Fact: Japan has approximately 200 volcanoes and is home to 10% of the active volcanoes in the world
Fact: The second best selling game of all time is Jenga. Jenga is a Swahili word, meaning "to build."
On this day: 21/01/763
Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa.
On this day: 21/01/1525
The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz's mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union.
On this day: 21/01/1535
Following the Affair of the Placards, the French king leads an anti-Protestant procession through Paris.
On this day: 21/01/1720
Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm.
On this day: 21/01/1749
The Teatro Filarmonico in Verona is destroyed by fire, as a result of a torch being left behind in the box of a nobleman after a performance. It is rebuilt in 1754.
On this day: 21/01/1774
Abdul Hamid I becomes Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.
On this day: 21/01/1789
The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth by William Hill Brown, is printed in Boston.
On this day: 21/01/1793
After being found guilty of treason by the French National Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine.
On this day: 21/01/1854
The RMS Tayleur sinks off Lambay Island on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Australia with great loss of life.
On this day: 21/01/1861
American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.
Fact: A meteor has only destroyed one satellite, which was the European Space Agency's Olympus in 1993.
Fact: The Planters Peanut Company mascot, Mr. Peanut, was created during a contest for schoolchildren in 1916
Fact: Herbert Hoover, who was the 31st president of the United Stated, turned over all the Federal salary checks he received to charity during the 47 years he was in government
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."
On this day: 20/01/250
Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution.
On this day: 20/01/649
King Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, crowns his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom.[citation needed]
On this day: 20/01/1156
Finnish peasant Lalli kills English clergyman Henry, the Bishop of Turku, on the ice of Lake Köyliö.
On this day: 20/01/1265
The first English parliament to include not only Lords but also representatives of the major towns holds its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster, now commonly known as the "Houses of Parliament".
On this day: 20/01/1320
Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland.
On this day: 20/01/1356
Edward Balliol surrenders his claim to the Scottish throne to Edward III in exchange for an English pension.
On this day: 20/01/1523
Christian II is forced to abdicate as King of Denmark and Norway.
On this day: 20/01/1567
Battle of Rio de Janeiro: Portuguese forces under the command of Estácio de Sá definitively drive the French out of Rio de Janeiro.
On this day: 20/01/1576
The Mexican city of León is founded by order of the viceroy Don Martín Enríquez de Almanza.
On this day: 20/01/1649
The High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I begins its proceedings.
Fact: The three best-known western names in China: Jesus Christ, Richard Nixon, and Elvis Presley
Fact: The cross bow was invented by the Chinese and records of its usage goes back to as far as the Three Kingdom Period (220 a.d.-280 a.d.).
Fact: The word "comet" comes from the Greek word "kometes" meaning long hair and referring to the tail
Fact: The Tonle Sap River in Cambodia flows north for almost half the year and then south for the rest of the year
Fact: The cross bow was invented by the Chinese and records of its usage goes back to as far as the Three Kingdom Period (220 a.d.-280 a.d.).
On this day: 19/01/379
Emperor Gratian elevates Flavius Theodosius at Sirmium to Augustus, and gives him authority over all the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.
On this day: 19/01/649
Conquest of Kucha: The forces of Kucha surrender after a forty-day siege led by Tang dynasty general Ashina She'er, establishing Tang control over the northern Tarim Basin in Xinjiang.
On this day: 19/01/1419
Hundred Years' War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England, completing his reconquest of Normandy.
On this day: 19/01/1511
The Italian Duchy of Mirandola surrenders to the Pope.
On this day: 19/01/1520
Sten Sture the Younger, the Regent of Sweden, is mortally wounded at the Battle of Bogesund and dies on February 3.
On this day: 19/01/1607
San Agustin Church in Manila is officially completed; it is the oldest church still standing in the Philippines.
On this day: 19/01/1639
Hämeenlinna (Swedish: Tavastehus) was granted privileges after it separated from the Vanaja parish as its own city in Tavastia.
On this day: 19/01/1764
John Wilkes is expelled from the British House of Commons for seditious libel.
On this day: 19/01/1764
Bolle Willum Luxdorph records in his diary that a mail bomb, possibly the world's first, has severely injured the Danish Colonel Poulsen, residing at Børglum Abbey.
On this day: 19/01/1788
The second group of ships of the First Fleet arrive at Botany Bay.
Fact: In 1836, Mexican General Santa Anna held an elaborate state funeral for his amputated leg. updated
Fact: The only South East Asian country that has never been colonized by a Western Power is Thailand