Events

Up to 1900 
 648 BC – Earliest solar eclipse recorded by the Ancient Greeks.
 46 BC - Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipo and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) in the Battle of Thapsus.
 402 – Stilicho stymies the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.
 1199 - Richard I of England dies from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder. His brother, John of England, succeeds him.
 1250 - Seventh Crusade: Ayyubids in Egypt capture King Louis IX of France in the Battle of Fariskur.
 1320 – The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.
 1327 – The poet Petrarch first saw his idealized love Laura in the church of Saint Claire in Avignon.
 1385 - John I of Portugal becomes King.
 1453 - Mehmed II begins his Siege of Constantinople.
 1580 - Areas around the English Channel experience once of their strongest earthquakes, at an estimated magnitude of over 5. It affects Southeastern England, Northern France and present-day Belgium.
 1652 – Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp at the Cape of Good Hope, which will eventually develop into Cape Town.
 1667 – Dubrovnik is destroyed by an earthquake, killing 5,000 people.
 1782 – Rama I succeeds King Taksin of Thailand, who was overthrown in a coup d'état.
 1793 - During the French Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety becomes the executive organ of the republic.
 1808 – John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company.
 1812 - British forces under command of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington assault the fortress at Badajoz, near the Spain-Portugal border, marking a turning point in the Peninsular War against Napoleon Bonaparte-led France.
 1814 - Napoleon Bonaparte is exiled to the Italian island of Elba.
 1815 - Geneva becomes the 22nd canton of Switzerland.
 1830 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is formed by Joseph Smith, Jr. at Fayette, New York.
 1832 – Indian Wars: Black Hawk War begins - The Sauk warrior Black Hawk enters into war with the United States.
 1841 – John Tyler is inaugurated as the 10th President of the United States.
 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Shiloh begins - In Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston at Shiloh.
 1865 – American Civil War: Battle of Sayler's Creek - Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia fights its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia.
 1869 – Celluloid is patented.
 1886 – Vancouver, British Columbia is incorporated as a city.
 1893 - Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is dedicated by Wilford Woodruff.
 1895 – Oscar Wilde is arrested after losing a libel case against the John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry.
 1896 – In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games after 1,500 years after being banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I.

1901  2000 
 1903 – The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) began, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Israel and the west.
 1909 – Robert Peary allegedly reaches the North Pole.
 1911 – Dedë Gjon Luli Dedvukaj, Leader of the Malësori Albanians raises the Albanian flag in the town of Tuzi, Montenegro for the first time after Gjergj Kastrioti (Skenderbeg).
 1917 – World War I: United States declares war on Germany
 1919 - Mahatma Gandhi orders a general strike in India.
 1924 - The first round-the-world flight begins.
 1926 – Walter Varney Airlines makes first commercial flight from Pasco, Washington, to Elko, Nevada. Varney is the root company of United Airlines.
 1930 – Gandhi raised a lump of mud and salt (some say just a pinch, some say just a grain) and declared, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire." Thus he started Salt Satyagraha.
 1930 – Hostess Twinkies are invented.
 1930 – Will Rogers starts broadcasting The Will Rogers Program on radio.
 1931 – Little Orphan Annie debuts on the Blue Network of NBC.
 1936 – Tupelo-Gainesville Outbreak: Another tornado from the same storm system as the Tupelo tornado hits Gainesville, Georgia, killing 203.
 1941 – World War II: Operation Castigo begins - Germany invades Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Greece.
 1945 - World War II: Yugoslavian Partisans liberate Sarajevo from German and Croatian forces.
 1947 - The first Tony Awards are presented for achievement in theatre.
 1965 – Early Bird, the first communications satellite to be placed in synchronous orbit, is launched.
 1968 – In London, United Kingdom, Massiel wins the thirteenth Eurovision Song Contest for Spain singing "La, la, la."
 1970 – Four California Highway Patrol officers die in one of the worst cop killings in the CHP's history; this is known as the Newhall Incident.
 1972 – Vietnam War: Easter Offensive - The first day of clear weather in three days allows American forces to start sustained air strikes and naval bombardments.
 1973 – Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft.
 1974 – The California Jam Rock concert begins.
 1974 – In Brighton, United Kingdom, ABBA wins the nineteenth Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden singing "Waterloo."
 1984 – Members of Cameroon's Republican Guard from country's northern region attack various government buildings in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the government headed by Paul Biya.
 1987 – Sugar Ray Leonard takes the middleweight boxing title from Marvin Hagler.
 1993 – Russian nuclear accident at Tomsk 7.
 1994 – The Rwandan Genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down, responsibility is disputed.
 1998 – Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of hitting India.
 1998 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 49.82 to close at 9,033.23 - its first-ever close above 9,000.

