On this day: January 11

Events on January 11

• 630 Conquest of Mecca: Muhammad and his followers conquer the city, and the Quraysh association of clans surrenders. Wikipedia
• 1055 Theodora Porphyrogenita became the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire after the death of her brother-in-law Constantine IX Monomachos. Wikipedia
• 1055 Theodora is crowned empress of the Byzantine Empire. Wikipedia
• 1693 The most powerful earthquake recorded in Italy struck the island of Sicily, causing 60,000 deaths and prompting a period of architectural revival. Wikipedia
• 1759 The first American life insurance company, the Corporation for Relief of Poor and Distressed Presbyterian Ministers and of the Poor and Distressed Widows and Children of the Presbyterian Ministers (now part of Unum Group), is incorporated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wikipedia
• 1787 William Herschel discovers Titania and Oberon, two moons of Uranus. Wikipedia
• 1861 American Civil War: Alabama secedes from the United States. Wikipedia
• 1863 American Civil War: CSS Alabama encounters and sinks the USS Hatteras off Galveston Lighthouse in Texas. Wikipedia
• 1863 American Civil War: The Battle of Arkansas Post concluded with the Union Army capturing a fort from Confederate forces near the mouth of the Arkansas River. Wikipedia
• 1923 Occupation of the Ruhr: Troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area to force Germany to make its World War I reparation payments. Wikipedia
• 1927 Louis B. Mayer, head of film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), announces the creation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, at a banquet in Los Angeles, California. Wikipedia
• 1935 Amelia Earhart becomes the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: Japanese forces capture Kuala Lumpur, the capital of the Federated Malay States. Wikipedia
• 1943 Italian-American anarchist Carlo Tresca is assassinated in New York City. Wikipedia
• 1949 The first "networked" television broadcasts took place as KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania goes on the air connecting the east coast and mid-west programming. Wikipedia
• 1957 The African Convention is founded in Dakar, Senegal. Wikipedia
• 1961 Throgs Neck Bridge over the East River, linking New York City's boroughs of The Bronx and Queens, opens to road traffic. Wikipedia
• 1962 An avalanche on Huascarán in Peru causes around 4,000 deaths. Wikipedia
• 1962 Cold War: While tied to its pier in Polyarny, the Soviet submarine B-37 is destroyed when fire breaks out in its torpedo compartment. Wikipedia
• 1972 East Pakistan renames itself Bangladesh. Wikipedia
• 1986 The Gateway Bridge in Brisbane, Australia, opened as the largest prestressed-concrete, single-box bridge in the world. Wikipedia
• 1994 The Irish Government announces the end of a 15-year broadcasting ban on the IRA and its political arm Sinn Féin. Wikipedia
• 1998 Over 100 people are killed in the Sidi-Hamed massacre in Algeria. Wikipedia
• 2003 Illinois Governor George Ryan commutes the death sentences of 167 prisoners on Illinois's death row based on the Jon Burge scandal. Wikipedia
• 2013 One French soldier and 17 militants are killed in a failed attempt to free a French hostage in Bulo Marer, Somalia. Wikipedia
• 2020 COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei: Municipal health officials in Wuhan announce the first recorded death from COVID-19. Wikipedia

Born on January 11

• 347 Theodosius I, Roman emperor (died 395) Wikipedia
• 1209 Möngke Khan, Mongolian emperor (died 1259) Wikipedia
• 1638 Nicolas Steno, Danish bishop and anatomist (died 1686) Wikipedia
• 1755 Alexander Hamilton, Nevisian-American general, economist and politician, 1st United States Secretary of the Treasury (died 1804) Wikipedia
• 1807 Ezra Cornell, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Western Union and Cornell University (died 1874) Wikipedia
• 1815 John A. Macdonald, Scottish-Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Canada (died 1891) Wikipedia
• 1842 William James, American psychologist and philosopher (died 1910) Wikipedia
• 1859 George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, English politician, 35th Governor-General of India (died 1925) Wikipedia
• 1897 August Heissmeyer, German SS officer (died 1979) Wikipedia
• 1906 Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist and academic, discoverer of LSD (died 2008) Wikipedia
• 1911 Zenkō Suzuki, Japanese politician, 70th Prime Minister of Japan (died 2004) Wikipedia
• 1924 Roger Guillemin, French-American physician and endocrinologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2024) Wikipedia
• 1934 Jean Chrétien, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Prime Minister of Canada Wikipedia
• 1954 Kailash Satyarthi, Indian engineer, academic, and activist, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1971 Mary J. Blige, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress Wikipedia
• 1975 Matteo Renzi, Italian politician, 56th Prime Minister of Italy Wikipedia
• 1978 Emile Heskey, English footballer Wikipedia
• 1979 Siti Nurhaliza, Malaysian singer-songwriter and businesswoman Wikipedia
• 1984 Matt Mullenweg, American web developer and businessman, co-created WordPress Wikipedia
• 1987 Jamie Vardy, English footballer Wikipedia
• 1992 Dani Carvajal, Spanish footballer Wikipedia
• 1996 Leroy Sané, German footballer Wikipedia

Died on January 11

• 140 Pope Hyginus, Bishop of Rome (born 74) Wikipedia
• 705 Pope John VI (born 655) Wikipedia
• 887 Boso of Provence, Frankish nobleman Wikipedia
• 1396 Isidore Glabas, Metropolitan bishop of Thessalonica (born c. 1341) Wikipedia
• 1928 Thomas Hardy, English novelist and poet (born 1840) Wikipedia
• 1941 Emanuel Lasker, German mathematician, philosopher, and chess player (born 1868) Wikipedia
• 1988 Isidor Isaac Rabi, Polish-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1898) Wikipedia
• 1991 Carl David Anderson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1905) Wikipedia
• 2004 Spalding Gray, American actor, writer, and performance artist (born 1941) Wikipedia
• 2008 Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer and explorer (born 1919) Wikipedia
• 2013 Aaron Swartz, American programmer and activist (born 1986) Wikipedia
• 2014 Ariel Sharon, Israeli general and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Israel (born 1928) Wikipedia
• 2015 Anita Ekberg, Swedish-Italian model and actress (born 1931) Wikipedia
• 2017 Adenan Satem, Malaysian politician and Chief Minister of Sarawak, Malaysia (born 1944) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Children's Day (Tunisia) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Anastasius of Suppentonia (Roman Catholic) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Leucius of Brindisi (Roman Catholic) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Paulinus II of Aquileia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Hyginus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Theodosius the Cenobiarch Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Thomas of Cori Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Vitalis of Gaza (Roman Catholic) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: January 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Eugenio María de Hostos Day (Puerto Rico) Wikipedia
• Independence Resistance Day (Morocco) Wikipedia
• Kagami biraki (Japan) Wikipedia
• National Human Trafficking Awareness Day (United States) Wikipedia
• Republic Day (Albania) Wikipedia
• Carmentalia (January 11th and January 15th) (Rome) Wikipedia
• Prithvi Jayanti (Nepal) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “January 11” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.