Wikipedia defines history as the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. It came from the Greek word ‘historia’ – which means ‘inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation’.

Did you know? There are many who claim Herodotus, a fifth century BC Greek historian, as the “father of history”.

This website utilizes pages from Wikipedia to extract historical events from 3761 BC up to the present. There are 105,060 records in the database that include events, births and deaths of popular individuals. The present day Gregorian calendar was adopted to show dates of interest.

Let us begin with today’s history. You may also enter a specific day using the form on the top bar. Year is optional.

What are the important events that happened on November 20? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

November 20: Facts & Myths About This Day

November 20 is the 325^th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 41 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is November 7, 2024 – a Wednesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 481,128 hours has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘trihectaicosapentagon’ day.

Scorpio is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Topaz is the modern birthstone for this month. Pearl is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 70 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,352 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

November 20 Historical Events

• 762 –
  During An Shi Rebellion, Tang Dynasty, with the help of Huihe tribe, recaptured Luoyang from the rebels.
• 1861 –
  American Civil War: Secession ordinance is filed by Kentucky’s Confederate government.
• 1943 –
  World War II: Battle of Tarawa (Operation Galvanic) begins – United States Marines land on Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands and suffer heavy fire from Japanese shore guns and machine guns.
• 1994 –
  The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign the Lusaka Protocol in Zambia, ending 19 years of civil war (localized fighting resumes the next year).
• 1998 –
  The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched.

Who were born on November 20?

• 1750 –
  Tipu Sultan, Indian ruler (d. 1799)
• 1892 –
  James Collip, Canadian biochemist, co-discoverer of insulin (d. 1965)
• 1905 –
  François, 9th duc de Noailles, French nobelman (d. 2009)
• 1929 –
  Don January, American professional golfer
• 1976 –
  Laura Harris, Canadian actress

Who died on November 20?

• 1518 –
  Pierre de La Rue, Flemish composer
• 1910 –
  Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Russian novelist (b. 1828)
• 1945 –
  Francis William Aston, British chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1877)
• 1984 –
  Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Pakistani poet (b. 1911)
• 1995 –
  Robie Macauley, American novelist and literary critic (b. 1919)