From 2001 
 2001 – Miller Park opens in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
 2004 – Rolandas Paksas becomes the first President of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from the post by impeachment.
 2005 – Rainier III, Prince of Monaco dies, at the age of 81 years. His son succeeds him as Albert II, Prince of Monaco.
 2005 – Jalal Talabani becomes President of Iraq.
 2006 - Boni Yayi becomes President of Benin.
 2009 – A magnitude 6 earthquake strikes near L'Aquila in central Italy, killing around 300 people, mainly as a result of collapsing buildings.
 2011 - In San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, over 300 bodies are exhumed from several mass graves made by Los Zetas.
 2012 - Rebel groups declare an independent state called Azawad in northern Mali, which is not internationally recognized as independent.
 2016 - Emmanuel Macron starts his bid to become President of France.
 2018 - South Korea's former President Park Geun-hye is sentenced to 24 years in prison on corruption charges.
 2018 - A bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior ice hockey team crashes en route to a match in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada, killing 14 people.

Births

Up to 1900 
 1483 – Raphael, Italian painter (d. 1520)
 1632 – Maria Leopoldine of Austria (d. 1649)
 1660 - Johann Kuhnau, German composer, organist and harpsichordist (d. 1722)
 1664 – Arvid Horn, Swedish politician (d. 1742)
 1671 – Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet (d. 1741)
 1706 - Louis de Cahusac, French playwright (d. 1759)
 1725 - Pascuale Paoli, Corsican patriot and military leader (d. 1807)
 1726 - Gerard Majella, Italian saint (d. 1755)
 1732 - José Celestino Mutis, Spanish priest, botanist and mathematician (d. 1808)
 1741 - Nicolas Chamfort, French writer (d. 1794)
 1765 - Charles Felix of Sardinia (d. 1831)
 1773 – James Mill, Scottish philosopher and historian (d. 1836)
 1801 - William Hallowes Miller, Welsh mineralogist (d. 1880)
 1802 - Thomas Walker Gilmer, Governor of Virginia (d. 1844)
 1812 - Alexander Herzen, Russian philosopher and writer (d. 1870)
 1815 – Robert Volkmann, German composer (d. 1883)
 1818 - Aasmund Olavsson Vinje, Norwegian poet (d. 1870)
 1820 - Nadar, French photographer (d. 1910)
 1823 - Joseph Metill, American publisher and politician (d. 1899)
 1824 - George Marsden Waterhouse, Premier of South Australia and 7th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1906)
 1826 - Gustave Moreau, French painter (d. 1898)
 1839 – Antonio Starabba, Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1908)
 1841 - Karl Binding, German jurist (d. 1920)
 1849 - John William Waterhouse, British painter (d. 1917)
 1851 - Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer (d. 1932)
 1857 - Arthur Wesley Dow, American painter (d. 1922)
 1860 - René Lalique, French glass designer (d. 1945)
 1861 - Stanislas de Guaita, French poet (d. 1897)
 1864 - William Bate Hardy, English biochemist (d. 1934)
 1866 - Felix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau, Canadian cardinal (d. 1931)
 1869 – Levon Shant, Armenian playwright, novelist and poet (d. 1951)
 1878 - Erich Mühsam, German writer (d. 1934)
 1881 - Karl Staaf, Swedish athlete (d. 1953)
 1884 – Walter Huston, Canadian-born actor (d. 1950)
 1886 - Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople (d. 1972)
 1888 - Hans Richter, Swiss painter, movie maker and graphic artist (d. 1976)
 1890 - Anthony Fokker, Dutch aviation pioneer and aircraft manufacturer (d. 1939)
 1892 - Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American aviation industrialist (d. 1981)
 1892 - Lowell Thomas, American writer (d. 1981)
 1893 - Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia (d. 1917)
 1894 – Gertrude Baines, American supercentenarian (d. 2009)
 1898 - Jeanne Hebuterne, French artist (d. 1920)

