| 1501 | January 4 | Event | 1974 – United States President Richard Nixon refuses to hand over materials subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee. |
| 1502 | January 4 | Event | 1976 – The Troubles: The Ulster Volunteer Force shoots dead six Irish Catholic civilians in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The next day, gunmen shoot dead ten Protestant civilians nearby in retaliation. |
| 1503 | January 4 | Event | 1987 – The 1987 Maryland train collision: An Amtrak train en route to Boston from Washington, D.C., collides with Conrail engines in Chase, Maryland, killing 16 people. |
| 1504 | January 4 | Event | 1989 – Second Gulf of Sidra incident: a pair of Libyan MiG-23 "Floggers" are shot down by a pair of US Navy F-14 Tomcats during an air-to-air confrontation. |
| 1505 | January 4 | Event | 1990 – In Pakistan's deadliest train accident an overloaded passenger train collides with an empty freight train, resulting in 307 deaths and 700 injuries. |
| 1506 | January 4 | Event | 1998 – Wilaya of Relizane massacres in Algeria: over 170 are killed in three remote villages. |
| 1507 | January 4 | Event | 1998 – A massive ice storm hits eastern Canada and the northeastern United States, continuing through January 10 and causing widespread destruction. |
| 1508 | January 4 | Event | 1999 – Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura is sworn in as governor of Minnesota. |
| 1509 | January 4 | Event | 2000 – Two trains on the Røros Line collide in Åsta, Norway, resulting in an explosive fire and 19 deaths. |
| 1510 | January 4 | Event | 2004 – Spirit, a NASA Mars rover, lands successfully on Mars at 04:35 UTC. |
| 1511 | January 4 | Event | 2004 – Mikheil Saakashvili is elected President of Georgia following the November 2003 Rose Revolution. |
| 1512 | January 4 | Event | 2006 – Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel suffers a second, apparently more serious stroke. His authority is transferred to acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. |
| 1513 | January 4 | Event | 2007 – The 110th United States Congress convenes, electing Nancy Pelosi as the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history. |
| 1514 | January 4 | Event | 2010 – Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, is officially opened. |
| 1515 | January 4 | Event | 2013 – A gunman kills eight people in a house-to-house rampage in Kawit, the Philippines. |
| 1516 | January 4 | Birth | 1077 – Emperor Zhezong of Song (d. 1100) |
| 1517 | January 4 | Birth | 1334 – Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy (d. 1383) |
| 1518 | January 4 | Birth | 1581 – James Ussher, Irish archbishop (d. 1656) |
| 1519 | January 4 | Birth | 1664 – Lars Roberg, Swedish physician and academic (d. 1742) |
| 1520 | January 4 | Birth | 1672 – Hugh Boulter, Anglo-Irish archbishop (d. 1742) |
| 1521 | January 4 | Birth | 1710 – Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer, violinist, and organist (d. 1736) |
| 1522 | January 4 | Birth | 1720 – Johann Friedrich Agricola, German organist and composer (d. 1774) |
| 1523 | January 4 | Birth | 1785 – Jacob Grimm, German author and philologist (d. 1863) |
| 1524 | January 4 | Birth | 1809 – Louis Braille, French educator, invented Braille (d. 1852) |
| 1525 | January 4 | Birth | 1813 – Isaac Pitman, English linguist and educator (d. 1897) |
| 1526 | January 4 | Birth | 1832 – George Tryon, English admiral (d. 1893) |
| 1527 | January 4 | Birth | 1838 – General Tom Thumb, American circus performer (d. 1883) |
| 1528 | January 4 | Birth | 1839 – Carl Humann, German archaeologist, architect, and engineer (d. 1896) |
| 1529 | January 4 | Birth | 1842 – Frederic T. Greenhalge, American politician, 38th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1896) |
| 1530 | January 4 | Birth | 1848 – Katsura Tarō, Japanese general and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1913) |