December 21

Friday 21, 2012:

The Long Count of the Maya calendar recycles according to the most popular correlation. A minority argues that it does so on December 23, 2012.

Saturday 21, 2002:

Vancouver, British Columbia city council declares "D.O.A. Day" in observance of the Canadian punk band D.O.A.'s decades of influence and accomplishments.

Friday 21, 2001:

Japanese television performer Masashi Tashiro got No. 1 temporarily in the Internet vote of Time's Person of the Year.

Tuesday 21, 1999:

The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with 950 kg of explosives intended by ETA to blow down Torre Picasso.

Wednesday 21, 1988:

A terrorist bomb explodes and crashes Pan Am flight 103 a Boeing 747, over Lockerbie, Scotland killing 270, including 11 on the ground

Monday 21, 1987:

The passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker Vector 1.

Friday 21, 1979:

The Lancaster House Agreement was signed, effectively ending the white rule in Rhodesia under Ian Smith.

Saturday 21, 1968:

Apollo 8 launched

Friday 21, 1962:

Rondane National Park, the first national park in Norway, was established.

Sunday 21, 1958:

Charles de Gaulle is elected as the first President and establishes the Fifth Republic

Saturday 21, 1935:

First screening of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first feature-length animated movie.

Thursday 21, 1933:

Newfoundland becomes a crown colony

Friday 21, 1923:

Nepal changes from British protectorate to independent state

Sunday 21, 1919:

Municipal elections held in Senegal (First round, second round is held December 28). The multiracial lists of the Independent Socialist Republican Party (PRSI) wins in all four municipalities.

Monday 21, 1914:

First feature-length silent film comedy, Tillie's Punctured Romance, starring Marie Dressler, Mabel Normand and Charles Chaplin, is released

Sunday 21, 1913:

First crossword puzzle published

Wednesday 21, 1898:

Marie and Pierre Curie discover radium

Monday 21, 1891:

First basketball game played

Tuesday 21, 1880:

Isle of Man becomes first political entity that allows women to vote

Saturday 21, 1872:

HMS Challenger sails from Portsmouth on the 4 year scientific expedition that would lay the foundation for the science of oceanography

Saturday 21, 1861:

Lord Lyons, the British minister to the United States, meets with United States Secretary of State William Seward concerning Confederate envoys arrested by the United States Navy in order to prevent war between the United States and the United Kingdom.

Thursday 21, 1780:

Great Britain declares war on The Netherlands in response to the Dutch joining the League of Armed Neutrality and for assisting French and American forces during the American Revolution.

Monday 21, 1620:

The Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock

Saturday 21, 69:

Vespasian becomes the fourth Roman Emperor in the Year of the four emperors.

More on December, 21

• People Born on December, 21
• They left us on December, 21