1901  1950 
 1903 - Mickey Cochrane, American baseball player (d. 1962)
 1903 - Harold Eugene Edgerton, American engineer (d. 1990)
 1904 – Kurt Georg Kiesinger, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1988)
 1910 - Barys Kit, Belarussian-American rocket scientist (d. 2018)
 1911 – Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist (d. 1979)
 1915 – Tadeusz Kantor, Polish theatre director (d. 1990)
 1917 - Leonora Carrington, British-Mexican painter and writer (d. 2011)
 1918 - Alfredo Ovando Candia, President of Bolivia (d. 1982)
 1918 – Big Walter Horton, American blues musician (d. 1981)
 1920 – Edmond H. Fischer, Swiss-American biochemist
 1920 - Jack Cover, American inventor of the taser gun (d. 2009)
 1921 - Heinrich Schmid, Swiss linguist (d. 1999)
 1925 – Helga Deen, victim of the Holocaust (d. 1943)
 1926 - Sergio Franchi, Italian singer and actor (d. 1990)
 1926 - Gil Kane, Latvian-born cartoonist (d. 2000)
 1926 – Ian Paisley, Northern Irish minister and politician (d. 2014)
 1926 - Alexander Butterfield, American political figure
 1927 - Gerry Mulligan, American saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger (d. 1996)
 1928 – James D. Watson, American geneticist
 1929 – André Previn, German-born American musician (d. 2019)
 1931 - Baba Ram Dass, American Hindu teacher
 1931 - Suchitra Sen, Indian actress (d. 2014)
 1933 - Eduardo Malapit, American politician (d. 2007)
 1934 – Anton Geesink, Dutch judoka (d. 2010)
 1934 - Mario Merola, Italian singer
 1937 – Merle Haggard, American musician (d. 2016)
 1937 – Billy Dee Williams, American actor
 1937 - Terrence Hardiman, English actor
 1937 - Peter Maivia, American Samoan professional wrestler (d. 1982)
 1938 - Paul Daniels, English magician (d. 2016)
 1938 - Roy Thinnes, American actor
 1939 - André Ouellet, French-Canadian politician
 1939 - John Sculley, American businessman
 1940 - Pedro Armendariz, Jr., American actor (d. 2011)
 1941 - Phil Austin, American comedian and writer (d. 2014)
 1942 – Barry Levinson, American director
 1943 - Max Clifford, English journalist and publicist
 1944 – Felicity Palmer, English soprano
 1944 - Anita Pallenberg, Italian-English model, actress and fashion designer (d. 2017)
 1944 - Charles Sobhraj, Vietnamese-Indian serial killer
 1947 – John Ratzenberger, American actor
 1947 - Mike Warboys, English mathematician
 1949 - Patrick Hernandez, French singer and songwriter
 1949 – Horst Ludwig Stoermer, German physicist
 1950 - Christer Sjögren, Swedish singer

1951  1975 
 1951 - Jean-Marc Boivin, French skier, mountaineer and pilot (d. 1990)
 1952 – Michel Larocque, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1992)
 1952 - Marilu Henner, American actress
 1952 - Udo Dirkschneider, German musician
 1953 - Christopher Franke, German-American drummer and songwriter
 1955 - Blind Mississippi Morris, American blues musician
 1955 - Keith Hunter Jesperson, Canadian-American serial killer
 1956 - Michele Bachmann, American politician
 1957 - Paolo Nespoli, Italian astronaut
 1957 - Maurizio Damilano, Italian athlete
 1960 - Warren Haynes, American musician
 1961 – Rory Bremner, British comedian
 1963 – Rafael Correa, former President of Ecuador
 1964 – David Woodard, American writer and conductor
 1965 – Amedeo Carboni, Italian footballer
 1965 - Black Francis, American singer-songwriter
 1967 – Mika Koivuniemi, Finnish ten-pin bowler
 1967 - Tanya Byron, English psychologist
 1967 - Julian Anderson, English composer and educator
 1969 – Paul Rudd, American actor
 1969 - Louie Spence, British dancer and choreographer
 1969 - Bison Dele, American basketball player (d. 2002)
 1970 - Huang Xiaomin, Chinese swimmer
 1971 – Martin Hansson, Swedish football referee
 1972 - Anders Thomas Jensen, Danish screenwriter and movie director
 1973 – Rie Miyazawa, Japanese actress
 1974 – Robert Kovac, Croatian footballer
 1974 - Camilla Dallerup, Danish-British dancer
 1974 - Gina Yashere, British comedienne
 1975 – Zach Braff, American actor

