This Day in History - November 13

Looking back at this day in history, we begin in nineteen eighty-five, when the Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted in Colombia. The heat melted ice and snow, sending a deadly flow of mud over the town of Armero and killing about twenty-three thousand people. Moving forward to nineteen ninety-five, Mozambique became the first country to join the Commonwealth of Nations without ever being part of the former British Empire. In two thousand two, a storm damaged the oil tanker Prestige near Galicia, Spain. The ship later sank, spilling a huge amount of thick oil into the sea and harming coastal areas. More recently, in two thousand fifteen, attackers carried out shootings, bombings, and a hostage crisis in Paris, France, killing one hundred thirty people. Then, in two thousand twenty-two, four University of Idaho students were killed in a stabbing at off-campus housing in Moscow, Idaho. These events remind us that history holds stories of tragedy, change, and resilience.

(UPDATED November 13, 2026 09:01 UTC)

In 1985, Nevado del Ruiz’s lahar buried Armero, killing approximately 23,000 people. In 1995, Mozambique became the first Commonwealth member never part of the British Empire. In 2002, the Prestige sank off Galicia, spilling 63,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil. In 2015, Islamic State operatives killed 130 people in coordinated Paris attacks. In 2022, a mass stabbing in Moscow, Idaho, killed four University of Idaho students.