27 Azar 1383

Events

• 1819 (207 years ago) Simón Bolívar declares the independence of Gran Colombia in Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar in Venezuela).
• 1907 (119 years ago) Ugyen Wangchuck is crowned first King of Bhutan.
• 1926 (100 years ago) Antanas Smetona assumes power in Lithuania as the 1926 coup d'état is successful.
• 1939 (87 years ago) World War II: Battle of the River Plate: The Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled by Captain Hans Langsdorff outside Montevideo.
• 1951 (75 years ago) The American Civil Rights Congress delivers "We Charge Genocide" to the United Nations.
• 1960 (66 years ago) Troops loyal to Emperor Haile Selassie in Ethiopia crush the coup that began December 13, returning power to their leader upon his return from Brazil. Haile Selassie absolves his son of any guilt.
• 2005 (21 years ago) Jigme Singye Wangchuck abdicates the throne as King of Bhutan.
• 2009 (17 years ago) MV Danny F II sinks off the coast of Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of 44 people and over 28,000 animals.

Births

• 1778 (248 years ago) Humphry Davy, English chemist and physicist (died 1829)
• 1908 (118 years ago) Willard Libby, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1980)
• 1936 (90 years ago) Pope Francis, Argentinian Pope of the Catholic Church (died 2025)
• 1942 (84 years ago) Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerian general and politician, 7th & 15th President of Nigeria (died 2025)
• 1948 (78 years ago) Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, Turkish economist and politician
• 1975 (51 years ago) Milla Jovovich, Ukrainian-American actress
• 1978 (48 years ago) Manny Pacquiao, Filipino boxer and politician
• 1987 (39 years ago) Chelsea Manning, American soldier and intelligence analyst

Deaths

• 1187 (839 years ago) Pope Gregory VIII,
• 1273 (753 years ago) Rumi, Persian jurist, theologian, and poet (born 1207)
• 1830 (196 years ago) Simón Bolívar, Venezuelan general and politician, second President of Venezuela (born 1783)
• 1907 (119 years ago) William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Irish-Scottish physicist and engineer (born 1824)
• 1909 (117 years ago) Leopold II of Belgium,
• 1964 (62 years ago) Victor Francis Hess, Austrian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1883)
• 1987 (39 years ago) Marguerite Yourcenar, Belgian-American author and poet (born 1903)
• 2011 (15 years ago) Kim Jong-il, North Korean commander and politician, second Supreme Leader of North Korea (born 1941)

All 411 events, births and deaths of December 17