About December 31
December 31, 2023 is the 365th day of the year 2023 in the Gregorian calendar. The day of the week is Sunday.
You can browse the full year calendar in case you need it.
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Capricorn is the sun sign of a person born on this day. Turquoise is the modern birthstone for this month. Onyx is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 41 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
December 31: More About This Day
It is widely known as New Year’s Eve since the following day is New Year’s Day. It is the last day of the year.
What Happened On December 31
- 406 –Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gaul.
- 535 –Byzantine General Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse, and ending his consulship for the year.
- 1660 –James II of England is named Duke of Normandy by Louis XIV of France.
- 1695 –A window tax is imposed in England, causing many householders to brick up windows to avoid the tax.
- 1775 –American Revolutionary War: Battle of Quebec: British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army General Richard Montgomery.
- 1853 –A dinner party is held inside a life-size model of an Iguanodon created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and Sir Richard Owen in south London, England, United Kingdom
- 1862 –American Civil War: The Battle of Stones River begins near Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
- 1879 –Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.
- 1906 –Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar signs the Persian Constitution of 1906.
- 1909 –Manhattan Bridge opens.
- 1951 –The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than US$13.3 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.
- 1960 –The farthing coin ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom.
- 1961 –RTÉ Ireland’s state broadcaster launches its first national television service.
- 1963 –The Central African Federation officially collapses and splits into Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.
- 1981 –A coup d'état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann’s PNP government and replaces it with the Provisional National Defence Council led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.
- 1983 –In Nigeria a coup d'état led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari ends the Nigerian Second Republic.
- 1994 –The first Chechen war: Russian army began a New Year’s storm of Grozny
- 1994 –This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC−11:00 to UTC+13:00 and UTC-10:00 to UTC+14:00, respectively.
- 1998 –The European Exchange Rate Mechanism freezes the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and establishes the value of the euro currency.
- 1999 –The United States Government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties.
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