26 Mordad 1382 | Sunday 17 August 2003

This day in four calendars

1488 (538 years ago) Konrad Bitz, the Bishop of Turku, marks the date of his preface to Missale Aboense, the oldest known book of Finland.
1798 (228 years ago) The Vietnamese Catholics report a Marian apparition in Quảng Trị, an event which is called Our Lady of La Vang.
1942 (84 years ago) World War II: U.S. Marines raid the Japanese-held Pacific island of Makin.
1945 (81 years ago) Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaim the independence of Indonesia, igniting the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch Empire.
1949 (77 years ago) The 6.7 Ms Karlıova earthquake shakes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 320–450 dead.
1999 (27 years ago) The 7.6 Mw İzmit earthquake shakes northwestern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 17,118–17,127 dead and 43,953–50,000 injured.
2004 (22 years ago) The National Assembly of Serbia unanimously adopts new state symbols for Serbia: Bože pravde becomes the new anthem and the coat of arms is adopted for the whole country.
2005 (21 years ago) Over 500 bombs are set off by terrorists at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of Bangladesh.

1629 (397 years ago) John III Sobieski, Polish–Lithuanian king (died 1696)
1893 (133 years ago) Mae West, American stage and film actress (died 1980)
1926 (100 years ago) Jiang Zemin, Chinese engineer and politician, former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (paramount leader) and President of China (died 2022)
1932 (94 years ago) V. S. Naipaul, Trinidadian-English novelist and essayist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2018)
1943 (83 years ago) Robert De Niro, American actor, entrepreneur, director, and producer
1953 (73 years ago) Herta Müller, Romanian-German poet and author, Nobel Prize laureate
1960 (66 years ago) Sean Penn, American actor, director, and political activist
1977 (49 years ago) Thierry Henry, French footballer

1786 (240 years ago) Frederick the Great, Prussian king (born 1712)
1850 (176 years ago) José de San Martín, Argentinian general and politician, 1st President of Peru (born 1778)
1908 (118 years ago) Radoje Domanović, Serbian satirist and journalist (born 1873)
1935 (91 years ago) Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American sociologist and author (born 1860)
1969 (57 years ago) Otto Stern, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1888)
1987 (39 years ago) Rudolf Hess, German soldier and politician, convicted Nuremberg war criminal (born 1894)
1988 (38 years ago) Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistani general and politician, 6th President of Pakistan (born 1924)
2010 (16 years ago) Francesco Cossiga, Italian lawyer and politician, 8th President of Italy (born 1928)