On This Day
What Happened on January 18 in History
8 events that happened on January 18, oldest first. Every entry is written in our own words and links to its source.
Colonial America and the Revolution
1778
Captain James Cook's expedition sighted the Hawaiian Islands, the first known European visit to the islands.
Sailing with HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery, the crew first saw Oahu. Two days later Cook landed at Waimea on Kauai and named the group the Sandwich Islands after one of his patrons, the Earl of Sandwich.
Source: history.com; nps.gov
The Young Republic and the Civil War Era
1803
President Thomas Jefferson secretly asked Congress for $2,500 to send an expedition west to the Pacific.
The confidential message led to the Corps of Discovery under Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Its reports on the lands beyond the Mississippi helped spark a new wave of westward expansion.
Source: archives.gov; history.com
1862
Former President John Tyler died in Richmond, Virginia, as a member-elect of the Confederate Congress.
Tyler, 71, had taken office in 1841 when William Henry Harrison died a month after his inauguration, and his administration added Texas to the Union. Elected to the Confederate Congress, he died before taking his seat.
Source: history.com
1871
The German Empire was proclaimed, with Prussia's King Wilhelm I as German emperor.
States such as the Grand Duchy of Hesse joined the new empire, whose emperor was also King of Prussia. The United States recognized it by making its minister to Prussia the minister to the German Empire.
Source: history.state.gov; history.state.gov
The Early 1900s and the World Wars
1911
Pilot Eugene Ely made the first airplane landing on a warship, touching down on the USS Pennsylvania.
Ely brought his Curtiss pusher biplane down on a wooden platform built on the armored cruiser, anchored in San Francisco Bay. Later the same day he took off from the ship and flew back to land.
Source: navalaviationnews.navy.mil; text-message.blogs.archives.gov
1919
The Paris Peace Conference opened as Allied leaders gathered to settle the terms ending World War I.
Woodrow Wilson, Georges Clemenceau, David Lloyd George and Italy's leaders made most of the key decisions over six months. Germany was shut out until May, and the talks produced the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations.
Source: history.com
The Cold War
1958
Willie O'Ree of the Boston Bruins became the first Black player in the National Hockey League.
Called up from the minors, he played against the Montreal Canadiens in a 3-0 Bruins win. O'Ree had hidden an injury that left him almost blind in his right eye.
Source: history.com; sarajacobs.house.gov
The Modern Era
2012
Wikipedia, Reddit and other websites went dark to protest the SOPA and PIPA anti-piracy bills in Congress.
Movie and music companies said the bills were needed to fight foreign piracy sites, while technology firms warned they would encourage censorship. By the day of the blackout, the legislation was already losing support on Capitol Hill.