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April 7

Events

529 - First draft of Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I.
1348 - Charles University is founded in Prague.
1521 - Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu.
1541 - Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.
1776 - Captain John Barry and the USS Lexington captures the Edward.
1788 - American Pioneers to the Northwest Territory arrive at at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, establishing Marietta, Ohio as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory, and opening the westward expansion of the new country.
1795 - France adopts the metre as the basic measure of length.
1798 - The Mississippi Territory is organized from territory ceded by Georgia and South Carolina and is later twice expanded to include disputed territory claimed by both the U.S. and Spain.
1805 - Lewis and Clark Expedition: The Corps of Discovery breaks camp among the Mandan tribe and resumes its journey West along the Missouri River.
1805 - First public performance of Beethoven's Third Symphony (Eroica).
1827 - John Walker, an English chemist, sells the first friction match. He had invented it the previous year.
1829 - Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commences translation of the Book of Mormon, with Oliver Cowdery as his scribe.
1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Shiloh ends - the Union Army under General Ulysses S. Grant defeats the Confederates near Shiloh, Tennessee.
1868 - Thomas D'Arcy McGee, one of the Canadian Fathers of Confederation is assassinated by the Irish, in one of the few Canadian political assassinations, and the only one of a federal politician.
1890 - Completion of the first Lake Biwa Canal.
1906 - Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
1906 - The Algeciras Conference gives France and Spain control over Morocco.
1908 - H. H. Asquith of the Liberal Party takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
1922 - Teapot Dome scandal: United States Secretary of the Interior leases Teapot Dome petroleum reserves in Wyoming.
1927 - First distance public television broadcast (from Washington, DC to New York City, displaying the image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover).
1933 - Prohibition is repealed for beer of no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight, eight months before the ratification of the XXI amendment.
1939 - World War II: Italy invades Albania.
1940 - Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
1943 - Holocaust: In Terebovlia, Ukraine, Germans order 1,100 Jews to undress to their underwear and march through the city of Terebovlia to the nearby village of Plebanivka. There they are shot dead and buried in ditches.
1945 - World War II: The Japanese battleship Yamato, the largest battleship ever constructed, is sunk 200 miles north of Okinawa while en-route to a suicide mission in Operation Ten-Go.
1945 - World War II: Visoko is liberated by the 7th, 9th and 17th Krajina brigades from the Tenth division of Yugoslav Partisan forces.
1946 - Syria's independence from France is officially recognised.
1948 - The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
1948 - A Buddhist monastery burns in Shanghai, China, leaving twenty monks dead.
1954 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech during a news conference.
1956 - Spain relinquishes its protectorate in Morocco.
1963 - Yugoslavia is proclaimed to be a Socialist republic and Josip Broz Tito is named President for life.
1964 - IBM announces the System/360.
1968 - Jim Clark, two-time F1 World Champion and winner of the Indianapolis 500, dies in a racing accident during a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim, Germany.
1969 - The Internet's symbolic birth date: publication of RFC 1.
1971 - U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his decision to increase the rate of American troop withdrawals from Vietnam.
1976 - Former British Cabinet Minister John Stonehouse resigns from the Labour Party.
1977 - German Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light.
1978 - Development of the neutron bomb is canceled by U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
1983 - During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson perform the first space shuttle spacewalk.
1985 - Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declares a moratorium on the deployment of middle-range missiles in Europe.
1989 - Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway killing 42 sailors.
1990 - Iran Contra Affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of five charges for his part in the scandal (the conviction was reversed on appeal).
1992 - Republika Srpska announces its independence.
1994 - Massacres of Tutsis begin in Kigali, Rwanda.
1999 - The World Trade Organisation rules in favor of the United States in its long-running trade dispute with the European Union over bananas.
2001 - Mars Odyssey is launched.
2003 - U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein's regime falls two days later.
2005 - The Head of government of the Federal District, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, faces an impeachment process at the Mexican Congress.

