November 15

Pre-1600

• 655 – Battle of the Winwaed: Penda of Mercia is defeated by Oswiu of Northumbria.
• 1315 – Growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy: The Schweizer Eidgenossenschaft ambushes the army of Leopold I in the Battle of Morgarten.
• 1532 – Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire: Commanded by Francisco Pizarro, Spanish conquistadors under Hernando de Soto meet Incan Emperor Atahualpa for the first time outside Cajamarca, arranging for a meeting in the city plaza the following day.
• 1533 – Francisco Pizarro arrives in Cuzco, the capital of the Inca Empire.

1601–1900

• 1705 – Rákóczi's War of Independence: The Habsburg Empire and Denmark win a military victory over the Kurucs from Hungary in the Battle of Zsibó.
• 1760 – The secondly-built Castellania in Valletta is officially inaugurated with the blessing of the interior Chapel of Sorrows.
• 1777 – American Revolutionary War: After 16 months of debate the Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation.
• 1806 – Pike Expedition: Lieutenant Zebulon Pike spots a mountain peak while near the Colorado foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It is later named Pikes Peak in his honor.
• 1842 – A slave revolt in the Cherokee Nation commences.
• 1849 – Boilers of the steamboat Louisiana explode as she pulls back from the dock in New Orleans, killing more than 150 people.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Union General William Tecumseh Sherman begins his March to the Sea.
• 1884 – The Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 met on 15 November 1884, and after an adjournment concluded on 26 February 1885, with the signature of a General Act, regulating the European colonisation and trade in Africa during the New Imperialism period.
• 1889 – Brazil is declared a republic by Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca as Emperor Pedro II is deposed in a military coup.

1901–present

• 1917 – Eduskunta declares itself the supreme state power of Finland, prompting its declaration of independence and secession from Russia.
• 1920 – The first assembly of the League of Nations is held in Geneva, Switzerland.
• 1920 – The Free City of Danzig is established.
• 1922 – At least 300 are massacred during a general strike in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
• 1928 – The RNLI lifeboat Mary Stanford capsizes in Rye Harbour with the loss of the entire 17-man crew.
• 1933 – Thailand holds its first election.
• 1938 – Nazi Germany bans Jewish children from public schools in the aftermath of Kristallnacht.
• 1942 – World War II: The Battle of Guadalcanal ends in a decisive Allied victory.
• 1943 – The Holocaust: German SS leader Heinrich Himmler orders that Gypsies are to be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps".
• 1951 – Nikos Beloyannis, along with 11 comrades, is sentenced to death for attempting to reestablish the Communist Party of Greece.
• 1955 – The first part of the Saint Petersburg Metro is opened.
• 1957 – Short Solent 3 crashes near Chessell.
• 1965 – Craig Breedlove sets a land speed record of 600.601 mph (966.574 km/h) in his car, the Spirit of America, at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
• 1966 – Project Gemini: Gemini 12 completes the program's final mission, when it splashes down safely in the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1966 – Pan Am Flight 708 crashes near Dallgow-Döberitz, East Germany, killing all three people on board.
• 1967 – The only fatality of the North American X-15 program occurs during the 191st flight when Air Force test pilot Michael J. Adams loses control of his aircraft which is destroyed mid-air over the Mojave Desert.
• 1968 – The Cleveland Transit System becomes the first transit system in the western hemisphere to provide direct rapid transit service from a city's downtown to its major airport.
• 1969 – Cold War: The Soviet submarine K-19 collides with the American submarine USS Gato in the Barents Sea.
• 1969 – Vietnam War: In Washington, D.C., 250,000-500,000 protesters staged a peaceful demonstration against the war, including a symbolic "March Against Death".
• 1971 – Intel releases the world's first commercial single-chip microprocessor, the 4004.
• 1976 – René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois take power to become the first Quebec government of the 20th century clearly in favor of independence.
• 1978 – A chartered Douglas DC-8 crashes near Colombo, Sri Lanka, killing 183.
• 1979 – A package from Unabomber Ted Kaczynski begins smoking in the cargo hold of a flight from Chicago to Washington, D.C., forcing the plane to make an emergency landing.
• 1983 – Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus declares independence; it is only recognized by Turkey.
• 1985 – A research assistant is injured when a package from the Unabomber addressed to a University of Michigan professor explodes.
• 1985 – The Anglo-Irish Agreement is signed at Hillsborough Castle by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald.
• 1987 – In Brașov, Romania, workers rebel against the communist regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu.
• 1987 – Continental Airlines Flight 1713 crashes during takeoff from Stapleton International Airport in Denver, Colorado, killing 25.
• 1988 – In the Soviet Union, the uncrewed Shuttle Buran makes its only space flight.
• 1988 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: 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 – The Communist People's Republic of Bulgaria is disestablished and a new republican government is instituted.
• 1994 – A magnitude 7.1 earthquake hits the central Philippine island of Mindoro, killing 78 people, injuring 430 and triggering a tsunami up to 8.5 m (28 ft) high.
• 2000 – A chartered Antonov An-24 crashes after takeoff from Luanda, Angola, killing more than 40 people.
• 2000 – Jharkhand officially becomes the 28th state of India, formed from eighteen districts of southern Bihar.
• 2001 – Microsoft launches the Xbox game console.
• 2002 – Hu Jintao becomes General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and a new nine-member Politburo Standing Committee is inaugurated.
• 2003 – The first day of the 2003 Istanbul bombings, in which two car bombs, targeting two synagogues, explode, kill 25 people and wound 300 more.
• 2006 – Al Jazeera English launches worldwide.
• 2007 – Cyclone Sidr hits Bangladesh, killing an estimated 5,000 people and destroying parts of the world's largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans.
• 2012 – Xi Jinping becomes General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and a new seven-member Politburo Standing Committee is inaugurated.
• 2013 – Sony releases the PlayStation 4 (PS4) game console.
• 2016 – Hong Kong's High Court bans elected politicians Yau Wai-ching and Baggio Leung from the city's Parliament.
• 2020 – Lewis Hamilton wins the Turkish Grand Prix and secures his seventh drivers' title, equalling the all-time record held by Michael Schumacher.
• 2022 – The world population reached eight billion.

Pre-1600

• 459 – B'utz Aj Sak Chiik, Mayan king (d. 501)
• 1316 – John I, king of France and Navarre (d. 1316)
• 1397 – Nicholas V, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1455)
• 1498 – Eleanor of Austria, queen of Portugal and France (d. 1558)
• 1511 – Johannes Secundus, Dutch poet and author (d. 1536)
• 1556 – Jacques Davy Duperron, French cardinal (d. 1618)

1601–1900

• 1607 – Madeleine de Scudéry, French author (d. 1701)
• 1660 – Hermann von der Hardt, German historian and orientalist (d. 1746)
• 1661 – Christoph von Graffenried, Swiss-American settler and author (d. 1743)
• 1692 – Eusebius Amort, German poet and theologian (d. 1775)
• 1708 – William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, English politician, Prime Minister of Great Britain (d. 1778)
• 1738 – William Herschel, German-English astronomer and composer (d. 1822)
• 1741 – Johann Kaspar Lavater, Swiss poet and physiognomist (d. 1801)
• 1746 – Joseph Quesnel, French-Canadian poet, playwright, and composer (d. 1809)
• 1757 – Heinrich Christian Friedrich Schumacher, Danish surgeon, botanist, and academic (d. 1830)
• 1776 – José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi, Mexican journalist and author (d. 1827)
• 1784 – Jérôme Bonaparte, French husband of Catharina of Württemberg (d. 1860)
• 1791 – Friedrich Ernst Scheller, German lawyer, jurist, and politician (d. 1869)
• 1793 – Michel Chasles, French mathematician and academic (d. 1880)
• 1849 – Mary E. Byrd, American astronomer and educator (d. 1934)
• 1852 – Tewfik Pasha, Egyptian ruler (d. 1892)
• 1859 – Christopher Hornsrud, Norwegian businessman and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Norway (d. 1960)
• 1862 – Gerhart Hauptmann, German novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1946)
• 1865 – John Earle, Australian politician, 22nd Premier of Tasmania (d. 1932)
• 1866 – Cornelia Sorabji, Indian lawyer, social reformer and writer (d. 1954)
• 1867 – Emil Krebs, German polyglot (d. 1930)
• 1868 – Emil Racoviță, Romanian biologist, zoologist, and explorer (d. 1947)
• 1873 – Sara Josephine Baker, American physician and academic (d. 1945)
• 1874 – Dimitrios Golemis, Greek runner (d. 1941)
• 1874 – August Krogh, Danish zoologist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1949)
• 1879 – Lewis Stone, American actor (d. 1953)
• 1881 – Franklin Pierce Adams, American journalist and author (d. 1960)
• 1882 – Felix Frankfurter, Austrian-American lawyer and jurist (d. 1965)
• 1886 – René Guénon, French-Egyptian philosopher and author (d. 1951)
• 1887 – Marianne Moore, American poet, critic, and translator (d. 1972)
• 1887 – Georgia O'Keeffe, American painter and educator (d. 1986)
• 1888 – Artie Matthews, American pianist and composer (d. 1958)
• 1890 – Richmal Crompton, English author and educator (d. 1969)
• 1891 – W. Averell Harriman, American businessman and politician, 11th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 1986)
• 1891 – Erwin Rommel, German field marshal (d. 1944)
• 1892 – Naomi Childers, American actress (d. 1964)
• 1895 – Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia (d. 1918)
• 1895 – Antoni Słonimski, Polish journalist, poet, and playwright (d. 1976)
• 1896 – Leonard Lord, English businessman (d. 1967)
• 1897 – Aneurin Bevan, Welsh journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Health (d. 1960)
• 1897 – Sacheverell Sitwell, English author and critic (d. 1988)
• 1899 – Avdy Andresson, Estonian-American soldier and diplomat, Estonian Minister of War (d. 1990)

1901–present

• 1903 – Stewie Dempster, New Zealand cricketer and coach (d. 1974)
• 1905 – Mantovani, Italian conductor and composer (d. 1980)
• 1906 – Curtis LeMay, American general and politician (d. 1990)
• 1907 – Claus von Stauffenberg, German colonel (d. 1944)
• 1908 – Carlo Abarth, Italian engineer and businessman, founded Abarth (d. 1979)
• 1912 – Harald Keres, Estonian physicist and academic (d. 2010)
• 1912 – Yi Wu, Japanese-Korean colonel (d. 1945)
• 1913 – Jack Dyer, Australian footballer and coach (d. 2003)
• 1913 – Arthur Haulot, Belgian journalist and poet (d. 2005)
• 1914 – V. R. Krishna Iyer, Indian lawyer and judge (d. 2014)
• 1916 – Nita Barrow, Barbadian nurse and politician, 7th Governor-General of Barbados (d. 1995)
• 1916 – Bill Melendez, Mexican-American voice actor, animator, director, and producer (d. 2008)
• 1919 – Carol Bruce, American singer and actress (d. 2007)
• 1919 – Joseph Wapner, American judge and television personality (d. 2017)
• 1920 – Vasilis Diamantopoulos, Greek actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1999)
• 1922 – Francis Brunn, German juggler (d. 2004)
• 1922 – David Sidney Feingold, American biochemist and academic (d. 2019)
• 1922 – Francesco Rosi, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2015)
• 1923 – Văn Cao, Vietnamese composer, poet, and painter (d. 1995)
• 1923 – Samuel Klein, Polish-Brazilian businessman and philanthropist, founded Casas Bahia (d. 2014)
• 1924 – Gianni Ferrio, Italian composer and conductor (d. 2013)
• 1925 – Howard Baker, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, 12th White House Chief of Staff (d. 2014)
• 1926 – Thomas Williams, American author and academic (d. 1990)
• 1927 – Bill Rowling, New Zealand politician, 30th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1995)
• 1929 – Ed Asner, American actor, singer, and producer (d. 2021)
• 1929 – Joe Hinton, American singer (d. 1968)
• 1930 – J. G. Ballard, English novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 2009)
• 1930 – Olene Walker, American lawyer and politician, 15th Governor of Utah (d. 2015)
• 1931 – John Kerr, American actor, singer, and lawyer (d. 2013)
• 1931 – Mwai Kibaki, Kenyan economist and politician, 3rd President of Kenya (d. 2022)
• 1931 – Pascal Lissouba, Congolese politician, President of the Republic of the Congo (d. 2020)
• 1932 – Petula Clark, English singer-songwriter and actress
• 1932 – Clyde McPhatter, American singer (d. 1972)
• 1932 – Alvin Plantinga, American philosopher, author, and academic
• 1933 – Gloria Foster, American actress (d. 2001)
• 1933 – Theodore Roszak, American scholar and author (d. 2011)
• 1934 – Joanna Barnes, American actress and author (d. 2022)
• 1934 – Peter Dickinson, English pianist and composer (d. 2023)
• 1935 – Nera White, American basketball player (d. 2016)
• 1936 – H. B. Bailey, American race car driver (d. 2003)
• 1936 – Wolf Biermann, German singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1936 – Tara Singh Hayer, Indian-Canadian journalist and publisher (d. 1998)
• 1937 – Little Willie John, American singer-songwriter (d. 1968)
• 1939 – Terry Bradbury, English footballer and manager
• 1939 – Yaphet Kotto, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2021)
• 1939 – Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde, Finnish physician and parapsychologist (d. 2015)
• 1940 – Roberto Cavalli, Italian fashion designer (d. 2024)
• 1940 – Tony Mendez, American CIA technical operations officer (d. 2019)
• 1940 – Ulf Pilgaard, Danish actor and screenwriter
• 1940 – Hank Wangford, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and physician
• 1940 – Sam Waterston, American actor
• 1941 – Rick Kemp, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
• 1941 – Daniel Pinkwater, American author and illustrator
• 1942 – Daniel Barenboim, Argentinian-Israeli pianist and conductor
• 1945 – Roger Donaldson, Australian director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1945 – Bob Gunton, American actor and singer
• 1945 – Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Norwegian-Swedish singer
• 1946 – Vassilis Goumas, Greek basketball player
• 1947 – Bob Dandridge, American basketball player
• 1947 – Malcolm Ranjith, Sri Lankan cardinal
• 1947 – Bill Richardson, American politician and diplomat, 21st United States Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2023)
• 1947 – Ken Sutcliffe, Australian journalist and sportscaster
• 1948 – Jimmy Choo, Malaysian fashion designer^{[page needed]}
• 1948 – Teodoro Locsin, Jr., Filipino journalist, lawyer, politician and diplomat
• 1950 – Egon Vaupel, German lawyer and politician, 16th Mayor of Marburg
• 1951 – Beverly D'Angelo, American actress, singer, and producer
• 1952 – Rick Atkinson, American journalist, historian, and author
• 1952 – Randy Savage, American wrestler (d. 2011)
• 1953 – Alexander O'Neal, American R&B singer-songwriter and arranger
• 1953 – James Widdoes, American actor, director, and producer
• 1954 – Kevin S. Bright, American director and producer
• 1954 – Emma Dent Coad, British politician
• 1954 – Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Polish journalist and politician, 3rd President of Poland
• 1954 – Randy Thomas, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1954 – Tony Thompson, American R&B, disco, and rock drummer (d. 2003)
• 1955 – Joe Leeway, English pop singer-songwriter and percussionist
• 1956 – Michael Hampton, American guitarist and producer
• 1957 – Gerry Connolly, Australian comedian and actor
• 1957 – Kevin Eubanks, American guitarist and composer
• 1957 – Harold Marcuse, American historian and educator
• 1957 – Michael Woythe, German footballer and manager
• 1958 – Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Australian actor and director
• 1958 – Gu Kailai, Chinese lawyer and businesswoman
• 1958 – Lesley Laird, British politician
• 1959 – Tibor Fischer, English author
• 1960 – Dawn Airey, English broadcaster
• 1961 – Hugh McGahan, New Zealand rugby league player
• 1962 – Mark Acres, American basketball player and educator
• 1962 – Judy Gold, American comedian, actress, and producer
• 1963 – Andrew Castle, English tennis player and television host
• 1963 – Benny Elias, Lebanese-Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
• 1963 – Kevin J. O'Connor, American actor
• 1964 – Stelios Aposporis, Greek footballer and manager
• 1964 – Mikhail Rusyayev, Russian footballer, coach, and manager (d. 2011)
• 1964 – Tiit Sokk, Estonian basketball player and coach
• 1965 – Nigel Bond, English snooker player
• 1965 – Stefan Pfeiffer, German swimmer
• 1966 – Rachel True, American actress
• 1967 – Greg Anthony, American basketball player and sportscaster
• 1967 – Cynthia Breazeal, American computer scientist, roboticist, and academic
• 1967 – E-40, American rapper and actor
• 1967 – Wayne Harrison, English footballer (d. 2013)
• 1967 – François Ozon, French director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1967 – Gus Poyet, Uruguayan footballer and manager
• 1967 – Jon Preston, New Zealand rugby player
• 1968 – Ol' Dirty Bastard, American rapper and producer (d. 2004)
• 1968 – Fausto Brizzi, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1968 – Teodoro Casiño, Filipino journalist and politician
