On this day: November 19

Events on November 19

• 461 Libius Severus is declared emperor of the Western Roman Empire. The real power is in the hands of the magister militum Ricimer. Wikipedia
• 636 The Rashidun Caliphate defeats the Sasanian Empire at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah in Iraq. Wikipedia
• 1620 The Mayflower, which brought the Pilgrims from England to the New World, sighted Cape Cod. Wikipedia
• 1646 The current Saint Peter's Basilica is consecrated in Rome, replacing an earlier basilica on the same site. Wikipedia
• 1794 The United States and Great Britain signed the Jay Treaty, the basis for ten years of peaceful trade between the two nations. Wikipedia
• 1816 Warsaw University is established. Wikipedia
• 1824 Temenggong Abdul Rahman of Johor and Sultan Hussein Shah of Johor ceded the governance of Singapore to the British East India Company. Wikipedia
• 1863 American Civil War: Confederate forces began the Siege of Knoxville against Union fortifications, surrounding most of the city. Wikipedia
• 1863 American Civil War: U.S. president Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Wikipedia
• 1933 The Union of the Right, a coalition of right-wing parties, won the majority of seats in the 1933 Spanish general election, the first election in the country with suffrage extended to women. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: The Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney and the German auxiliary cruiser Kormoran destroyed each other in the Indian Ocean. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: Soviet troops launched Operation Uranus at the Battle of Stalingrad with the goal of encircling Axis forces, turning the tide of the battle in their favour. Wikipedia
• 1946 Afghanistan, Iceland and Sweden join the United Nations. Wikipedia
• 1950 US General Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes Supreme Commander of NATO-Europe. Wikipedia
• 1969 Association football player Pelé scores his 1,000th goal. Wikipedia
• 1985 The first of five summits between Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. president Ronald Reagan began in Geneva. Wikipedia
• 1988 Serbian communist representative and future Serbian and Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević publicly declares that Serbia is under attack from Albanian separatists in Kosovo as well as internal treachery within Yugoslavia and a foreign conspiracy to destroy Serbia and Yugoslavia. Wikipedia
• 1991 Mexican singer Luis Miguel released the album Romance, which led to a revival of interest in bolero music. Wikipedia
• 1996 Space Shuttle program: Columbia is launched on STS-80, which would become the longest mission in the program at 17 days. On this mission, astronaut Story Musgrave becomes the only astronaut to fly on all five space shuttles. Wikipedia
• 1997 Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-87. Wikipedia
• 1999 Shenzhou 1: The People's Republic of China launches its first Shenzhou spacecraft. Wikipedia
• 2001 The Aviation and Transportation Security Act is enacted by the 107th United States Congress in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Act created the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Wikipedia
• 2002 The Greek oil tanker Prestige split in two and sank off the coast of Galicia after spilling 420 thousand barrels (17.8 million US gallons) of oil, in the worst environmental disaster in Spanish and Portuguese history. Wikipedia
• 2005 Iraq War: A group of United States Marines massacred 25 people in the town of Haditha. Wikipedia
• 2010 The first of four explosions occurred at the Pike River Mine in the West Coast in New Zealand's worst mining disaster in nearly a century. Wikipedia
• 2013 A double suicide bombing at the Iranian embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killed 23 people and injured at least 160 others. Wikipedia

Born on November 19

• 1600 Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland (died 1649) Wikipedia
• 1711 Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian physicist, chemist, astronomer, and geographer (died 1765) Wikipedia
• 1805 Ferdinand de Lesseps, French diplomat and engineer, developed the Suez Canal (died 1894) Wikipedia
• 1828 Rani Lakshmibai, Indian queen (died 1858) Wikipedia
• 1831 James A. Garfield, American general, lawyer, and politician, 20th President of the United States (died 1881) Wikipedia
• 1875 Mikhail Kalinin, Russian civil servant and politician, 1st Head of State of The Soviet Union (died 1946) Wikipedia
• 1887 James B. Sumner, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1955) Wikipedia
• 1888 José Raúl Capablanca, Cuban-American chess player and theologian (died 1942) Wikipedia
• 1900 Anna Seghers, German author and politician (died 1983) Wikipedia
• 1909 Peter Drucker, Austrian-American theorist, educator, and author (died 2005). Wikipedia
• 1912 George Emil Palade, Romanian-American biologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2008) Wikipedia
• 1917 Indira Gandhi, Indian politician, 3rd Prime Minister of India (died 1984) Wikipedia
• 1925 Zygmunt Bauman, Polish-English sociologist, historian, and academic (died 2017) Wikipedia
• 1933 Larry King, American journalist and talk show host (died 2021) Wikipedia
• 1938 Ted Turner, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Turner Broadcasting System (died 2026) Wikipedia
• 1954 Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Egyptian field marshal and politician, 6th President of Egypt Wikipedia
• 1959 Allison Janney, American actress Wikipedia
• 1961 Meg Ryan, American actress and producer Wikipedia
• 1962 Jodie Foster, American actress, director, and producer Wikipedia
• 1965 Laurent Blanc, French footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1975 Sushmita Sen, Indian actress, model and Miss Universe 1994 Wikipedia
• 1983 Adam Driver, American actor Wikipedia

Died on November 19

• 496 Pope Gelasius I Wikipedia
• 498 Pope Anastasius II Wikipedia
• 1092 Malik-Shah I, Seljuk Sultan (born 1055) Wikipedia
• 1665 Nicolas Poussin, French-Italian painter (born 1594) Wikipedia
• 1828 Franz Schubert, Austrian pianist and composer (born 1797) Wikipedia
• 1850 Richard Mentor Johnson, American colonel, lawyer, and politician, 9th Vice President of the United States (born 1780) Wikipedia
• 1942 Bruno Schulz, Polish painter and critic (born 1892) Wikipedia
• 1949 James Ensor, Belgian painter (born 1860) Wikipedia
• 2004 John Vane, English pharmacologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1927) Wikipedia
• 2013 Frederick Sanger, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918) Wikipedia
• 2014 Mike Nichols, German-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1931) Wikipedia
• 2017 Charles Manson, American cult leader and mass murderer (born 1934) Wikipedia
• 2017 Jana Novotná, Czech tennis player (born 1968) Wikipedia
• 2023 Rosalynn Carter, American mental health activist, First Lady of the United States (1977–1981), and of Georgia (1971–1975) (born 1927) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Blessed Giacomo Benefatti Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Mechthild of Hackeborn Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Obadiah (Eastern Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Raphael Kalinowski Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Severinus, Exuperius, and Felician Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: November 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Day of Discovery of Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico) Wikipedia
• Day of Missile Forces and Artillery (Russia, Belarus) Wikipedia
• Flag Day (Brazil) Wikipedia
• Garifuna Settlement Day (Belize) Wikipedia
• International Men's Day Wikipedia
• Liberation Day (Mali) Wikipedia
• Martyrs' Day (Uttar Pradesh, India) Wikipedia
• The Sovereign Prince's Day (Monaco) Wikipedia
• World Toilet Day Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “November 19” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/November 19” — 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 “November 19” 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 November 19 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.