November 15 is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 46 days remaining until the end of the year.
1901 – 2000
- 1908 - Colonialism: King Leopold II of Belgium sells the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the Belgian state.
- 1920 – First assembly of the League of Nations is held in Geneva.
- 1922 - Over 1,000 people are massacred during a General Strike in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
- 1926 – The NBC radio network opens with 24 stations.
- 1928 - The RNLI lifeboat Mary Stanford capsized in Rye Harbour with the loss of the entire 17-man crew.
- 1935 – Manuel L. Quezon became President of the Philippines.
- 1935 – Canada and the United States sign a trade agreement in Washington.
- 1939 – In Washington, D.C., US President Franklin D. Roosevelt lays the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial.
- 1940 - A wall is built around the Warsaw Ghetto.
- 1941 – Holocaust: SS chief Heinrich Himmler orders the arrest and deportation to concentration camps of all homosexuals in Germany, with the exception of certain top Nazi officials.
- 1942 – World War II: The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal ends in a Allied victory.
- 1943 – Holocaust: German SS leader Heinrich Himmler orders that Gypsies were to be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps".
- 1945 – Venezuela joins the UN.
- 1948 – Louis Stephen St. Laurent succeeds William Lyon Mackenzie King as Prime Minister of Canada.
- 1949 – Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte are executed for assassinating Mahatma Gandhi.
- 1953 - The sugar spreader is patented in West Germany.
- 1955 - The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan is founded. It ends up governing Japan continuously until 1993.
- 1960 - Basketball: An NBA record is set when Elgin Baylor of the New York Knicks scored 71 points in a single game.
- 1960 - A train crash in Pardubice, Czechoslovakia (now-Czech Republic) kills 110 people.
- 1966 - The Gemini 12 space probe splashed into the Atlantic Ocean, at the end of the Gemini program.
- 1966 - A Boeing 727 carrying Pan Am Flight 708 crashed near Berlin, killing all the 3 people on board.
- 1969 – Vietnam War: In Washington, D.C., 250,000-500,000 protesters staged a peaceful demonstration against the war.
- 1971 - Intel released the world's first commercial single-chip microprocessor, the 4004.
- 1976 - Rene Levesque became Premier of Quebec.
- 1978 - A chartered Douglas DC-8 airplane crashed near Colombo, Sri Lanka.
- 1983 – Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is founded.
- 1985 – The Anglo-Irish Agreement is signed by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald.
- 1987 - Continental Airlines Flight 1713, a Douglas-9-14 jetliner, crashed in a snowstorm at Stapleton International Airport, Denver, Colorado, killing 28 people, with 54 surviving.
- 1987 - In Brasov, Romania, workers rebel against the Communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu.
- 1988 – An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council.
- 1988 - The first Fairtrade label, Max Havelaar, is launched in the Netherlands.
- 1990 - A new republican form of government is created in Bulgaria.
- 1990 - Space Shuttle Atlantis launched with Flight STS-38.
- 1990 – Producers admit that Milli Vanilli, who won the 1990 "Best New Artist" Grammy Award, did not sing on their album.
- 2000 - A chartered Antonov An-24 crashed after take-off from Luanda, Angola, killing over 40 people.
- 2000 - In India, the new state of Jharkhand is created, out of the southern part of the state of Bihar.
