January 2 has seen empires fall and new nations rise, with events spanning conquest and scientific progress.
The Moorish city of Granada surrendered to the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II and Isabella I, ending nearly 800 years of Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula. The Reconquista was complete, fundamentally reshaping Spanish and European history.
Georgia became the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, doing so unanimously. The swift ratification reflected the state's desire for federal protection against Native American resistance on its frontier.
Louis Daguerre took the first known photograph of the Moon using his daguerreotype process in Paris. Though the image was later destroyed in a fire, it marked the beginning of astrophotography.
The Russian garrison at Port Arthur surrendered to Japanese forces after a brutal 154-day siege. This was one of the first major victories of an Asian power over a European nation in modern warfare.
Japanese forces captured Manila, the capital of the Philippines, just weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. General Douglas MacArthur had declared Manila an open city to prevent its destruction, withdrawing to Bataan.
The Soviet Union launched Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon. While it missed its intended lunar impact, it became the first artificial object to achieve heliocentric orbit.
NASA's Stardust spacecraft successfully flew through the coma of Comet Wild 2, collecting dust samples. It returned these samples to Earth in 2006, providing the first cometary material ever brought back for laboratory analysis.