March 27Birthdays & History

On this day: March 27 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 1309Pope Clement V imposes excommunication and interdiction on Venice, and a general prohibition of all commercial intercourse with Venice, which had seized Ferrara, a papal fiefdom.Europe
2. 1329Pope John XXII issues his In Agro Dominico condemning some writings of Meister Eckhart as heretical.Europe
3. 1513Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León reaches the northern end of The Bahamas on his first voyage to Florida.EuropeLatin AmericaNorth America
4. 1625Charles I becomes King of England, Scotland and Ireland as well as claiming the title King of France.Europe
5. 1638The first of four destructive Calabrian earthquakes strikes southern Italy. Measuring magnitude 6.8 and assigned a Mercalli intensity of XI, it kills 10,000–30,000 people.Europe
6. 1782The Second Rockingham ministry assumes office in Great Britain and begins negotiations to end the American War of Independence.EuropeNorth America
7. 1794The United States Government establishes a permanent navy and authorizes the building of six frigates.North America
8. 1809Peninsular War: A combined Franco-Polish force defeats the Spanish in the Battle of Ciudad Real.Europe
9. 1814War of 1812: In central Alabama, U.S. forces under General Andrew Jackson defeat the Creek at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.North America
10. 1836Texas Revolution: On the orders of General Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican Army massacres 342 Texian Army POWs at Goliad, Texas.North AmericaLatin America
11. 1866President of the United States of America Andrew Johnson vetoes the Civil Rights Act of 1866. His veto is overridden by Congress and the bill passes into law on April 9.North America
12. 1871The first international rugby football match, when Scotland defeats England in Edinburgh at Raeburn Place.Europe
13. 1884A mob in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States attacks members of a jury which had returned a verdict of manslaughter in what was seen as a clear case of murder; over the next few days the mob would riot and burn down the courthouse.North America
14. 1886Geronimo, Apache warrior, surrenders to the U.S. Army, ending the main phase of the Apache Wars.North America
15. 1899Emilio Aguinaldo leads Filipino forces for the only time during the Philippine–American War at the Battle of Marilao River.AsiaNorth America
16. 1901Philippine–American War: Emilio Aguinaldo, leader of the First Philippine Republic, is captured by the Americans.AsiaNorth America
17. 1912First Lady Helen Taft and the Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, plant two Yoshino cherry trees on the northern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., the origin of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.AsiaNorth America
18. 1915Typhoid Mary, the first healthy carrier of disease ever identified in the United States, is put in quarantine for the second time, where she would remain for the rest of her life.North America
19. 1918The National Council of Bessarabia proclaims union with the Kingdom of Romania.Europe
20. 1933Japanese invasion of Manchuria: Japan leaves the League of Nations after it approves the Lytton Report that ruled in favour of China.AsiaAsia
21. 1938Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Taierzhuang begins, resulting several weeks later in the war's first major Chinese victory over Japan.AsiaAsia
22. 1941World War II: Yugoslav Air Force officers topple the pro-Axis government in a bloodless coup.Europe
23. 1942The Holocaust: Nazi Germany and Vichy France begin the deportation of 65,000 Jews from Drancy internment camp to German extermination camps.Europe
24. 1943World War II: Battle of the Komandorski Islands: In the Aleutian Islands the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.North AmericaAsia
25. 1945World War II: Operation Starvation, the aerial mining of Japan's ports and waterways begins. Argentina declares war on the Axis Powers.AsiaLatin America
26. 1958Nikita Khrushchev becomes Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union.Europe
27. 1964The Good Friday earthquake, the most powerful earthquake recorded in North American history at a magnitude of 9.2 strikes Southcentral Alaska, killing 125 people and inflicting massive damage to the city of Anchorage.North America
28. 1975Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.North America
29. 1976The first section of the Washington Metro opens to the public.North America
30. 1977Tenerife airport disaster: Two Boeing 747 airliners collide on a foggy runway on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 (all 248 on KLM and 335 on Pan Am). Sixty-one survived on the Pan Am flight. This is the deadliest aviation accident in history.Europe
31. 1980The Norwegian oil platform Alexander L. Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212.Europe
32. 1981The Solidarity movement in Poland stages a warning strike, in which at least 12 million Poles walk off their jobs for four hours.Europe
33. 1986A car bomb explodes outside Russell Street Police HQ in Melbourne, Australia, killing one police officer and injuring 21 people.Oceania
34. 1990The United States begins broadcasting anti-Castro propaganda to Cuba on TV Martí.North AmericaLatin America
35. 1993Italian former minister and Christian Democracy leader Giulio Andreotti is accused of mafia allegiance by the tribunal of Palermo.Europe
36. 1993Jiang Zemin is appointed President of China.Asia
37. 1998The Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for erectile dysfunction, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States.North America
38. 1999Kosovo War: An American Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk is shot down by a Yugoslav Army SAM, the first and only Nighthawk to be lost in combat.North AmericaEurope
39. 2000A Phillips Petroleum plant explosion in Pasadena, Texas kills one person and injures 71 others.North America
40. 2002Nanterre massacre: In Nanterre, France, a gunman opens fire at the end of a town council meeting, resulting in the deaths of eight councilors; 19 other people are injured.Europe
41. 2002Passover massacre: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 29 people at a Passover seder in Netanya, Israel.Middle East
42. 2004HMS Scylla, a decommissioned Leander-class frigate, is sunk as an artificial reef off Cornwall, the first of its kind in Europe.Europe
43. 2009The dam forming Situ Gintung, an artificial lake in Indonesia, fails, killing at least 99 people.Asia
44. 2014Philippines signs a peace accord with the largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, ending decades of conflict.Asia
45. 2015Al-Shabab militants attack and temporarily occupy a Mogadishu hotel leaving at least 20 people dead.Africa
46. 2016A suicide blast in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, Lahore claims over 70 lives and leaves almost 300 others injured. The target of the bombing are Christians celebrating Easter.Asia
47. 2020North Macedonia becomes the 30th member of NATO.Europe
48. 2023Forty people are killed in a fire at a migrant detention facility in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.Latin America
49. 2023Seven people, including the perpetrator, are killed in a mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee.North America

Source: Wikipedia "March 27" / CC BY-SA 4.0