December 6
Events
Pre-1600
- 1060 - Béla I is crowned king of Hungary.
- 1240 - Mongol invasion of Rus': Kyiv, defended by Voivode Dmytro, falls to the Mongols under Batu Khan.
- 1492 - After exploring the island of Cuba for gold, Christopher Columbus lands on an island he names Hispaniola.
- 1534 - The city of Quito in Ecuador is founded by Spanish settlers led by Sebastián de Belalcázar.
1601–1900
- 1648 - Pride's Purge removes royalist sympathizers from Parliament so that the High Court of Justice could put the King on trial.
- 1745 - Charles Edward Stuart's army begins retreat during the second Jacobite Rising.
- 1790 - The U.S. Congress moves from New York City to Philadelphia.
- 1803 - Five French warships attempting to escape the Royal Naval blockade of Saint-Domingue are all seized by British warships, signifying the end of the Haitian Revolution.
- 1865 - Georgia ratifies the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
- 1882 - Transit of Venus, second and last of the 19th century.
- 1884 - The Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., is completed.
- 1897 - London becomes the world's first city to host licensed taxicabs.
1901–present
- 1904 - Theodore Roosevelt articulated his "Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the U.S. would intervene in the Western Hemisphere should Latin American governments prove incapable or unstable.
- 1907 - A coal mine explosion at Monongah, West Virginia, kills 362 workers.
- 1912 - The Nefertiti Bust is discovered.
- 1916 - World War I: The Central Powers capture Bucharest.
- 1917 - Finland declares independence from the Russian Empire.
- 1917 - Halifax Explosion: A munitions explosion near Halifax, Nova Scotia kills more than 1,900 people in the largest artificial explosion up to that time.
- 1917 - World War I: is the first American destroyer to be sunk by enemy action when it is torpedoed by German submarine.
- 1921 - The Anglo-Irish Treaty is signed in London by British and Irish representatives.
- 1922 - Ireland is partitioned, with Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State coming into existence, one year to the day after the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.
- 1928 - The government of Colombia sends military forces to suppress a month-long strike by United Fruit Company workers, resulting in an unknown number of deaths.
- 1933 - In United States v. One Book Called Ulysses Judge John M. Woolsey rules that James Joyce's novel Ulysses is not obscene despite coarse language and sexual content, a leading decision affirming free expression.
- 1939 - Winter War: The Red Army's advance on the Karelian Isthmus is stopped by Finns at the Mannerheim Line during the Battle of Taipale.
- 1941 - World War II: Camp X opens in Canada to begin training Allied secret agents for the war.
- 1956 - A violent water polo match between Hungary and the USSR takes place during the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, against the backdrop of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
- 1957 - Project Vanguard: A launchpad explosion of Vanguard TV3 thwarts the first United States attempt to launch a satellite into Earth orbit.
- 1967 - Adrian Kantrowitz performs the first human heart transplant in the United States.
- 1969 - Altamont Free Concert: At a free concert performed by the Rolling Stones, eighteen-year old Meredith Hunter is stabbed to death by Hells Angels security guards.
- 1971 - Pakistan severs diplomatic relations with India, initiating the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
- 1973 - The Twenty-fifth Amendment: The United States House of Representatives votes 387–35 to confirm Gerald Ford as Vice President of the United States.
- 1975 - The Troubles: Fleeing from the police, a Provisional IRA unit takes a British couple hostage in their flat on Balcombe Street, London, beginning a six-day siege.
- 1977 - South Africa grants independence to Bophuthatswana, although it is not recognized by any other country.
- 1978 - Spain ratifies the Spanish Constitution of 1978 in a referendum.
- 1982 - The Troubles: The Irish National Liberation Army bombs a pub frequented by British soldiers in Ballykelly, Northern Ireland, killing eleven soldiers and six civilians.
- 1989 - The École Polytechnique massacre : Marc Lépine, an anti-feminist gunman, murders 14 young women at the École Polytechnique in Montreal.
- 1990 - A military jet of the Italian Air Force, abandoned by its pilot after an on-board fire, crashed into a high school near Bologna, Italy, killing 12 students and injuring 88 other people.
- 1991 - Yugoslav Wars: In Croatia, forces of the Serb-dominated Yugoslav People's Army heaviest bombardment of Dubrovnik during a siege of seven months.
