The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was released in theaters in the US.
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Pope Celestine V resigned after just five months in the job to return to his life as an ascetic hermit.
New Zealand made history by passing the world’s first tobacco ban.
The first European explorer discovered New Zealand.
Sir Francis Drake set sail from England on a circumnavigation of the world.
The third and last moonwalk of the Apollo 17 mission began.