Calendar date · December

What happened on December 27

On December 27, 537: The second Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is consecrated.

Events

42

across history

Notable births

50

Notable deaths

50

Zodiac

Capricorn

People

Born on December 27

Ander Barrenetxea 2001– Spanish footballer (born 2001)
Brock Purdy 1999– American football player (born 1999)
Luka Garza 1998– Bosnian-American basketball player (born 1998)
Mads Juel Andersen 1997– Danish footballer (born 1997)
Vachirawit Chivaaree 1997– Thai actor, singer and entrepreneur (born 1997)
Ana Konjuh 1997– Croatian tennis player (born 1997)
Jang Gyu-ri 1997– South Korean actress (born 1997)
Timothée Chalamet 1995– American and French actor (born 1995)
Nick Chubb 1995– American football player (born 1995)
Show 9 more — notable births on December 27
Ghislain Konan 1995– Ivorian footballer (born 1995)
Mark Lapidus 1995– Estonian chess player
Isi Palazón 1994– Spanish footballer
Olivia Cooke 1993– British actress (born 1993)
Joel Indermitte 1992– Estonian footballer (born 1992)
Maicel Uibo 1992– Estonian decathlete
Chloe Bridges 1991– American actress (born 1991)
Michael Morgan 1991– Australia international rugby league footballer
Beth Potter 1991– Scottish long-distance runner and triathlete

People

Died on December 27

Greg Gumbel American sportscaster (1946–2024)
Olivia Hussey British actress (1951–2024)
Charles Shyer American director, screenwriter and producer (1941–2024)
Lee Sun-kyun South Korean actor (1975–2023)
Gaston Glock Austrian engineer and businessman (1929–2023)
Maria Creveling American professional gamer (1995–2019)
Frank Blaichman Polish resistance fighter
Carrie Fisher American actress and writer (1956–2016)
Ratnasiri Wickremanayake Sri Lankan politician (1933–2016)
Show 9 more — notable deaths on December 27
Stein Eriksen Norwegian alpine skier (1927–2015)
Dave Henderson American baseball player (1958–2015)
Ellsworth Kelly American painter, sculptor, and printmaker
Meadowlark Lemon American basketball player, actor, and minister (1932–2015)
Alfredo Pacheco Salvadoran footballer (1982-2015)
Stevie Wright Australian singer (1947–2015)
Ben Ammi Ben-Israel Founder of the African Hebrew Israelite Nation of Jerusalem (1939–2014)
Ulises Estrella Ecuadorian poet
Ronald Li Hong Kong investor (1929–2014)

Timeline

Every December 27 on record

  1. 537 The second Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is consecrated.

    Mosque and former church in Istanbul, Turkey

    Hagia Sophia, officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, is a mosque and a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. It was formerly a church (360–1453) and a museum (1935–2020). The last of three church buildings to be successively erected on the site by the Eastern Roman Empire, it was completed in AD 537, becoming the world's largest interior space and among the first to employ a fully pendentive dome.

  2. 1512 The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the conduct of settlers with regard to native Indians in the New World.

    First codified set of laws governing Spaniards in the Americas (1512–42)

    The Laws of Burgos, promulgated on 27 December 1512 in Burgos, Crown of Castile (Spain), was the first codified set of laws governing the behavior of Spaniards in the Americas, particularly with regard to the Indigenous people of the Americas. They forbade the slavery of the indigenous people and endorsed their conversion to Catholicism. The laws were created following the conquest and Spanish colonization of the Americas in the West Indies, where the common law of Castile was not fully applicable.

  3. 1521 The Zwickau prophets arrive in Wittenberg, disturbing the peace and preaching the Apocalypse.

    Saxon Radical Reformers active in 1522

    The Zwickau prophets were three men of the Radical Reformation from Zwickau in the Electorate of Saxony in the Holy Roman Empire who were possibly involved in a disturbance in nearby Wittenberg and its evolving Reformation in early 1522. The prophets themselves, as well as supporters of their beliefs, are also referred to as Abecedarians, a name supposedly referring to the fact that they believed it was desireable to never learn the A B C, as knowledge of human history, which was passed through letters, prevented spiritual enlightenment.

