December 6

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

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Events

• 1240 – Kiev falls to the Mongols under Batu Khan.
• 1534 – Spanish found Quito, Ecuador.
• 1768 – First edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica is published.
• 1790 – U.S. Congress moves from New York City to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• 1865 – Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, banning slavery.
• 1877 – First publication of the Washington Post
• 1884 – Washington Monument completed.
• 1917 – Finland declares its independence from Russia.
• 1917 – Halifax explosion kills more than 1900 people, destroys part of the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
• 1921 – The Anglo-Irish Treaty was 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.
• 1933 – Federal judge John M. Woolsey rules that the James Joyce novel Ulysses is not obscene
• 1947 – Everglades National Park in Florida is dedicated.
• 1957 – A launchpad explosion thwarts the first United States attempt to launch a satellite (Project Vanguard).
• 1969 – The Rolling Stones' Altamont Disaster rock festival
• 1977 – South Africa grants independence to Bophuthatswana – not recognized by any other country
• 1978 – Spain approves its latest constitution in a referendum.
• 1989 – The École Polytechnique Massacre: a man kills 14 young women in Montreal, Quebec.
• 1992 – In Ayodhya, India, right-wing Hindus belonging to the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and allied organisations demolish the Babri Masjid, a 16th century mosque, which they claim was built upon the birth place of Lord Rama.
• 1996 – Daylight is released, starring Sylvester Stallone.
• 1997 – A Russian Antonov AN-124 transport cargo plane crashes into an apartment complex near Irkutsk, Siberia, killing 67
• 1999 – Digitally Imported, one of the largest internet radio stations dedicated to electronic dance music, is started by Ari Shohat.

Births

• 846 – Hasan al-Askari, Shia Imam (d. 874)
• 1285 – King Ferdinand IV of Castile (d. 1312)
• 1421 – King Henry VI of England (d. 1471)
• 1478 – Baldassare Castiglione, Italian diplomat and author (d. 1529)
• 1586 – Niccoli Zucchi, Italian astronomer (d. 1670)
• 1731 – Sophie von La Roche, German author (d. 1807)
• 1778 – Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, physicist and chemist (d. 1850)
• 1805 – Adolf Reubke, organ builder (d. 1875)
• 1805 – Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, French magician (d. 1861)
• 1823 – Friedrich Max Müller, German Orientalist (d. 1900)
• 1833 – John Singleton Mosby, American Confederate guerrilla leader (d. 1916)
• 1849 – August von Mackensen, German Field Marshal (d. 1945)
• 1863 – Charles Martin Hall, chemist (d. 1914)
• 1872 – William S. Hart, actor (d. 1946)
• 1875 – Evelyn Underhill, English poet (d. 1941)
• 1886 – Joyce Kilmer, poet (d. 1918)
• 1887 – Lynne Fontanne, actress (d. 1983)
• 1890 – Rudolf Schlichter, painter, graphic artist, and writer (d. 1955)
• 1892 – Lina Carstens, actress (d. 1978)
• 1892 – Sir Osbert Sitwell, English author (d. 1969)
• 1896 – Ira Gershwin, lyricist (d. 1983)
• 1898 – Alfred Eisenstaedt, photojournalist (d. 1995)
• 1900 – Agnes Moorehead, actress (d. 1974)
• 1903 – Tony Lazzeri, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1946)
• 1905 – James J. Braddock, boxer (d. 1974)
• 1908 – Pierre Graber, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 2003)
• 1913 – Eleanor Holm – American swimmer (d. 2004)
• 1914 – Walter W. Kelley, President of ACR
• 1917 – Kamal Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze (d. 1977)
• 1920 – Dave Brubeck, jazz musician
• 1921 – Otto Graham, American football player (d. 2003)
• 1928 – Bobby Van, singer (d. 1980)
• 1929 – Alain Tanner, Swiss film-maker
• 1929 – Nikolaus Harnoncourt, German conductor
• 1933 – Henryk Górecki, composer
• 1936 – David Ossman, comedian
• 1942 – Peter Handke, author, playwright
• 1948 – JoBeth Williams, actress
• 1953 – Tom Hulce, actor
• 1953  – Gary Ward, baseball player
• 1955 – Steven Wright, comedian
• 1956 – Randy Rhodes, musician
• 1956 – Peter Buck, musician
• 1958 – Nick Park, film-maker and animator
• 1962 – Janine Turner, actress
• 1971 – Ryan White, AIDS activist (d. 1990)
• 1993 – Elián González, Cuban refugee

Deaths

• 1185 – Afonso, first king of Portugal
• 1352 – Pope Clement VI
• 1718 – Nicholas Rowe, English poet and dramatist (b. 1674)
• 1779 – Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, French painter (b. 1699)
• 1868 – August Schleicher, linguist
• 1882 – Anthony Trollope, English author
• 1889 – Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America (b. 1808)
• 1892 – Werner von Siemens, German inventor and industrialist
• 1949 – Leadbelly, blues musician
• 1951 – Harold Ross, American magazine editor (b. 1892)
• 1955 – Honus Wagner, Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1874)
• 1956 – Dr. Bhimji Ramji Ambedkar, Indian lawyer and Minister of Law
• 1961 – Frantz Fanon, psychiatrist and writer
• 1976 – João Goulart, President of Brazil (b. 1918)
• 1985 – Burr Tillstrom, puppeteer
• 1988 – Roy Orbison, American musician (b. 1936)
• 1989 – Frances Bavier, actress
• 1993 – Don Ameche, American actor
• 1997 – Billy Bremner, footballer
• 2000 – Werner Klemperer, actor (b. 1920)
• 2001 – Gerhard Löwenthal, journalist
• 2001  – Sir Peter Blake, yachtsman
• 2002  – Philip Berrigan, civil rights activist
• 2002 – Charles Rosen, pioneer in artificial intelligence
• 2003 – Jose-Maria Jimenez, cyclist
• 2003 – Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio, President of Guatemala
• 2003 – Jerry Tuite, professional wrestler (b. 1966)
• 2004 – Raymond Goethals, Belgian football coach

Undated deaths

• Saint Nicholas of Myra

Holidays and observances

• Independence day in Finland
• Spanish Constitution Day
• Canada: National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women
• Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus) Day in some European, mostly Roman Catholic, countries, and as Sinterklaas in southern parts of The Netherlands (see December 5)

External links

• BBC: On This Day

December 5 – December 7 – November 6 – January 6 — listing of all days