Up to 1900
- 457 - B'utz Aj Sak Chiik, Mayan king (d. 501)
- 968 - Romanos III Argyros, Byzantine Emperor (d. 1034)
- 1316 - King John I of France (d. November 20, 1316)
- 1397 – Pope Nicholas V (d. 1455)
- 1498 - Eleanor of Austria (d. 1558)
- 1511 - Johannes Secundus, Dutch poet (d. 1536)
- 1559 – Archduke Albert of Austria (d. 1621)
- 1607 - Madeleine de Scudéry, French author (d. 1701)
- 1661 - Christoph von Graffenried, Swiss settler in the Americas (d. 1743)
- 1688 - Louis Bertrand Castel, French mathematician (d. 1757)
- 1708 – William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, Prime Minister of Great Britain (d. 1778)
- 1738 – William Herschel, German-born astronomer (d. 1822)
- 1741 - Johann Kaspar Lavater, German philosopher (d. 1801)
- 1746 - Joseph Quesnel, French-Canadian composer and playwright (d. 1809)
- 1778 - Giovanni Battista Belzoni, Italian adventurer, engineer, weightlifter and acrobat (d. 1823)
- 1784 – Jerome Bonaparte, King of Westphalia (d. 1860)
- 1804 - Eugenio Aguilar, Supreme Director of El Salvador (d. 1879)
- 1852 - Tewfik Pasha, Khedive of Egypt (d. 1892)
- 1859 – Christopher Hornsrud, Prime Minister of Norway (d. 1960)
- 1862 – Gerhart Hauptmann, German dramatist (d. 1946)
- 1867 - Emil Krebs, German polyglot (someone who speaks many languages) and sinologist (d. 1930)
- 1868 - Emil Racovita, Romanian biologist, zoologist and explorer of Antarctica (d. 1947)
- 1873 - Sara Josephine Baker, American physician and academic (d. 1945)
- 1874 – August Krogh, Danish zoologist, won the 1920 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1949)
- 1874 - Dimitrios Golemis, Greek runner (d. 1941)
- 1879 - Lewis Stone, American actor (d. 1953)
- 1881 - Franklin Pierce Adams, American newspaper columnist (d. 1960)
- 1882 - Felix Frankfurter, American jurist (d. 1965)
- 1886 - René Guénon, French philosopher and author (d. 1951)
- 1887 - Hitoshi Ashida, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1959)
- 1887 - Marianne Moore, American poet and writer (d. 1972)
- 1887 – Georgia O'Keeffe, American painter (d. 1986)
- 1888 - Harald Sverdrup, Norwegian oceanographer (d. 1957)
- 1889 - Manuel II, last King of Portugal (d. 1932)
- 1891 - W. Averell Harriman, 48th Governor of New York (d. 1986)
- 1891 – Erwin Rommel, German field marshal (d. 1944)
- 1892 - Naomi Childers, American actress (d. 1964)
- 1893 - Carlo Emilio Gadda, Italian writer (d. 1973)
- 1895 – Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia (d. 1918)
- 1895 - Antoni Slominski, Polish journalist, poet and playwright (d. 1976)
- 1897 – Aneurin Bevan, British politician (d. 1960)
- 1899 - Avdy Andresson, Estonian statesman (d. 1990)
1901 – 1950
- 1905 - Mantovani, Italian-born composer (d. 1980)
- 1906 - Curtis LeMay, US Air Force General (d. 1990)
- 1907 – Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, German army officer during World War II (d. 1944)
- 1910 - Hugh Greene, British journalist (d. 1987)
- 1912 - Yi Wu, Korean prince (d. 1945)
- 1912 - Albert Baez, American physicist (d. 2007)
- 1912 - Fosco Maraini, Italian photographer, anthropologist, ethnologist, writer, mountaineer and academic (d. 2004)
- 1913 - Guy Green, British movie director (d. 2005)
- 1914 - Giuseppe Caprio, Italian cardinal (d. 2005)
- 1914 - V. R. Krishna Iyer, Indian judge (d. 2014)
- 1915 - David Stirling, British founder of the SAS (d. 1990)
- 1916 - Nita Barrow, 7th Governor-General of Barbados (d. 1995)
- 1916 - Bill Melendez, Mexican-American animator (d. 2008)
- 1919 - Joseph Wapner, American television personality (d. 2017)
- 1922 - David Sidney Feingold, American biochemist
- 1922 - Francesco Rosi, Italian movie director (d. 2015)
- 1925 - Howard Baker, American politician (d. 2014)
- 1927 - Bill Rowling, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1995)
- 1927 - Gregor Mackenzie, British politician (d. 1992)
- 1929 – Ed Asner, American actor (d. 2021)
- 1930 – J. G. Ballard, English writer (d. 2009)
- 1930 - Aureliano Bolognesi, Italian boxer (d. 2018)
- 1930 - Olene S. Walker, former Governor of Utah (d. 2015)
- 1931 – Mwai Kibaki, former President of Kenya (d. 2022)
- 1931 - Pascal Lissouba, Congolese politician
- 1931 - John Kerr, American actor and lawyer (d. 2013)
- 1932 – Petula Clark, English singer
- 1932 - Alvin Plantinga, American philosopher
- 1933 - Jack Burns, American comedian
- 1933 - Françoise Héritier, French anthropologist and feminist (d. 2017)
- 1934 - Joanna Barnes, American actress
- 1935 - Mahmoud Abbas, president of Palestine
- 1935 - Nera White, American basketball player (d. 2016)
- 1936 – Wolf Biermann, German writer
- 1937 - Little Willie John, American singer (d. 1968)
- 1939 - W. C. Clark, American blues musician
- 1939 - Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde, Finnish physician (d. 2015)
- 1940 - Roberto Cavalli, Italian fashion designer
- 1940 - Hank Wangford, English singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
- 1940 – Sam Waterston, American actor
- 1942 – Daniel Barenboim, Argentine-born conductor
- 1945 – Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Norwegian-born Swedish singer (ABBA)
- 1945 - Bob Gunton, American actor
- 1945 - Roger Donaldson, Australian-New Zealand director, producer and screenwriter
- 1946 - Vasilis Goumas, Greek basketball player
- 1947 – Bill Richardson, American politician and former Governor of New Mexico
- 1947 - Malcolm Ranjith, Sri Lankan cardinal
- 1948 - David Caygill, New Zealand politician
- 1950 - Graham Parker, English singer-songwriter
- 1950 - Egon Vaupel, German politician, 16th Mayor of Marburg
1951 – 1975
- 1951 - Beverly D'Angelo, American actress
- 1951 - Billy McColl, Scottish actor (d. 2014)
- 1952 – Randy Savage, American professional wrestler (d. 2011)
- 1953 – Alexander O'Neal, American singer
- 1953 - Toshio Takabayashi, Japanese footballer
- 1954 - Emma Dent Coad, English politician
- 1954 – Aleksander Kwaśniewski, former President of Poland
- 1954 - Uli Stielike, German footballer
- 1956 - Michael Hampton, American guitarist (Funkadelic)
- 1957 - Kevin Eubanks, American jazz guitarist
- 1957 - Harold Marcuse, American historian and educator
- 1958 - Gu Kailai, Chinese lawyer and businesswoman
- 1958 - Lesley Laird, Scottish politician
- 1960 - Susanne Lothar, German actress (d. 2012)
- 1963 – Andrew Castle, English television presenter and former tennis player
- 1963 - Toru Sano, Japanese footballer
- 1965 – Nigel Bond, English snooker player
- 1967 – Dom Joly, English comedian and journalist
- 1967 – Gustavo Poyet, Uruguayan footballer
- 1967 - François Ozon, French director and screenwriter
- 1967 - Pandeli Majko, former Prime Minister of Albania
- 1968 – Ol' Dirty Bastard, American rapper (d. 2004)
- 1968 - Jennifer Charles, American singer-songwriter
- 1968 - Fausto Brizzi, Italian director and screenwriter
- 1968 - Uwe Rösler, German footballer and manager
- 1970 - Pedro Caixinha, Portuguese footballer and manager
- 1970 - Patrick M'Boma, Cameroonian footballer
- 1972 - Jessica Hynes, English actress
