On This Day — 18 November

2000s

2020

The Utah monolith, built sometime in 2016 is discovered by state biologists of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

Utah monolith

2013

NASA launches the MAVEN probe to Mars.

NASA

2012

Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria becomes the 118th Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.

Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria

2003

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules 4–3 in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and gives the state legislature 180 days to change the law making Massachusetts the first state in the United States to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples.

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

2002

Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.

Iraq disarmament crisis

1900s

1999

At Texas A&M University, the Aggie Bonfire collapses killing 12 students and injuring 27 others.

Texas A&M University

1996

A fire occurs on a train traveling through the Channel Tunnel from France to England causing several injuries and damaging approximately 500 metres (1,600 ft) of tunnel.

1996 Channel Tunnel fire

1993

In the United States, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is approved by the House of Representatives.

North American Free Trade Agreement

1993

In South Africa, 21 political parties approve a new constitution, expanding voting rights and ending white minority rule.

South Africa

📅

1991

Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon release Anglican Church envoys Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland.

Shia Islam

1991

After an 87-day siege, the Croatian city of Vukovar capitulates to the besieging Yugoslav People's Army and allied Serb paramilitary forces.

Battle of Vukovar

1991

The autonomous Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia, which would in 1993 become a republic, was established in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia

1987

King's Cross fire: In London, 31 people die in a fire at the city's busiest underground station, King's Cross St Pancras.

King's Cross fire

1985

The first comic of Calvin and Hobbes is published in ten newspapers.

Calvin and Hobbes

1983

Aeroflot Flight 6833 is hijacked en route from Tbilisi to Leningrad. After returning to Tbilisi, the aircraft is subsequently raided on the ground, resulting in seven deaths.

Aeroflot Flight 6833

1978

The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet makes its first flight, at the Naval Air Test Center in Maryland, United States.

McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet

1978

In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones leads his Peoples Temple to a mass murder–suicide that claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them in Jonestown itself, including over 270 children.

Jonestown

1971

Oman declares its independence from the United Kingdom.

Oman

1970

U.S. President Richard Nixon asks the U.S. Congress for $155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government.

Richard Nixon

1963

The Bell Telephone Company introduces the first push-button telephone.

Bell Telephone Company

1961

Vietnam War: United States President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam.

Vietnam War

1949

The Iva Valley Shooting occurs after the coal miners of Enugu in Nigeria go on strike over withheld wages; 21 miners are shot dead and 51 are wounded by police under the supervision of the British colonial administration of Nigeria.

Iva Valley

1947

The Ballantyne's Department Store fire in Christchurch, New Zealand, kills 41; it is the worst fire disaster in the history of New Zealand.

Ballantynes fire

📅

1944

The Popular Socialist Youth is founded in Cuba.

Popular Socialist Youth

1943

World War II: In the first action of the Berlin Air Offensive, four hundred and forty Royal Air Force planes bomb Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF loses nine aircraft and 53 air crew.

Battle of Berlin (RAF campaign)

1940

World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous Italian invasion of Greece.

World War II

📅

1929

Grand Banks earthquake: Off the south coast of Newfoundland in the Atlantic Ocean, a Richter magnitude 7.2 submarine earthquake, centered on the Grand Banks, breaks 12 submarine transatlantic telegraph cables and triggers a tsunami that destroys many south coast communities in the Burin Peninsula.

1929 Grand Banks earthquake

1928

Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon.

Steamboat Willie

1918

Latvia declares its independence from Russia.

Latvia

1916

World War I: First Battle of the Somme: In France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig calls off the battle which started on July 1, 1916.

World War I

1910

In their campaign for women's voting rights, hundreds of suffragettes march to the British Parliament in London. Several are beaten by police, newspaper attention embarrasses the authorities, and the march is dubbed Black Friday.

Suffragette

1909

Two United States warships are sent to Nicaragua after 500 revolutionaries (including two Americans) are executed by order of José Santos Zelaya.

Warship

1905

Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon VII of Norway.

Haakon VII

1903

The Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the United States exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone.

Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty

📅

1901

Britain and the United States sign the Hay–Pauncefote Treaty, which nullifies the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty and withdraws British objections to an American-controlled canal in Panama.

Hay–Pauncefote Treaty

1800s

1889

Elisha P. Ferry is inaugurated as first governor of Washington.

Elisha P. Ferry

1883

In the "day of two noons", American and Canadian railroad companies institute four standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.

Time zone

1872

Susan B. Anthony and 14 other women are arrested for voting illegally in the United States presidential election of 1872.

Susan B. Anthony

1867

An earthquake strikes the Virgin Islands, triggering the largest tsunami witnessed in the Caribbean and killing dozens.

1867 Virgin Islands earthquake and tsunami

1863

King Christian IX of Denmark signs the November constitution that declares Schleswig to be part of Denmark. This is seen by the German Confederation as a violation of the London Protocol and leads to the German–Danish war of 1864.

Christian IX

1812

Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Krasnoi ends in French defeat, but Marshal of France Michel Ney's leadership leads to him becoming known as "the bravest of the brave".

Battle of Krasnoi

1809

Napoleonic Wars: In a naval action, French frigates defeat British East Indiamen in the Bay of Bengal.

Napoleonic Wars

1803

The Battle of Vertières, the last major battle of the Haitian Revolution, is fought, leading to the establishment of the Republic of Haiti, the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere.

Battle of Vertières

Before 1800

1760

The rebuilt debtors' prison, at the Castellania in Valletta, receives the first prisoners.

Debtors' prison

1730

The future Frederick the Great of Prussia is granted a pardon by his father and is released from confinement.

Frederick the Great

1626

The new St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is consecrated.

St. Peter's Basilica

1601

Tiryaki Hasan Pasha, an Ottoman provincial governor, routs the Habsburg forces commanded by Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria who were besieging Nagykanizsa.

Tiryaki Hasan Pasha