March 27

Events1329 - Pope John XXII issues his 'In Agro Dominico' condemning some writings of Meister Eckhart as heretical.1513 (not 1512 as often cited) - Explorer Juan Ponce de León sights North America (specifically Florida) for the first time, mistaking it for another island.1613 - First English child born in Canada at Cuper's Cove, Newfoundland to Nicholas Guy.1625 - Charles I becomes King of England, Scotland and Ireland as well as claiming the title King of France.1782 - Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.1794 - The government of the United States establishes a permanent United States Navy and authorizes the building of six frigates.1794 - Denmark and Sweden form a neutrality compact.1814 - War of 1812: In central Alabama, United States forces under General Andrew Jackson defeat the Creek at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.1834 - Andrew Jackson is censured by the U.S. Senate for his actions regarding the U.S. National Bank.1836 - Texas Revolution: Goliad massacre - Antonio López de Santa Anna orders the Mexican army to kill about 400 Texans at Goliad, Texas.1846 - Mexican-American War: Siege of Fort Texas.1851 - First reported case of Europeans seeing Yosemite Valley.1854 - Crimean War: United Kingdom declares war on Russia.1868 - ??The Lake Ontario Shore Railroad Company is organized in Oswego, New York.1871 - First international rugby football match, England v. Scotland, played in Edinburgh at Raeburn Place.1881 - Rioting takes place in Basingstoke in protest against the daily vociferous promotion of rigid Temperence by the Salvation Army 1890 - A tornado strikes Louisville, Kentucky, killing 76 and injuring 200.1906 - Founding of the Alpine Club of Canada in Winnipeg, Manitoba.1918 - Moldova and Bessarabia join Romania.1938 - Battle of Tai er zhuang.1941 - World War II: Yugoslavian Air Force officers topple the pro-axis government in a bloodless coup.1942 -World War II: United Kingdom forces raid the U-boat base at St. Nazaire, France.1943 - World 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.1945 - World War II: Operation Starvation, the aerial mining of Japan's ports and waterways begins.1948 - The Second Congress of the Workers Party of North Korea is convened.1958 - Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union.1963 - Dr. Richard Beeching issues a report calling for huge cuts to the United Kingdom's rail network. See Beeching axe.1964 - The Good Friday Earthquake, the most powerful earthquake in U.S. history at a magnitude of 9.2 strikes South Central Alaska, killing 125 people and inflicting massive damage to the city of Anchorage.1968 - Yuri Gagarin, Soviet Cosmonaut, first human in space dies in aircraft training accident.1969 - Mariner 7 is launched.1970 - The Concorde makes its first supersonic flight1971 - SS Texaco Oklahoma breaks in half and sinks off Cape Hatteras, killing 31 of 44 aboard.1976 - The first 4.6 miles of the Washington, DC Metro system is opened.1977 - Tenerife disaster: Two Boeing 747 airliners collide on a foggy runway on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 (all 247 on KLM and 335 on PAN AM) and 61 survived on a PAN AM flight.1980 - The Norwegian oil platform Alexander Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212.1980 - Silver Thursday market crash.1984 - A new Musical, Starlight Express opens on the West End in London. Cast include Ray Shell as Rusty the Steam Engine and Stephanie Lawrence as Pearl the Observation Car.1986 - Car bomb explodes at Russell Street Police HQ in Melbourne, killing 1 police officer, Angela Taylor, and injuring 21 people.1990 - The United States begins broadcasting TV Martí to Cuba in an effort to bridge the information blackout imposed by the Castro regime.1993 - Jiang Zemin is appointed President of the People's Republic of China.1994 - One of the biggest tornado outbreaks in recent memory hits the Southeastern United States. One tornado slams into a church in Piedmont, Alabama during Palm Sunday services killing 20 and injuring 90.1998 - The Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for male impotence, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States.1999 - Kosovo War: Army of Yugoslavia downed F117A nighthawk.2002 - Passover Massacre: A suicide bomber kills 29 people in Netanya, Israel.2004 - HMS Scylla, a decommissioned Leander frigate, is sunk as an artificial reef off Cornwall, the first of its kind in Europe.2006 - The UN Commission on Human Rights holds its final meeting.2007 - Michael Phelps breaks world record in 200m freestyle with time of 1:43.86 in Melbourne Australia.
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