43 BC

Second Triumvirate alliance of Roman leader Octavian (later Caesar Augustus), Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Mark Antony formed

1778

British explorer Captain James Cook discovers Maui in the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii)

1922

English archaeologist Howard Carter opens Tutankhamun’s virtually intact tomb in Egypt

1931

Gandhi announces a new civil disobedience campaign in the nationalist newspaper ‘Young India’.

1949

New Constitution of India adopted and signed. The constitution of India was framed by a Constituent Assembly set up under the Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946. The Assembly held its first meeting on December 9, 1946 and elected Dr.Rajendra Prasad as its Chairman.

Newspaper Day.

1954

The Atomic Energy Commission starts functioning.

1960

First S.T.D. system of telephone (Subscriber Trunk Dialing) services started between Lucknow and Kanpur in India.

1989

General Election ( 9th) of India ends: Congress loses; V.P. Singh becomes Prime Minister. Anti-Congress wave in North; South India favours Congress. India to have a coalition govt. after the governing Congress party has its majority wiped out in general elections.

1997

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, scientific advisor to Defence Minister, chosen for Bharat Ratna.

1497

Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama rounds Cape of Good Hope on way to first voyage from Europe to reach India

1914

Indian troops take Basra in Mesopotamia

1926

Imperial Conference ends, giving autonomy inside British Commonwealth

1928

British King George confined to bed with congested lung; Queen to take over duties.

1963

American President John F. Kennedy assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas

1968

Lok Sabha passed notification to change the name of Madras state as Tamil Nadu.

1969

Isolation of a single gene announced by scientists at Harvard University

1971

Indian and Pakistan governments protested violations of national airspace along the western border, but aerial conflict between the respective air arms began, preceding full-scale warfare between India and Pakistan by 12 days.

1997

Diana Hayden, 24-year-old Mumbai-born Miss India, beat 85 contestants from around the world to be crowned new ‘Miss Universe’ at Mahe in Seychelles.

2005

Angela Merkel becomes the first female Chancellor of Germany

1517

Ibrahim Lodi (1517-26) succeeded the throne of Delhi, after the death of his father Sikandar Lodi.

1791

Colonel Napoléon Bonaparte is promoted to General and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the French Republic.

1818

Russia’s Tsar Alexander I petitions for a Jewish state in Palestine.

1877

Thomas Edison announces his “talking machine” invention (phonograph), the 1st machine to play and record sound

1906

China prohibits the opium trade

1921

Prince of Wales visited India and Congress observed all India strike.

1947

First postal stamp of indepedent India of three and half annas denomination was started. Major General Cariappa took over from Lieutenant General Sir Francies Tulker as the Army Commander, Eastern Command, in the rank of Lieutenant General. General Hafez al-Assad becomes Prime Minister of Syria following military coup

1963

First sounding rocket launched from Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS). Thus started India’s space programme.

1971

Rebellion in East Pakistan (formerly Bengal). Ten million Bengalis flee to India. Indo-Pak border clashes escalate to war. India defeats West Pakistan. E. Pakistan becomes independent Bangladesh.

Battle of Garibpur: Indian troops aided by Mukti Bahini (Bengali guerrillas) defeat the Pakistan army

1991

R. Nagarajan, former Tamil Nadu Home Secretary, arrested for harbouring LTTE militants.

1572

Akbar responded with alacrity and arrived at Ahmadabad and made adequate arrangements for its administration.

1789

New Jersey is 1st state to ratify Bill of Rights

1815

2nd Treaty of Paris: France & her allies agree France pay indemnities after Battle of Waterloo, ending Napoleonic Wars

Russia, Prussia, Austria and England signs Alliance “for the maintenance of peace in Europe” same day as Treaty of Paris.

1902

Gandhiji returned to South Africa at the request of the Indian community and revived the Indians against Anti-Asian Laws.

1914

US State Department starts requiring photographs for passports

1946

Gandhiji starts tour without party.

1967

First Indian made Sounding Rocket ‘Rohini RH75‘ launched into space from Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station.

1969

The Union Home Ministry decides to reserve posts for SC\STs in the public sector undertakings.

1981

Bhaskara-II, India’s second experimental remote sensing satellite, was launched by Russian launch vehicle Intercosmos. This provided experience in building and operating a remote sensing satellite system on an end-to-end basis.

1990

Union Government asks Supreme Court to repeal the $470 million Bhopal Gas settlement order.

1835

Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi was born in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. She was named Manikarnika and was called ‘Manu’.

1838

Keshab Chandra Sen (1838-84), nationalist leader of Bengal, was born in Calcutta. He was one of the first Indians to sow the seeds of secularism in the country. He joined the Brahmo Samaj in 1857 but seperated from it in 1866 and founded Brahma Samaj of India, a radical offshoot of the Adi Brahmo Samaj.

1917

Indira (Pridarshani) Gandhi, the first Indian Lady Prime Minister, was born in Allahabad. She was the only child of Jawharlal Nehru and took active participation in freedom fight by forming “”Vanar Sena”” (a team of young detectives). She lead India in a successful war against Pakistan to seperate East and West Pakistans and establish the nation of Bangladesh.

1962

Nehru asks more US aid as China drives into India in New Delhi.

1969

Brazil’s Pele became the first man to score 1000 goals in competitive football.

1978

Gavaskar gets twin cricket tons for India for second time.

1991

Two national commissions on women set up.

1994

Aishwarya Rai, selected ‘Miss World’ at the age of 21 in the beauty contest held at the 44th convention at Sun City, South Africa .