On this day: April 27

Events on April 27

• 395 Aelia Eudoxia married Byzantine emperor Arcadius without the knowledge or consent of Rufinus, the Praetorian prefect who had intended for his own daughter to wed the emperor. Wikipedia
• 711 Islamic conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn Ziyad land at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus). Wikipedia
• 1521 Battle of Mactan: Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippines led by chief Lapulapu. Wikipedia
• 1539 Official founding of the city of Bogotá, New Granada (nowadays Colombia), by Nikolaus Federmann and Sebastián de Belalcázar. Wikipedia
• 1565 Cebu is established becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. Wikipedia
• 1595 The relics of Saint Sava are incinerated in Belgrade on the Vračar plateau by Ottoman Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha; the site of the incineration is now the location of the Church of Saint Sava, one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world Wikipedia
• 1810 Ludwig van Beethoven composed his Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor, better known as "Für Elise" , one of his most popular compositions. Wikipedia
• 1861 American President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus. Wikipedia
• 1909 Sultan of Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II is overthrown, and is succeeded by his brother, Mehmed V. Wikipedia
• 1927 Carabineros de Chile (Chilean national police force and gendarmerie) are created. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: German troops enter Athens. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: The photograph Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn was taken after German troops withdrew to Norway at the end of the Lapland War. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: Benito Mussolini is arrested by Italian partisans in Dongo, while attempting escape disguised as a German soldier. Wikipedia
• 1967 The Expo 67 world's fair opened in Montreal, with 62 nations participating and more than 50 million visitors ultimately attending. Wikipedia
• 1967 Expo 67 officially opens in Montreal, Quebec, Canada with a large opening ceremony broadcast around the world. It opens to the public the next day. Wikipedia
• 1978 The Saur Revolution begins in Afghanistan, ending the following morning with the murder of Afghan President Mohammed Daoud Khan and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. Wikipedia
• 1978 John Ehrlichman, a former aide to U.S. President Richard Nixon, is released from the Federal Correctional Institution, Safford, Arizona, after serving 18 months for Watergate-related crimes. Wikipedia
• 1987 The U.S. Department of Justice bars Austrian President Kurt Waldheim (and his wife, Elisabeth, who had also been a Nazi) from entering the US, charging that he had aided in the deportations and executions of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II. Wikipedia
• 1992 The Russian Federation and 12 other former Soviet republics become members of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Wikipedia
• 1992 The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro, is proclaimed. Wikipedia
• 2007 Israeli archaeologists discover the tomb of Herod the Great south of Jerusalem. Wikipedia
• 2007 Estonian authorities remove the Bronze Soldier, a Soviet Red Army war memorial in Tallinn, amid political controversy with Russia. Wikipedia
• 2011 The 2011 Super Outbreak devastates parts of the Southeastern United States, especially the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee. Two hundred five tornadoes touched down on April 27 alone, killing more than 300 and injuring hundreds more. Wikipedia
• 2012 At least four explosions hit the Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk with at least 27 people injured. Wikipedia
• 2018 The Panmunjom Declaration is signed between North and South Korea, officially declaring their intentions to end the Korean conflict. Wikipedia
• 2026 A train crash kills at least 15 people and injures 84 others near Jakarta, Indonesia. Wikipedia

Born on April 27

• 1593 Mumtaz Mahal, Mughal empress buried at the Taj Mahal (died 1631) Wikipedia
• 1701 Charles Emmanuel III, King of Sardinia (died 1773) Wikipedia
• 1759 Mary Wollstonecraft, English philosopher, historian, and novelist (died 1797) Wikipedia
• 1791 Samuel Morse, American painter and inventor, co-invented the Morse code (died 1872) Wikipedia
• 1820 Herbert Spencer, English biologist, anthropologist, sociologist, and philosopher (died 1903) Wikipedia
• 1822 Ulysses S. Grant, American general and politician, 18th President of the United States (died 1885) Wikipedia
• 1891 Sergei Prokofiev, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1953) Wikipedia
• 1909 Lim Bo Seng, Chinese businessman, resistance fighter of Force 136 and war hero of Singapore (died 1944) Wikipedia
• 1910 Chiang Ching-kuo, Chinese politician, 3rd President of the Republic of China (died 1988) Wikipedia
• 1927 Coretta Scott King, African-American activist and author (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1932 Anouk Aimée, French actress (died 2024) Wikipedia
• 1932 Casey Kasem, American disc jockey, radio celebrity, and voice actor; co-created American Top 40 (died 2014) Wikipedia
• 1935 Theodoros Angelopoulos, Greek director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2012) Wikipedia
• 1941 Fethullah Gülen, Turkish preacher and theologian (died 2024) Wikipedia
• 1948 Frank Abagnale Jr., American security consultant and criminal Wikipedia
• 1955 Eric Schmidt, American engineer and businessman Wikipedia
• 1967 Willem-Alexander, King of the Netherlands Wikipedia
• 1969 Cory Booker, African-American lawyer and politician Wikipedia
• 1976 Sally Hawkins, English actress Wikipedia
• 1986 Dinara Safina, Russian tennis player Wikipedia
• 1989 Lars Bender, German footballer Wikipedia
• 1991 Lara Gut, Swiss skier Wikipedia

Died on April 27

• 1521 Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese sailor and explorer (born 1480) Wikipedia
• 1605 Pope Leo XI (born 1535) Wikipedia
• 1882 Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet and philosopher (born 1803) Wikipedia
• 1915 Alexander Scriabin, Russian pianist and composer (born 1872) Wikipedia
• 1936 Karl Pearson, English mathematician and academic (born 1857) Wikipedia
• 1937 Antonio Gramsci, Italian sociologist, linguist, and politician (born 1891) Wikipedia
• 1938 Edmund Husserl, Czech mathematician and philosopher (born 1859) Wikipedia
• 1965 Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (born 1908) Wikipedia
• 1972 Kwame Nkrumah, Ghanaian politician, 1st President of Ghana (born 1909) Wikipedia
• 1989 Konosuke Matsushita, Japanese businessman, founded Panasonic (born 1894) Wikipedia
• 1992 Olivier Messiaen, French organist and composer (born 1908) Wikipedia
• 1998 Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-American anthropologist and author (born 1925) Wikipedia
• 2002 Ruth Handler, American inventor and businesswoman, created the Barbie doll (born 1916) Wikipedia
• 2007 Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist and conductor (born 1927) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast days: Assicus Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Floribert of Liège Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: John of Constantinople Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Liberalis of Treviso Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Blessed María Antonia Bandrés Elósegui Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Blessed Osanna of Cattaro Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Pedro Armengol Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Pollio Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Virgin of Montserrat, co-patroness of Catalonia Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Zita Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: Origen Adamantius Wikipedia
• Christian feast days: April 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Day of Russian Parliamentarism (Russia) Wikipedia
• Day of the Uprising Against the Occupying Forces (Slovenia) Wikipedia
• Flag Day (Moldova) Wikipedia
• Freedom Day (South Africa) Wikipedia
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Sierra Leone from United Kingdom in 1961. Wikipedia
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Togo from France in 1960. Wikipedia
• King's Day (Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten) (celebrated on April 26 if April 27 falls on a Sunday) Wikipedia
• National Veterans' Day (Finland) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “April 27” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.