December 6: Facts & Historical Events On This Day

Taylor Swift was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.

The famed pop singer and cultural icon was the first ever to win the prestigious award based on success in the arts. The award has traditionally been given to men, particularly those in traditional positions of power.

James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of the Water premiered in London.

Released thirteen years after Avatar, The Way of the Water is the second of five films set in Cameron's Avatar universe. It was celebrated for its dazzling imagery but was largely let down by its two-dimensional plot and characters.

Scientists discovered the most distant supermassive black hole.

It's estimated to be 13 billion light-years away and 800 million times the mass of our Sun.

A first edition of “The Birds of America” by John James Audubon was auctioned at Sotheby’s, London, England, for £7,321,250 – which took the record for any book at auction.

Adaptation directed by Spike Jonze, starring Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep, premiered.

A six-day siege began in London when an IRA unit took a couple hostage in their flat while fleeing the police.

The Altamont free concert occurred.

Three hundred thousand people attended this concert in California, which featured The Rolling Stones. However, the concert turned violent, resulting in 3 deaths and numerous injured.

Hasbro was founded as Hassenfeld Brothers in Providence, Rhode Island.

It started as a company to sell textile remnants.

The Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed.

This treaty resulted in Ireland receiving dominion status and concluded the Irish War of Independence. The treaty included an opportunity for Northern Ireland to withdraw from the Irish Free State, which it took.

Finland declared its independence from the Russian Empire.

Prior to this, Finland was the Grand Principality of Finland, an autonomous state within the empire. With the abdication of Russia's Tsar during the February revolution, Finland believed they were no longer bound to the Russian Empire and decided to strike out on their own. On December 18, the Soviet Union finally recognized Finland's independence.

US President Abraham Lincoln ordered the hanging of 39 Santee Sioux Indians.

Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery.

When she escaped her plantation in Maryland, she followed the North Star for 90 miles on foot until she reached Philadelphia. She went on to establish the Underground Railroad and freed over 300 slaves.

Claudius Amyand performed the first recorded appendectomy at St George’s Hospital in London.

Spanish conquistadors founded the city of Quito.

The city was first founded on August 15 as Santiago de Quito in another location, before being renamed San Francisco de Quito three days later. It seems indecisiveness was trending at the time, as it was then later moved to the location of present-day Quito by Sebastián de Benalcázar.

Béla I was crowned king of Hungary.