A look back at history on this date
Events below are loaded live for 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.
John Bale
English bishop and historian (died 1563)
Born 1495Anne de Xainctonge
French saint, founded the Society of the Sisters of Saint Ursula of the Blessed Virgin (died 1621)
Born 1567Catharina Questiers
Dutch poet (died 1669)
Born 1631Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni
Italian poet and academic (died 1768)
Born 1692Voltaire
French writer and philosopher (died 1778)
Born 1694Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg
German composer, critic, and theorist (died 1795)
Born 1718Josiah Bartlett
American physician and politician, 6th Governor of New Hampshire (died 1795)
Born 1729Joseph Plumb Martin
American sergeant (died 1850)
Born 1760Columbanus
Irish missionary and saint (born 543)
615Al-Tahawi
Arab imam and scholar (born 853)
933Reizei
emperor of Japan (born 950)
1011William de Corbeil
English archbishop (born 1070)
1136GarcĂa RamĂrez of Navarre (born 1112)
GarcĂa RamĂrez of Navarre (born 1112)
1150See how inflation has changed the value of money since you were born.
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