This Day in History
Today: November 21, 2025
-164
Judas Maccabeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, rededicates the Temple in Jerusalem, an event that is commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah. (25 Kislev 3597 in the Hebrew calendar.)[1]
235
Pope Anterus succeeds Pontian as the nineteenth pope.[2]
1386
Timur of Samarkand captures and sacks the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, taking King Bagrat V of Georgia captive.
1620
Plymouth Colony settlers sign the Mayflower Compact (November 11, O.S.)
1676
The Danish astronomer Ole Rømer presents the first quantitative measurements of the speed of light.
1783
In Paris, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes make the first untethered hot air balloon flight.
1789
North Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution and is admitted as the 12th U.S. state.[3]
1851
Mutineers take control of the Chilean penal colony of Punta Arenas in the Strait of Magellan.[4]
1861
American Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis appoints Judah Benjamin Secretary of War.
1877
Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record and play sound.
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