January 11 is the 11th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 354 days remaining (355 in leap years).

Events

• 532 - Nika riots in Constantinople.
• 1158 - Vladislav II becomes King of Bohemia.
• 1569 - First recorded lottery in England.
• 1571 - Austrian nobility is granted freedom of religion.
• 1693 - Eruption of Mt. Etna.
• 1759 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the first American life insurance company is incorporated.
• 1787 - William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus.
• 1805 - Michigan Territory is created.
• 1861 - Alabama secedes from the United States.
• 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Arkansas Post - General John McClernand and Admiral David Porter capture the Arkansas River for the Union.
• 1867 - Benito Juárez becomes Mexican president again.
• 1879 - Anglo-Zulu War begins.
• 1908 - Grand Canyon National Monument is created.
• 1919 - Romania annexes Transylvania.
• 1922 - First use of insulin to treat diabetes in a human patient.
• 1923 - Troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area to force Germany to pay its reparation payments.
• 1935 - Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly solo from Hawaii to California.
• 1938 - Frances Moulton is the first woman to become president of a US national bank.
• 1942 - Japan declares war on the Netherlands and invades the Japanese capture Kuala Lumpur.
• 1943 - The United States and United Kingdom give up territorial rights in China.
• 1946 - Enver Hoxha declares the People's Republic of Albania with himself as dictator.
• 1946 - Porfirio Barba-Jacob's ashes go back to Colombia.
• 1949 - First recorded case of snowfall in Los Angeles, California.
• 1962 - Eruption of the Huascaran volcano in Peru; 4,000 deaths.
• 1963 - The Whisky A Go-Go night club in Los Angeles, the first disco in the USA, is opened.
• 1964 - United States Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry reports smoking may be hazardous to health. First such statement from US government.
• 1972 - East Pakistan becomes Bangladesh.
• 1973 - Beginning of the Watergate burglars trial.
• 1974 - The world's first surviving set of sextuplets are born to Susan Rosenkowitz in Capetown, South Africa.
• 1980 - Nigel Short, 14, is the youngest chess player to be awarded the degree of International Master.
• 1982 - A cold snap sends temperatures to record lows in dozens of cities throughout the Midwestern United States.
• 1990 - 300,000 march in favor of Lithuanian independence.
• 1992 - Paul Simon is the first major artist to tour South Africa after the end of the cultural boycott.
• 1996 - Haiti becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.

Births

• 1757 - Alexander Hamilton, first United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1804)
• 1757 - Samuel Bentham, English mechanical engineer (d. 1831)
• 1800 - Nat Turner, American slave (d. 1831)
• 1807 - Ezra Cornell, American businessman, founder of Cornell University (d. 1874)
• 1815 - John A. Macdonald, first Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1891)
• 1856 - Christian Sinding, Norwegian composer (d. 1941)
• 1858 - Harry Gordon Selfridge, American retailer (d. 1947)
• 1859 - George Nathaniel Curzon (Lord Curzon), British statesman (d. 1925)
• 1860 - Marie Bashkirtseff, Ukrainian artist (d. 1884)
• 1870 - Alice Hegan Rice, American writer (d. 1942)
• 1876 - Elmer Flick, American baseball player (d. 1971)
• 1885 - Alice Paul, American women's rights activist (d. 1977)
• 1899 - Eva LeGallienne, actress (d. 1991)
• 1903 - Alan Paton, South African writer (d. 1988)
• 1906 - Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist, discoverer of LSD effects
• 1908 - Lionel Stander, American actor (d. 1994)
• 1923 - Jacqueline Maillan, French actress
• 1923 - Carroll Shelby, American automobile designer
• 1924 - Sam B. Hall, American politician (d. 1994)
• 1924 - Slim Harpo, American musician (d. 1970)
• 1925 - Grant Tinker, television executive
• 1925 - William Styron, American writer
• 1926 - Lev Demin, cosmonaut (d. 1998)
• 1928 - David L. Wolper, producer
• 1930 - Rod Taylor, Australian actor
• 1934 - Jean Chrétien, twentieth Prime Minister of Canada
• 1934 - Judith Campbell Exner, John F. Kennedy confidante (d. 1999)
• 1938 - Arthur Scargill British trade union leader.
• 1942 - Clarence Clemons, musician (E Street Band)
• 1942 - Joel Zwick, American film director
• 1943 - Jim Hightower, American radio host, author
• 1944 - Shibu Soren, Indian politician
• 1946 - Naomi Judd, American country music singer
• 1946 - John Piper, American theologian
• 1952 - Lee Ritenour, musician, composer
• 1952 - Ben Crenshaw, golfer
• 1956 - Robert Earl Keen, American singer
• 1957 - Bryan Robson, English football player and manager
• 1958 - Vicki Peterson, American musician
• 1960 - Stanley Tucci, American actor
• 1963 - Dean Reynolds, English snooker player
• 1968 - Tom Dumont, American musician
• 1971 - Mary J. Blige, American pop singer
• 1971 - Tom Rowlands, English musician (The Chemical Brothers)
• 1972 - Marc Blucas, American actor
• 1972 - Amanda Peet, American actress
• 1973 - Rahul Dravid, Indian cricketer
• 1977 - Shomari Buchanan, American football player
• 1980 - Mike Williams, American football player

Deaths

• 314 - St. Miltiades, Pope
• 705 - John VI, Pope
• 1055 - Constantine IX Monomachos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire, (b. c. 1000)
• 1843 - Francis Scott Key, American lawyer who composed The Star-Spangled Banner (b. 1779)
• 1857 - Eli Smith, Christian missionary and Bible translator (b. 1801)
• 1901 - Vasily Kalinnikov, Russian composer (b. 1866)
• 1905 - Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, Second Rebbe of the Ger Hasidim. (b. 1847)
• 1928 - Thomas Hardy, English writer (b. 1840)
• 1958 - Edna Purviance, actress (b. 1895)
• 1966 - Alberto Giacometti, Italian sculptor (b. 1901)
• 1966 - Hannes Kolehmainen, Finnish long-distance runner
• 1970 - Richmal Crompton, British author (b. 1890)
• 1979 - Jack Soo, American actor
• 1980 - Barbara Pym, English novelist (b. 1913)
• 1983 - Shri Ghanshyam Das Birla, Indian industrialist, Gandhian and educationist, (b. 1894)
• 1981 - Beulah Bondi, American actress
• 1988 - Pappy Boyington, American aviator (b. 1912)
• 1998 - Klaus Tennstedt, German conductor (b. 1926)
• 2000 - Bob Lemon, American baseball player
• 2000 - Ivan Combe, American inventor
• 2001 - Sir Denys Lasdun, English architect (b. 1914)
• 2003 - Mickey Finn, drummer in T. Rex
• 2003 - Maurice Pialat, French movie director (b. 1925)
• 2003 - Richard Simmons, American actor (b. 1913)
• 2005 - Spencer Dryden, drummer for the band Jefferson Airplane (b. 1938)

Holidays and observances

• Albania - Republic Day (1946)
• Japan - Kagami-Biraki (Rice Cakes Festival)
• Nepal - Unity Day
• Roman Empire - First day of Carmentalia in honor of Carmen
• Feast of the Baptism of Jesus

January 10 - January 12 - December 11 - February 11 -- listing of all days