Today in History in 1845 Texas is admitted as the 28th U.S. state; in 1851 The first American–based YMCA opens, in Boston, Massachusetts; and in 1891 Thomas Edison patents the radio.

The On This Day In History archives at “Simple English Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia” contains over 200,000 events, birthdays and deaths from 6,000 years of history. Here is a roundup of a few of them:

December 29 is the 363rd day of the year (364th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are two days remaining until the end of the year.

EVENTS

1170 – Thomas Becket, is slain in his own cathedral on orders from Henry II of England.

1778 – American Revolutionary War: 3,000 British soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell capture Savannah, Georgia, US.

1786 – French Revolution: The Assembly of the Notables is convened.

1813 – War of 1812: British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York.

1837 – The Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, is destroyed by fire.

1845 – Texas is admitted as the 28th U.S. state.

1851 – The first American–based YMCA opens, in Boston, Massachusetts

1860 – The first British seagoing iron–clad warship, the HMS Warrior is launched.

1874 – Alfonso XII of Spain is declared as King.

1876 – The Ashtabula River Railroad bridge disaster, 64 injured, 92 dead at Ashtabula, Ohio.

1890 – Wounded Knee Massacre: The United States soldiers massacre over 400 men, women and children of the Great Sioux Nation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.

1891 – Thomas Edison patents the radio.

1893 – French astronomer Stéphane Javelle discovers the pair of galaxies named IC 298.

1911 – Sun Yat–sen becomes the first President of the Republic of China.

1911 – Mongolia becomes independent.

1913 – The first movie serial, The Unwelcome Throne is released by Seligs Polyscope Company.

1921 – William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes Prime Minister of Canada for the first time.

1930 – Muhammad Iqbal's presidential address in Allahabad introduces the two–nation theory and outlines a vision for what would become Pakistan.

1934 – The first college basketball game at Madison Square Garden in New York City is played, between the University of Notre Dame and New York University.

1934 – Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.

1937 – The Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland when a new constitution is adopted.

1940 – Battle of Britain: Luftwaffe firebombs London, killing almost 3000 civilians .

1949 – KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.

1959 – The Lisbon Metro begins operating.

1972 – An Eastern Airlines Lockheed Tristar crashed on approach to Miami International Airport, Florida, killing 101

1975 – A bomb explodes at New York City's LaGuardia Airport killing 11.

1978 – The first post–Franco constitution in Spain becomes effective.

1981 – Singapore Changi Airport opens.

1987 – Yuri Romanenko of USSR remained in outer space for 326 days and came back to Earth on this day that year.

1989 – Václav Havel becomes President of Czechoslovakia

1989 – Riots break–out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.

1989 – On the final day of trading for the year and decade, the Japanese Nikkei 225 Average closes at an all–time high of 38,915.87.

1992 – Fernando Collor de Mello, President of Brazil, resigns.

1993 – Construction of the Tian Tan Buddha, the world's tallest outdoor bronze statue of the seated Buddha, is completed.

1993 – Garry Kasparov wins the world champion chess title from Anatoly Karpov.

1996 – Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Union sign a peace accord that ends a 36–year civil war.

1997 – Hong Kong begins to kill all the nation's chickens (1.25 million) to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain.

1998 – Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million lives in the 1970s.

2001 – A fire at the Mesa Redonda Shopping Centre in Lima, Peru, kills 292 people.

2003 – The last speaker of the Akkala Sami language dies, making the language extinct.

2007 – The New England Patriots defeated the New York Giants 38–35 and became the first team with 16 wins and no losses.

2009 – Akmal Shaikh becomes the first citizen of a present–day European Union country to be executed in the People's Republic of China for over 50 years.

2011 – This date is followed by December 31 in Samoa and Tokelau, as the International Date Line is shifted.

2012 – 2012 Delhi gang rape case: A 23–year–old student attacked on a bus on December 16 dies of her injuries.

2013 – A suicide bomb attack on a train station in Volgograd, southern Russia, kills at least 16 people.

2013 – Formula One champion Michael Schumacher is severely injured in a skiing accident in the French Alps.

2014 – Politicians in Greece are unable to elect a President, with main candidate Stavros Dimas failing to get enough votes. New elections are called for January 2015.

2016 – The Duge Bridge in Luipanshui, People's Republic of China, the tallest bridge in the world, is opened to traffic.

2016 – Barack Obama's administration expels 35 Russian diplomats in response to alleged Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.

2017 – A fire at a hotel and restaurant complex in Mumbai kills 14 people.