December 5: What Happened on This Day in History (Elementary Level)?

(Page last edited 10/12/2017)

1. 1492 - Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
2. 1831 - Former US President John Quincy Adams takes his seat in the House of Representatives.
3. 1848 - California Gold Rush: In a message before the U.S. Congress, US President James K. Polk confirms that large amounts of gold had been discovered in California.
4. 1955 - E.D. Nixon and Rosa Parks lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
5. 1958 - The Preston bypass, the UK's first stretch of motorway, opens to traffic for the first time. It is now part of the M6 and M55 motorways.
6. Famous Birthdays: Martin Van Buren (American politician, 8th President of the United States), George Armstrong Custer (American general), Carl Ferdinand Cori (Czech biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate), Walt Disney (American animator, director, screenwriter, and producer, co-founded The Walt Disney Company), Cecil Frank Powell (English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate)

For famous birthdays and other daily events in history, visit our Daily Dose Activities.

Click Here for Yesterday in History: December 4

Click Here for Tomorrow in History: December 6

For more history resources on Internet 4 Classrooms, visit our Social Studies and History index. For Pre K-8th Grade Level History and Social Studies Resources, visit our Grade Level Index.