Wikipedia defines history as the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. It came from the Greek word ‘historia’ – which means ‘inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation’.
This website utilizes entries from Wikipedia to extract historical events from 3761 BC up to the present. There are 105,060 records in the database that include events, births and deaths of popular individuals. The present day Gregorian calendar was adopted to show dates of interest.
Let us begin with what happened today in history. You may also enter a specific day using the form on the right sidebar.
What happened on November 20? There are more than 280 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About November 20
November 20 is the 325th day of the year 2024. There are 41 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday. This day falls under the 47th week of the year 2024.
On this day in Atlanta, Georgia 30338 sunrise will occur at 07:13 AM and sunset will occur at 05:32 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Scorpio. The modern birthstone for this month is Topaz while the mystical birthstone is Pearl.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 70 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
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Historical Events For November 20
- 284Diocletian is chosen as Roman Emperor.
- 762During An Shi Rebellion, Tang Dynasty, with the help of Huihe tribe, recaptured Luoyang from the rebels.
- 1194Palermo is conquered by Emperor Henry VI.
- 1407A truce between John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy and Louis of Valois, Duke of Orléans is agreed under the auspices of John, Duke of Berry. Orléans would be assassinated three days later by Burgundy.
- 1695Zumbi, the last of the leaders of Quilombo dos Palmares in early Brazil, is executed.
- 1739Start of the Battle of Porto Bello between British and Spanish forces during the War of Jenkins’ Ear.
- 1789New Jersey becomes the first U.S. state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
- 1820An 80-ton sperm whale attacks the Essex (a whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts) 2,000 miles from the western coast of South America (Herman Melville’s 1851 novel Moby-Dick is in part inspired by this story).
- 1845Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata: Battle of Vuelta de Obligado.
- 1861American Civil War: Secession ordinance is filed by Kentucky’s Confederate government.
- 1910Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero issues the Plan de San Luis Potosi, denouncing President Porfirio Díaz, calling for a revolution to overthrow the government of Mexico, effectively starting the Mexican Revolution.
- 1917Ukraine is declared a republic.
- 1917World War I: Battle of Cambrai begins – British forces make early progress in an attack on German positions but are later pushed back.
- 1923Rentenmark replaces the Papiermark as the official currency of Germany at the exchange rate of one Rentenmark to One Trillion (One Billion on the long scale) Papiermark
- 1936José Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the Falange, is killed by a republican execution squad.
- 1940World War II: Hungary becomes a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis Powers.
- 1943World War II: Battle of Tarawa (Operation Galvanic) begins – United States Marines land on Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands and suffer heavy fire from Japanese shore guns and machine guns.
- 1945Nuremberg Trials: Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals start at the Palace of Justice at Nuremberg.
- 1947The Princess Elizabeth marries Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey in London.
- 1952Slánský trials – a series of Stalinist and anti-Semitic show trials in Czechoslovakia.
- 1962Cuban Missile Crisis ends: In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ends the quarantine of the Caribbean nation.
- 1969Vietnam War: The Plain Dealer publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.
- 1974The United States Department of Justice files its final anti-trust suit against AT&T. This suit later leads to the breakup of AT&T and its Bell System.
- 1977Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel, when he meets Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and speaks before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement.
- 1979Grand Mosque Seizure: About 200 Sunni Muslims revolt in Saudi Arabia at the site of the Kaaba in Mecca during the pilgrimage and take about 6000 hostages. The Saudi government receives help from French special forces to put down the uprising.
- 1980Lake Peigneur drains into an underlying salt deposit. A misplaced Texaco oil probe had been drilled into the Diamond Crystal Salt Mine, causing water to flow down into the mine, eroding the edges of the hole. The resulting whirlpool sucked the drilling platform, several barges, houses and trees thousands of feet down to the bottom of the dissolving salt deposit.
- 1985Microsoft Windows 1.0 is released.
- 1989Velvet Revolution: The number of protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million.
