Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/December 31

December 31: New Year's Eve, Eid ul-Adha in Islam (2006), Hogmanay in Scotland.

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, the first President of Russia

• 406 - The Vandals, Alans and Suebians crossed the Rhine River to begin an invasion of Gaul.

• 1600 - The British East India Company was founded by a Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I.

• 1963 - The Central African Federation officially collapsed, eventually to become Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.

• 1972 - American baseball player Roberto Clemente died in a plane crash en route to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

• 1999 - Boris Yeltsin (pictured), the first democratically elected President of Russia, resigned and named Vladimir Putin as Acting President.

Recent days: December 30 – December 29 – December 28

More anniversaries:

• November 30
• December 1
• December 2