For most of the rest of the 21st Century, today is January 1 on the Julian Calendar, so for those still using it…HAPPY NEW YEAR.

January 14

1539 – Spain annexes Cuba.

1639 – The “Fundamental Orders”, the first written constitution that created a government in the colonies, is adopted in Connecticut

1784 – The U.S. Senate ratifies the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain, officially ending the Revolutionary War.

1911 – Roald Amundsen’s South Pole expedition makes landfall on the eastern edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.

1943 – While President Roosevelt and PM Churchill begin the Casablanca Conference to discuss strategy, the Japanese concede defeat on Guadalcanal, and begin Operation Ke, the evacuation of their forces from the island

1950 – The first prototype of the MiG-17 makes its maiden flight.

1954 – The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation to form the American Motors Corporation.

1969 – An accidental explosion of a Zuni rocket detonating under a plane’s wing aboard the carrier USS Enterprise off Hawaii causes a fire, killing 28 crewmen and injuring  314 more.

1973 – Elvis Presley’s concert Aloha from Hawaii is broadcast live via satellite, and sets the record as the most watched broadcast by an individual entertainer in television history.

2010 – Yemen declares an open war against the terrorist group al-Qaeda.