Today in Francophone History

Learn about important dates in French and francophone history: famous birthdays, holidays and celebrations, and other milestones. If the above does not match today's date or you wish to choose a specific date, please click here

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Birthdays

1537 - Arnaud d'Ossat (French diplomat and writer)

1659 - Hyacinthe Rigaud (French painter)

1661 - Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville (French founder of the colony of Louisiana)

1754 - Destutt de Tracy (French philosopher)

1774 - Auguste Marmont (French marshal)

1909 - Jean Focas (Greco-French astronomer)

1925 - Jacques Delors (French President of the European Commission)

1977 - Kiki Musampa (Congolese soccer player)


Deaths

1031 - King Robert II of France

1160 - Peter Lombard (French theologian)

1387 - Robert IV of Artois (Count of Eu)

1453 - Enguerrand de Monstrelet (French chronicler)

1524 - Claude of France (wife of Louis XII of France)

1870 - Jules de Goncourt (French writer)

1945 - Paul Valéry (French author and poet)

1953 - Dumarsaid Estime (President of Haiti)

2006 - Gérard Oury (French filmmaker)


Milestones/Events

1738 - French explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye reached the western shore of Lake Michigan

1918 - World War I: German troops crossed the Marne

1922 - The League of Nations awarded mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom

1960 - Belgium defended its intervention in the Congo to the United Nations Security Council while the government of the Congo appealed to the Soviet Union to send troops; US, France, and NATO warned the Soviets to stay out of the dispute

1961 - Tunisian siege of Bizerte was broken by French military forces

1990 - Haiti asked the US to send observers to monitor its upcoming elections

2003 - Nice, France: Two bombs exploded outside a tax office, 16 people injured

2005 - Canada became the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage


Errors and Omissions

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