- 1972 - Jonny Lee Miller, English actor
- 1973 - Albert Portas, Spanish tennis player
- 1974 – Chad Kroeger, Canadian singer (Nickelback)
- 1975 - Yannick Tremblay, Canadian ice hockey player
From 1976
- 1976 - Brandon DiCamillo, American comedian, actor and stuntman
- 1976 - Virginie Ledoyen, French actress
- 1977 – Peter Phillips, first grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II
- 1977 - Sean Murray, American actor
- 1979 - Josemi, Spanish footballer
- 1979 - Brett Lancaster, Australian cyclist
- 1979 - Robert Kendrick, American tennis player
- 1979 - Albert Rivera, Spanish politician
- 1981 - Jordan Buckley, American guitarist
- 1981 - Lorena Ochoa, Mexican golfer
- 1982 - Kalu Uche, Nigerian footballer
- 1983 - John Heitinga, Dutch footballer
- 1983 - Veli-Matti Lindström, Finnish ski jumper
- 1983 - Laura Smet, French actress
- 1983 – Fernando Verdasco, Spanish tennis player
- 1984 – Gemma Atkinson, English actress
- 1985 - Lily Aldridge, American fashion model
- 1985 - Jeffree Star, American performer
- 1986 - Sania Mirza, Indian tennis player
- 1988 - Zena Grey, American actress
- 1988 - B.o.B, American rapper and producer
- 1988 - Morgan Parra, French rugby player
- 1988 - Billy Twelvetrees, English rugby player
- 1991 – Shailene Woodley, American actress
- 1992 - Kevin Wimmer, Austrian footballer
- 1992 - Minami Minegishi, Japanese singer and actress (AKB48)
- 1993 - Saaya Irie, Japanese actress and singer
- 1993 - Paulo Dybala, Argentine footballer
- 1994 - Saffron Coomber, English actress
- 1995 - Karl-Anthony Towns, Dominican-American basketball player
- 1998 - Benedict Mateo, Filipino artist
- 2005 - Tsehay Hawkins, Australian musician (The Wiggles)
Up to 1900
- 655 - Penda, King of Mercia
- 1028 – Constantine VIII, Byzantine Emperor (b. 960)
- 1136 - Leopold III, Margrave of Austria (b. 1073)
- 1210 - Ly Cap Tong, King of the Ly Dynasty of Vietnam (b. 1173)
- 1280 - Albertus Magnus, German theologian, bishop and philosopher
- 1544 - King Jungjong of Joseon of Korea (b. 1506)
- 1594 - Martin Frobisher, English explorer (b. 1539)
- 1630 – Johannes Kepler, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1571)
- 1670 - John Amos Comenius, Czech writer (b. 1592)
- 1706 - Tsangyang Gyatso, 6th Dalai Lama (b. 1683)
- 1712 - James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish general and politician (b. 1658)
- 1712 - Charles Mohun, 4th Baron Mohun, English politician (b. 1675)
- 1787 - Christoph Willibald Gluck, German composer (b. 1714)
- 1794 - John Witherspoon, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1723)
- 1819 - Daniel Rutherford, Scottish chemist and physician (b. 1749)
- 1832 - Jean-Baptiste Say, French economist (b. 1767)
- 1839 - William Murdoch, Scottish engineer and inventor (b. 1754)
- 1853 – Maria II of Portugal (b. 1819)
1901 – 2000
- 1908 – Empress Dowager Cixi of China (b. 1835)
- 1910 - Wilhelm Raabe, German writer (b. 1831)
- 1914 - Harry Turner, American baseball player
- 1916 – Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish writer (b. 1846)
- 1917 – Émile Durkheim, French sociologist (b. 1858)
- 1919 – Alfred Werner, German chemist (b. 1866)
- 1919 - Mohammad Farid, Egyptian politician (b. 1868)
- 1922 - Dimitrios Gounaris, Greek politician (b. 1866)
- 1922 - Georgios Hatzianestis, Greek general (b. 1863)
- 1922 - Petros Protopapadakis, Greek politician (b. 1854)
- 1922 - Nikolaos Stratos, Greek politician (b. 1872)
- 1949 – Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte, conspirators against Mahatma Gandhi