Births

1506 - Saint Francis Xavier, Spanish founder of the Society of Jesus (d. 1552)
1539 - Tobias Stimmer, Swiss painter (d. 1584)
1613 - Gerhard Douw, Dutch painter (d. 1675)
1644 - François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi, French soldier (d. 1730)
1648 - John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English statesman and poet (d. 1721)
1652 - Pope Clement XII (d. 1740)
1718 - Hugh Blair, Scottish preacher and man of letters (d. 1800)
1727 - Michel Adanson, French botanist (d. 1806)
1770 - William Wordsworth, English poet (d. 1850)
1772 - Charles Fourier, French philosopher (d. 1837)
1803 - Flora Tristan, French feminist and socialist philosopher (d. 1844)
1803 - James Curtiss, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1859)
1848 - Randall Thomas Davidson, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1930)
1859 - Walter Camp, sports authority known as the "Father of American Football" (d. 1925)
1860 - Will Keith Kellogg, American cereal manufacturer (d. 1951)
1867 - Holger Pedersen, Danish linguist (d. 1953)
1870 - Gustav Landauer, German anarchist and revolutionary (d. 1919)
1873 - John McGraw, American baseball player and manager (d. 1934)
1883 - Gino Severini, Italian painter (d. 1966)
1886 - Ed Lafitte, American baseball player (d. 1971)
1889 - Gabriela Mistral, Chilean writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1957)
1890 - Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American conservationist and writer (d. 1998)
1891 - Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish inventor (d. 1958)
1893 - Allen Dulles, American Central Intelligence Agency director (d. 1969)
1897 - Walter Winchell, American broadcaster and journalist (d. 1972)
1897 - Erich Loewenhardt, German flying ace of World War I (d. 1918)
1899 - Robert Casadesus, French pianist (d. 1972)
1905 - Queenie Leonard, American actress (d. 2002)
1908 - Percy Faith, Canadian composer and musician (d. 1976)
1909 - Robert Charroux, French writer (d. 1978)
1911 - Hervé Bazin, French writer (d. 1996)
1913 - Charles Vanik, American politician (d. 2007)
1914 - Ralph Flanagan, American big band leader (d. 1995)
1915 - Stanley Adams, American actor (d. 1977)
1915 - Billie Holiday, American singer (d. 1959)
1915 - Henry Kuttner, American writer (d. 1958)
1916 - Anthony Caruso, American actor (d. 2003)
1917 - R.G. Armstrong, American actor
1918 - Bobby Doerr, American baseball player
1919 - Edoardo Mangiarotti, Italian fencer
1919 - Roger Lemelin, Quebec novelist and television writer (d. 1992)
1920 - Ravi Shankar, Indian sitar player
1922 - Mongo Santamaria, Cuban musician (d. 2003)
1924 - Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian writer
1927 - Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian drummer (d. 2003)
1928 - James Garner, American actor
1928 - Alan J. Pakula, American film producer and director (d. 1998)
1928 - James White, Northern Irish science fiction writer (d. 1999)
1929 - Bob Denard, French mercenary (d. 2007)
1930 - Andrew Sachs, English actor
1931 - Donald Barthelme, American author
1933 - Wayne Rogers, American actor
1934 - Swami Shantananda, Hindu Saint, Philosopher, Disciple of Swami Sivananda, Founder of Temple of Fine Arts
1934 - Ian Richardson, Scottish actor (d. 2007)
1935 - Bobby Bare, American musician
1935 - Hodding Carter III, American journalist and politician
1936 - Jean-Pierre Changeux, French neuroscientist
1938 - Jerry Brown, American politician
1938 - Spencer Dryden, American drummer (Jefferson Airplane) (d. 2005)
1938 - Freddie Hubbard, American jazz trumpeter
1939 - Francis Ford Coppola, American film director
1939 - Sir David Frost, English broadcaster and TV host
1941 - Gorden Kaye, British actor
1942 - Jeetendra, Indian actor
1944 - Julia Phillips, American film producer and writer (d. 2002)
1944 - Gerhard Schröder, Chancellor of Germany
1944 - Bill Stoneman, American baseball player and manager
1945 - Martin Lewis, British newsreader
1945 - Megas, Icelandic singer, songwriter and writer
1945 - Joël Robuchon, French chef
1945 - Werner Schroeter, German film director
1946 - Colette Besson, French runner (d. 2005)
1947 - Patricia Bennett, American singer (The Chiffons)
1947 - Florian Schneider, German musician (Kraftwerk)
1947 - Eliseo Soriano, Philippine evangelist
1948 - Carol Douglas, American singer
1949 - John Oates, American musician (Hall & Oates)
1951 - Janis Ian, American singer and songwriter
1954 - Jackie Chan, Chinese actor, action choreographer, film director, producer, martial artist, comedian, screenwriter, singer and stunt performer.
1954 - Tony Dorsett, American football player
1955 - Werner Stocker, German actor (d. 1993)
1956 - Annika Billström, Swedish politician
1956 - Christopher Darden, American O.J. Simpson prosecutor
1957 - Kim Kap-su, South Korean actor
1961 - Pascal Olmeta, French footballer
1962 - Andrew "Andy" Hampsten, American cyclist
1962 - Hugh O'Connor, American actor (d. 1995)
1962 - Alain Robert, French rock and urban climber
1963 - Jaime de Marichalar, duke of Lugo, Spanish royalty
1964 - Russell Crowe, New Zealand actor
1964 - Steve Graves, Canadian ice hockey player
1965 - Bill Bellamy, American actor and comedian
1965 - Alison Lapper, British artist
1966 - Gary Wilkinson, English snooker player
1967 - Artemis Gounaki, composer, writer and music producer
1968 - Duncan Armstrong, Australian swimmer
1969 - Ricky Watters, American football player
1970 - Leif Ove Andsnes, Norwegian pianist
1971 - Guillaume Depardieu, French actor
1971 - Victor Kraatz, Canadian figure skater
1971 - Jennifer Schwalbach Smith, American actress
1973 - Carole Montillet, French skier
1973 - Ève Salvail, Canadian model
1973 - Brett Tomko, American baseball player
1975 - Ronde Barber, American football player
1975 - Tiki Barber, American football player
1975 - Ronnie Belliard, American baseball player
1976 - Kevin Alejandro, American actor
1977 - Silvana Arias, Peruvian actress
1978 - Vladimir Voltchkov, Belarusian tennis player
1979 - Adrián Beltré, Dominican baseball player
1981 - Suzann Pettersen, Norwegian golfer
1982 - Sonjay Dutt, Indian American professional wrestler
1986 - Brooke Brodack, American internet celebrity
1987 - Alexa Demara, American model and actress
1989 - Franco Di Santo, Argentine Footballer