Chronology of World History

Copyright © 2007-2024 Ken Polsson
internet e-mail: ken@kpolsson.com
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URL: http://kpolsson.com/worldhis/

References are numbered in [brackets], which are listed here. A number after the dot gives the page in the source.

Last updated: 2023 December 20.


1966

January 1
  • All US cigarette packs have to carry "Caution Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health". [1]
  • Military coup by Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa in Central African Republic. [1]
January 2
  • First Jewish child born in Spain since 1492 expulsion. [1]
January 8
  • Georges Pompidou appointed French premier. [1]
January 9
  • Polish government denies exit visa to Cardinal Wyszynski revisionism. [1]
January 10
  • India and Pakistan sign peace accord. [1]
January 11
  • 550 die in landslides in mountains behind Rio de Janeiro after rain. [1]
January 12
  • US President Lyndon Johnson says US should stay in South Vietnam until communist aggression ends. [1]
January 17
  • US Air Force B-52 carrying four unarmed hydrogen bombs crashes on Spanish coast at Palomares, seven die. [1]
January 19
  • Indira Gandhi elected India's third prime minister. [1]
January 23
  • Near Dulce, New Mexico, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake occurs. Affected almost every house in Dulce. Property damage estimated at about US$200,000. [53]
January 29
  • Snow storm in north-east US kills 165. [1]
January 31
  • Belgian state police kills two striking mine workers. [1]
  • USSR launches Luna 9 toward the Moon. [1]
February 1
  • Nicholas Piantanida sets balloon flight record and dies in descent. [1]
February 3
  • First operational weather satellite, ESSA-1, launched (US). [1]

