Jan van Riebeeck departed for Cape of Good Hope to found the first permanent European settlement.
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The first great fire of early San Francisco started on the east side of the Plaza.
Eleven kindergarten children were killed after a minivan plunged into a roadside pond in Jiangxi, China.
Several Confederate veterans formed the Ku Klux Klan in Pulaski, Tennessee.
James Cook visited Christmas Island.
The Christmas carol 'Silent Night' composed by Franz Xaver Gruber was first sung at St Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf, Austria.
