Fact: The deepest mine in the world is the East Rand mine, which goes to a depth of about 3,585 metres
On this day: 18/01/474
Seven-year-old Leo II succeeds his maternal grandfather Leo I as Byzantine emperor. He dies ten months later.
On this day: 18/01/532
Nika riots in Constantinople fail.
On this day: 18/01/1126
Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chinese throne in favour of his son Emperor Qinzong.
On this day: 18/01/1486
King Henry VII of England marries Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, uniting the House of Lancaster and the House of York.
On this day: 18/01/1562
Pope Pius IV reopens the Council of Trent for its third and final session.
On this day: 18/01/1670
Henry Morgan captures Panama.
On this day: 18/01/1701
Frederick I crowns himself King of Prussia in Königsberg.
On this day: 18/01/1778
James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands".
On this day: 18/01/1788
The first elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from Great Britain to Australia arrive at Botany Bay.
On this day: 18/01/1806
Jan Willem Janssens surrenders the Dutch Cape Colony to the British.
Fact: For more than 3,000 years, Carpenter ants have been used to close wounds in India, Asia and South America
Fact: In 1631, two London bible printers accidentally left the word "not" out of the seventh commandment, which then read, "Thou shalt commit adultery." This legendary book is now known as the "Wicked Bible."
Fact: Before air conditioning was invented, white cotton slipcovers were put on furniture to keep the air cool.
Fact: A monkey was once tried and convicted for smoking a cigarette in South Bend, Indiana
On this day: 17/01/-38
Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.
On this day: 17/01/1362
Saint Marcellus' flood kills at least 25,000 people on the shores of the North Sea.
On this day: 17/01/1377
Pope Gregory XI reaches Rome, after deciding to move the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon.
On this day: 17/01/1524
Giovanni da Verrazzano sets sail westward from Madeira to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean.
On this day: 17/01/1562
France grants religious toleration to the Huguenots in the Edict of Saint-Germain.
On this day: 17/01/1595
During the French Wars of Religion, Henry IV of France declares war on Spain.
On this day: 17/01/1608
Emperor Susenyos I of Ethiopia surprises an Oromo army at Ebenat; his army reportedly kills 12,000 Oromo at the cost of 400 of his men.
On this day: 17/01/1648
England's Long Parliament passes the "Vote of No Addresses", breaking off negotiations with King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.
On this day: 17/01/1773
Captain James Cook leads the first expedition to sail south of the Antarctic Circle.
On this day: 17/01/1781
American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cowpens: Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the battle in South Carolina.
Fact: The two factories of the Jelly Belly Candy Company produces approximately 100,000 pounds of jelly beans a day. this amounts to about 1,250,000 jelly beans an hour
Fact: It is estimated that by the end of 2000, there has been 142,600 tonnes of gold mined in the world
Fact: Throughout the South, peanuts were known as "Monkey Nuts," and "Goober peas," before the civil war
Fact: The word "comet" comes from the Greek word "kometes" meaning long hair and referring to the tail
On this day: 16/01/-27
Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire.
On this day: 16/01/378
General Siyaj K'ak' conquers Tikal, enlarging the domain of King Spearthrower Owl of Teotihuacán.
On this day: 16/01/550
Gothic War: The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.
On this day: 16/01/929
Emir Abd-ar-Rahman III establishes the Caliphate of Córdoba.
On this day: 16/01/1120
Crusades: The Council of Nablus is held, establishing the earliest surviving written laws of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.
On this day: 16/01/1362
Saint Marcellus's flood kills at least 25,000 people on the shores of the North Sea.
On this day: 16/01/1537
Bigod's Rebellion, an armed insurrection attempting to resist the English Reformation, begins.
On this day: 16/01/1547
Grand Duke Ivan IV of Muscovy becomes the first Tsar of Russia, replacing the 264-year-old Grand Duchy of Moscow with the Tsardom of Russia.
On this day: 16/01/1556
Philip II becomes King of Spain.
On this day: 16/01/1572
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk is tried and found guilty of treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.