| 5101 | January 12 | Event | 2004 – The world's largest ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary 2, makes its maiden voyage. |
| 5102 | January 12 | Event | 2005 – Deep Impact launches from Cape Canaveral on a Delta II rocket. |
| 5103 | January 12 | Event | 2006 – A stampede during the Stoning of the Devil ritual on the last day at the Hajj in Mina, Saudi Arabia, kills at least 362 Muslim pilgrims. |
| 5104 | January 12 | Event | 2006 – The French warship Clemenceau reaches Egypt and is barred access to the Suez Canal. Greenpeace activists board the ship. |
| 5105 | January 12 | Event | 2007 – Comet C/2006 P1 (McNaught) reaches perihelion becoming the brightest comet in more than 40 years. |
| 5106 | January 12 | Event | 2010 – An earthquake occurs killing an estimated 316,000 and destroying the majority of the capital Port-au-Prince. |
| 5107 | January 12 | Event | 2012 – Violent protests occur in Bucharest, Romania, as two-day-old demonstrations continue against President Traian Băsescu's economic austerity measures. Clashes are reported in numerous Romanian cities between protesters and law enforcement officers. |
| 5108 | January 12 | Event | 2015 – Cameroon kills 143 Boko Haram fighters in clashes. |
| 5109 | January 12 | Event | 2015 – A serviceman stationed at the Russian 102nd Military Base, kills seven people in Gyumri, Armenia. |
| 5110 | January 12 | Birth | 1483 – Henry III of Nassau-Breda (d. 1538) |
| 5111 | January 12 | Birth | 1562 – Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1630) |
| 5112 | January 12 | Birth | 1576 – Petrus Scriverius, Dutch historian and scholar (d. 1660) |
| 5113 | January 12 | Birth | 1577 – Jan Baptist van Helmont, Flemish chemist and physician (d. 1644) |
| 5114 | January 12 | Birth | 1580 – Alexander Ruthven, Scottish traitor (d. 1600) |
| 5115 | January 12 | Birth | 1588 – John Winthrop, English-American lawyer and politician, 2nd Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (d. 1649) |
| 5116 | January 12 | Birth | 1591 – Jusepe de Ribera, Spanish painter (d. 1652) |
| 5117 | January 12 | Birth | 1597 – François Duquesnoy, Flemish sculptor (d. 1643) |
| 5118 | January 12 | Birth | 1628 – Charles Perrault, French author (d. 1703) |
| 5119 | January 12 | Birth | 1673 – Rosalba Carriera, Italian painter (d. 1757) |
| 5120 | January 12 | Birth | 1711 – Gaetano Latilla, Italian composer (d. 1788) |
| 5121 | January 12 | Birth | 1715 – Jacques Duphly, French organist and composer (d. 1789) |
| 5122 | January 12 | Birth | 1716 – Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish general and politician, 1st Spanish Governor of Louisiana (d. 1795) |
| 5123 | January 12 | Birth | 1721 – Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Prussian field marshal (d. 1792) |
| 5124 | January 12 | Birth | 1723 – Samuel Langdon, American clergyman and educator (d. 1797) |
| 5125 | January 12 | Birth | 1724 – Frances Brooke, English author and playwright (d. 1789) |
| 5126 | January 12 | Birth | 1729 – Edmund Burke, Irish philosopher, academic, and politician (d. 1797) |
| 5127 | January 12 | Birth | 1746 – Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Swiss philosopher and educator (d. 1827) |
| 5128 | January 12 | Birth | 1751 – Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (d. 1825) |
| 5129 | January 12 | Birth | 1772 – Mikhail Speransky, Russian politician (d. 1839) |
| 5130 | January 12 | Birth | 1786 – Sir Robert Inglis, 2nd Baronet, English politician (d. 1855) |