- 1992 - The Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, India, is demolished, leading to widespread riots causing the death of over 1,500 people.
- 1995 - The United States Food and Drug Administration approves Saquinavir, the first protease inhibitor to treat HIV/AIDS. Within 2 years of its approval, annual deaths from AIDS in the United States fall from over 50,000 to approximately 18,000.
- 1998 - in Venezuela, Hugo Chávez is victorious in presidential elections.
- 1999 - A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc.: The Recording Industry Association of America sues the peer-to-peer file-sharing service Napster, alleging copyright infringement.
- 2005 - An Iranian Air Force C-130 military transport aircraft crashes into a ten-floor apartment building in a residential area of Tehran, killing all 94 on board and 12 more on the ground.
- 2006 - NASA reveals photographs taken by Mars Global Surveyor suggesting the presence of liquid water on Mars.
- 2015 - Venezuelan parliamentary election: For the first time in 17 years, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela loses its majority in parliament.
- 2017 - Donald Trump's administration officially announces the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Births
Pre-1600
- 846 - Hasan al-Askari, Arabian 11th of the Twelve Imams
- 1285 - Ferdinand IV of Castile
- 1421 - Henry VI of England
- 1478 - Baldassare Castiglione, Italian courtier, diplomat, and author
- 1520 - Barbara Radziwiłł, queen of Poland
- 1545 - Janus Dousa, Dutch historian and noble
- 1586 - Niccolò Zucchi, Italian astronomer and physicist
- 1592 - William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle
1601–1900
- 1608 - George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
- 1637 - Edmund Andros, English courtier and politician, 4th Colonial Governor of New York
- 1640 - Claude Fleury, French historian and author
- 1645 - Maria de Dominici, Maltese sculptor and painter
- 1685 - Marie Adélaïde of Savoy
- 1721 - Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, French minister and politician
- 1721 - James Elphinston, Scottish philologist and linguist
- 1732 - Warren Hastings, British colonial administrator of India
- 1752 - Gabriel Duvall, American jurist and politician
- 1778 - Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, French physicist and chemist
- 1792 - William II of the Netherlands
- 1803 - Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony
- 1805 - Richard Hanson, English-Australian politician, 4th Premier of South Australia
- 1812 - Robert Spear Hudson, English businessman and philanthropist
- 1823 - Max Müller, German-English philologist and orientalist
- 1827 - William Arnott, Australian biscuit manufacturer and founder of Arnott's Biscuits
- 1833 - John S. Mosby, American colonel
- 1835 - Wilhelm Rudolph Fittig, German chemist
- 1841 - Frédéric Bazille, French painter and soldier
- 1848 - Johann Palisa, Austrian astronomer
- 1849 - August von Mackensen, German field marshal
- 1853 - Hans Molisch, Czech-Austrian botanist and academic
- 1853 - Haraprasad Shastri, Indian historian and scholar
- 1863 - Charles Martin Hall, American chemist and engineer
- 1864 - William S. Hart, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1875 - Albert Bond Lambert, American golfer and pilot
- 1875 - Evelyn Underhill, English mystic and author
- 1876 - Fred Duesenberg, German-American businessman, co-founded the Duesenberg Automobile & Motors Company
- 1878 - Elvia Carrillo Puerto, Mexican politician
- 1882 - Warren Bardsley, Australian cricketer
- 1884 - Cornelia Meigs, American author, playwright, and academic
- 1886 - Joyce Kilmer, American soldier, author, and poet
- 1887 - Lynn Fontanne, British actress
- 1887 - Joseph Lamb, American pianist and composer
- 1888 - Will Hay, English actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1890 - Dion Fortune, Welsh occultist, psychologist, and author
- 1890 - Yoshio Nishina, Japanese physicist and academic
- 1890 - Rudolf Schlichter, German painter and illustrator
- 1892 - Osbert Sitwell, English-Italian captain, poet, and author
- 1893 - Homer N. Wallin, American admiral
- 1893 - Sylvia Townsend Warner, English author and poet
- 1896 - Ira Gershwin, American songwriter
- 1898 - Alfred Eisenstaedt, German-American photographer and journalist
- 1898 - John McDonald, Scottish-Australian politician, 37th Premier of Victoria
- 1898 - Gunnar Myrdal, Swedish sociologist and economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1898 - Winifred Lenihan, American actress, writer, and director
- 1900 - Agnes Moorehead, American actress