18 November on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born

The old St. Peter's Basilica is consecrated by Pope Sylvester I.

The Visigoths, led by king Alaric I, cross the Alps and invade northern Italy.

The Council of Clermont begins: called by Pope Urban II, it led to the First Crusade to the Holy Land.

Maginulfo is elected Antipope Sylvester IV in opposition to Pope Paschal II.

Pope Innocent III excommunicates Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV for invading the Kingdom of Sicily after promising to recognize papal control over it.

Pope Boniface VIII issues the Papal bull Unam sanctam, claiming spiritual supremacy for the papacy.

St Elizabeth's flood: A dike in the Grote Hollandse Waard in the Netherlands breaks, killing about 10,000 people.

Christopher Columbus first sights the island now known as Puerto Rico.

The Siege of Godes­berg, the first major siege of the Cologne War, began.

Tiryaki Hasan Pasha, an Ottoman provincial governor, routs the Habsburg forces commanded by Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria who were besieging Nagykanizsa.

The new St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is consecrated.

The future Frederick the Great of Prussia is granted a pardon by his father and is released from confinement.

The rebuilt debtors' prison, at the Castellania in Valletta, receives the first prisoners.

The Battle of Vertières, the last major battle of the Haitian Revolution, is fought, leading to the establishment of the Republic of Haiti, the first black republic in the Western Hemisphere.

Napoleonic Wars: In a naval action, French frigates defeat British East Indiamen in the Bay of Bengal.

Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Krasnoi ends in French defeat, but Marshal of France Michel Ney's leadership leads to him becoming known as "the bravest of the brave".

King Christian IX of Denmark signs the November constitution that declares Schleswig to be part of Denmark. This is seen by the German Confederation as a violation of the London Protocol and leads to the German–Danish war of 1864.

"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was published, becoming the first great success of American author Mark Twain.

An earthquake strikes the Virgin Islands, triggering the largest tsunami witnessed in the Caribbean and killing dozens.

Susan B. Anthony and 14 other women are arrested for voting illegally in the United States presidential election of 1872.

In the "day of two noons", American and Canadian railroad companies institute four standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.

Elisha P. Ferry is inaugurated as first governor of Washington.

Britain and the United States sign the Hay–Pauncefote Treaty, which nullifies the Clayton–Bulwer Treaty and withdraws British objections to an American-controlled canal in Panama.

The Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty is signed by the United States and Panama, giving the United States exclusive rights over the Panama Canal Zone.

Prince Carl of Denmark becomes King Haakon VII of Norway.

Two United States warships are sent to Nicaragua after 500 revolutionaries (including two Americans) are executed by order of José Santos Zelaya.

In their campaign for women's voting rights, hundreds of suffragettes march to the British Parliament in London. Several are beaten by police, newspaper attention embarrasses the authorities, and the march is dubbed Black Friday.

World War I: First Battle of the Somme: In France, British Expeditionary Force commander Douglas Haig calls off the battle which started on July 1, 1916.

Latvia declares its independence from Russia.

Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon.

Grand Banks earthquake: Off the south coast of Newfoundland in the Atlantic Ocean, a Richter magnitude 7.2 submarine earthquake, centered on the Grand Banks, breaks 12 submarine transatlantic telegraph cables and triggers a tsunami that destroys many south coast communities in the Burin Peninsula.

World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous Italian invasion of Greece.

World War II: In the first action of the Berlin Air Offensive, four hundred and forty Royal Air Force planes bomb Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF loses nine aircraft and 53 air crew.

The Popular Socialist Youth is founded in Cuba.

The Ballantyne's Department Store fire in Christchurch, New Zealand, kills 41; it is the worst fire disaster in the history of New Zealand.

The Iva Valley Shooting occurs after the coal miners of Enugu in Nigeria go on strike over withheld wages; 21 miners are shot dead and 51 are wounded by police under the supervision of the British colonial administration of Nigeria.

At the Polish embassy in Moscow, a phrase in an address by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was translated into English as "We will bury you", prompting Western envoys to leave the room.

Vietnam War: United States President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam.

The Bell Telephone Company introduces the first push-button telephone.

U.S. President Richard Nixon asks the U.S. Congress for $155 million in supplemental aid for the Cambodian government.

Oman declares its independence from the United Kingdom.

Solomon Islands ratified the adoption of a new flag.

In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones leads his Peoples Temple to a mass murder–suicide that claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them in Jonestown itself, including over 270 children.

The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet makes its first flight, at the Naval Air Test Center in Maryland, United States.

Aeroflot Flight 6833 is hijacked en route from Tbilisi to Leningrad. After returning to Tbilisi, the aircraft is subsequently raided on the ground, resulting in seven deaths.

The first comic of Calvin and Hobbes is published in ten newspapers.

