Bolívar declares the independence of Gran Colombia at Angostura (1819), and Ugyen Wangchuck is crowned first King of Bhutan (1907). Born on this day: Francis, Muhammadu Buhari and Sir Humphry Davy. Died: Simón Bolívar, Kim Jong Il and Rūmī.
28 events, 70 births and 58 deaths on this date.
Simón Bolívar, the Venezuelan officer nicknamed El Libertador, proclaimed Gran Colombia's independence in Angostura, now Ciudad Bolívar. The new state was meant to unite much of northern South America under one republic.
Ricardo Acevedo Bernal · Public domainUgyen Wangchuck, a regional governor who had long held real power, became Bhutan's first hereditary king. The crowning ended centuries of rule by rival religious and civil leaders and set up a monarchy that still reigns today.
Paul III, head of the Catholic Church, cut the English king off from its sacraments and communion. It was a sharp blow from Rome to a monarch who had already defied papal authority.
Titian · Public domain
Physician Richard Lower wrote to chemist Robert Boyle about moving blood from one body into another, and the letter appeared in the Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions. Doctors did not yet know blood came in types, so early transfusions often killed their patients.
Arthur Baldwin Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication. It grew into one of the best-known fashion magazines in the world, and now appears monthly.
For a week in December, Romans turned social order upside down: masters served slaves at table and gambling was allowed. A mock king issued orders, and the festival may have shaped later midwinter customs.
Themadchopper, Antoine-François Callet · CC0
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Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, he became the first Jesuit pope and the first from Latin America, leading the Catholic Church from 2013 until his death in 2025. He was known for his humility, concern for the poor and migrants, and a less formal style than his predecessors.
Korea.net / Korean Culture and Information Service (Jeon Han) · CC BY-SA 2.0
Muhammadu Buhari was a Nigerian army general who rose to power after a 1983 coup and ruled as military head of state for two years, pursuing a strict anti-corruption campaign. He later became an elected civilian president, winning in 2015 by beating an incumbent.
Bayo Omoboriowo · CC BY-SA 4.0
Davy was a British chemist who isolated several elements, including potassium and sodium, using electricity. He also invented the Davy lamp, a safer light for coal miners, and experimented with nitrous oxide, which he named laughing gas.
Thomas Phillips · Public domain
Simón Bolívar led a long campaign that freed much of Spanish South America, from Venezuela to Bolivia. He is remembered as El Libertador, the Liberator, and died in Santa Marta, Colombia, in 1830.
Ricardo Acevedo Bernal · Public domain
Kim Jong Il ruled North Korea as a repressive dictator after succeeding his father Kim Il Sung in 1994. He presided over a famine in the 1990s and built up the military under his Songun policy until his death.
Jesse Charlie · CC0
Persian poet and Sufi mystic who founded the Mevlevi Order. His Masnavi, a long poem in Persian, is still counted among the greatest works in the language and is widely read across Iran, Turkey and beyond.
Hossein Behzad · Public domain
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