4 December

1123     Omar Khayyám, Persian poet (died), astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher (born 1048) 1619     38 colonists from Berkeley Parish in England disembark in Virginia and give thanks to God (this is considered by many to be the first Thanksgiving in the Americas). 1642    Cardinal Richelieu (died), French clergyman and politician, 1st Chief Minister of the French… Continue reading

3 December

1560    Jan Gruter (born), Dutch critic and scholar (died 1627) 1842    Charles Alfred Pillsbury (born), American businessman, founded the Pillsbury Company (died 1899) 1888    Carl Zeiss (died), German lens maker (born 1816) 1894    Robert Louis Stevenson (died), Scottish author and poet (born 1850) 1895    Anna Freud (born), Austrian-English psychoanalyst (died 1982) 1901     US President Theodore… Continue reading

2 December

1469   Piero di Cosimo de’ Medici (died), Italian ruler (born 1416) 1515    Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (died), Spanish general (born 1453) 1547    Hernán Cortés (died), Spanish explorer (born 1485) 1594    Gerardus Mercator (died), Flemish cartographer (born 1512) 1697     St Paul’s Cathedral is opened in London. 1804     At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte crowns… Continue reading

1 December

1761     Marie Tussaud (born), French sculptor, founded Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum (died 1850) 1824     United States presidential election, 1824: Since no candidate received a majority of the total electoral college votes in the election, the United States House of Representatives is given the task of deciding the winner in accordance with the Twelfth Amendment to… Continue reading

30 November

1667     Jonathan Swift (born), Irish author (died 1745) 1707     The second Siege of Pensacola comes to end with the failure of the British to capture Pensacola, Florida. 1803     In New Orleans, Louisiana, Spanish representatives officially transferred the Louisiana Territory to a French representative. Just 20 days later, France transferred the same land to the United… Continue reading