Year 1832
Wabash College is founded in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
NOVEMBER 21
Daily Historical Chronicle
UPSC CSE • State PSC • SSC CGL Matrix
21 November: What Happened On This Day in History
Curated historical timeline of momentous political pacts, freedom struggle uprisings, constitutional developments, scientific breakthroughs, and prominent birthdays recorded on 21 November.
Observances & Special Days
World Television Day
Year 1971
Indian troops, partly aided by Mukti Bahini (Bengali guerrillas), defeat the Pakistan army in the Battle of Garibpur.
Year 1877
Thomas Edison announced the invention of the phonograph.
Year 1906
China prohibited opium trade.
Year 1921
Prince of Wales (Emperor Edward VIII) arrived at Bombay (now Mumbai) and Congress declared a nationwide strike.
Year 1947
Independent India’s first postal stamp was issued on this day with the picture of the National Flag of India.
Year 1955
Fight for a united Maharashtra.
Year 1962
Yashwantrao Chavan was appointed Minister of Defence of India.
Year 1962
The Chinese People's Liberation Army declares a unilateral ceasefire in the Sino-Indian War.
Year 1963
India’s space program began with rockets being released from the Thumba region of Kerala.
Year 1962
Indo-China War: A unilateral ceasefire was declared on November 19 by China, which invaded the Indian Territory.
Year 1971
Indian Air Force’s first encounter with Pakistani forces in the Battle of Garibpur in the Bangladesh Liberation War.
Year 1972
South Korea adopted a new constitution.
Year 1991
R. Nagarajan, former Tamil Nadu Home Secretary, arrested for harbouring LTTE militants.
Year 1992
27 killed in a bomb blast engineered by Bodo extremists in a bus in Assam.
Year 1993
India and South Africa sign a historic pact on re-establishing diplomatic and consular relations after a gap of 50 years.
Year 1993
R.F. Botha, Foreign Minister, moots a grouping of Indian Ocean countries.
Year 1996
The first World Television Forum took place and the United Nations General Assembly chose this day to mark World Television Day.
Year 1998
India 'B' beats Sri Lanka 3-2 in the final of the Bristol Freedom Cup four-nation football tournament in Colombo.
Year 1999
China launched its first unmanned spacecraft, Shenzhen.
Year 1999
The Centre retired two members of the Prasar Bharati Board, Ms. Romila Thapar, eminent historian and Mr. Rajendra Yadav.
Year 2001
United Nations proposed the formation of an interim administration in Afghanistan.
Year 2002
NATO invited Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members of the organization.
Year 2005
Sri Lanka’s newly elected President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed former Prime Minister Ratnasiri Vikramanayake as the new Prime Minister of the country.
Year 2006
India and China decided to increase shared cooperation in the field of civil nuclear energy.
Born 1694
Voltaire, a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher.
Born 1872
Kesari Singh Barahath, an Indian freedom fighter, and Rajasthani language poet.
Born 1899
Harekrushna Mahatab, former chief minister of Orissa.
Born 1910
Xian Chong Shu, Chinese writer.
Born 1926
Premnath Malhotra, better known as Prem Nath, an Indian actor, and director.
Born 1933
Datta Samant, an Indian politician, and trade union leader.
Born 1938
Helen, an Indian film actress, and dancer.
Born 1941
Anandiben Mafatbhai Patel, an Indian politician.
Born 1952
Rajendra Darda, Indian politician.
Born 1987
Eesha Karavade, Indian chess player
Died 1517
Sikandar Lodi, the Sultan of Delhi.
Died 1908
Satyendranath Bose, an Indian revolutionary.
Died 1916
Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria.
Died 1969
Norman Alfred William Lindsay, an Australian artist.
Died 1970
C. V. Raman, Indian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
Died 1994
Dr. Malcom Adiseshiah, 84, noted economist and educationist, died.
Died 1996
Mohammed Abdus Salam, the only Pakistani physicist to win the Nobel Prize.
Died 2000
Sir Cyril Astley Clarke, a British physician, geneticist, and lepidopterist.
Died 2012
Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani militant, and a member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba Islamist militant organization.
Died 2015
Ameen Faheem, Indian-Pakistani poet, and politician.
Died 1995
Noel Jones, Indian-English diplomat, British ambassador to Kazakhstan (b. 1940)
Died 2015
Ameen Faheem, Indian-Pakistani poet and politician (b. 1939)