Today in History - December 31 | Arthur signed a 9000-year contract that changed almost every pub around the world - Voice of Asia

On December 31, 1759, Arthur Guinness leased the idle St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin under a 9,000-year lease. He had already begun brewing ales before securing this lease. The lease cost £100, plus an annual rent of £45, granting him the use of the brewery for nine millennia.

From this location, one of the world's most beloved beers, Guinness, was born. In less than 30 years, the brewery’s annual production exceeded one million barrels. Today, Guinness states that over 10 million glasses of the iconic stout are consumed daily, with annual sales reaching 1.8 billion pints.

The brewery is still located at St. James's Gate, and it has now become a popular tourist attraction. Although the 9,000-year lease is no longer in effect, Guinness bought the land outright as it expanded. This demonstrates the success and growth of Guinness beer.

On December 31, 1999, millions around the globe prepared for potential IT chaos amidst "Y2K" fears. These concerns revolved around computers only considering the last two digits of the year in date formatting, leading to an inability to distinguish between 1900 and 2000, which some believed would cause massive technological disruptions.

Some estimates suggested that potential global losses could reach as high as $600 billion. As one of the first developed economies to enter the new year, Australia took the Y2K threat very seriously. The federal government spent $544 million AUD on its mitigation programs. Alan Hodges, then head of the Australian Emergency Management Authority, worked at the Y2K monitoring and reporting center in Canberra.

But the fears of an electronic doomsday proved unfounded. While some minor glitches did occur, the threat of a widespread global computer system collapse never materialized. This illustrated the overblown anxieties regarding technological issues at the time.

Roman Emperor Commodus was killed on December 31, 192 AD. While the sensationalist movie "Gladiator" depicted the mad emperor being killed in the arena, his actual death was far less heroic. An attempt at poisoning failed because he vomited the lethal food prepared for him, so a wrestling champion was brought in to strangle him.

Soon after, the Roman Empire descended into civil war. This shows the impact of political turmoil and power struggles on the course of history.

The Soviet Union ceased to legally exist on December 31, 1991. The Soviet Union had effectively dissolved ten days earlier when its constituent republics declared independence. By New Year's Eve, all legal entities of the former superpower had ceased to function. On the same day six years later, another significant moment in Russian history occurred: Boris Yeltsin, the country's first president, resigned.

Then-Prime Minister, and former KGB agent, Vladimir Putin was appointed acting president. Four months later, Putin was officially elected as president. This marked a major shift in Russia's political landscape.

On December 31, 2019, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission in Hubei, China, reported a small cluster of cases of what they called "viral pneumonia." Symptoms included difficulty breathing and fever. The virus was SARS-CoV-2, and the disease soon had another name: COVID-19.

Within months, as the virus spread across the globe and was declared a pandemic, cities went into lockdown. Since then, the virus has been responsible for over 7 million deaths worldwide. This highlights the immense challenges facing global public health.