December 18: What Happened on This Day in History (High_school Level)?

(Page last edited 10/12/2017)

1. 1642 - Abel Tasman becomes first European to land in New Zealand.
2. 1777 - The United States celebrates its firstThanksgiving, marking the recent victory by the Americans over British General John Burgoyne in the Battle of Saratoga in October.
3. 1787 - New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
4. 1892 - Premiere performance of The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
5. 1898 - Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat sets the first officially recognized land speed record of 39.245 mph (63.159 km/h) in a Jeantaud electric car.
6. 1932 - The Chicago Bearsdefeat the Portsmouth Spartans 9-0 in the first everNFL Championship Game. Because of a blizzard, the game is moved from Wrigley Field to the Chicago Stadium, the field measuring 80 yards (73 m) long.
7. 1956 - Japan joins the United Nations.
8. 1958 - Project SCORE, the world's first communications satellite, is launched.
9. 1966 - Saturn's moon Epimetheus is discovered by Richard L. Walker.
10. 1999 - NASA launches into orbit the Terra platform carrying five Earth Observation instruments, including ASTER, CERES,MISR, MODIS and MOPITT.
11. Famous Birthdays: J. J. Thomson (English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate), Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, Edwin Armstrong (American engineer, invented FM radio), Harold E. Varmus (American scientist, Nobel Prize laureate), Steven Spielberg (American director)

For famous birthdays and other daily events in history, visit our Daily Dose Activities.

Click Here for Yesterday in History: December 17

Click Here for Tomorrow in History: December 19

For more history resources on Internet 4 Classrooms, visit our Social Studies and History index. For Pre K-8th Grade Level History and Social Studies Resources, visit our Grade Level Index.