December 4

December 4 is the 338th day (339th on leap years) of the Gregorian calendar. There are 27 days remaining.

Events:

• 771: Charlemagne becomes king of the complete Frankish kingdom.
• 1110?: The crusaders conquer Sidon.
• 1534: The Turkish sultan Suleyman captures Baghdad.
• 1563?: Final session of the Council of Trent.
• 1619: First English colonists disembark in Virginia. First Thanksgiving.
• 1644: Peace congress in Münster? starts. The Treaty of Münster (1648) would end the Seven Years War.
• 1674?: Father Marquette founds what later becomes the city of Chicago.
• 1783: General George Washington says his officers farewell.
• 1791: First issue of The Observer, the world's first Sunday newspaper.
• 1816: James Monroe elected president of the United States
• 1829: The British abolish the suttee? (traditional burning of widows with their dead husbands) in India.
• 1844: James Polk elected president.
• 1851: Failed [coup d'etat]? in France.
• 1872: The ship [Mary Celeste]? is found, abandoned for 9 days, but only slightly damaged.
• 1916: Alpha Phi Alpha, the first Afro-American fraternity college, is established.
• 1918: President Woodrow Wilson sails for Versailles for the World War I peace talks. He is the first American president to travel abroad while in office.
• 1930: The Vatican approves the [rhythm method]? for birth control.
• 1942: First US bombing of mainland Italy.
• 1943: The Yugoslavian resistance forms a provisional government.
• 1945: The US Senate? approves American participation in the United Nations.
• 1973: [Pioneer 10]? reaches Jupiter.
• 1977: [Jean-Bedel Bokassa]?, president of Central African Republic, crowns himself emperor.
• 1981: South Africa grants homeland Ciskei? independence. Not recognised outside South Africa.
• 1982: China adopts its constitution.
• 1984: A Kuwaiti airplane, on the way to Pakistan, is hijacked and forced to fly to Teheran?.
• 1991: Journalist [Terry Anderson]? is released after a seven year captivity as a hostage in Bayrut?.
• 1992: American soldiers are sent on a mission to Somalia.
• 1993: A truce is concluded between the government of Angola and UNITA? rebels.

Births:

• 1443?: [Julius II]?, pope
• 1795: [Thomas Carlyle]?, writer and historian
• 1835: Samuel Butler, writer
• 1866: Wassily Kandinsky, painter
• 1892: Francisco Franco, dictator of Spain (1939-1975)
• 1940: [John Cale]?, rock musician (Velvet Underground)
• 1944: [Dennis Wilson]?, pop musician (Beach Boys)
• 1949: [Jeff Bridges]?, actor
• 1963: [Sergey Bubka]?, athlete (pole vault)
• 1964: [Marisa Tomei]?, actress

Deaths:

• 1334?: [John XXII]?, pope
• 1576?: Rheticus?, mathematician
• 1642: Armand-Jean Duplessis Richelieu?, French cardinal and statesman
• 1798: [Luigi Galvani]?, physicist, age 61
• 1890: [Willem III]?, king of the Netherlands (date of burial)
• 1973: [Michael O'Shea]?, actor, age 67 ([heart attack]?)
• 1976: [Benjamin Britten]?, composer, age 63
• 1976: [Tommy Bolin]?, rock guitarist ([Deep Purple]?) (heroin overdose)
• 1993: Frank Zappa, rock musician/composer, age 52
• 1995: [Yitzhak Rabin]?, prime minister of Israel (1968-1973) (assassination?)
• 1997: [Richard Vernon]?, actor, age 72

Hollidays and observances:

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See Also: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

December 3 - December 5 - November 4 - January 4 - other historical anniversaries