What happened on 23 January?

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

1. 1368 Hongwu Emperor founds Ming Former peasant rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang proclaims the Ming dynasty in Nanjing; centralises imperial power.
2. 1516 Habsburg Spain Spain united under the Habsburgs from 1516.
3. 1783 Born: Stendhal (Marie-Henri Beyle) Novelist; psychological realism in Le Rouge et le Noir.
4. 1897 Born: Subhas Chandra Bose Indian nationalist leader who allied with the Axis powers to oust the British.
5. 2020 Wuhan lockdown Chinese authorities lock down Wuhan (population 11M) to contain the novel coronavirus outbreak; first lockdown of a major modern city.
6. 1579 Union of Utrecht The northern provinces bind themselves into a defensive union with freedom of conscience — the de facto constitution of the Dutch Republic for over two centuries.
7. 1565 Battle of Talikota Deccan Sultanate alliance crushes Vijayanagara; city destroyed; effective end of major Hindu political power in southern India.
8. 1832 Born: Édouard Manet Pivotal French painter linking Realism and Impressionism.
9. 1793 Second Partition of Poland Russia and Prussia punish the May Constitution by carving away half the Commonwealth's remaining territory, leaving a rump state that would not survive two years.
10. 1849 Elizabeth Blackwell takes the first American medical degree awarded to a woman Geneva Medical College admitted her as a practical joke by the student body; she graduated top of the class.