Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/January 1
This is a list of selected January 1 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
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January 1: New Year's Day in the Gregorian calendar
- 1801 – Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi discovered the dwarf planet Ceres (pictured), naming it after the Roman goddess of growing plants and of motherly love.
- 1801 – The Kingdom of Ireland formally merged with the Kingdom of Great Britain, adding St. Patrick's saltire to the Union Flag.
- 1818 – Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, a novel by Mary Shelley, was first published in London.
- 1901 – The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia federated as the Commonwealth of Australia.
- 1959 – Cuban President Fulgencio Batista fled to the Dominican Republic as forces under Fidel Castro took control of Havana, marking the end of the Cuban Revolution.
- 1999 – The euro, the official currency of the European Union's Eurozone, was introduced.