December 5

1484 On December 5, 1484 Pope Innocent VIII issued the papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus  (Latin for "desiring with supreme ardor"). It gave Dominican Inquisitor Heinrich Kramer explicit authority to prosecute witchcraft in Germany.

1492 Christopher Columbus became the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic) on December 5, 1492. The island was called Haiti ("Mountainous Land") by its native people, the Taíno Amerindians.  Hispaniola was the site of the first European colonies in the Americas. 1200 colonists went in 1495 with Columbus to the island.

Christopher Columbus landing on Hispaniola

1560 King Francis II ascended the throne of France at the age of fifteen in 1559. The fragile king suffered from reoccurring headaches and dizzy spells, a face swollen with boils and a constantly runny nose. After returning from a cold November days hunting Francis complained of a pain in his heart. After only 17 months on the throne, Francis II died aged just 16.

1766 James Christie (1730–1803), the founder of auction house Christie's, held his first sale on December 5, 1766, at rooms in Pall Mall, London formerly occupied by the print warehouse of Richard Dalton. His sale included a pair of sheets, two pillowcases and two chamber pots.

The Microcosm of London (1808), an engraving of Christie's auction room

1782 Martin Van Buren was born on December 5, 1782 in Kinderhook, a town in upper state New York. The eighth President of the United States, Van Buren was the first president to be born as a citizen of the United States and the first president not of British or Scots-Irish ancestry (he came from Dutch stock). The presidents before him were born as British subjects.

1791 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in his home on December 5, 1791 (aged 35) at 1:00 am, while he was working on his final composition, the Requiem (unfinished when he passed away). His last words were "You spoke of a refreshment, Emile: Take my last notes, and let me hear once more my solace and delight". The actual cause of Mozart's death is uncertain.  Dozens of theories have been proposed, which include trichinosis, mercury poisoning, and rheumatic fever.

1821 The first man killed by a train was David Brook, a Leeds, Yorkshire carpenter. The tragic accident occurred on December 5, 1821, when he was walking home in a sleet storm along the lines of the Middleton freight railway. Brook was run over with fatal results.

1839 Civil War and Indian Wars commander George Armstrong Custer was born in New Rumley, Harrison County, Ohio on December 5, 1839. Custer was ranked 34th out of 34 in his West Point United States military Academy graduating class. However, as the Civil War was just starting, trained officers were in immediate demand and he was commissioned as a second lieutenant. Custer was killed in 1876, while leading the 7th Cavalry Regiment against the Sioux  at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. 

1870 French author Alexandre Dumas died on December 5, 1870. Dumas wrote in a wide variety of genres and published a total of 100,000 pages in his lifetime. He wrote about 650 books, including The Count Of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. His death was overshadowed by the Franco-Prussian War - changing literary fashions having decreased his popularity.

Dumas Photograph: Nadar Wikipedia

1888 Ed Porray holds the unique distinction of being the only Major League Baseball player born in international waters, specifically on a fishing boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on December 5, 1888. The pitcher's birth certificate lists "At sea, on the Atlantic Ocean" as his birthplace.

1901 Walt Disney was born at 2156 North Tripp Avenue in Hermosa, Chicago, Illinois on December 5, 1901. Walt’s father, Elias Disney, was a professional carpenter by trade who, among other things, worked on the construction of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. When Walt was a boy, he would tell him of the many wonders of the fair, such as the first Ferris wheel, thus inspiring the dreams that would make him successful as an adult.

1916 Amid the First World War and following his loss of support in Parliament, the Liberal Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, H. H. Asquith, resigned from his post on December 5, 1916. Asquith had served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from April 5, 1908. Until Margaret Thatcher overtook hum on January 5, 1988, he was the longest continuously serving Prime Minister in the 20th century.

