Henri Matisse
b. 1869
On This Day · The 365th day of the year
December 31
As calendar dates go, December 31 keeps a short memory — its record stays close to the present. Most of the weight falls in the 20th century, where conflict is a recurring thread.
Capricorn is the sign for December 31 — read more on the Capricorn page, or see December's birthstone & birth flower.
Compiled & reviewed by Roman Tailor · Last reviewed September 6, 2026
What happened on December 31?
December 31 is the 365th day of the year. It marks 10 notable events in history, dated between 1759 and 2004. Famous people born on December 31 include Henri Matisse, Jacques Cartier and Alex Salmond.
Released on December 31
Movies, games, albums & shows2026
- Game Active Matter
- Game Bellum
- Game Castlevania: Belmont's Curse
- Game Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival
- Game End of Abyss
- Game Game of Thrones: War for Westeros
- Game Gears of War: E-Day
- Game Infinitesimals
- Game Kena: Scars of Kosmora
- Game Lords of the Fallen II
- Game Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra
- Game Metro 2039
- Game Mortal Shell II
- Game Mudang: Two Hearts
- Game Nivalis
- Game Ontos
- Game Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy
- Game Squadron 42
- Game Stranger Than Heaven
- Game The Duskbloods
- Game The Eternal Life of Goldman
- Game The Sinking City 2
- Game Valor Mortis
- Game Witchbrook
- Game Aniimo
- Game There Are No Ghosts at the Grand
- Game Turok: Origins
- Game Professor Layton and the New World of Steam
- Game Star Wars Zero Company
- Game Hela: Of Mice & Magic
- Game Sea of Remnants
- Game ArcheAge Chronicles
- Game Over the Hill
- Game Big Walk
- Game Showa American Story
- Game Blighted
- Game Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement
- Game Haunted by Femboy
- Game SacriFire
- Game Ikuma: The Frozen Compass
- Game Mariachi Legends
- Game Dark Mass
- Game Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave
- Game Liminal Point
- Game Shadow of the Road
- Game Tears of Metal
- Game Tenebris Somnia
- Game Tenjutsu
2023
- TV The Bay of Spies
Release data from TMDB & IGDB.
Events
10 notable moments- 1759
Arthur Guinness
- 1775
American Revolutionary War
- 1857
Queen Victoria
- 1862
Abraham Lincoln
- 1907
Times Square Ball
- 1961
RTÉ
- 1965
Jean-Bédel Bokassa
- 1986
Dupont Plaza Hotel arson
- 1998
European Exchange Rate Mechanism
- 2004
Taipei 101
Famous birthday twins
Born on December 31Jacques Cartier
b. 1491
Alex Salmond
b. 1954
Grégory Coupet
b. 1972
Horacio Quiroga
b. 1878
Muhammad ibn al-Qasim
b. 695
Alex Ferguson
b. 1941
Simon Wiesenthal
b. 1908
Deaths
- 2022Pope Benedict XVI
- 1993Brandon Teena
- 1972Roberto Clemente
- 1877Gustave Courbet
- 1691Robert Boyle
- 192Commodus
Holidays & observances
- —Christian feast day: Pope Sylvester I (Catholic Church)
- —Christian feast day: December 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- —International Solidarity Day of Azerbaijanis (Azerbaijan)
- —New Year's Eve (International observance), and its related observances: First Night (United States)
- —New Year's Eve (International observance), and its related observances: Last Day of the Year or Bisperás ng Bagong Taón, special holiday between Rizal Day and New Year's Day (Philippines)
- —New Year's Eve (International observance), and its related observances: Novy God Eve (Russia)
- —New Year's Eve (International observance), and its related observances: Ōmisoka (Japan)
- —New Year's Eve (International observance), and its related observances: The first day of Hogmanay or "Auld Year's Night" (Scotland)
The factual record above — event titles, dates, names, and observances — is drawn from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. DateLore adds curation, structure, and original editorial commentary. DateLore is not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.
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