On this day: March 27

Events on March 27

• 1513 Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León reaches the northern end of The Bahamas on his first voyage to Florida. Wikipedia
• 1814 War of 1812: In central Alabama, U.S. forces under General Andrew Jackson defeat the Creek at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Wikipedia
• 1850 San Diego, the first European settlement in present-day California, was incorporated as a city. Wikipedia
• 1866 President 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. Wikipedia
• 1871 The first international rugby football match, when Scotland defeats England in Edinburgh at Raeburn Place. Wikipedia
• 1912 First 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. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: A group of Serbian-nationalist officers of the Royal Yugoslav Air Force carried out a coup d'état after Yugoslavia joined the Axis powers. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: Yugoslav Air Force officers topple the pro-Axis government in a bloodless coup. Wikipedia
• 1942 The Holocaust: Nazi Germany and Vichy France begin the deportation of 65,000 Jews from Drancy internment camp to German extermination camps. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: The United States Army Air Forces began Operation Starvation, laying naval mines in many of Japan's vital water routes and ports to disrupt enemy shipping. Wikipedia
• 1958 Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, assumed the office of premier. Wikipedia
• 1958 Nikita Khrushchev becomes Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 1964 The 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. Wikipedia
• 1975 Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, an oil pipeline spanning the length of Alaska, began. Wikipedia
• 1977 Tenerife 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. Wikipedia
• 1980 The Norwegian oil platform Alexander L. Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212. Wikipedia
• 1986 A car bomb explodes outside Russell Street Police HQ in Melbourne, Australia, killing one police officer and injuring 21 people. Wikipedia
• 1990 The United States begins broadcasting anti-Castro propaganda to Cuba on TV Martí. Wikipedia
• 1993 Italian former minister and Christian Democracy leader Giulio Andreotti is accused of mafia allegiance by the tribunal of Palermo. Wikipedia
• 2002 Second Intifada: A suicide bomber killed around 30 Israeli civilians and injured about 140 others in Netanya, triggering Operation Defensive Shield, a large-scale counter-terrorist military incursion into the West Bank. Wikipedia
• 2009 The dam forming Situ Gintung, an artificial lake in Indonesia, fails, killing at least 99 people. Wikipedia
• 2015 Al-Shabab militants attack and temporarily occupy a Mogadishu hotel leaving at least 20 people dead. Wikipedia
• 2016 A 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. Wikipedia
• 2020 North Macedonia becomes the 30th member of NATO. Wikipedia
• 2020 North Macedonia became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Wikipedia
• 2023 Seven people, including the perpetrator, are killed in a mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. Wikipedia

Born on March 27

• 1797 Alfred de Vigny, French author, poet, and playwright (died 1863) Wikipedia
• 1845 Wilhelm Röntgen, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1923) Wikipedia
• 1847 Otto Wallach, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1931) Wikipedia
• 1871 Heinrich Mann, German author and poet (died 1950) Wikipedia
• 1886 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, German-American architect, designed IBM Plaza and Seagram Building (died 1969) Wikipedia
• 1886 Sergey Kirov, Russian politician (died 1934) Wikipedia
• 1891 Klawdziy Duzh-Dushewski, Belarusian-Lithuanian architect, journalist, and diplomat, created the Flag of Belarus (died 1959) Wikipedia
• 1899 Gloria Swanson, American actress and producer (died 1983) Wikipedia
• 1901 Eisaku Satō, Japanese politician, Prime Minister of Japan, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1975) Wikipedia
• 1912 James Callaghan, English lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 2005) Wikipedia
• 1913 Theodor Dannecker, German SS officer (died 1945) Wikipedia
• 1917 Cyrus Vance, American lawyer and politician, 57th United States Secretary of State (died 2002) Wikipedia
• 1927 Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist and conductor (died 2007) Wikipedia
• 1941 Ivan Gašparovič, Slovak lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Slovakia Wikipedia
• 1942 John Sulston, English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2018) Wikipedia
• 1955 Mariano Rajoy, Spanish lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Spain Wikipedia
• 1963 Quentin Tarantino, American director, producer, screenwriter and actor Wikipedia
• 1969 Mariah Carey, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress Wikipedia
• 1975 Fergie, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress Wikipedia
• 1986 Manuel Neuer, German footballer Wikipedia
• 1988 Jessie J, English singer-songwriter Wikipedia
• 1997 Lisa, Thai rapper and dancer Wikipedia

Died on March 27

• 1378 Pope Gregory XI (born 1336) Wikipedia
• 1482 Mary of Burgundy, Sovereign Duchess regnant of Burgundy, married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1457) Wikipedia
• 1615 Margaret of Valois (born 1553) Wikipedia
• 1625 James VI and I of the United Kingdom (born 1566) Wikipedia
• 1770 Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Italian painter (born 1696) Wikipedia
• 1952 Kiichiro Toyoda, Japanese businessman, founded Toyota (born 1894) Wikipedia
• 1967 Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1890) Wikipedia
• 1968 Yuri Gagarin, Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (born 1934) Wikipedia
• 1982 Fazlur Khan, Bangladeshi-American engineer and architect, designed the John Hancock Center and Willis Tower (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 2002 Billy Wilder, Austrian-born American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1906) Wikipedia
• 2006 Rudolf Vrba, Czech Holocaust survivor and educator (born 1924) Wikipedia
• 2006 Stanisław Lem, Ukrainian-Polish author (born 1921) Wikipedia
• 2007 Paul Lauterbur, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 2024 Daniel Kahneman, Israeli-American author, psychologist and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1934) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Easter (Palmarian Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Alexander, a Pannonian soldier, martyred in 3rd century. Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Amador of Portugal Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Augusta of Treviso Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Charles Henry Brent (Episcopal Church (USA)) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gelasius, Archbishop of Armagh Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: John of Egypt Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Panacea De' Muzzi Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Philetus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Romulus of Nîmes, a Benedictine abbot, martyred c. 730. Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Rupert of Salzburg Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Zanitas and Lazarus of Persia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: March 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Armed Forces Day (Myanmar) Wikipedia
• Day of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania (Romania) Wikipedia
• World Theatre Day (International) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “March 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.