On This Day: November 21st

Judas Maccabeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, rededicates the Temple in Jerusalem, an event that is commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah. (25 Kislev 3597 in the Hebrew calendar.)

Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record and play sound.

American Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis appoints Judah Benjamin Secretary of War.

Mutineers take control of the Chilean penal colony of Punta Arenas in the Strait of Magellan.

North Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution and is admitted as the 12th U.S. state.

In Paris, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes make the first untethered hot air balloon flight.

The Danish astronomer Ole Rømer presents the first quantitative measurements of the speed of light.

Plymouth Colony settlers sign the Mayflower Compact (November 11, O.S.)

Timur of Samarkand captures and sacks the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, taking King Bagrat V of Georgia captive.

Pope Anterus succeeds Pontian as the nineteenth pope.