April
27
Independence
Day
Sierra Leone : April 27 1961
Togo : April 27 1960
Events
April
27
395
– Emperor Arcadius marries Aelia Eudoxia, daughter
of the Frankish general Flavius Bauto. She becomes
one of the more powerful Roman empresses of Late
Antiquity.
1296 – First War of Scottish Independence: John
Balliol's Scots army is defeated by an English army
commanded by John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey
at the Battle of Dunbar.
1509 – Pope Julius II places the Italian state of
Venice under interdict.
1521 – Battle of Mactan: Explorer Ferdinand Magellan
is killed by natives in the Philippines led by chief
Lapu-Lapu.
1522 – Combined forces of Spain and the Papal States
defeat a French and Venetian army at the Battle
of Bicocca.
1539 – Re-founding of the city of Bogotá, New Granada
(now Colombia), by Nikolaus Federmann and Sebastián
de Belalcázar.
1565 – Cebu is established becoming the first Spanish
settlement in the Philippines.
1578 – Duel of the Mignons claims the lives of two
favourites of Henry III of France and two favorites
of Henry I, Duke of Guise.
1650 – The Battle of Carbisdale: A Royalist army
from Orkney invades mainland Scotland but is defeated
by a Covenanter army.
1667 – The blind and impoverished John Milton sells
the copyright of Paradise Lost for £10.
1749 – First performance of Handel's Music for the
Royal Fireworks in Green Park, London.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of
Ridgefield: A British invasion force engages and
defeats Continental Army regulars and militia irregulars
at Ridgefield, Connecticut.
1805 – First Barbary War: United States Marines
and Berbers attack the Tripolitan city of Derna
(The "shores of Tripoli" part of the Marines'
hymn).
1810 – Beethoven composes Für Elise.
1813 – War of 1812: United States troops capture
the capital of Upper Canada in the Battle of York
(present day Toronto, Canada).
1840 – Foundation stone for new Palace of Westminster,
London, is laid by wife of Sir Charles Barry.
1861 – President of the United States Abraham Lincoln
suspends the writ of habeas corpus.
1865 – The New York State Senate creates Cornell
University as the state's land grant institution.
1865 – The steamboat SS Sultana, carrying 2,400
passengers, explodes and sinks in the Mississippi
River, killing 1,700, most of whom are Union survivors
of the Andersonville and Cahaba Prisons.
1904 – The Australian Labor Party becomes the first
such party to gain national government, under Chris
Watson.
1909 – Sultan of Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II is
overthrown, and is succeeded by his brother, Mehmed
V.
1911 – Following the resignation and death of William
P. Frye, a compromise is reached to rotate the office
of President pro tempore of the United States Senate.
1914 – Honduras becomes a signatory to the Buenos
Aires copyright treaty.
1927 – Carabineros de Chile (Chilean national police
force and gendarmery) are created.
1936 – The United Auto Workers (UAW) gains autonomy
from the American Federation of Labor.
1941 – World War II: German troops enter Athens.
1941 – World War II: The Communist Party of Slovenia,
the Slovene Christian Socialists, the left-wing
Slovene Sokols (also known as "National Democrats")
and a group of progressive intellectuals establish
the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People.
1945 – World War II: German troops are finally expelled
from Finnish Lapland.
1945 – World War II: Benito Mussolini is arrested
by Italian partisans in Dongo, while attempting
escape disguised as a German soldier.
1950 – Apartheid: In South Africa, the Group Areas
Act is passed formally segregating races.
1953 – Operation Moolah is initiated by General
Mark W. Clark against Communist pilots.
1960 – Togo gains independence from French-administered
UN trusteeship.
1961 – Sierra Leone is granted its independence
from the United Kingdom, with Milton Margai as the
first Prime Minister.
1967 – Expo 67 officially opens in Montreal, Canada
with a large opening ceremony broadcast around the
world. It opens to the public the next day.
1974 – 10,000 march in Washington, D.C., calling
for the impeachment of US President Richard Nixon
1977 – 28 people are killed in the Guatemala City
air disaster.
1978 – Former United States President Nixon aide
John D. Ehrlichman is released from an Arizona prison
after serving 18 months for Watergate-related crimes.
1981 – Xerox PARC introduces the computer mouse.
1987 – The U.S. Department of Justice bars the Austrian
President Kurt Waldheim from entering the United
States, saying he had aided in the deportation and
execution of thousands of Jews and others as a German
Army officer during World War II.
1992 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising
Serbia and Montenegro, is proclaimed.
1992 – Betty Boothroyd becomes the first woman to
be elected Speaker of the British House of Commons
in its 700-year history.
1992 – Russia and 12 other former Soviet republics
become members of the International Monetary Fund
and the World Bank.
1993 – All members of the Zambia national football
team lose their lives in a plane crash off Libreville,
Gabon in route to Dakar, Senegal to play a 1994
FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Senegal.
1994 – South African general election, 1994: The
first democratic general election in South Africa,
in which black citizens could vote. The Interim
Constitution comes into force.
1996 – The 1996 Lebanon war ends.
2002 – The last successful telemetry from the NASA
space probe Pioneer 10.
2005 – The superjumbo jet aircraft Airbus A380 makes
its first flight from Toulouse, France.
2006 – Construction begins on the Freedom Tower
for the new World Trade Center in New York City.
2007 – Estonian authorities remove the Bronze Soldier,
a Soviet Red Army war memorial in Tallinn, amid
political controversy with Russia.
2011 – The 2011 Super Outbreak of tornadoes devastates
parts of the southeastern United States, especially
the State of Alabama, killing nearly 300.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Liberalis of Treviso
Virgin of Montserrat
Zita
April 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of the Uprising Against the Occupying Forces
(Slovenia)
Freedom Day (South Africa), and its related observances:
UnFreedom Day (South Africa, unofficial)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of
Sierra Leone from United Kingdom in 1961.
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of
Togo from France in 1960.
National War Veterans' Day (Finland)
World Tapir Day, raises awareness of threatened
tapir species
For details, contact Datacentre
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