On This Day
What Happened on November 18 in History
9 events that happened on November 18, oldest first. Every entry is written in our own words and links to its source.
The Middle Ages
1421 (Julian calendar)
A North Sea storm broke through dikes in the Low Countries in the St. Elizabeth's flood.
Surging water swamped villages in the densely populated lowlands of what is now the Netherlands. Up to 10,000 people died.
Source: history.com
The Young Republic and the Civil War Era
1883
American railroads began using standard time with four time zones.
Before the change, towns kept their own local times, which made train schedules confusing. Clocks within each of the Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific zones were synchronized, and much of the country soon followed the railroads' plan.
Source: history.com; railroads.unl.edu
The Early 1900s and the World Wars
1903
The United States and Panama signed the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty, opening the way for the Panama Canal.
The treaty gave the United States lasting control of a zone across the isthmus for building and running a canal, in exchange for payments to the new Republic of Panama.
Source: avalon.law.yale.edu
1928
Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie premiered in New York, introducing Mickey Mouse to audiences with synchronized sound.
The cartoon opened at the Colony Theater on Broadway, where audiences were thrilled by music and sound effects matched to the action on screen.
Source: pbs.org
The Cold War
1978
Peoples Temple leader Jim Jones led a mass murder and suicide at the group's Jonestown commune in Guyana.
More than 900 people died, about a third of them children, after drinking or being forced to drink poisoned punch.
Source: history.com
1987
Congressional committees issued their final report on the Iran-Contra affair.
After nearly a year of hearings, the report faulted the Reagan administration for secrecy, deception and disdain for the law in selling arms to Iran and using profits to aid Nicaragua's Contra rebels.
Source: history.com; presidency.ucsb.edu
1989
NASA launched the Cosmic Background Explorer to study the faint afterglow of the Big Bang.
COBE's measurements of the cosmic microwave background earned John Mather and George Smoot the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Source: science.nasa.gov; nobelprize.org
The Modern Era
1999
The Aggie Bonfire log stack collapsed at Texas A&M University, killing 12 students and injuring 27.
The structure fell at 2:42 a.m. while students were building it. Five years later, the Bonfire Memorial was dedicated on the site.
Source: bonfire.tamu.edu
2013
NASA launched the MAVEN probe to study how Mars lost much of its atmosphere.
The spacecraft lifted off on an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral and entered orbit around Mars in September 2014.
Source: nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov