| 8881 | January 20 | Holiday and observance | Armed Forces Day (Mali) |
| 8882 | January 20 | Holiday and observance | Christian feast day:AbadiosBlessed Basil MoreauEustochia Smeralda CalafatoEuthymius the GreatFabianManchán of LemanaghanMaria Cristina of the Immaculate ConceptionRichard Rolle (Church of England)SebastianStephen Min Kuk-ka (one of The Korean Martyrs)Janu |
| 8883 | January 20 | Holiday and observance | Inauguration Day, held every four years since in odd-numbered years. (United States of America) |
| 8884 | January 20 | Holiday and observance | Martyrs' Day (Azerbaijan) |
| 8885 | January 21 | Event | 763 – The Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa ends in a decisive Abbasid victory. |
| 8886 | January 21 | Event | 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and about a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz's mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union. |
| 8887 | January 21 | Event | 1535 – Following the Affair of the Placards, French Protestants are burned at the stake in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris |
| 8888 | January 21 | Event | 1720 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm. |
| 8889 | January 21 | Event | 1749 – The Teatro Filarmonico in Verona is destroyed by fire. It is rebuilt in 1754. |
| 8890 | January 21 | Event | 1774 – Abdul Hamid I became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam. |
| 8891 | January 21 | Event | 1789 – The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy or the Triumph of Nature Founded in Truth, is printed in Boston. |
| 8892 | January 21 | Event | 1793 – After being found guilty of treason by the French National Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine. |
| 8893 | January 21 | Event | 1840 – Jules Dumont d'Urville discovers Adélie Land, Antarctica. |
| 8894 | January 21 | Event | 1861 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate. |
| 8895 | January 21 | Event | 1864 – The Tauranga Campaign begins during the New Zealand Wars. |
| 8896 | January 21 | Event | 1887 – A total of 465 millimetres (18.3 in) rain falls in Brisbane, a record for any Australian capital city. |
| 8897 | January 21 | Event | 1893 – The Tati Concessions Land, formerly part of Matabeleland, is formally annexed to the Bechuanaland Protectorate, now Botswana. |
| 8898 | January 21 | Event | 1899 – Opel manufactures its first automobile. |
| 8899 | January 21 | Event | 1908 – New York City passes the Sullivan Ordinance, making it illegal for women to smoke in public, only to have the measure vetoed by the mayor. |
| 8900 | January 21 | Event | 1911 – The first Monte Carlo Rally takes place. |
| 8901 | January 21 | Event | 1915 – Kiwanis International is founded in Detroit. |
| 8902 | January 21 | Event | 1919 – Meeting of the First Dáil Éireann in the Mansion House Dublin. Sinn Féin adopts Ireland's first constitution. The first engagement of Irish War of Independence, Soloheadbeg Ambush, County Tipperary. |
| 8903 | January 21 | Event | 1925 – Albania declares itself a republic. |
| 8904 | January 21 | Event | 1931 – Sir Isaac Isaacs is sworn in as the first Australian-born Governor-General of Australia. |
| 8905 | January 21 | Event | 1941 – Sparked by the murder of a German officer in Bucharest, Romania, the day before, members of the Iron Guard engaged in a rebellion and pogrom killing 125 Jews. |
| 8906 | January 21 | Event | 1948 – The Flag of Quebec is adopted and flown for the first time over the National Assembly of Quebec. The day is marked annually as Québec Flag Day. |
| 8907 | January 21 | Event | 1950 – American lawyer and government official Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury. |
| 8908 | January 21 | Event | 1954 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States. |
| 8909 | January 21 | Event | 1958 – The last Fokker C.X in military service, the Finnish Air Force FK-111 target tower, crashes, killing the pilot and winch-operator. |
| 8910 | January 21 | Event | 1960 – Little Joe 1B, a Mercury spacecraft, lifts off from Wallops Island, Virginia with Miss Sam, a female rhesus monkey on board. |