Today, January 1

45 BC – The Julian calendar takes effect as the civil calendar of the Roman Empire, establishing January 1 as the new date of the new year.

404 – Saint Telemachus tries to stop a gladiatorial fight in a Roman amphitheater, and is stoned to death by the crowd. This act so impresses the Christian Emperor Honorius, he issues a ban on gladiatorial fights

1502 – The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is first explored by the Portuguese.

1772 – The first traveler’s checks, which could be used in 90 European cities, are issued by the London Credit Exchange Company

1773 – The hymn Amazing Grace, then simply titled  1 Chronicles 17:16–17 is first used to accompany a sermon by John Newton in Olney,  England.

1776 – General George Washington hoists the first United States flag – the Grand Union – at Prospect Hill, Somerville, Massachusetts

1781 – During the Revolution, 1500 soldiers of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment under General Anthony Wayne’s command rebel against the poor conditions at Continental Army’s winter camp in Morristown, New Jersey ending with a negotiated settlement on January 8th.

1801 – Ceres, a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, the object discovered in the belt, is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi at Palermo Astronomical Observatory in Sicily.

1808 – The United States ban on the importation of slaves takes effect

1847 – The first “Mercy” Hospital is founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by a group of Sisters of Mercy from Ireland

1863 – President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation takes effect in Confederate territory.

1885 – 25 nations adopt Sandford Fleming’s proposal for Standard Time

1892 – The U.S. government begins processing immigrants into the United States through facilities built on Ellis Island in New York Harbor.

1898 – New York, New York annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, are joined on January 25 by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs.

1899 – Under terms of the 1898 Treaty of Paris, Spanish rule ends in Cuba which comes under formal jurisdiction of the United States Military Government

1902 – The first American college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl between Michigan and Stanford, is held in Pasadena, California.

1914 – The St. Petersburg/Tampa Airboat Line becomes the world’s first scheduled airline to use fixed wing aircraft.

1932 – The United States Post Office Department issues a set of 12 stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of George Washington’s birth.

1934 – Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay becomes a United States federal prison.

1945 – In retaliation for the killing of 80 U.S. POWs by the German Army SS troops near Malmedy, Belgium, U.S. troops of the 11th Armored division kill 60 German POWs being held at Chenogne.

1959 – Fulgencio Batista is overthrown as de facto ruler of Cuba by forces of Fidel Castro.

1971 – Cigarette advertisements are banned on American television.

1983 – The ARPANET officially changes to using TCP/IP, the Internet Protocol, effectively creating the Internet.

1994 – The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) comes into effect.

1999 – The Euro currency is introduced in 11 member nations of the European Union

2011 – A bomb placed by the Army of Islam explodes as Coptic Christians leave a new year service at The Orthodox Church of Saint Mark and Pope Peter in Alexandria, Egypt, killing 23 people.