  4. 1655 Second Northern War/the Deluge: Monks at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa are successful in fending off a month-long siege.

    Conflict in Europe

    The Northern War of 1655–1660 was fought between Sweden and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, with participation at different times by Russia, Brandenburg-Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and Denmark–Norway. It ended with the treaties of Copenhagen and Oliva in 1660.

  5. 1657 The Flushing Remonstrance articulates for the first time in North American history that freedom of religion is a fundamental right.

    1657 petition to Peter Stuyvesant

    The Flushing Remonstrance was a 1657 petition to Director-General of New Netherland Peter Stuyvesant, in which some thirty residents of the small settlement at Flushing requested an exemption to his ban on Quaker worship. It is considered a precursor to the United States Constitution's provision on freedom of religion in the Bill of Rights.

  6. 1703 Portugal and England sign the Methuen Treaty which allows Portugal to export wines to England on favorable trade terms.
  7. 1814 War of 1812: The destruction of the schooner USS Carolina brings to an end Commodore Daniel Patterson's makeshift fleet, which fought a series of delaying actions that contributed to Andrew Jackson's victory at the Battle of New Orleans.
  8. 1831 Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard HMS Beagle, during which he will begin to formulate his theory of evolution.
  9. 1836 The worst ever avalanche in England occurs at Lewes, Sussex, killing eight people.
  10. 1845 Ether anesthetic is used for childbirth for the first time by Dr. Crawford Long in Jefferson, Georgia.
  11. 1845 Having coined the phrase "manifest destiny" the previous July, journalist John L. O'Sullivan argued in his newspaper New York Morning News that the United States had the right to claim the entire Oregon Country.
  12. 1911 "Jana Gana Mana", the national anthem of India, is first sung in the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress.
  13. 1918 The Great Poland Uprising against the Germans begins.
  14. 1918 Ukrainian War of Independence: The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine occupies Yekaterinoslav and seizes seven airplanes from the UPRAF, establishing an Insurgent Air Fleet.
  15. 1922 Japanese aircraft carrier Hōshō becomes the first purpose-built aircraft carrier to be commissioned in the world.
Show 15 earlier entries from December 27
  1. 1927 Kern and Hammerstein's musical play Show Boat, considered to be the first true American musical play, opens at the Ziegfeld Theatre on Broadway.
  2. 1929 Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin orders the "liquidation of the kulaks as a class".
  3. 1932 Radio City Music Hall, "Showplace of the Nation", opens in New York City.
  4. 1935 Regina Jonas is ordained as the first female rabbi in the history of Judaism.
  5. 1939 The 7.8 Mw  Erzincan earthquake shakes eastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). At least 32,700 people were killed.
  6. 1939 Winter War: Finland holds off a Soviet attack in the Battle of Kelja.
  7. 1945 The International Monetary Fund is created with the signing of an agreement by 29 nations.
  8. 1949 Indonesian National Revolution: The Netherlands officially recognizes Indonesian independence. End of the Dutch East Indies.
  9. 1966 The Cave of Swallows, the largest known cave shaft in the world, is discovered in Aquismón, San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
  10. 1968 Apollo program: Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital crewed mission to the Moon.
  11. 1968 North Central Airlines Flight 458 crashes at O'Hare International Airport, killing 28.
  12. 1978 Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of fascist dictatorship.
  13. 1983 Pope John Paul II visits Mehmet Ali Ağca in Rebibbia's prison and personally forgives him for the 1981 attack on him in St. Peter's Square.
  14. 1985 Palestinian guerrillas kill eighteen people inside the airports of Rome, Italy, and Vienna, Austria.
  15. 1989 The Romanian Revolution concludes, as the last minor street confrontations and stray shootings abruptly end in the country's capital, Bucharest.

Around the world

Holidays on December 27

Keep going

More to explore