This is a list of selected January 18 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Before doing so, please review the selected anniversaries guidelines. If your suggestion is potentially controversial or relates to a day currently or soon to appear on the Main Page, post it on the talk page instead.
Please note:
- Events listed on the Main Page are selected based on article quality and to provide a diverse range of topics, rather than solely on the importance or significance of the events.
- Only four or five events are featured each day; therefore, not all important or significant events can be included.
- An event is generally excluded if it is already the subject of the scheduled featured article, featured list or picture of the day.
To report an error in content currently on the Main Page, see Wikipedia:Main Page/Errors. If a listed event is inaccurate, please first seek consensus and update the corresponding article before making changes here.
| ← January 17 | January 19 → |
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Images
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Satellite view of the Hawaiian Islands
Emperor Huizong
Marion Barry
Wilhelm I of Germany
Flag of the German Empire, 1871–1918
Elizabeth of York
Houses at Kealakekua, Sandwich Islands, c. 1779
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| Paryaya Festival inUdupi City, Karnataka, India (2026);}} | refimprove |
| Royal Thai Armed Forces Day in Thailand (1591); | date listed in Naresuan article, but not cited |
| 1486 – Elizabeth of York married Henry VII of England, becoming queen consort. | refimprove |
| 1788 – The armed tender HMS Supply, the first ship of the First Fleet, arrived at Botany Bay, Australia. | unreferenced section |
| 1915 – Japanese Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu issued the Twenty-One Demands to China in a bid to increase Japan's power in East Asia. | unreferenced section |
| 1955 – Chinese Civil War: The People's Liberation Army engaged the National Revolutionary Army on the Yijiangshan Islands, one of the last strongholds of nationalist forces near mainland China. | {{no footnotes}} |
| 2003 – Bushfires burning out of control began blazing through residential areas of Canberra, Australia, eventually killing four people and damaging or destroying more than 500 homes. | {{more footnotes}} |
Eligible
- 1126 – Emperor Huizong of the Song dynasty of China abdicated in favour of his son Qinzong.
- 1778 – English explorer James Cook became the first known European to reach the Sandwich Islands, now known as the Hawaiian Islands.
- 1866 – Wesley College, the largest school in Australia by enrolment, was established in Melbourne.
- 1884 – Welsh physician William Price was arrested for attempting to cremate his deceased infant son; he was acquitted in the subsequent trial, which led to the legalisation of cremation in the United Kingdom.
- 1943 – World War II: As part of Operation Iskra, the Soviet Red Army eased the Siege of Leningrad, opening a narrow land corridor to the city.
- 1983 – Thirty years after his death, the International Olympic Committee restored gold medals to American athlete Jim Thorpe, who had had them stripped for playing semi-professional baseball before the 1912 Summer Olympics.
- 1990 – In a sting operation conducted by the FBI, Mayor of Washington, D.C., Marion Barry was arrested for possession of crack cocaine.
Notes
- Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii and Second voyage of James Cook both appear on January 17, so Hawaiian Islands should not appear in the same year
- First Fleet appears on January 26, so Botany Bay should not appear in the same year
January 18: The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity begins
Legionella sp. under UV illumination
- 1535 – Conquistador Francisco Pizarro founded Ciudad de los Reyes, present-day Lima, Peru, as the capital of the lands he conquered for the Spanish Crown.
- 1871 – A number of independent German states unified into the German Empire, with Prussian King Wilhelm I being proclaimed as its first Emperor.
- 1919 – World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opened, to set the peace terms for the Central Powers.
- 1958 – African Canadian Willie O'Ree of the Boston Bruins played his first game in the National Hockey League, breaking the colour barrier in professional ice hockey.
- 1977 – The mysterious Legionnaires' disease was found to be caused by a previously unknown bacterium now known as Legionella (pictured).
More anniversaries: