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January 31

Saint’s Day for Juan Bosco, Marcela, Ciro and Julio.

1504 - France cedes Naples to the crown of Aragón by the Treaty of Lyons.
1541 - The Spanish explorer, Álvaro Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, discovers the Iguazu Falls, on the border of what is now Argentina and Brazil - 275 individual cascades spread out for almost 3 kms along a horseshoe-shaped cliff.

Álvaro Núñez Cabeza de Vaca - https://www.tshaonline.org/

1580 - The Spanish king Felipe II invokes his right to the succession of Enrique I of Portugal and, before the opposition of the Portuguese, decides to invade the country.
1676 - By royal cédula of the Spanish king Carlos II is founded the Real and Pontifical University of San Carlos Borromeo of Guatemala (current Usac).
1750 - Spanish King Ferdinand VI and Portuguese King Joseph I sign the Treaty of Madrid, which defines the boundaries of their respective hills in South America.
1884 - In Madrid, King Alfonso XII inaugurated the Prado street building No. 21 as the headquarters of the Ateneo de Madrid.
1922 - at the aerodrome of Getafe, the autogyro of Juan de la Cierva, in its first flight, manages to rise 25 meters from the ground for three minutes.
1922 - Spanish police will have asphyxiating gases, dogs, whistles and metal cachiporras of easy handling.
1922 - King Alfonso XIII imposes the "Cross of Alfonso XII" to the tenor of Barcelona Hipólito Lázaro.
1924 - A royal order prohibits the free sale of lighters and accessories, as well as their circulation and possession.
1933 - the Regional Assembly of Córdoba approves a draft of bases for the writing of a statute for Andalusia.
1938 - in Burgos - bypassing the Spanish Constitution - is officially constituted the first Spanish government chaired by General Francisco Franco, who replaces the State Technical Board.
1976 - in Spain begin to circulate coins with the effigy of King Juan Carlos.
1978 - 1133 amendments are introduced to the preliminary draft Constitution and the PSOE maintains its opposition to the monarchy.
1980 - Almost 40 people are killed when security forces storm the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala after it was occupied by protesting peasant farmers.
1990 - the regional parliament in Galicia designates Manuel Fraga Iribarne, a former Minister under the Franco regime, President of the Xunta de Galicia for the first time. He was to remain in the position for more than 15 years.
1994 - Barcelona’s Gran Teatro del Liceo, built in 1847, is destroyed by fire for the second time in its history.
2009 - Raúl González Blanco equals Alfredo Di Stefano as top scorer in the history of Real Madrid.
2014 - Workers in Coca Cola in Madrid have started an indefinite strike. The drinks company wants to close the bottling plant where 600 jobs are at stake
2017 - El Mundo notes the opening of the case in the national court against the Pujol family and headlines ‘the judge and the prosecutor are angry with the Police for not accrediting evidence’ – they accuse the agents of uniting the evidence in ‘hard discs at home’ – they warn they must prove the legality of origin and if not ‘we will investigate’
2020 - COVID-19 pandemic starts in Spain with the first confirmed case in La Gomera (Canary Islands).
2023 - Spanish police detain 23 for alleged soccer match-fixing in Spain, Andorra and Gibraltar
2023 - The Moroccan suspect held in connection with a machete attack on two Spanish churches, killing a verger and badly injuring a priest, will undergo psychiatric testing, a court said. The case is being handled by the Audiencia Nacional, Spain’s top criminal court, with the judge in charge asking that ‘two doctors conduct a psychiatric evaluation of the suspect’ 25-year-old Yassine Kanjaa 

Births
1818 - Infante Carlos, Count of Montemolín  was the Carlist claimant to the throne of Spain under the name Carlos VI after his father's renouncement in 1845, when he took the title of Conde de Montemolín (Count of Montemolín). (d. 1861).
1819 - Pedro Martínez de Hebert, photographer.
Concepción Arenal - unknown 

