January 15 in history — On This Day

A photograph taken after the 1871 fire can make Chicago look as though its future had been decided by a wall of flame. A view from around 1905 tells a different story: tall offices, busy transport routes and commercial streets crowded again.

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Al-Shabaab overruns a Kenyan base at El Adde

Also on January 15

Angola’s independence transition is negotiated at Alvor

Biafra’s surrender ends the Nigerian Civil War

This Week in History

The Battle of Vĩnh Yên begins

Napoleon III survives the Orsini attack

The Treaty of Kiel changes Norway’s status

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Politics

Angola’s independence transition is negotiated at Alvor

War & Conflict

Al-Shabaab overruns a Kenyan base at El Adde

Space

Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 dock in orbit

Technology

Karl Benz files his motor-car patent

History

The Iron Guard launches a rebellion and pogrom in Bucharest

Saima begins publishing in Kuopio

The First Times Square New Year's Ball Drops

Crime & Justice

Shahzad Luqman is murdered in Athens

Journalist Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Karachi

A Chilean court issues sentences in the Chiloé witchcraft trial

Science

Alfred Wegener presents continental drift

Astronomers identify Eris in earlier images

The Hale Telescope records its first light

Medicine & Health

Researchers identify the bacterium behind Legionnaires’ disease

The Bundaberg vaccine contamination disaster unfolds

Hong Kong Begins a Mass Poultry Cull Against Bird Flu

Nature & Disasters

The Messina Earthquake

The Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami

The Andes Flight Survivors' Rescue Is Completed

Exploration

Amundsen's Team Reaches the South Pole

Tasman's Expedition Sights New Zealand

Francis Drake Begins His Circumnavigation Voyage

Sport

The Montreal Canadiens Are Founded

FC Barcelona Is Founded

Magic Johnson Announces He Has HIV and Retires From the Lakers

Art & Literature

The first part of Don Quixote reaches readers

Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard premieres in Moscow

The Palais Garnier opens in Paris

Music

Handel’s Ariodante opens at Covent Garden

Bach presents his Epiphany cantata BWV 123

Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov reaches the stage

Film & TV

Ouagadougou opens its first African film festival

A Paris cinema demonstrates digital projection

The Lumière Cinématographe Is Shown to a Paying Paris Audience

The Story Behind the Photo

Chicago After the Fire: From Burned Blocks to a New Skyline

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The Road to the Moon

Fires That Changed Cities

The Age of Invention

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