King's Cross fire: In London, 31 people die in a fire at the city's busiest underground station, King's Cross St Pancras.

After an 87-day siege, the Croatian city of Vukovar capitulates to the besieging Yugoslav People's Army and allied Serb paramilitary forces.

Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon release Anglican Church envoys Terry Waite and Thomas Sutherland.

The autonomous Croatian Community of Herzeg-Bosnia, which would in 1993 become a republic, was established in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The current flag of Uzbekistan was adopted, making the country the first newly independent republic in Central Asia to choose a new flag.

In South Africa, 21 political parties approve a new constitution, expanding voting rights and ending white minority rule.

In the United States, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is approved by the House of Representatives.

A fire occurs on a train traveling through the Channel Tunnel from France to England causing several injuries and damaging approximately 500 metres (1,600 ft) of tunnel.

At Texas A&M University, the Aggie Bonfire collapses killing 12 students and injuring 27 others.

Iraq disarmament crisis: United Nations weapons inspectors led by Hans Blix arrive in Iraq.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules 4–3 in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and gives the state legislature 180 days to change the law making Massachusetts the first state in the United States to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples.

The sandbox video game Minecraft exited beta with the official release of version 1.0.

Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria becomes the 118th Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.

NASA launches the MAVEN probe to Mars.

Two Palestinian men attacked the praying congregants of a synagogue in Jerusalem with axes, knives, and a gun, resulting in eight deaths, including the attackers themselves.

Cyclone Numa, a rare "medicane", made landfall in Greece to become the worst weather event that the country had experienced since 1977.

The Utah monolith, built sometime in 2016 is discovered by state biologists of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

Margaret Atwood, Canadian author

Louis Daguerre, French artist, photographer and inventor (died 1851)

Carl Maria von Weber, German composer and conductor (probable; died 1826)

Owen Wilson, American actor

Patrick Blackett, Baron Blackett, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1974)

Pierre Bayle, French philosopher and author (died 1706)

Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 6th President of Sri Lanka

Alan Shepard, American astronaut (died 1998)

Alan Moore, English author

Peter Schmeichel, Danish footballer and sportscaster

Kirk Hammett, American guitarist, songwriter, member of the thrash metal band Metallica

Klaus Mann, German-American novelist, short story writer, and critic (died 1949)

Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Polish pianist, composer, and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland (died 1941)

Chloë Sevigny, American actress, model, and fashion designer

Allyson Felix, American sprinter

George Wald, American neurobiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1997)

Frances Marion, American screenwriter, novelist and journalist (died 1973)

Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, Finnish-Swedish geologist and explorer (died 1901)

Kim Wilde, English singer-songwriter

Jacques Maritain, French philosopher and author (died 1973)

Mike Epps, American actor and comedian

Amanda Lear, Hong Kong-French singer-songwriter and actress

Marc Albrighton, English footballer

W. S. Gilbert, English playwright, poet, and illustrator (died 1911)

Robert Sánchez, Spanish footballer

Brenda Vaccaro, American actress

Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (died 1929)

Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora, Italian general and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Italy (died 1878)

Compay Segundo, Cuban singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2003)

Asa Gray, American botanist and academic (died 1888)

Sait Faik Abasıyanık, Turkish author and poet (died 1954)

Steven Moffat, Scottish screenwriter and producer

George Gallup, American statistician (died 1984)

Elizabeth Perkins, American actress

Jake Abel, American actor

Nathan Kress, American actor and director

Akram Afif, Qatari footballer

Megyn Kelly, American lawyer and journalist

Leonardo Sandri, Argentinian cardinal

Delroy Lindo, English-American actor and director

Petter Solberg, Norwegian racing driver

Emperor Kōnin of Japan (died 782)

Wilhelmine of Prussia, Queen of the Netherlands (died 1837)

August Kundt, German physicist and educator (died 1894)

David Hemmings, English actor and director (died 2003)

Linda Evans, American actress

Wilma Mankiller, American tribal chief (died 2010)

Johnny Mercer, American singer-songwriter and producer, co-founded Capitol Records (died 1976)

Ted Stevens, American politician (died 2010)

Thérèse Coffey, English chemist and politician

Marie-Josée Ta Lou, Ivorian sprinter

Eleonora Gonzaga, Italian wife of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1686)

Ennio Antonelli, Italian cardinal

Wyndham Lewis, English painter and critic (died 1957)

Ferenc Münnich, Hungarian soldier and politician, 47th Prime Minister of Hungary (died 1967)

Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian-American violinist and conductor (died 1985)

Pedro Infante, Mexican actor and singer (died 1957)

Don Cherry, American trumpet player (died 1995)

Kevin Nealon, American comedian and actor

Carter Burwell, American composer and conductor