On this day: January 13

Events on January 13

• 27 BC Octavian transfers the state to the free disposal of the Roman Senate and the people. He receives Spain, Gaul, and Syria as his province for ten years. Wikipedia
• 532 The Nika riots break out, during the racing season at the Hippodrome in Constantinople, as a result of discontent with the rule of the Emperor Justinian I. Wikipedia
• 1435 Pope Eugene IV promulgated the papal bull Sicut dudum, forbidding the enslavement of the native Guanche of the Canary Islands by the Spanish. Wikipedia
• 1797 French Revolutionary Wars: A naval battle off the coast of Brittany between two British frigates and a French ship of the line ended with hundreds of deaths when the latter ran aground. Wikipedia
• 1815 British troops captured Fort Peter in St. Marys, in the only battle of the War of 1812 to take place in the state of Georgia. Wikipedia
• 1822 The design of the Greek flag is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus. Wikipedia
• 1842 First Anglo-Afghan War: William Brydon, an assistant surgeon in the British Army, was the sole European of the 14,000 people retreating from Kabul to Jalalabad who evaded capture or death. Wikipedia
• 1847 The Treaty of Cahuenga was signed, informally ending the fighting of the Mexican–American War in California. Wikipedia
• 1884 Welsh physician William Price was arrested for attempting to cremate his deceased infant son; this eventually led to the passing of the Cremation Act 1902 by Parliament. Wikipedia
• 1888 The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C. Wikipedia
• 1898 Émile Zola's J'accuse…! exposes the Dreyfus affair. Wikipedia
• 1915 About 30,000 people were killed when an earthquake struck the Province of L'Aquila in Italy. Wikipedia
• 1916 The first Feminist Congress of Yucatán began in Mérida, Mexico, to propose reforms for women's social, educational, and legal rights. Wikipedia
• 1949 In the first recorded instance of strike action by Catholic laity against the clergy, gravediggers at Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York City, went on strike. Wikipedia
• 1953 Nine Moscow doctors were accused of a plot to poison members of the Soviet political and military leadership. Wikipedia
• 1963 Togo's first president, Sylvanus Olympio, was assassinated by military officers in a coup d'état led by Emmanuel Bodjollé, Étienne Eyadéma, and Kléber Dadjo. Wikipedia
• 1968 American singer Johnny Cash recorded his landmark album At Folsom Prison live at Folsom State Prison in California. Wikipedia
• 1969 British rock band Led Zeppelin released their first album, Led Zeppelin, in the United States. Wikipedia
• 1972 Ghanaian military officer Ignatius Kutu Acheampong led a coup to overthrow Prime Minister Kofi Abrefa Busia and President Edward Akufo-Addo. Wikipedia
• 1972 Bernice Gera won a sex-discrimination lawsuit against the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues, allowing her to become the first female professional baseball umpire. Wikipedia
• 1991 Soviet Union troops attack Lithuanian independence supporters in Vilnius, killing 14 people and wounding around 1,000 others. Wikipedia
• 2000 Steve Ballmer replaced Bill Gates as the chief executive officer of Microsoft. Wikipedia
• 2001 The first of two large earthquakes in the span of a month struck El Salvador, killing at least 944 people and destroying over 100,000 homes. Wikipedia
• 2003 The trans-Neptunian object 208996 Achlys was discovered by Chad Trujillo and Michael E. Brown at Palomar Observatory, California. Wikipedia
• 2012 The Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia ran aground on a reef and capsized off Isola del Giglio, Tuscany. Wikipedia
• 2021 Outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump is impeached for a second time on a charge of incitement of insurrection following the January 6 United States Capitol attack one week prior. Wikipedia

