History

Everyone knows Christmas Day is all about tearing open presents, spending time with loved ones, gorging on lots of good food and celebrating the holiday spirit in general. Even though most of us have got the holiday thing down by now, some folks out there might not be aware of some of the unusual and history-making events marking Christmas Day and Christmas Eve in the past.

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1620: William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims land on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts (more info) 1898: Pierre and Marie Curie discover radium (more info)

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1803: The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans (more info) 1860: South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the United States (more info)

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1776: Thomas Paine publishes one of a series of pamphlets in the Pennsylvania Journal titled 'The American Crisis' (more info) 1777: George Washington's Continental Army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania (more info)

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1903: Near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright make history's first successful flight in a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft (more info) 1944: The U.S. Army announces the end of its policy of holding Japanese-Americans in internment camps, allowing "evacuees" to return home (more in

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1799: President George Washington dies at the age of 67 (more info) 1903: The Wright brothers make their first attempt to fly with the Wright Flyer in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (more info)

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1577: Sir Francis Drake sets out from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage (more info) 1862: At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats the Union Major General Ambrose E. Burnside in a decisive loss for the Union army (more info)

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1901: Italian physicist and radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi succeeds in sending the first radio transmission across the Atlantic Ocean (more info) 1913: Two years after it was stolen from the Louvre museum in Paris, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece 'The Mona Lisa' is recovered inside Italian waiter Vincenzo Peruggia's

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1941: Following the American declaration of war on Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Germany and Italy declare war on the United States (more info) 1946: The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established (more info)

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1898: The Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the Spanish-American War (more info) 1901: The first Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace (more info)

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1863: President Abraham Lincoln offers his conciliatory plan for reunification of the United States with his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (more info) 1980: Music icon John Lennon is murdered by a mentally unstable fan in front of the Dakota apartment building in New York City (more info)

Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history: 1787: Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the United States Constitution (more info) 1941: In an early-morning sneak attack, Japanese warplanes bomb the U.S. naval base at Oahu Island's Pearl Harbor, causing the United States to enter World War II (more info)