December 20 in History
Below are events for December 20, plus editor's picks and genealogy records.
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Oronce Finé, French mathematician and cartographer was born in 1494, while Titus Flavius Sabinus, a Roman politician and soldier died in 69.
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What happened on December 20
- 2024
Six people are killed and over 200 are injured when an anti-Islam activist drives a car into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany.
Wikipedia source (opens in a new tab) - 2024
A mass stabbing occurs in a primary school in Zagreb, Croatia, in which a 7-year-old pupil is killed and six more are injured by a knife-wielding 19-year-old male.
Wikipedia source (opens in a new tab) - 2019
The United States Space Force becomes the first new branch of the United States Armed Forces since 1947.
Wikipedia source (opens in a new tab) - 2016
Aerosucre Flight 157 crashes during takeoff from Germán Olano Airport in Puerto Carreño, Colombia, killing five people.
Wikipedia source (opens in a new tab) - 2007
Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch in the history of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years and 243 days.
Wikipedia source (opens in a new tab) - 2007
The Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, and O Lavrador de Café by Brazilian modernist painter Cândido Portinari, are stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art in Brazil. Both will be recovered a few weeks later.
Wikipedia source (opens in a new tab) - 2004
A gang of thieves steal £26.5 million worth of currency from the Donegall Square West headquarters of Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, one of the largest bank robberies in British history.
Wikipedia source (opens in a new tab) - 1999
Macau is handed over to China by Portugal.
Wikipedia source (opens in a new tab) - 1995
American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757, crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia, killing 159 of the 163 people on board.
Wikipedia source (opens in a new tab) - 1991
A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina.
Wikipedia source (opens in a new tab) - 1989
The United States invasion of Panama deposes Manuel Noriega.
Wikipedia source (opens in a new tab) - 1988
War on drugs: The United Nations agrees upon and promulgates the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, one of three major drug control treaties currently in force.
Wikipedia source (opens in a new tab) - 1987
In the worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker MT Vector in the Tablas Strait of the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official).
Wikipedia source (opens in a new tab) - 1985
Pope John Paul II announces the creation of World Youth Day.
Wikipedia source (opens in a new tab) - 1984
The Summit Tunnel fire, one of the largest transportation tunnel fires in history, burns after a freight train carrying over one million liters of gasoline derails near the town of Todmorden, England, in the Pennines.
Wikipedia source (opens in a new tab)
Births, deaths and events from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab).
Editor's picks
Born on December 20
- 1494 — Oronce Finé, French mathematician and cartographer (died 1555)
- 1496 — Joseph ha-Kohen, historian and physician (died 1575)
- 1537 — John III, king of Sweden (died 1592)
Died on December 20
- 69 — Titus Flavius Sabinus, a Roman politician and soldier
- 217 — Zephyrinus, pope of the Catholic Church
- 910 — Alfonso III, king of Asturias
Source: Wikipedia historical listings for December 20
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Researching someone born in December? Search birth records
Live genealogy events
This calendar is live and has its own date controls; it is separate from the December 20 historical article above.
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Ancestry
AncestryDNA® with Traits
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