Born on January 13

• 1334 Henry II, king of Castile and León (died 1379) Wikipedia
• 1864 Wilhelm Wien, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1928) Wikipedia
• 1893 Chaïm Soutine, Belarusian-French painter (died 1943) Wikipedia
• 1906 Zhou Youguang, Chinese linguist, sinologist, and academic (died 2017) Wikipedia
• 1924 Paul Feyerabend, Austrian-Swiss philosopher and academic (died 1994) Wikipedia
• 1927 Sydney Brenner, South African biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2019) Wikipedia
• 1938 Cabu, French cartoonist (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1947 Carles Rexach, Spanish footballer and coach Wikipedia
• 1949 Rakesh Sharma, Indian commander, pilot, and cosmonaut Wikipedia
• 1960 Eric Betzig, American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1961 Julia Louis-Dreyfus, American actress, comedian, and producer Wikipedia
• 1966 Patrick Dempsey, American actor and race car driver Wikipedia
• 1969 Stephen Hendry, Scottish snooker player and journalist Wikipedia
• 1970 Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (died 2004) Wikipedia
• 1970 Shonda Rhimes, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1976 Michael Peña, American actor Wikipedia
• 1976 Mario Yepes, Colombian footballer Wikipedia
• 1977 Orlando Bloom, English actor Wikipedia
• 1980 Akira Kaji, Japanese footballer Wikipedia
• 1990 Liam Hemsworth, Australian actor Wikipedia
• 1995 Natalia Dyer, American actress Wikipedia
• 1997 Luis Díaz, Colombian footballer Wikipedia

Died on January 13

• 86 BC Gaius Marius, Roman general and politician (born 157 BC) Wikipedia
• 858 Æthelwulf, king of Wessex Wikipedia
• 888 Charles the Fat, Frankish king and emperor (born 839) Wikipedia
• 1599 Edmund Spenser, English poet, Chief Secretary for Ireland (born 1552) Wikipedia
• 1625 Jan Brueghel the Elder, Flemish painter (born 1568) Wikipedia
• 1691 George Fox, English religious leader, founded the Religious Society of Friends (born 1624) Wikipedia
• 1717 Maria Sibylla Merian, German entomologist and illustrator (born 1647) Wikipedia
• 1885 Schuyler Colfax, American journalist and politician, 17th Vice President of the United States (born 1823) Wikipedia
• 1906 Alexander Stepanovich Popov, Russian physicist and academic (born 1859) Wikipedia
• 1941 James Joyce, Irish novelist, short story writer, and poet (born 1882) Wikipedia
• 1963 Sylvanus Olympio, Togolese businessman and politician, President of Togo (born 1902) Wikipedia
• 1978 Hubert Humphrey, American pharmacist, academic, and politician, 38th Vice President of the United States (born 1911) Wikipedia
• 1988 Chiang Ching-kuo, Chinese politician, President of the Republic of China (born 1910) Wikipedia
• 2012 Rauf Denktaş, Turkish-Cypriot lawyer and politician, 1st President of Northern Cyprus (born 1924) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Blessed Veronica of Milan Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Elian Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Hilary of Poitiers Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Mungo Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: St. Knut's Day or Tjugondag Knut, the last day of Christmas. (Sweden and Finland) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: January 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Constitution Day (Mongolia) Wikipedia
• Democracy Day (Cape Verde) Wikipedia
• Gluten-free diet day Wikipedia
• Liberation Day (Togo) Wikipedia
• Old New Year's Eve (Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Serbia, Montenegro, Republic of Srpska, North Macedonia), and its related observances: Malanka (Ukraine, Russia, Belarus) Wikipedia
• Sidereal winter solstice's eve celebrations in South and Southeast Asian cultures; the last day of the six-month Dakshinayana period (see January 14): Bhogi (Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu) Wikipedia
• Sidereal winter solstice's eve celebrations in South and Southeast Asian cultures; the last day of the six-month Dakshinayana period (see January 14): Lohri (Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh) Wikipedia
• Sidereal winter solstice's eve celebrations in South and Southeast Asian cultures; the last day of the six-month Dakshinayana period (see January 14): Uruka (Assam) Wikipedia
• Stephen Foster Memorial Day (United States) Wikipedia
• Yennayer (Berbers) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “January 13” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/January 13” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “January 13” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for January 13 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.