January 1 is the 1st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining (365 in leap years).
- 45 BC - Julian calendar goes into effect
- 404 - Last gladiator competition in Rome
- 1438 - Albert II of Habsburg becomes King of Hungary
- 1502 - Rio de Janeiro discovered
- 1622 - In the Gregorian calendar, January 1 is declared as the first day of the year, instead of for example March 25 in England
- 1651 - Charles II crowned King of Scotland
- 1700 - Russia accepts Julian calendar
- 1707 - John V becomes King of Portugal
- 1788 - First edition of The Times, previously The Daily Universal Register, was published.
- 1801 - Legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland completed to form United Kingdom
- 1801 - Discovery of 1 Ceres, first known asteroid
- 1804 - End of French rule in Haiti.
- 1808 - Importation of slaves into the United States is banned
- 1863 - Abraham Lincoln delivers the Emancipation Proclamation during the second year of the American Civil War.
- 1863 - The first claim under the Homestead Act is made for a farm in Nebraska
- 1874 - New York City annexes The Bronx
- 1880 - Construction of the Panama Canal begins
- 1887 - Queen Victoria is proclaimed Empress of India at the first Imperial Assemblage (Durbar) in Delhi.
- 1892 - Ellis Island opens to begin accepting immigrants to the United States
- 1893 - Japan accepts the Gregorian calendar
- 1897 - Brooklyn, New York merges with New York City
- 1899 - End of Spanish rule in Cuba.
- 1899 - Queens and Staten Island merge with New York City
- 1901 - Nigeria becomes a British protectorate
- 1901 - Establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia (Federation).
- 1902 - The first Rose Bowl[?] game is played in Pasadena, California
- 1908 - A ball signifying New Year's Day drops in New York City's Times Square for the first time
- 1911 - Northern Territory is separated from South Australia
- 1912 - Establishment of Republic of China
- 1919 - Edsel Ford succeeds his father as head of the Ford Motor Company
- 1934 - Alcatraz becomes a federal prison
- 1937 - Anastasio Somoza becomes President of Nicaragua[?]
- 1937 - The first Cotton Bowl game is played in Dallas, Texas
- 1942 - World War II: The word "United Nations" is first officially used to describe the Allied pact.
- 1956 - End of Anglo-Egyptian Condominium in Sudan.
- 1959 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista overthrown by Fidel Castro.
- 1960 - Cameroon becomes independent
- 1962 - Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand
- 1964 - Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland dissolved
- 1970 - Unix epoch begins at 00:00:00 UTC.
- 1971 - Cigarette advertisements banned on United States television
- 1979 - United States and China begin diplomatic relations[?]
- 1981 - Palau becomes self-governing
- 1981 - Greece enters the European Community
- 1983 - The ARPANET officially changes to use the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet
- 1984 - Brunei becomes a fully independent state.
- 1984 - AT&T is broken up into 22 independent units
- 1984 - Spain and Portugal enter the European Community
- 1986 - Aruba becomes independent of Curacao
- 1992 - George H. W. Bush is first President of the United States to address the Australian Parliament[?]
- 1993 - Czechoslovakia divides. Establishment of Slovak Republic and Czech Republic
- 1994 - North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect
- 1995 - World Trade Organization goes into effect
- 1995 - Austria, Finland and Sweden enter the European Union
- 1996 - Curacao gains limited self-government
- 1998 - Smoking is banned in all California bars and restaurants
- 1999 - Euro currency introduced.
- 2002 - Euro banknotes and coins become legal tender.
- 2003 - Pascal Couchepin becomes president of Switzerland
- 2003 - Luís Inácio Lula da Silva becomes president of Brazil
- 1431 - Pope Alexander VI (+ 1503)
- 1449 - Lorenzo de Medici, statesman (+ 1492)
- 1484 - Huldreich Zwingli, protestant leader (+ 1531)
- 1618 - Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, painter (+ 1682)
- 1735 - Paul Revere, silversmith, United States patriot (+ 1818)
- 1750 - Frederick Muhlenberg, first speaker of the United States House of Representatives (+ 1801)
- 1752 - Betsy Ross[?], seamstress (+ 1836)
- 1839 - Ouida, writer (+ 1908)
- 1857 - Wojciech Kossak[?], painter
- 1860 - George Washington Carver, educator, inventor, botanist (+ 1943)
- 1863 - Pierre de Coubertin, historian and pedagogue, initiator of modern Olympic Games (+ 1937)
- 1876 - Harriet Brooks[?], physicist (+ 1933)
- 1879 - E. M. Forster, novelist (+ 1970)
- 1887 - Wilhelm Canaris, admiral (+ 1945)
- 1890 - Anton Melik, Slovene geographer (+ 1966)
- 1894 - Satyendra Nath Bose, mathematician (+ 1974)
- 1895 - J. Edgar Hoover, FBI director (+ 1972)
- 1900 - Xavier Cugat[?], musician, bandleader (+ 1990)
- 1909 - Barry M. Goldwater, Arizona Senator (+ 1998)
- 1909 - John Glenn, astronaut, soldier, Senator from Ohio
- 1909 - Dana Andrews, actor (+ 1992)
- 1911 - Hank Greenberg, baseball player (+ 1986)
- 1912 - Kim Philby, spy (+ 1988)
- 1917 - Jule Gregory Charney[?], meteorologist (+ 1981)
- 1919 - J. D. Salinger, novelist
- 1922 - Rocky Graziano[?], boxer, born "Rocky Barbella" (+ 1990)
- 1925 - Stymie Beard[?], actor (+ 1981)
- 1925 - Idi Amin, dictator of Uganda
- 1927 - Doak Walker[?], American football star
- 1928 - Ernest Tidyman[?], writer (+ 1984)
- 1933 - Joe Orton, writer (+ 1967)
- 1940 - Frank Langella[?], actor
- 1940 - Helmut Jahn[?], architect
- 1942 - Country Joe McDonald[?], musician, (Country Joe and the Fish)
- 1943 - Don Novello, actor, comedian, writer ("Father Guido Sarducci")
- 1945 - Jacky Ickx, automobile racer
- 1958 - Grand Master Flash[?], singer
- 1970 - Paul Thomas Anderson[?], film director, writer, producer
- 1979 - Koichi Domoto, artist
- 898 - Odo, Count of Paris
- 1817 - Martin Heinrich Klaproth[?], chemist (* 1743)
- 1894 - Heinrich Hertz, physicist (* 1857)
- 1953 - Hank Williams, country music singer
- 1972 - Maurice Chevalier, actor and singer
- 1986 - Alfredo Binda, Italian cyclist
- 1992 - Grace Hopper, computer pioneer
- 1994 - Cesar Romero[?], actor
- 1997 - Townes Van Zandt[?], musician
- 2001 - Ray Walston, actor
See Also:
December 31 - January 2 - December 1 - February 1 -- listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December