December 31: New Year's Eve, Hogmanay in Scotland.

406 - The Vandals, Alans and Suebians crossed the Rhine River to begin an invasion of Gaul.
1600 - The British East India Company (flag pictured) was founded by a Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I.
1963 - The Central African Federation officially collapsed, eventually to become Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia.
1972 - American baseball player Roberto Clemente died in a plane crash en route to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.
1999 - Boris Yeltsin, the first democratically elected President of Russia, resigned and named Vladimir Putin as Acting President.

More anniversaries: