◆ On this day

December 13

4 sourced moments from December 13 in history: Drake sailed round the world second, but first as captain (1577); Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand (1642); The Nanjing Massacre began (1937), plus 1 more.

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4 things happened on December 13

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2003 History · War & Conflict

Saddam Hussein was captured in Iraq

On December 13, 2003, U.S. forces pulled the deposed Iraqi leader from a cramped "spider hole" near his hometown of Tikrit.

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1937 History · War & Conflict

The Nanjing Massacre began

When Japan's army stormed China's capital, weeks of mass killing turned a fallen city into one of the war's gravest atrocities.

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1642 Geography · Landmarks & Wonders

Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand

On December 13, 1642, a Dutch trading expedition spotted a strange coast on the horizon and stumbled into the bottom of the world.

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1577 History · Modern

Drake sailed round the world second, but first as captain

Francis Drake left Plymouth on 13 December 1577 on a voyage so secret that many of his crew thought they were going to the Mediterranean.

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