This is a list of selected December 31 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
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Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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Flag of the British East India Company -
Vladimir Putin -
Taipei 101 -
Taipei 101 -
Taipei 101, 2008 New Year firework -
Parliament Hill, Ottawa -
Arthur Guinness -
Jean-Bédel Bokassa
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| New Year's Eve (Gregorian calendar) | unreferenced sections |
| 1600 – The British East India Company was founded by a Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I. | refimprove section, expansion |
| 1909 – The Manhattan Bridge connecting Lower Manhattan to Downtown Brooklyn, considered to be the forerunner of modern suspension bridges, opened to traffic. | refimprove section |
| 1960 – The farthing, a British coin first minted in England in the 13th century, ceased to be legal tender. | unreferenced section |
| 1981 – President of Ghana Hilla Limann was deposed in a coup d'état. | refimprove |
| 1999 – Boris Yeltsin, the first President of Russia, resigned and named Vladimir Putin as acting President. | neutality disputed; outdated |
| 2004 – Taipei 101 in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan, opened to the public as the world's tallest skyscraper. | inappropriate tone |
| 1986 – Three disgruntled employees set fire to the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which killed more than 90 people and injured 140 others, making it the second deadliest hotel fire in United States history. | unreferenced death count |
Eligible
- 1759 – Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease at £45 per annum to the St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin and began brewing Guinness.
- 1775 – American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of Quebec, British forces repulsed an attack by the Continental Army to capture Quebec City and enlist French Canadian support.
- 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Stones River in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, began in an engagement where both sides would suffer their highest casualty rates of the war.
- 1963 – Despite Prime Minister Roy Welensky's efforts, the Central African Federation officially collapsed, subsequently becoming three separate nations: Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.
- 1965 – Jean-Bédel Bokassa (pictured), leader of the Central African Republic army, and his military officers began a coup d'état against the government of President David Dacko.
- 1983 – Major-General Muhammadu Buhari was selected to lead Nigeria after a successful military coup d'etat that overthrew civilian President Shehu Shagari.
- 1993 – Brandon Teena, an American trans man, was raped and murdered in Humboldt, Nebraska; his death led to increased lobbying for hate crime laws in the United States.
- 1999 – Panama took control of the Panama Canal Zone from the United States, in accordance with the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties.
December 31: Hogmanay in Scotland
- 405 or 406 – The Vandals, Alans and Suebians crossed the Rhine River to begin an invasion of Gaul.
- 1225 – Lý Chiêu Hoàng, the only empress regnant in the history of Vietnam, married Trần Thái Tông, making him the first emperor of the Trần Dynasty at age seven.
- 1857 – Queen Victoria selected Ottawa, then a small logging town, to be the capital of the British colony of Canada.
- 1907 – Times Square in New York City held its first New Year's Eve celebrations with the ball drop (2008 version pictured).
- 1972 – Puerto Rican baseball player Roberto Clemente died in a plane crash en route to deliver aid to victims of the Nicaragua earthquake.
- 1998 – The European Exchange Rate Mechanism froze the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone and established the value of the euro currency.