Events in History
Historic Discovery
Dec 13 Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sights the South Island of present day New Zealand; initially he calls it Staten Landt and changes it a year later to Nieuw Zeeland
Abel Tasman
- Dec 18 Abel Tasman's expedition sails around Farewell Spit and into Golden Bay, first sighting local Māori in New Zealand
- Dec 19 4 of Abel Tasman's crew killed at Wharewharangi (Murderers) Bay by Māori; Tasman's ships depart without landing
- Dec 22 Pope Urbanus VIII publishes decree In eminente
Birthdays in History
Isaac Newton
Dec 25 Isaac Newton, English physicist, mathematician and astronomer (Gravity, Laws of Motion), born in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, England (d. 1727)
Isaac Newton
- Dec 30 Vincenzo da Filicaja, Italian poet (d. 1707)
Deaths in History
- Dec 4 Armand-Jean Duplessis Richelieu, bishop of Lucon, dies at about 57