- 1954 – Lionel Barrymore, American actor (b. 1879)
- 1958 – Tyrone Power, American actor (b. 1914)
- 1959 - Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist (b. 1869)
- 1961 - Elsie Ferguson, American actress (b. 1883)
- 1963 - Fritz Reiner, Hungarian conductor (b. 1888)
- 1967 - Michael J. Adams, American test pilot (b. 1930)
- 1976 - Jean Gabin, French actor (b. 1904)
- 1978 – Margaret Mead, American anthropologist (b. 1901)
- 1980 - Emilio Pujol, Catalan guitarist and composer (b. 1886)
- 1982 - Vinoba Bhave, Indian Human rights advocate (b. 1895)
- 1983 – John Le Mesurier, English actor (b. 1912)
- 1988 - Archbishop Ieronymos I of Athens, Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Athens (b. 1905)
- 1996 – Alger Hiss, American government official and spy (b. 1904)
- 1998 - Stokely Carmichael, American Civil rights activist (b. 1941)
- 2000 - Piero Pasinati, Italian footballer (b. 1910)
From 2001
- 2002 – Myra Hindley, English murderer (b. 1942)
- 2003 - Dorothy Loudon, American actress (b. 1933)
- 2003 - Speedy West, American musician (b. 1924)
- 2004 - Elmer L. Anderson, American politician (b. 1909)
- 2006 – Ana Carolina Reston, Brazilian fashion model (b. 1985)
- 2007 - Joe Nuxhall, American baseball player (b. 1928)
- 2009 – Pavle, Serbian Patriarch (b. 1914)
- 2009 – Pierre Harmel, Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1911)
- 2010 – Larry Evans, American chess player (b. 1932)
- 2011 – Oba Chandler, American murderer (b. 1946)
- 2011 - Dulcie Gray, British actress (b. 1915)
- 2013 - Glafcos Clerides, 4th President of Cyprus (b. 1919)
- 2013 - Raimondo D'Inzeo, Italian equestrian show jumper (b. 1925)
- 2014 - Lucien Clergue, French photographer (b. 1934)
- 2014 - Reg Withers, Australian politician (b. 1924)
- 2014 - Valéry Mézague, Cameroonian footballer (b. 1983)
- 2015 - Moira Orfei, Italian actress (b. 1931)
- 2015 - Vincent Margera, American television personality (b. 1956)
- 2015 - Saeed Jaffrey, Indian actor (b. 1929)
- 2015 - Herbert Scarf, American mathematician (b. 1930)
- 2015 - Dora Doll, French actress (b. 1922)
- 2015 - Nicoletta Machiavelli, Italian actress (b. 1944)
- 2016 - Mose Allison, American jazz musician (b. 1927)
- 2016 - Sixto Durán Ballén, 37th President of Ecuador (b. 1921)
- 2017 - Luis Bacalov, Argentine-Italian film score composer (b. 1933)
- 2017 - Keith Barron, English actor (b. 1934)
- 2017 - Françoise Héritier, French anthropologist and feminist (b. 1933)
- 2017 - Frans Krajcberg, Polish-Brazilian artist (b. 1921)
- 2017 - Lil Peep, American singer and rapper (b. 1996)
- 2018 - John Bluthal, Polish-born British-Australian actor (b. 1929)
- 2018 - Roy Clark, American country music singer and television host (b. 1933)
- 2018 - Adolf Grünbaum, German-American science professor (b. 1923)
- 2018 - Zhores Medvedev, Russian agronomist, biologist and dissident (b. 1925)
- 2018 - Mike Noble, British comic artist and cartoonist (b. 1930)
- 2018 - Luigi Rossi di Montelera, Italian businessman and politician (b. 1946)
- 2018 - Aldyr Schlee, Brazilian writer, journalist, translator, illustrator and professor (b. 1934)
- 2018 - Sigmund Steinnes, Norwegian politician (b. 1959)
- 2019 - Mark Cady, American judge (b. 1953)
- 2019 - Jim Coates, American baseball player (b. 1932)
- 2019 - Harrison Dillard, American athlete (b. 1923)
- 2019 - Vladimir Hotineanu, Moldovan politician (b. 1950)
- 2019 - Irv Noren, American baseball player (b. 1924)
- 2019 - Juliusz Paetz, Polish archbishop (b. 1935)