What happened on 12 January?

8 events from the Ever-When timeline, ranked by how much they mattered.

1. 1848 Revolutions of 1848 Wave of liberal-nationalist uprisings across Europe; most are suppressed.
2. 1863 Born: Swami Vivekananda Hindu reformer who introduced Vedanta to the West at the 1893 Parliament of Religions.
3. 2010 Haiti earthquake A catastrophic quake levels Port-au-Prince, killing well over 200,000 and leaving the hemisphere's poorest nation in ruins.
4. 1848 Revolution breaks out in Palermo Six weeks before Paris rises, Sicilians drive the Bourbon garrison out of Palermo and force a constitution from their king — the first of the year's revolutions. By spring, half th
5. 1964 Zanzibar Revolution An uprising overthrows Zanzibar's Arab sultanate in a bloody revolution, leading to union with Tanganyika as Tanzania.
6. 1729 Born: Edmund Burke Anglo-Irish statesman; founder of modern political conservatism.
7. 1959 Motown founded Berry Gordy's Detroit label creates a crossover sound that carries Black American music into the pop mainstream.
8. 1906 1906 Liberal landslide Liberal government inaugurates pensions, school meals and the foundations of welfare.