1926 The French artist Claude Monet died of lung cancer on December 5, 1926 at the age of 86. The statesman Clemenceau raced to Monet's deathbed and ensured that the coffin was decorated with a cloth embroidered with periwinkles and hydrangeas."No black for Monet," he decreed. Monet is buried in the Giverny church cemetery. The artist had insisted that the occasion be simple; thus only about fifty people attended the burial ceremony.

1927 In Thailand, Father's Day is celebrated on December 5th each year. This date coincides with the birthday of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej (December 5, 1927 – October 13, 2016), who was considered the father of the nation. Thais celebrate this day as a way to honor and show appreciation for their fathers and the king's contributions to the country.

1932 Albert Einstein was granted an American visa on December 5, 1932. He visited the United States the following year and when Adolf Hitler came to power the Jewish theoretical physicist did not return again to Germany. A price of 20,000 marks was placed on Einstein's head. Einstein finally became an American citizen in 1940. but retained his Swiss citizenship.

Einstein accepting US citizenship certificate from judge Phillip Forman

1933 13 years, 10 months, 19 days of Prohibition, sometimes referred to as the "noble experiment," came to an end on December 5, 1933. The 18th Amendment, which prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages was repealed at 4:31 p.m. However the states retained the right to restrict or ban the purchase and sale of alcohol and some states continued to enforce prohibition laws for a number of years.

1952 The "Great Smog" began in London on December 5, 1952 and lasted for five days, causing 12,000 deaths and making 150.000 people ill. It led to the Clean Air Act 1956. The term 'pea souper coined' by Londoners for smog, refers to the greenish yellow hue of fog that contains both soot and poisonous sulphur dioxide.

1958 The eight-mile long Preston Bypass, Britain's first motorway was opened by Prime Minister Harold MacMillan on December 5, 1958. The road was originally built with two lanes in each direction, but with space in the central reservation for an extra lane to be added each way at a later date. It is now part of the M6.

1975 Snooker player Ronnie O'Sullivan was born on December 5, 1975. His father, also named Ronnie, served 18 years behind bars for murder. O'Sullivan is considered one of the greatest snooker players of all time. A prolific break-builder, he is the only player to have achieved 1,000 career century breaks. Known for his quick style of play, O'Sullivan's 147 against Mick Price at the 1997 World Championship took him just 5 minutes and 8 seconds. It is the fastest maximum in history.

1983 Bishop John Robinson died on December 5, 1983. A left wing modernist, The Anglican Bishop of Woolwich, John A.T. Robinson was a major force in promoting the modern liberal Christian theology that came to the fore in the 1960s.

2006 Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, staged a military takeover on December 5, 2006. Three years later, Fiji was suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations as Cdre. Bainimarama failed to hold elections by 2010, which the Commonwealth of Nations had demanded after the coup.

2013 After being in and out of hospital several time for a continuous lung infections, Nelson Mandela was discharged on September 1, 2013 though his condition remained unstable. Mandela died at his Houghton Estate home in Johannesburg on December 5, 2013 from the lung infection. He was 95 years old.

Nelson Mandela on the eve of his 90th birthday

2014 Korean Air vice president Heather Cho was so angry about receiving macadamia nuts in a bag instead of on a plate during a flight from New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport on December 5, 2014, she ordered the aircraft to return to the gate before take-off and unload the offending flight attendant. "Nutgate" ended up costing her five months in jail. 

2015 In the week that Justin Bieber's Purpose album was released, the Canadian star posted 17 songs on the Hot 100, the most that any artist has placed on the chart in a single week. The Canadian star's tally on the December 5, 2015 Hot 100, was overtaken by Drake on the Hot 100 dated July 14, 2017, who logged an unprecedented 27 songs on the chart. Country star Morgan Wallen now holds the record with 36 songs posted on the chart dated March 18, 2023. 

2017 Zhong Zhong (born November 27, 2017) and Hua Hua (born December 5, 2017) are identical crab-eating macaques that were created by Chinese scientists through somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), the same cloning technique that produced Dolly the sheep. They are the first cloned primates produced by this technique.