Events on January 15 45
Year 1541
King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of New France (Canada) and provide for the spread of the "Holy Catholic faith".
Year 1582
Truce of Yam-Zapolsky: Russia cedes Livonia to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Year 1777
American Revolutionary War: New Connecticut (present-day Vermont) declares its independence.
Year 1782
Superintendent of Finance Robert Morris goes before the U.S. Congress to recommend establishment of a national mint and decimal coinage.
Year 1815
War of 1812: American frigate USS President, commanded by Commodore Stephen Decatur, is captured by a squadron of four British frigates.
Year 1822
Greek War of Independence: Demetrios Ypsilantis is elected president of the legislative assembly.
Year 1865
American Civil War: Fort Fisher in North Carolina falls to the Union, thus cutting off the last major seaport of the Confederacy.
Year 1870
A political cartoon for the first time symbolizes the Democratic Party with a donkey ("A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion" by Thomas Nast for Harper's Weekly).
Year 1876
The first newspaper in Afrikaans, Die Afrikaanse Patriot, is published in Paarl.
Year 1889
The Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, is incorporated in Atlanta.
Year 1908
The Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority becomes the first Greek-letter organization founded and established by African American college women.
Year 1910
Construction ends on the Buffalo Bill Dam in Wyoming, United States, which was the highest dam in the world at the time, at 325 ft (99 m).
Year 1919
Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent socialists in Germany, are tortured and murdered by the Freikorps at the end of the Spartacist uprising.
Year 1919
Great Molasses Flood: A wave of molasses released from an exploding storage tank sweeps through Boston, Massachusetts, killing 21 and injuring 150.
Year 1934
The 8.0 Mw Nepal-Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing an estimated 6,000-10,700 people.
Year 1936
The first building to be completely covered in glass, built for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, is completed in Toledo, Ohio.
Year 1937
Spanish Civil War: Nationalists and Republican both withdraw after suffering heavy losses, ending the Second Battle of the Corunna Road.
Year 1947
The Black Dahlia murder: the dismembered corpse of Elizabeth Short was found in Los Angeles.
Year 1949
Chinese Civil War: The Communist forces take over Tianjin from the Nationalist Government.
Year 1962
The Derveni papyrus, Europe's oldest surviving manuscript dating to 340 BC, is found in northern Greece.
Year 1962
Netherlands New Guinea Conflict: Indonesian Navy fast patrol boat RI Macan Tutul commanded by Commodore Yos Sudarso sunk in Arafura Sea by the Dutch Navy.
Year 1966
The First Nigerian Republic, led by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa is overthrown in a military coup d'état.
Year 1967
The first Super Bowl is played in Los Angeles. The Green Bay Packers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs 35-10.
Year 1970
Nigerian Civil War: Biafran rebels surrender following an unsuccessful 32-month fight for independence from Nigeria.
Year 1973
Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.
Year 1975
The Alvor Agreement is signed, ending the Angolan War of Independence and giving Angola independence from Portugal.
Year 1976
Gerald Ford's would-be assassin, Sara Jane Moore, is sentenced to life in prison.
Year 1981
Pope John Paul II receives a delegation from Solidarity (Polish trade union) at the Vatican led by Lech Wałęsa.
Year 1991
The United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait expires, preparing the way for the start of Operation Desert Storm.
Year 1991
Elizabeth II, in her capacity as Queen of Australia, signs letters patent allowing Australia to become the first Commonwealth realm to institute its own Victoria Cross in its honours system.
Year 2005
ESA's SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the Moon.
Year 2007
Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, former Iraqi intelligence chief and half-brother of Saddam Hussein, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court, are executed by hanging in Iraq.
Year 2009
Captain Sully (Chesley Sullenberger) emergency landed a US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River saving all 155 passengers after the plane collided with birds few minutes after take-off.
Year 2013
A train carrying Egyptian Army recruits derails near Giza, Greater Cairo, killing 19 and injuring 120 others.
Year 2016
The Kenyan Army suffers it worst defeat ever in a battle with Al-Shabaab Islamic insurgents in El-Adde, Somalia. An estimated 150 soldiers die.
Year ?
Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, but rules for only three months before committing suicide.