January 6 is the sixth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 359 days remaining until the end of the year (360 in leap years).
1066 – Harold Godwinson (or Harold II) is crowned King of England.
1205 – Philip of Swabia becomes King of the Romans.
1322 – Stephen Uroš III is crowned King of Serbia having defeated his half-brother Stefan Konstantin in battle.
1355 – Charles I of Bohemia is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy as King of Italy in Milan.
1449 – Constantine XI is crowned Byzantine Emperor at Mystras.
1492 – The Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella enter Granada, completing the Reconquista.
1540 – King Henry VIII of England marries Anne of Cleves.
1579 – The Union of Arras unites the southern Netherlands under the Duke of Parma (Ottavio Farnese), governor in the name of King Philip II of Spain.
1661 – English Restoration: The Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London, England.
1690 – Joseph, son of Emperor Leopold I, becomes King of the Romans.
1721 – The Committee of Inquiry on the South Sea Bubble publishes its findings.
1781 – In the Battle of Jersey, the British defeat the last attempt by France to invade Jersey in the Channel Islands.
1809 – Combined British, Portuguese and colonial Brazilian forces begin the Invasion of Cayenne during the Napoleonic Wars.
1838 – Alfred Vail demonstrates a telegraph system using dots and dashes (this is the forerunner of Morse code).
1839 – The Night of the Big Wind, the most damaging storm in 300 years, sweeps across Ireland, damaging or destroying more than 20% of the houses in Dublin.
1870 – The inauguration of the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria.
1893 – The Washington National Cathedral is chartered by Congress. The charter is signed by President Benjamin Harrison.
1900 – Second Boer War: Having already besieged the fortress at Ladysmith, Boer forces attack it, but are driven back by British defenders.
1907 – Maria Montessori opens her first school and daycare center for working class children in Rome, Italy.
1912 – New Mexico is admitted to the Union as the 47th U.S. state.
1912 – German geophysicist Alfred Wegener first presents his theory of continental drift.
1929 – King Alexander of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes suspends his country's constitution (the January 6th Dictatorship).
1929 – Mother Teresa arrives in Calcutta, India, to begin her work among India's poorest and sick people.
1930 – The first diesel-powered automobile trip is completed, from Indianapolis, Indiana, to New York, New York.
1931 – Thomas Edison signs his last patent application.
1941 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms speech in the State of the Union address.
1946 – The first general election ever in Vietnam is held.
1947 – Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to offer a round-the-world ticket.
1949– General Su Yu, deputy commander of the communist Third Field Army, launched final offensive against nationalist forces south of Xuzhou, Huaihai Campaign ends four days later.
1950 – The United Kingdom recognizes the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China severs diplomatic relations with the UK in response.
1951 – Korean War: An estimated 200–1,300 South Korean communist sympathizers are slaughtered in what becomes the Ganghwa massacre.
1960 – National Airlines Flight 2511 is destroyed in mid-air by a bomb, while en route from New York City to Miami.
1960 – The Associations Law comes into force in Iraq, allowing registration of political parties.
1967 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and ARVN troops launch "Operation Deckhouse Five" in the Mekong River delta.
1974 – In response to the 1973 oil crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly four months early in the United States.
1978 – The Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary) is returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held after World War II.
1989 – Satwant Singh and Kehar Singh are sentenced to death for conspiracy in the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi; the two men are executed the same day.
1992 – President of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia flees the country as a result of the military coup.
1993 – Indian Border Security Force units kill 55 Kashmiri civilians in Sopore, Jammu and Kashmir, in revenge after militants ambushed a BSF patrol.
1994 – Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was attacked at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit.
1995 – A chemical fire in an apartment complex in Manila, Philippines, leads to the discovery of plans for Project Bojinka, a mass-terrorist attack.
2001 – The US Congress certifies George W. Bush winner of 2000 presidential election.
2005 – American Civil Rights Movement: Edgar Ray Killen is arrested as a suspect in the 1964 murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner.
2005 – A train collision in Graniteville, South Carolina, releases about 60 tons of chlorine gas.
2012 – Twenty-six people are killed and 63 wounded when a suicide bomber blows himself up at a police station in Damascus.
2017 – Five people are killed and six others injured in a mass shooting at Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport in Broward County, Florida.
2017 – The US Congress certifies Donald Trump winner of 2016 presidential election.
