An-24 cargo plane crashes into an apartment complex near Irkutsk, Siberia, Russia, killing 67 people.
1998 - Hugo Chávez is elected President of Venezuela.

From 2001

2001 – In Canada, the province of Newfoundland is renamed Newfoundland and Labrador.
2004 - The US Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is bombed, killing 12 people.
2005 - Several villagers are shot dead during protests in Dongzhou, China.
2005 - An Iranian Air Force C-130 military transport aircraft crashes into a ten-floor apartment building in a residential area of Tehran, killing 84 people on board and 44 on the ground.
2005 – David Cameron becomes the leader of the British Conservative Party, succeeding Michael Howard.
2006 – NASA reveals photographs of Mars from the Mars Global Surveyor, suggesting a liquid presence on the planet.
2008 – Riots erupt in Greece after the killing of a 15-year-old boy, Alexandros Grigoropoulos, by a police officer.
2011 - Elio Di Rupo becomes Prime Minister of Belgium. The country had, until then, been without an official government for over a year-and-a-half.
2013 - The groups are drawn for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
2017 - US President Donald Trump officially recognises Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel.