Events Pre-1600 590 – Emperor Maurice proclaims his son Theodosius as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. 624 – First Eid al-Fitr celebration. 752 – Election of Pope Stephen II following the death of Pope Zachary. 1021 – The death of the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, kept secret for six weeks, is announced, along with the succession of his son, al-Zahir li-i'zaz Din Allah. 1027 – Pope John XIX crowns Conrad II as Holy Roman Emperor. 1169 – Saladin becomes the emir of Egypt. 1244 – The crown of Aragon and the crown of Castile agree in the Treaty of Almizra on the limits of their respective expansion into al-Andalus. 1344 – The Siege of Algeciras, one of the first European military engagements where gunpowder was used, comes to an end. 1351 – Combat of the Thirty: Thirty Breton knights call out and defeat thirty English knights. 1484 – William Caxton prints his translation of Aesop's Fables. 1552 – Guru Amar Das becomes the Third Sikh guru.
1601–1900 1636 – Utrecht University is founded in the Netherlands. 1640 – The Royal Academy of Turku, the first university of Finland, is founded in the city of Turku by Queen Christina of Sweden at the proposal of Count Per Brahe. 1651 – The silver-loaded Spanish ship San José, pushed south by strong winds, is wrecked on the coast of southern Chile and its surviving crew members are killed by indigenous Cuncos. 1697 – Safavid government troops take control of Basra. 1700 – William Dampier is the first European to circumnavigate New Britain, discovering it is an island (which he names Nova Britannia) rather than part of New Guinea. 1812 – An earthquake devastates Caracas, Venezuela. 1812 – A political cartoon in the Boston-Gazette coins the term "gerrymander" to describe oddly shaped electoral districts designed to help incumbents win reelection. 1830 – The Book of Mormon is published in Palmyra, New York. 1839 – The first Henley Royal Regatta is held. 1871 – The elections of Commune council of the Paris Commune are held. 1885 – The Métis people of the District of Saskatchewan under Louis Riel begin the North-West Rebellion against Canada. 1896 – An explosion at the Brunner Mine near Greymouth, New Zealand, kills 65 coal miners in the country's worst industrial accident.
1901–present 1913 – First Balkan War: Bulgarian forces capture Adrianople. 1915 – The Vancouver Millionaires win the 1915 Stanley Cup Final, the first championship played between the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and the National Hockey Association. 1917 – World War I: First Battle of Gaza: British troops are halted after 17,000 Turks block their advance. 1922 – The German Social Democratic Party is founded in Poland. 1931 – Swissair is founded as the national airline of Switzerland. 1931 – Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union is founded in Vietnam. 1934 – The United Kingdom driving test is introduced. 1939 – Spanish Civil War: Nationalists begin their final offensive of the war. 1942 – The Holocaust: The first female prisoners arrive at Auschwitz concentration camp in German-occupied Poland. 1945 – World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ends as the island is officially secured by American forces. 1954 – Nuclear weapons testing: The Romeo shot of Operation Castle is detonated at Bikini Atoll. Yield: 11 megatons. 1955 – Pan Am Flight 845/26 ditches in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Oregon, killing four. 1958 – The United States Army launches Explorer 3. 1958 – The African Regroupment Party is launched at a meeting in Paris. 1967 – Ten thousand people gather for one of many Central Park be-ins in New York City. 1970 – South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu implements a land reform program to solve the problem of land tenancy. 1971 – East Pakistan, then a province of Pakistan, declares its independence from Pakistan to form Bangladesh; the Bangladesh War of Independence begins. 1975 – The Biological Weapons Convention comes into force. 1979 – Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Egypt–Israel peace treaty in Washington, D.C. 1979 – An Interflug Ilyushin Il-18 crashes at Quatro de Fevereiro Airport during a rejected takeoff, killing 10. 1981 – Social Democratic Party (UK) is founded as a party. 1982 – A groundbreaking ceremony for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is held in Washington, D.C. 1991 – Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay sign the Treaty of Asunción, establishing Mercosur, the South Common Market. 1991 – Singapore Airlines Flight 117 is hijacked by four Pakistani terrorists and diverted to Changi Airport. 1997 – Thirty-nine bodies are found in the Heaven's Gate mass suicides. 1998 – During the Algerian Civil War, the Oued Bouaicha massacre sees fifty-two people, mostly infants, killed with axes and knives. 2005 – Around 200,000 to 300,000 Taiwanese demonstrate in Taipei in opposition to the Anti-Secession Law of China. 2010 – The South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan is torpedoed, killing 46 sailors. After an international investigation, the President of the United Nations Security Council blames North Korea. 2017 – Russia-wide anti-corruption protests in 99 cities. The Levada Center survey showed that 38% of surveyed Russians supported protests and that 67 percent held Putin personally responsible for high-level corruption. 2024 – The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapses following a collision between the MV Dali container ship and one of the bridge's support pillars, killing six people.
Births Pre-1600 1516 – Conrad Gessner, Swiss botanist and zoologist (died 1565) 1554 – Charles of Lorraine, duke of Mayenne (died 1611) 1584 – John II, duke of Zweibrücken (died 1635)
1601–1900 1633 – Mary Beale, British artist (died 1699) 1634 – Domenico Freschi, Italian priest and composer (died 1710) 1656 – Nicolaas Hartsoeker, Dutch mathematician and physicist (died 1725) 1687 – Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, queen consort of Prussia (died 1757) 1698 – Prokop Diviš, Czech priest, scientist and inventor (died 1765) 1749 – William Blount, American politician (died 1800) 1753 – Benjamin Thompson, American-French physicist and politician, Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies (died 1814) 1773 – Nathaniel Bowditch, American mathematician and navigator (died 1838) 1794 – Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, German painter (died 1872) 1804 – David Humphreys Storer, American physician and academic (died 1891) 1824 – Julie-Victoire Daubié, French journalist (died 1874) 1829 – Théodore Aubanel, French poet (died 1886) 1829 – Georg Andreas Bull, Norwegian architect (died 1917) 1830 – Dewitt Clinton Senter, American politician, 18th Governor of Tennessee (died 1898) 1842 – Alexandre Saint-Yves d'Alveydre, French occultist (died 1909) 1850 – Edward Bellamy, American author, socialist, and utopian visionary (died 1898) 1852 – Élémir Bourges, French author (died 1925) 1854 – Maurice Lecoq, French target shooter (died 1925) 1856 – William Massey, Irish-New Zealand farmer and politician, 19th Prime Minister of New Zealand (died 1925) 1857 – Théodore Tuffier, French surgeon (died 1929) 1859 – A. E. Housman, English poet and scholar (died 1936) 1859 – Adolf Hurwitz, German-Swiss mathematician and academic (died 1919) 1860 – André Prévost, French tennis player (died 1919) 1866 – Fred Karno, English producer and manager (died 1941) 1868 – King Fuad I of Egypt (died 1936) 1873 – Dorothea Bleek, South African-German anthropologist and philologist (died 1948) 1874 – Robert Frost, American poet and playwright (died 1963) 1875 – Max Abraham, Polish-German physicist and academic (died 1922) 1875 – Syngman Rhee, South Korean journalist and politician, 1st President of South Korea (died 1965) 1876 – William of Wied, prince of Albania (died 1945) 1876 – Kate Richards O'Hare, American Socialist Party activist and editor (died 1948) 1879 – Othmar Ammann, Swiss-American engineer, designed the George Washington Bridge and Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge (died 1965) 1879 – Waldemar Tietgens, German rower (died 1917) 1881 – Guccio Gucci, Italian fashion designer, founded Gucci (died 1953) 1882 – Hermann Obrecht, Swiss politician (died 1940) 1884 – Wilhelm Backhaus, German pianist and educator (died 1969) 1884 – Georges Imbert, French chemical engineer and inventor (died 1950) 1886 – Hugh Mulzac, Vincentian-American soldier and politician (died 1971) 1888 – Elsa Brändström, Swedish nurse and philanthropist (died 1948) 1893 – James Bryant Conant, American chemist, academic, and diplomat, 1st United States Ambassador to West Germany (died 1978) 1893 – Palmiro Togliatti, Italian journalist and politician, Italian Minister of Justice (died 1964) 1894 – Viorica Ursuleac, Ukrainian-Romanian soprano and actress (died 1985) 1895 – Vilho Tuulos, Finnish triple jumper (died 1967) 1898 – Rudolf Dassler, German businessman, founded Puma SE (died 1974) 1898 – Charles Shadwell, English conductor and bandleader (died 1979) 1900 – Angela Maria Autsch, German nun, died in Auschwitz helping Jewish prisoners (died 1941)
1901–present 1904 – Joseph Campbell, American mythologist and author (died 1987) 1904 – Emilio Fernández, Mexican actor, director, and screenwriter (died 1986) 1904 – Attilio Ferraris, Italian footballer (died 1947) 1904 – Xenophon Zolotas, Greek economist and Prime Minister of Greece (died 2004) 1905 – Monty Berman, English cinematographer and producer (died 2006) 1905 – André Cluytens, Belgian-French conductor and director (died 1967) 1905 – Viktor Frankl, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist (died 1997) 1905 – Mona Williams, American novelist, short story writer and poet (died 1991)"Local". Rutland Daily Herald. March 27, 1905. p. 8."United States Census, 1910", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2J1-JL8 : accessed 26 December 2022), Vermona Goodwyn in household of Goodwyn Goodwyn, Springfield Ward 8, Hampden, Massachusetts, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 657, sheet 10B, family 183, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 592; FHL microfilm 1,374,605. 1906 – Rafael Méndez, Mexican trumpet player and composer (died 1981) 1906 – H. Radclyffe Roberts, American entomologist and museum administrator (died 1982) 1907 – Azellus Denis, Canadian lawyer and politician, Postmaster General of Canada (died 1991) 1907 – Mahadevi Varma, Indian poet and activist (died 1987) 1908 – Franz Stangl, Austrian-German SS officer, convicted Holocaust extermination camp commandant (died 1971) 1909 – Chips Rafferty, Australian actor (died 1971) 1909 – Héctor José Cámpora, former President of Argentina (died 1980) 1910 – K. W. Devanayagam, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 10th Sri Lankan Minister of Justice (died 2002) 1911 – Lennart Atterwall, Swedish javelin thrower (died 2001) 1911 – J. L. Austin, English philosopher and academic (died 1960) 1911 – Bernard Katz, German-English biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2003) 1911 – Tennessee Williams, American playwright and poet (died 1983) 1913 – Jacqueline de Romilly, Franco-Greek philologist, author, and scholar (died 2010) 1913 – Paul Erdős, Hungarian-Polish mathematician and academic (died 1996) 1914 – Toru Kumon, Japanese mathematician and academic (died 1995) 1914 – William Westmoreland, American general, commander during the Vietnam War (died 2005) 1915 – Lennart Strandberg, Swedish sprinter (died 1989) 1915 – Hwang Sun-won, North Korean author and poet (died 2000) 1916 – Christian B. Anfinsen, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1995) 1916 – Bill Edrich, English cricketer and footballer (died 1986) 1916 – Sterling Hayden, American actor and author (died 1986) 1917 – Rufus Thomas, American R&B singer-songwriter (died 2001) 1919 – Strother Martin, American actor (died 1980) 1919 – Roger Leger, Canadian ice hockey player (died 1965) 1920 – Sergio Livingstone, Chilean footballer and journalist (died 2012)