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February 4
  • All-Nippon Airways 727 crashes off Haneda Airport, Japan; kills 133. [1]
February 5
  • BBC opens a relay radio station on Ascension Island. [1]
  • In Central Greece, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake occurs. One person killed and 50 injured. Extensive property damage at Krenti, Kliston, Fourna, Alestia, and surrounding villages. [53]
February 10
  • Harmel government in Belgium resigns. [1]
February 11
  • San Francisco Giants' Willie Mays signs highest contract, US$130,000 per year. [1]
February 13
  • USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk. [1]
February 14
  • Decimalization Day in Australia, as currency is switched from pounds to dollars. Dollar and cent denominated coins and stamps are issued. [1] [501.141] [1166.210] [1135]
February 16
  • France performs underground nuclear test at Ecker, Algeria. [1]
February 17
  • French satellite Diapason D-1A launched into Earth orbit. [1] [707.169]
February 20
  • Author Valery Tarsis banished in USSR. [1]
February 21
  • Indonesia's President Sukarno fires General Nasution. [1]
February 22
  • Soviets launch Kosmos 110 with Veterok and Ugolek, first two-dog crew. [1]
February 23
  • Aldo Moro forms Italian government. [1]
  • Military coup under Hafiz al-Assad in Syria ends Bitar government. [1]
  • Premier Obote grabs power in Uganda. [1]
February 24
  • Coup ousts President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. [1]
February 26
  • The launch of AS-201 marks the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket. [5]
March 1
  • Ba'ath party takes power in Syria. [1]
March 3
  • Kwame Nkrumah flees Ghana to Guinée. [1]
  • Tornado hits Jackson, Mississippi; 3 minutes after first sighting, 57 die. [1]
March 4
  • Canadian Pacific airliner explodes on landing in Tokyo, Japan; 64 die. [1]
  • John Lennon says "We (The Beatles) are more popular than Jesus". [1]
  • North Sea Gas is first pumped ashore by British Petroleum. [1]
  • The last Studebaker car rolls off the production line in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. [436.42]
March 5
  • 75-MPH air currents cause BOAC 707 crash above Mount Fuji, 124 die. [1]
March 7
  • In East of Longyao, Hebei (Hopeh), China, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurs. More than 135,000 houses collapse and 190,000 are severely damaged in Hebei Province. Over 106,000 houses collapse and another 100,000 are heavily damaged in Julu County. [53]
March 8
  • An Irish Republican Army bomb destroys Nelson's Column in Dublin, Ireland. [1]
March 10
  • Dutch crown princess Beatrix marries Claus von Amsberg. [1]
  • North Vietnamese capture US Green Beret Camp at Ashau Valley. [1]
March 11
  • Military coup led by Indonesian General Suharto breaks out. [1]
March 17
  • South Africa government bans Defense and Aid Fund. [1]
  • US submarine locates missing hydrogen bomb in Mediterranean. [1]
March 18
  • General Suharto forms government in Indonesia. [1]
March 19
  • Belgium government of Vanden Boeynants begins. [1]
March 20
  • In Lake Edward region, Democratic Republic of the Congo, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurs. About 140 fatalities and hundreds of injuries were reported. At Kamango, a chasm 8 feet wide and 1,000 feet long opened up in the ground. [53]
March 22
  • Southeast of Ningjin, Hebei (Hopeh), China, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake occurs. Extensive damage to hundreds of thousands of rooms, but casualty figures are not released. [53]
March 23
  • First official meeting after 400 years of Catholic and Anglican Church. [1]
March 27
  • Anti-Vietnam war demonstrations in US, Europe and Australia. [1]
March 31
  • 25,000 anti-war demonstrators march in New York City, New York. [1]
  • Labour Party wins British parliamentary election. [1]
  • USSR launches Luna 10, first lunar orbiter. [1]
April 1
  • First world festival of black art (Dakar, Senegal). [1]
  • China premier Tsjoe en-Lai starts "Cultural revolution". [1]
April 6
  • Mihir Sen swims the Palk Strait between Sri Lanka and India. [1]
April 7
  • US recovers lost hydroden bomb from Mediterranean floor. [1]
April 8
  • Leonid Brezhnev elected Secretary-General of Soviet communist party. [1]
  • At the Astrodome in Houston, Texas, USA, the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers play baseball's first game on synthetic grass. The Monsanto chemical company provided the experimental playing surface of nylon grass, dubbed Astro Turf. [56]
  • OAO 1, the first orbiting astronomical observatory, is launched. [1]
April 12
  • First B-52 bombing on North Vietnam. [1]
  • Sumokil, President of Republic South Moluccas, executed. [1]
April 15
  • President of Iraq Abul Salam Arif dies in a helicopter crash. [1215.811]
April 16
  • Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith breaks diplomatic relations with Britain. [1]
April 21
  • Emperor Haile Selassie (Ethiopia) visits Kingston, Jamaica. [1]
April 22
  • USSR performs underground nuclear test. [1]
April 25
  • Drunk driver kills ten children in Asse, Belgium. [1]
April 26
  • In Tashkent, Uzbekistan, a magnitude 5.0 earthquake occurs. 10 killed, 1,000 injured, 100,000 left homeless. 28,000 buildings destroyed in the Old Quarter of Tashkent. [53]
April 28
  • OCAM, Common Afro-Mauritian Organization forms. [1]
May 1
  • Radio RSA, South Africa begins shortwave transmitting. [1]
  • US troops shooting targets in Cambodia. [1]
May 2
  • Pulitzer prize awarded Arthur M Schlesinger Junior (Thousand Days). [1]
May 4
  • Soviet Government signs accord about building Fiat factory in USSR. [1]
May 9
  • People's Republic of China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor. [1]
May 15
  • South Vietnamese army battle Buddhists, about 80 die. [1]
May 16
  • Mao Zedong approves a secret circular declaring war on "representatives of the bourgeoisie" who had "sneaked into the Communist Party, the government, the army, and various spheres of culture". The Cultural Revolution. (The result ten years later: 1 million dead, millions banished to the countryside, tens of millions humiliated or tortured.) [1287.35]
May 19
  • Tortoise, reportedly given to Tonga's king by Captain Cook (1773), dies. [1]
May 26
  • Buddhist sets self on fire at US consulate in Hué South-Vietnam. [1]
  • The former Crown Colony of British Guiana becomes independent as Guyana. [1841.611]
May 27
  • 55th German F-16 Starfighter crashes. [1]
  • Six French fighters crash above Spain. [1]
May 30
  • 300 US airplanes bomb North Vietnam. [1]
June 14
  • Pope Paul VI abolishes the Catholic Church's list of forbidden books. [1673.27]
June 24
  • Bombay-New York Air India flight crashes into Mont Blanc (Switzerland), 117 die. [1]
June 25
  • Kosmos 122, first Soviet weather satellite, launched. [1]
June 29
  • US bombs fuel storage facilities near North Vietnamese cities. [1]
(month unknown)
  • The 11.5-ton Mundrabilla meteorite is found in Nullarbor Plain in Australia. [523.58]

End of 1966 January-June. Next: 1966 July.

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start-302 303-599 600-799 800-999 1000-1099 1100-1199 1200-1299 1300-1401 1402-1449 1450-1474
1475-1499 1500-1524 1525-1539 1540-1559 1560-1574 1575-1599 1600-1619 1620-1629 1630-1639 1640-1649
1650-1659 1660-1669 1670-1679 1680-1689 1690-1699 1700-1708 1709-1719 1720-1739 1740-1749 1750-1759
1760-1769 1770-1774 1775-1779 1780-1784 1785-1789 1790-1794 1795-1799 1800-1804 1805-1809 1810-1814
1815-1819 1820-1824 1825-1829 1830-1834 1835-1836 1837-1839 1840-1844 1845-1847 1848-1849 1850-1852
1853-1854 1855-1859 1860-1861 1862-1864 1865-1867 1868-1869 1870-1871 1872-1874 1875-1877 1878-1879
1880-1882 1883-1884 1885-1887 1888-1889 1890-1892 1893-1894 1895 1896-1897 1898-1899 1900-1901
1902 1903-1904 1905 1906-1907 1908-1909 1910-1911 1912 1913 1914 1915
1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925
1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935
1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945
1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955
1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965
1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975
1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985
1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022-end


A list of references to all source material is available.


Last updated: 2023 December 20.
Copyright © 2007-2024 Ken Polsson (email: ken@kpolsson.com).
URL: http://kpolsson.com/worldhis/
Link to Ken P's home page.

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