- 1991An Azerbaijani MI-8 helicopter carrying 19 peacekeeping mission team with officials and journalists from Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan is shot down by Armenian military forces in Khojavend district of Azerbaijan.
- 1992In England, a fire breaks out in Windsor Castle, badly damaging the castle and causing over £50 million worth of damage.
- 1993Savings and loan crisis: The United States Senate Ethics Committee issues a stern censure of California senator Alan Cranston for his “dealings” with savings-and-loan executive Charles Keating.
- 1994The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign the Lusaka Protocol in Zambia, ending 19 years of civil war (localized fighting resumes the next year).
- 1998A court in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan declares accused terrorist Osama bin Laden “a man without a sin” in regard to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
- 1998The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched.
- 2001In Washington, D.C., U.S. President George W. Bush dedicates the United States Department of Justice headquarters building as the Robert F. Kennedy Justice Building, honoring the late Robert F. Kennedy on what would have been his 76th birthday.
- 2003After the November 15 bombings, a second day of the 2003 Istanbul Bombings occurs in Istanbul, Turkey, destroying the Turkish head office of HSBC Bank AS and the British consulate.
- 2008After critical failures in the US financial system began to build up after mid-September, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level since 1997.
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Who Were Born On November 20?
- 270Maximinus II, Roman Emperor (d. 313)
- 1602Otto von Guericke, German physicist (d. 1686)
- 1620Peregrine White, first English child born in the Plymouth Colony (d. 1704)
- 1621Avvakum, Russian priest and writer (d. 1682)
- 1625Paulus Potter, Dutch painter (d. 1654)
- 1660Daniel Ernst Jablonski, German theologian (d. 1741)
- 1750Tipu Sultan, Indian ruler (d. 1799)
- 1761Pope Pius VIII (d. 1830)
- 1762Pierre André Latreille, French entomologist (d. 1833)
- 1765Sir Thomas Fremantle, British naval captain (d. 1819)
- 1781Karl Friedrich Eichhorn, German jurist (d. 1854)
- 1839Christian Wilberg, German painter (d. 1882)
- 1841Victor D'Hondt, Belgian mathematician (d. 1901)
- 1841Wilfrid Laurier, seventh Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1919)
- 1851Queen Margherita of Italy (d. 1926)
- 1858Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish author, Nobel laureate (d. 1940)
- 1866Kenesaw Mountain Landis, American judge and baseball commissioner (d. 1944)
- 1869Clark Griffith, American baseball manager (d. 1955)
- 1874James Michael Curley, 53rd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1958)
- 1880George McBride, American baseball player (d. 1973)
- 1882Andy Coakley, American baseball player and coach (d. 1963)
- 1884Norman Thomas, American political figure (d. 1968)
- 1886Karl von Frisch, Austrian zoologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1982)
- 1889Edwin Hubble, American astronomer (d. 1953)
- 1892James Collip, Canadian biochemist, co-discoverer of insulin (d. 1965)
- 1896Chiyono Hasegawa, a Japanese supercentenarian. (d. 2011)
- 1900Chester Gould, American comic strip artist (d. 1985)
- 1903Alexandra Danilova, Russian ballerina (d. 1997)
- 1903Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, Pakistani historian and educationist (d. 1981)
- 1905François, 9th duc de Noailles, French nobelman (d. 2009)
- 1907Fran Allison, American television personality (d. 1989)
- 1907Henri-Georges Clouzot, French film director (d. 1977)
- 1908Alistair Cooke, British-born journalist (d. 2004)
- 1910Kees Bastiaans, Dutch painter (d. 1986)
- 1910Willem Jacob van Stockum, Dutch physicist (d. 1944)
- 1912Otto von Habsburg, Austrian-German nobleman (d. 2011)
- 1913Judy Canova, American actress (d. 1983)
- 1913Kostas Choumis, Greek footballer (d. 1981)
- 1914Emilio Pucci, Italian fashion designer (d. 1992)
- 1915Kon Ichikawa, Japanese film director (d. 2008)
- 1916Evelyn Keyes, American actress (d. 2008)
- 1917Bobby Locke, South African golfer (d. 1987)
- 1917Robert Byrd, American politician, longest serving member of the United States Congress (d. 2010)
- 1921Jim Garrison, American attorney and judge (d. 1992)
- 1921Phyllis Thaxter, American actress
- 1923Nadine Gordimer, South African writer, Nobel laureate
- 1924Benoît Mandelbrot, Polish-born French mathematician (d. 2010)
- 1924Henk Vredeling, Dutch politician (d. 2007)
- 1925Kaye Ballard, American comic actress
- 1925Maya Plisetskaya, Russian ballet dancer
- 1925Robert F. Kennedy, American politician (d. 1968)
- 1926Andrzej W. Schally, Polish endocrinologist, Nobel laureate
- 1926Terry Hall, English ventriloquist (d. 2007)
- 1927Ed “Too Tall” Freeman, American United States Army officer, helicopter pilot and Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2008)
- 1927Estelle Parsons, American actress
- 1928Aleksey Batalov, Russian actor
- 1928John Disley, Welsh athlete
- 1929Don January, American professional golfer
- 1930Bernard Horsfall, British Actor
- 1932Richard Dawson, English-American actor and game show host
- 1936Don DeLillo, American author
- 1937Eero Mäntyranta, Finnish cross-country skier
- 1937René Kollo, German tenor
- 1937Ruth Laredo, American pianist (d. 2005)
- 1937Viktoriya Tokareva, Russian playwright
- 1939Dick Smothers, American comedian
- 1940Bob Einstein, American actor and comedian
- 1941Haseena Moin, Pakistani television writer and playwright
- 1942Joe Biden, 47th Vice President of the United States
- 1942Meredith Monk, American composer and choreographer
- 1942Norman Greenbaum, American singer
- 1942Paulos Faraj Rahho, Iraqi bishop (d. 2008)
- 1943Veronica Hamel, American actress
- 1944Louie Dampier, American basketball player
- 1945Nanette Workman, American-born Canadian singer and actress
- 1945Rick Monday, American baseball player
- 1946Duane Allman, American guitarist (The Allman Brothers Band) (d. 1971)
- 1946Greg Cook, American football player
- 1946Judy Woodruff, American TV anchor
- 1947Joe Walsh, American musician (Eagles, James Gang)
- 1948Barbara Hendricks, American/Swedish singer
- 1948John R. Bolton, American ambassador
- 1948Richard Masur, American actor
- 1949Jeff Dowd, American film producer
- 1949Thelma Drake, American politician
- 1951David Walters, American politician
- 1951Rodger Bumpass, American voice actor
- 1952John Van Boxmeer, Canadian hockey player
- 1954Berit Andnor, Swedish politician
- 1954Steve Dahl, American radio personality
- 1956Bo Derek, American actress
- 1956Mark Gastineau, American football player