1820 - Concepción Arenal Ponte, was a Spanish feminist writer and activist. Born in Ferrol, Galicia, she excelled in literature and was the first woman to attend university in Spain.She was also a pioneer and founder of the feminist movement in Spain. (d.1893).
1821 - Pedro Calvo Asensio, political, pharmaceutical, journalist and playwright (d.1863).
1868 - Manuel Portela Valladares, was a political figure during the Second Spanish Republic.
He served as the 44th Attorney General of Spain between 1912 and 1913. A member of the Liberal Party, he served as civil governor of Barcelona in 1910 and 1923, and as Minister of Promotion in September 1923.(d. 1952).
1877 - Eduardo López Ochoa y Portoundo  general, Africanist, and prominent Freemason. He was known for most of his life as a traditional Republican, and conspired against the government of Miguel Primo de Rivera.(d. 1936)
1878 - Manuel González-Hontoria y Fernández-Ladreda  was a politician and diplomat who served two times as Minister of Estate during the reign of Alfonso XIII (d, 1954).
1909 - Gabriel Pita da Veiga, sailor and politician (d.1993).
1925 - Manuel Jalón, inventor of the mop and the disposable syringe (d. 2011).
1937 - Emilio Muñoz Ruiz, biochemist, researcher and academic.
1937 - Luis del Olmo, the noted radio journalist, was born in Ponferrada, León. He has been targeted by the ETA terrorist on eight occasions, none of them successful.
1939 - Lilian de Celis, singer.
1946 - Juan José Millás is a  writer and winner of the 1990 Premio Nadal. He was born in Valencia and has spent most of his life in Madrid, where he studied philosophy and literature at the Universidad Complutense.
1948 - Joaquim Nadal,  Catalan politician. He is a professor at the University of Girona and was the Minister of Territorial Policy and Public Works of the Catalan Government, the Generalitat de Catalunya, from December 2003 to December 2010.
1956 - Artur Mas i Gavarró, He was president of the Government of Catalonia from 2010 to 2015 and acting president from September 2015 to 12 January 2016. Mas is a long time member of Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC by its Catalan acronym) which used to be the bigger of the two component members –along with Unió Democràtica de Catalunya– of what at the time was a long-standing electoral coalition, Convergència i Unió (CiU), a liberal nationalist coalition which had dominated Catalan regional politics since the 1980s.
1958 - Teodoro San José Aguilar is a sculptor, painter, art therapist and writer. He created the Seeds for Peace to the World Foundation.
1959 - Pedro Sevilla, novelist and poet.
1962 - Juan José Lizarbe, lawyer and politician.
1969 - Rafael Guijosa, handball player.
1970 - Gregorio Jiménez Tornero alias Goyo Jiménez is an actor, screenwriter and humorist known by his stand-up comedy performances.
1970 - Frank, guitarist (Magician of Oz)
1986 - Marta Linares García (born in Castellón de la Plana) is a Spanish group rhythmic gymnast representing her nation at international competitions..


Deaths
1736 - Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, soldier and colonial administrator (b.1682).
1856 - Joaquín Manuel Fernández Cruzado, painter (b. 1781).
1895 - José Estremera, poet and dramatist (b.1852).
1946 - Luis Orgaz Yoldi, military (b.1881).
1955 - Salvador González Anaya, writer (b.1879).
1965 - José Sinués y Urbiola, economist and journalist (b.1894).
1984 - Antonio Calvache, bullfighter, actor, photographer and filmmaker (b.1893).
1984 - Ricardo Garcia Lopez, K-Hito, journalist and humorist (b 1890.).
2003 - Ricardo Zamora Grassa, goalkeeper, son of Ricardo Zamora (b.1933).
2005 - Azuzena Martín-Dorado Calvo, singer (b.1955).
2007 - Trinidad Rugero, actress (b. 1938).
2015 - José Manuel Lara Bosch, media executive CEO of Grupo Planeta (since 2003) and Atresmedia (since 2012) pancreatic cancer (b. 1947)