November 18

Historic Events

2020

The Utah monolith, built sometime in 2016 is discovered by state biologists of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. ›

2013

NASA launches the MAVEN probe to Mars. ›

2012

Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria becomes the 118th Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. ›

2003

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules 4–3 in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and gives the state legislature 180 days to change the law making Massachusetts the first state in the United States to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples. ›

2002

Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq. ›

1999

At Texas A&M University, the Aggie Bonfire collapses killing 12 students and injuring 27 others. ›

1996

A fire occurs on a train traveling through the Channel Tunnel from France to England causing several injuries and damaging approximately 500 metres (1,600 ft) of tunnel. ›

1993

In the United States, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is approved by the House of Representatives. ›

1993

In South Africa, 21 political parties approve a new constitution, expanding voting rights and ending white minority rule. ›

1991

Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon release Anglican Church envoys Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland. ›

1991

After an 87-day siege, the Croatian city of Vukovar capitulates to the besieging Yugoslav People's Army and allied Serb paramilitary forces. ›

1991

The autonomous Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia, which would in 1993 become a republic, was established in Bosnia and Herzegovina. ›

1987

King's Cross fire: In London, 31 people die in a fire at the city's busiest underground station, King's Cross St Pancras. ›

1985

The first comic of Calvin and Hobbes is published in ten newspapers. ›

1983

Aeroflot Flight 6833 is hijacked en route from Tbilisi to Leningrad. After returning to Tbilisi, the aircraft is subsequently raided on the ground, resulting in seven deaths. ›

1978

The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet makes its first flight, at the Naval Air Test Center in Maryland, United States. ›

1978

In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones leads his Peoples Temple to a mass murder–suicide that claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them in Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. ›

1971

Oman declares its independence from the United Kingdom. ›

1970

U.S. President Richard Nixon asks the U.S. Congress for $155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government. ›

1963

The Bell Telephone Company introduces the first push-button telephone. ›

1961

Vietnam War: United States President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam. ›

1949

The Iva Valley Shooting occurs after the coal miners of Enugu in Nigeria go on strike over withheld wages; 21 miners are shot dead and 51 are wounded by police under the supervision of the British colonial administration of Nigeria. ›

1947

The Ballantyne's Department Store fire in Christchurch, New Zealand, kills 41; it is the worst fire disaster in the history of New Zealand. ›

1944

The Popular Socialist Youth is founded in Cuba. ›

1943

World War II: In the first action of the Berlin Air Offensive, four hundred and forty Royal Air Force planes bomb Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF loses nine aircraft and 53 air crew. ›

1940

World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous Italian invasion of Greece. ›

1929

Grand Banks earthquake: Off the south coast of Newfoundland in the Atlantic Ocean, a Richter magnitude 7.2 submarine earthquake, centered on the Grand Banks, breaks 12 submarine transatlantic telegraph cables and triggers a tsunami that destroys many south coast communities in the Burin Peninsula. ›

1928

Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon. ›

1918

Latvia declares its independence from Russia. ›

1916

World War I: First Battle of the Somme: In France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig calls off the battle which started on July 1, 1916. ›

1910

In their campaign for women's voting rights, hundreds of suffragettes march to the British Parliament in London. Several are beaten by police, newspaper attention embarrasses the authorities, and the march is dubbed Black Friday. ›

1909

Two United States warships are sent to Nicaragua after 500 revolutionaries (including two Americans) are executed by order of José Santos Zelaya. ›

1905

Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon VII of Norway. ›

1903

The Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the United States exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone. ›

1901

Britain and the United States sign the Hay–Pauncefote Treaty, which nullifies the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty and withdraws British objections to an American-controlled canal in Panama. ›

1889

Elisha P. Ferry is inaugurated as first governor of Washington. ›

1883

In the "day of two noons", American and Canadian railroad companies institute four standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times. ›

1872

Susan B. Anthony and 14 other women are arrested for voting illegally in the United States presidential election of 1872. ›

1867

An earthquake strikes the Virgin Islands, triggering the largest tsunami witnessed in the Caribbean and killing dozens. ›

1863

King Christian IX of Denmark signs the November constitution that declares Schleswig to be part of Denmark. This is seen by the German Confederation as a violation of the London Protocol and leads to the German–Danish war of 1864. ›

1812

Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Krasnoi ends in French defeat, but Marshal of France Michel Ney's leadership leads to him becoming known as "the bravest of the brave". ›

1803

The Battle of Vertières, the last major battle of the Haitian Revolution, is fought, leading to the establishment of the Republic of Haiti, the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere. ›

1760

The rebuilt debtors' prison, at the Castellania in Valletta, receives the first prisoners. ›

1730

The future Frederick the Great of Prussia is granted a pardon by his father and is released from confinement. ›

1626

The new St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is consecrated. ›

1601

Tiryaki Hasan Pasha, an Ottoman provincial governor, routs the Habsburg forces commanded by Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria who were besieging Nagykanizsa. ›

1493

Christopher Columbus first sights the island now known as Puerto Rico. ›

1421

St Elizabeth's flood: A dike in the Grote Hollandse Waard in the Netherlands breaks, killing about 10,000 people. ›

1302

Pope Boniface VIII issues the Papal bull Unam sanctam, claiming spiritual supremacy for the papacy. ›

1210

Pope Innocent III excommunicates Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV for invading the Kingdom of Sicily after promising to recognize papal control over it. ›

1105

Maginulfo is elected Antipope Sylvester IV in opposition to Pope Paschal II. ›

1095

The Council of Clermont begins: called by Pope Urban II, it led to the First Crusade to the Holy Land. ›

401

The Visigoths, led by king Alaric I, cross the Alps and invade northern Italy. ›

326

The old St. Peter's Basilica is consecrated by Pope Sylvester I. ›