- 1957John Eriksen, Danish footballer (d. 2002)
- 1957Mike Craven, English footballer
- 1957Stefan Bellof, German race car driver (d. 1985)
- 1958Rickson Gracie, Brazilian mixed martial artist
- 1959James P. McGovern, American politician
- 1959Sean Young, American actress
- 1960Marc Labrèche, Canadian actor and television host
- 1960Veronika Bellmann, German politician
- 1961Dave Watson, English footballer
- 1961Jim Brickman, American pianist and songwriter
- 1961Larry Karaszewski, American screenwriter
- 1961Tim Harvey, British racing driver
- 1963Ming-Na Wen, Macau actress
- 1963Timothy Gowers, British mathematician
- 1963Wan Yanhai, Chinese AIDS activist
- 1965Jimmy Vasser, American racing driver
- 1965Mike D, American musician (Beastie Boys)
- 1965Sen Dog, Cuban rapper (Cypress Hill)
- 1965Yoshiki Hayashi, Japanese musician (X Japan)
- 1966Jill Thompson, American comic book writer and artist
- 1966Kevin Gilbert, American musician (d. 1996)
- 1966Thanasis Kolitsidakis, Greek footballer
- 1967Chris Childs, American basketball player
- 1967Teoman, Turkish rock singer
- 1968Chew Chor Meng, Singaporean actor
- 1968Tommy Asinga, Surinamese track star
- 1969Callie Thorne, American actor
- 1970Delia Gonzalez, American boxer
- 1970Geoffrey Keezer, American jazz pianist
- 1970Joe Zaso, American actor
- 1970Matt Blunt, American politician
- 1970Phife Dawg, American rapper (A Tribe Called Quest)
- 1970Sabrina Lloyd, American actress
- 1971Joel McHale, American actor and comedian
- 1971Joey Galloway, American football player
- 1971Marco Oppedisano, American guitarist and composer
- 1972Sheema Kalbasi, Iranian poet
- 1973Angelica Bridges, American actress, model, and singer
- 1975Davey Havok, American singer (AFI)
- 1975Dierks Bentley, American singer
- 1975J. D. Drew, American baseball player
- 1975Joshua Gomez, American actor
- 1975Ryan Bowen, American basketball player
- 1976Cemal Yıldız, Turkish footballer
- 1976Dominique Dawes, American gymnast
- 1976Jason Thompson, Canadian actor
- 1976Laura Harris, Canadian actress
- 1976Theodoros Velkos, badminton player
- 1976Tusshar Kapoor, Indian actor
- 1977Daniel Svensson, Swedish drummer
- 1977Josh Turner, American singer
- 1977Rudy Charles, American professional wrestling referee
- 1978Freya Lin, Taiwanese singer
- 1978Nadine Velazquez, American actress and model
- 1979Ericson Alexander Molano, Colombian gospel singer
- 1979Maree Bowden, New Zealand netball player (Silver Ferns)
- 1980James Chambers, English footballer
- 1981Carlos Boozer, American basketball player
- 1981Kimberley Walsh, English singer (Girls Aloud)
- 1981Sam Fuld, American baseball player
- 1982Margo Stilley, American actress
- 1984Ferdinando Monfardini, Italian racing driver
- 1984Justin Hoyte, English footballer
- 1984Tashard Choice, American football player
- 1985Aaron Yan, Taiwanese singer and actor (Fahrenheit)
- 1985Dan Byrd, American actor
- 1985Juan Cruz Álvarez, Argentine racing driver
- 1986Ashley Fink, American Actress
- 1986Jared Followill, American rock musician
- 1986Oli Sykes, English musician
- 1988Rhys Wakefield, Australian actor
- 1989Cody Linley, American actor
- 1990Mark Christian, Manx professional cyclist
- 1992Maiha Ishimura, Japanese pop singer
- 1995Mariko Hill, International cricketer
- 2000Connie Talbot, English singer
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Who Died On November 20?