• 1968 – Jennifer Charles, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1968 – Uwe Rösler, German footballer and manager
• 1970 – Ilija Aračić, Croatian footballer and coach
• 1970 – Jack Ingram, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1970 – Alexander Kvitashvili, Georgian-Ukrainian academic and politician, 19th Ukrainian Minister of Healthcare
• 1970 – Patrick M'Boma, Cameroonian footballer
• 1971 – Jay Harrington, American actor
• 1971 – Martin Pieckenhagen, German footballer
• 1972 – Jonny Lee Miller, English-American actor
• 1973 – Sydney Tamiia Poitier, American actress
• 1973 – Alamgir Sheriyar, English cricketer
• 1974 – Chad Kroeger, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1975 – Scott Henshall, English fashion designer
• 1975 – Yannick Tremblay, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1975 – Boris Živković, Croatian footballer
• 1976 – Brandon DiCamillo, American comedian, actor, and stuntman
• 1976 – Virginie Ledoyen, French actress
• 1976 – Sule, Indonesian comedian and actor
• 1977 – Richard Lintner, Slovak ice hockey player
• 1977 – Steven Miles, Australian politician, 40th Premier of Queensland
• 1977 – Sean Murray, American actor
• 1977 – Peter Phillips, English businessman
• 1977 – Robaire Smith, American football player
• 1978 – Floyd Womack, American football player
• 1979 – Brooks Bollinger, American football player and coach
• 1979 – Josemi, Spanish footballer
• 1979 – Brett Lancaster, Australian cyclist
• 1980 – Ace Young, American singer-songwriter and actor
• 1981 – Drew Hodgdon, American football player
• 1981 – Lorena Ochoa, Mexican golfer
• 1982 – D. J. Fitzpatrick, American football player
• 1982 – Rio Hirai, Japanese actress
• 1982 – Joe Kowalewski, American football player
• 1982 – Benjamin Krause, German rugby player
• 1982 – Giaan Rooney, Australian swimmer
• 1982 – Lofa Tatupu, American football player
• 1982 – Kalu Uche, Nigerian footballer
• 1983 – Dominic Carroll, Gibraltarian runner
• 1983 – Sophia Di Martino, English actress
• 1983 – Aleksandar Pavlović, Serbian basketball player
• 1983 – Fernando Verdasco, Spanish tennis player
• 1984 – Asia Kate Dillon, American actor and producer
• 1985 – Lily Aldridge, American model
• 1985 – Charron Fisher, American basketball player
• 1985 – Simon Spender, Welsh footballer
• 1986 – Winston Duke, Tobagonian-American actor
• 1986 – Coye Francies, American football player
• 1986 – Sania Mirza, Indian tennis player
• 1986 – Jerry Roush, American singer-songwriter
• 1987 – Sergio Llull, Spanish basketball player
• 1988 – B.o.B, American rapper, songwriter, and producer
• 1988 – Quanitra Hollingsworth, American-Turkish basketball player
• 1988 – Morgan Parra, French rugby player
• 1988 – Billy Twelvetrees, English rugby player
• 1989 – Jona Viray, Filipino singer
• 1991 – Maxime Colin, French footballer
• 1991 – Shailene Woodley, American actress
• 1992 – Dylan Bundy, American baseball player
• 1992 – Sofia Goggia, Italian skier
• 1992 – Minami Minegishi, Japanese singer
• 1992 – Daniela Seguel, Chilean tennis player
• 1992 – Trevor Story, American baseball player
• 1992 – Kevin Wimmer, Austrian footballer
• 1993 – Arik Armstead, American football player
• 1993 – Emma Dumont, American actress and model
• 1993 – Paulo Dybala, Argentine footballer
• 1993 – Saaya Irie, Japanese actress and singer
• 1994 – Ekaterina Alexandrova, Russian tennis player
• 1994 – Bryce Cartwright, Australian rugby league player
• 1995 – Blake Pieroni, American swimmer
• 1995 – Karl-Anthony Towns, Dominican-American basketball player
• 1996 – Kim Min-jae, South Korean footballer
• 1997 – Paula Badosa, Spanish tennis player
• 2001 – TyTy Washington Jr., American basketball player

Pre-1600

• 165 BCE – Mattathias, Jewish resistance leader
• 621 – Malo, Breton bishop and saint
• 655 – Æthelhere, king of East Anglia
• 655 – Penda of Mercia, king of Mercia
• 1037 – Odo II, French nobleman (b. 983)
• 1136 – Leopold III, margrave of Austria (b. 1073)
• 1194 – Margaret I, countess of Flanders
• 1226 – Frederick of Isenberg, German nobleman (b. 1193)
• 1280 – Albertus Magnus, German bishop, theologian, and philosopher (b. 1193)
• 1347 – James I of Urgell, Spanish nobleman (b. 1321)
• 1351 – Joanna of Pfirt, duchess of Austria
• 1379 – Otto V, duke of Bavaria
• 1463 – Giovanni Antonio Del Balzo Orsini, Italian nobleman
• 1527 – Catherine of York, English princess (b. 1479)
• 1579 – Ferenc Dávid, Hungarian preacher, founder of the Unitarian Church of Transylvania (b. 1510)

1601–1900

• 1628 – Roque González de Santa Cruz, Paraguayan missionary and martyr (b. 1576)
• 1630 – Johannes Kepler, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1571)
• 1670 – John Amos Comenius, Czech bishop, philosopher, and educator (b. 1592)
• 1691 – Aelbert Cuyp, Dutch painter (b. 1620)
• 1706 – Tsangyang, Tibetan dalai lama (b. 1683)
• 1712 – James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire (b. 1658)
• 1712 – Charles Mohun, 4th Baron Mohun, English politician (b. 1675)
• 1787 – Christoph Willibald Gluck, German composer (b. 1714)
• 1794 – John Witherspoon, Scottish-American minister and academic (b. 1723)
• 1795 – Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo, French painter (b. 1719)
• 1832 – Jean-Baptiste Say, French economist and businessman (b. 1767)
• 1836 – Herman of Alaska, Russian missionary and saint (b. 1750s)
• 1845 – William Knibb, English Baptist minister and Jamaican missionary (b. 1803)
• 1853 – Maria II, Portuguese queen and regent (b. 1819)
• 1892 – Thomas Neill Cream, Scottish-Canadian serial killer (b. 1850)
• 1897 – Alfred Kennerley, English-Australian politician, 10th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1810)

1901–present

• 1908 – Cixi, China empress dowager and regent (b. 1835)
• 1910 – Wilhelm Raabe, German author (b. 1831)
• 1916 – Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1846)
• 1917 – Émile Durkheim, French sociologist, psychologist, and philosopher (b. 1858)
• 1919 – Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrovolsky, Polish-Russian engineer, electrician, and inventor (b. 1862)
• 1919 – Mohammad Farid, Egyptian lawyer and politician (b. 1868)
• 1919 – Alfred Werner, French-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1866)
• 1921 – Tadhg Barry, veteran Irish republican and leading trade unionist (b. 1880)
• 1922 – Dimitrios Gounaris, Greek lawyer and politician, 94th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1866)
• 1922 – Petros Protopapadakis, Greek mathematician and politician, 107th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1854)
• 1922 – Nikolaos Stratos, Greek lawyer and politician, 106th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1872)
• 1941 – Wal Handley, English motorcycle racer (b. 1902)
• 1942 – Annemarie Schwarzenbach, Swiss author and photographer (b. 1908)
• 1945 – Frank Chapman, American ornithologist and photographer (b. 1864)
• 1949 – Narayan Apte, Indian activist, assassin of Mahatma Gandhi (b. 1911)
• 1949 – Nathuram Godse, Indian assassin of Mahatma Gandhi (b. 1910)
• 1951 – Frank Weston Benson, American painter and educator (b. 1862)
• 1954 – Lionel Barrymore, American actor, singer, director, and screenwriter (b. 1878)
• 1956 – Emma Richter, German paleontologist (b. 1888)
• 1958 – Tyrone Power, American actor, singer, and producer (b. 1914)
• 1959 – Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Scottish physicist and meteorologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1869)
• 1960 – Robert Raymond Cook, Canadian murderer (b. 1937)
• 1961 – Elsie Ferguson, American actress (b. 1883)
• 1961 – Johanna Westerdijk, Dutch pathologist and academic (b. 1883)
• 1963 – Fritz Reiner, Hungarian-American conductor (b. 1888)
• 1966 – Dimitrios Tofalos, Greek weightlifter and wrestler (b. 1877)
• 1966 – William Zorach, Lithuanian-American sculptor and painter (b. 1887)
• 1967 – Michael J. Adams, American soldier, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1930)
• 1970 – Konstantinos Tsaldaris, Egyptian-Greek politician (b. 1884)
• 1971 – Rudolf Abel, English-Russian colonel (b. 1903)
• 1976 – Jean Gabin, French actor, singer, and producer (b. 1904)
• 1978 – Margaret Mead, American anthropologist and author (b. 1901)
• 1980 – Bill Lee, American actor and singer (b. 1916)
• 1981 – Steve Macko, American baseball player and coach (b. 1954)
• 1981 – Enid Markey, American actress (b. 1894)
• 1981 – Khawar Rizvi, Pakistani poet and scholar (b. 1938)
• 1982 – Vinoba Bhave, Indian philosopher and Gandhian, Bharat Ratna Awardee (b. 1895)
• 1982 – Martín de Álzaga, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1901)
• 1983 – John Grimaldi, English keyboard player and songwriter (b. 1955)
• 1983 – Charlie Grimm, American baseball player and manager (b. 1898)
• 1983 – John Le Mesurier, English actor (b. 1912)
• 1984 – Baby Fae, American infant, who received baboon heart (b. 1984)
• 1985 – Méret Oppenheim, German-Swiss painter, photographer, and poet (b. 1913)
• 1988 – Billo Frómeta, Dominican conductor and composer (b. 1915)
• 1988 – Ieronymos I of Athens, Greek archbishop and theologian (b. 1905)
• 1994 – Elizabeth George Speare, American author (b. 1908)
• 1996 – Alger Hiss, American lawyer and diplomat (b. 1904)
• 1997 – Saul Chaplin, American director and composer (b. 1912)
• 1998 – Stokely Carmichael, Trinidadian-American activist (b. 1941)
• 1998 – Ludvík Daněk, Czech discus thrower (b. 1937)
• 2000 – Edoardo Agnelli, son of industrialist Gianni Agnelli, converted to Shia Islam (b. 1954)
• 2003 – Ray Lewis, Canadian runner (b. 1910)
• 2003 – Dorothy Loudon, American actress and singer (b. 1925)
• 2003 – Laurence Tisch, American businessman, co-founded the Loews Corporation (b. 1923)
• 2003 – Speedy West, American guitarist and producer (b. 1924)
• 2004 – Elmer L. Andersen, American businessman and politician, 30th Governor of Minnesota (b. 1909)
• 2004 – John Morgan, Welsh-Canadian actor and screenwriter (b. 1930)
• 2005 – Adrian Rogers, American pastor and author (b. 1931)
• 2005 – Arto Salminen, Finnish journalist and author (b. 1959)
• 2006 – David K. Wyatt, American historian and author (b. 1937)
• 2007 – Joe Nuxhall, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1928)
• 2008 – Grace Hartigan, American painter (b. 1922)
• 2009 – Serbian Patriarch Pavle II (b. 1914)
• 2010 – Larry Evans, American chess player and journalist (b. 1932)
• 2010 – Ed Kirkpatrick, American baseball player (b. 1944)
• 2010 – William Edwin Self, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1921)
• 2011 – Oba Chandler, American murderer (b. 1946)
• 2012 – Théophile Abega, Cameroonian footballer and politician (b. 1954)
• 2012 – Luís Carreira, Portuguese motorcycle racer (b. 1976)
• 2012 – Maleli Kunavore, Fijian rugby player (b. 1983)
• 2012 – K. C. Pant, Indian politician, 18th Indian Minister of Defence (b. 1931)
• 2012 – Frode Thingnæs, Norwegian trombonist, composer, and conductor (b. 1940)
• 2013 – Sheila Matthews Allen, American actress and producer (b. 1929)
• 2013 – Glafcos Clerides, Cypriot lawyer and politician, 4th President of Cyprus (b. 1919)
• 2013 – Mike McCormack, American football player and coach (b. 1930)
• 2014 – Jack Bridger Chalker, English painter and academic (b. 1918)
• 2014 – Lucien Clergue, French photographer and educator (b. 1934)
• 2014 – Valéry Mézague, Cameroonian footballer (b. 1983)
• 2014 – Reg Withers, Australian soldier and politician, Australian Minister for the Capital Territory (b. 1924)
• 2015 – Gisèle Prassinos, French author (b. 1920)
• 2015 – Herbert Scarf, American economist and academic (b. 1930)
• 2015 – Saeed Jaffrey, Indian-British actor (b. 1929)
• 2016 – Mose Allison, American pianist and songwriter (b. 1927)
• 2017 – Lil Peep, American singer and rapper (b. 1996)
• 2023 – Žarko Laušević, Serbian actor (b. 1960)

• America Recycles Day (United States)
• Christian feast day:
  • Abibus of Edessa
  • Albert the Great
  • Blessed Caius of Korea
  • Didier of Cahors
  • Francis Asbury and George Whitefield (Episcopal Church)
  • Blessed Hugh Faringdon
  • Leopold III, a public holiday in Lower Austria and Vienna.
  • Malo
  • Mechell
  • November 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Day of the German-speaking Community of Belgium (German-speaking Community of Belgium)
• Day of the Imprisoned Writer (International observance)
• Independence Day, unilaterally declared in 1988. (Palestine)
• King's Feast (Belgium)
• National Tree Planting Day (Sri Lanka)
• Peace Day (Ivory Coast)
• Republic Proclamation Day (Brazil)
• Shichi-Go-San (Japan)
• Republic Day (Northern Cyprus)
• The beginning of Winter Lent (Eastern Orthodox)

• "On This Day". BBC.
• The New York Times: On This Day
• "Historical Events on November 15". OnThisDay.com.