- 869King Edmund of East Anglia (b. 841)
- 1022Bernward of Hildesheim (b. 993)
- 1316King John I of France (b. 1316)
- 1437Thomas Langley, Bishop of Durham (b. 1363)
- 1518Marmaduke Constable, English soldier
- 1518Pierre de La Rue, Flemish composer
- 1529Karl von Miltitz, German papal nuncio (b. c. 1490)
- 1591Christopher Hatton, English politician (b. 1540)
- 1612John Harington, English writer (b. 1561)
- 1651Mikołaj Potocki, Polish soldier (b. 1595)
- 1662Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, Austrian-born Spanish territorial governor (b. 1614)
- 1695Zumbi, Brazilian slave (b. 1655)
- 1704Charles Plumier, French botanist (b. 1646)
- 1737Queen Caroline of Ansbach, consort of George II of Great Britain (b. 1683)
- 1742Melchior de Polignac, French diplomat (b. 1661)
- 1758Johan Helmich Roman, Swedish composer (b. 1694)
- 1764Christian Goldbach, Prussian mathematician (b. 1690)
- 1778Francesco Cetti, Italian Jesuit scientist (b. 1726)
- 1856Farkas Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1775)
- 1894Anton Rubinstein, Russian pianist and composer (b. 1829)
- 1908Georgy Voronoy, Russian mathematician (b. 1868)
- 1910Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Russian novelist (b. 1828)
- 1925Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom (b. 1844)
- 1934Willem de Sitter, Dutch scientist (b. 1872)
- 1936Buenaventura Durruti, Spanish anarchist (b. 1896)
- 1936José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Spanish politician (b. 1903)
- 1938Enzo Matsunaga, Japanese writer (b. 1895)
- 1938Maud, Queen of Norway (b. 1869)
- 1945Francis William Aston, British chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1877)
- 1950Francesco Cilea, Italian composer (b. 1866)
- 1951Thomas Quinlan (impresario), British opera impresario (b. 1881)
- 1954Clyde Vernon Cessna, American aviation designer (b. 1879)
- 1957Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Russian-born Lithuanian artist (d. 1875)
- 1973Allan Sherman, American comedian (b. 1924)
- 1975Francisco Franco, Spanish dictator (b. 1892)
- 1976Trofim Lysenko, Russian biologist (b. 1898)
- 1978Giorgio de Chirico, Italian painter (b.1888)
- 1978Vasilisk Gnedov, Russian poet (b. 1890)
- 1980John McEwen, Australian politician (b. 1900)
- 1983Marcel Dalio, French actor (b. 1900)
- 1984Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Pakistani poet (b. 1911)
- 1994John Lucarotti, British-born Canadian screenwriter (b. 1926)
- 1995Robie Macauley, American novelist and literary critic (b. 1919)
- 1995Sergei Grinkov, Russian figure skater (b. 1967)
- 1997Dick Littlefield, American baseball player (b. 1926)
- 1998Galina Starovoitova, Russian politician (b. 1946)
- 1999Amintore Fanfani, Italian politician (b. 1908)
- 2000Kalle Päätalo, Finnish writer (b. 1919)
- 2000Mike Muuss, American computer programmer (b. 1958)
- 2003David Dacko, Central African politician (b. 1930)
- 2003Eugene Kleiner, American entrepreneur (b. 1923)
- 2003Jim Siedow, American actor (b. 1920)
- 2003Kerem Yilmazer, Turkish actor (b. 1945)
- 2003Loris Azzaro, French fashion designer (b. 1933)
- 2003Robert Addie, British actor (b. 1960)
- 2003Roger Short, British statesman (b. 1944)
- 2004David Grierson, Canadian radio host (b. 1955)
- 2004Jenny Ross, English musician (Section 25) (b. 1962)
- 2005Chris Whitley, American musician (b. 1960)
- 2005James King, American singer (b. 1925)
- 2005Manouchehr Atashi, Iranian poet (b. 1931)
- 2005Nora Denney, American actress (b. 1928)
- 2005Sheldon Gardner, American psychologist (b. 1934)
- 2006Andre Waters, American football player (b. 1962)
- 2006Robert Altman, American film director (b. 1925)
- 2006Zoia Ceauşescu, Romanian mathematician (b. 1950)
- 2007Ian Smith, Rhodesian politician (b. 1919)
- 2008Bennie Gonzales, American architect (b. 1924)
- 2008Sven Inge, Swedish painter (b. 1935)
- 2009Lino Lacedelli, Italian mountaineer, one of the first team to summit K2 (b. 1925)
- 2010Chalmers Johnson, American political scholar and author (b. 1931)
- 2010Danny McDevitt, American baseball player (b. 1932)
- 2010Laurie Bembenek, American convicted murderer and fugitive (b. 1958)
- 2010Rob Lytle, American football player (b. 1954)
- 2010Roxana Briban, Romanian Soprano (b. 1971)
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