From 1976 
 1976 – Candace Cameron, American actress
 1976 - James Fox, Welsh singer-songwriter and actor
 1976 - Georg Hólm, Icelandic musician
 1978 - Igor Semshov, Russian footballer
 1978 – Myleene Klass, English singer
 1981 – Robert Earnshaw, Welsh footballer
 1982 – Herculez Gomez, American soccer player
 1982 - Alana Austin, American actress
 1982 - Miguel Angel Silvestre, Spanish actor
 1982 - Bret Harrison, American actor
 1983 – Mitsuru Nagata, Japanese footballer
 1983 - Remi Nicole, English singer, songwriter and actor
 1983 - Katie Weatherston, Canadian ice hockey player
 1983 - Bobbi Starr, American pornographic actress
 1984 - Siboniso Gaxa, South African footballer
 1985 - Al Mukadam, Canadian actor, director and producer
 1985 - Sinqua Walls, American basketball player and coach
 1986 – Ryota Moriwaki, Japanese footballer
 1987 - Robin Haase, Dutch tennis player
 1988 – Fabrice Muamba, English-Congolese footballer
 1990 - Charlie McDermott, American actor
 1991 - Alexandra Popp, German footballer
 1995 - Ryutaro Morimoto, Japanese actor and singer
 1998 - Peyton List, American actress
 1998 - Spencer List, American actor
 1999 - Kwesi Boakye, American actor
 2000 - CJ Adams, American actor

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 885 - Saint Methodius (b. 815)
 1147 - Frederick II, Duke of Swabia (b. 1090)
 1199 – King Richard I of England (b. 1157)
 1490 - Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (b. 1443)
 1520 – Raphael, Italian painter (b. 1483)
 1528 - Albrecht Dürer, German artist (b. 1471)
 1551 - Joachim Vadian, Swiss humanist (b. 1484)
 1782 – Taksin, King of Siam (b. 1734)
 1790 - Louis IX, Margrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (b. 1719)
 1825 – Vladimir Borovikovsky, Russian painter (b. 1757)
 1829 – Niels Henrik Abel, Norwegian mathematician (b. 1802)
 1838 - Jose Bonifacio de Andrade e Silva, Brazilian statesman and geologist (b. 1763)
 1860 - James Kirke Paulding, American writer and politician (b. 1778)
 1865 - Antonio Pinto Soares, Costa Rican politician (b. 1780)
 1883 - Benjamin Wright Raymond, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1801)
 1886 - William Edward Foster, English industrialist, philanthropist and politician (b. 1818)
 1899 - Alvan Wentworth Chapman, American physician and botanist (b. 1809)

1901  2000 
 1906 – Alexander Kielland, Norwegian writer (b. 1845)
 1917 - Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia (b. 1893)
 1933 - Elizabeth Bacon Custer, American writer and widow of George Armstrong Custer (b. 1842)
 1950 - Louis Wilkins, American athlete (b. 1882)
 1953 - Idris Davies, Welsh poet (b. 1905)
 1961 – Jules Bordet, Belgian doctor, won the 1919 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1870)
 1963 - Otto Struve, Russian astronomer (b. 1897)
 1970 - Maurice Stokes, American basketball player (b. 1933)
 1971 – Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer (b. 1882)
 1972 – Heinrich Lübke, second President of the Federal Republic of Germany (b. 1894)
 1974 - Hudson Fysh, Australian pilot and businessman (b. 1895)
 1992 – Isaac Asimov, Russian-born writer (b. 1920)
 1994 – Juvénal Habyarimana, President of Rwanda (b. 1937)
 1994 – Cyprien Ntaryamira, President of Burundi (b. 1956)
 1996 – Greer Garson, British actress (b. 1904)
 1998 – Tammy Wynette, American singer (b. 1942)
 1998 - Wendy O. Williams, American singer (b. 1949)
 2000 – Habib Bourguiba, 1st President of Tunisia (b. 1903)

From 2001 
 2001 - Charles Pettigrew, American singer (b. 1963)
 2003 - Gerald Emmett Carter, Canadian cardinal (b. 1912)
 2004 – Victor Argo, American movie actor (b. 1934)
 2005 – Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (b. 1923)
 2006 - Francis L. Kellogg, American diplomat (b. 1917)
 2007 – Luigi Comencini, Italian movie director (b. 1916)
 2010 – Corin Redgrave, British actor and political activist (b. 1939)
 2012 - Fang Lizhi, Chinese activist (b. 1936)
 2012 - Thomas Kinkade, American painter (b. 1958)
 2013 - Hilda Bynoe, 2nd Governor of Grenada (b. 1921)
 2013 - Bigas Luna, Spanish director and screenwriter (b. 1946)
 2013 - Miguel Poblet, Spanish cyclist (b. 1928)
 2014 - Mary Anderson, American actress (b. 1918)
 2014 - Massimo Tamburini, Italian motorcycle designer (b. 1943)
 2014 - Chuck Stone, American navigator (b. 1924)
 2014 - Liv Dommersnes, Norwegian actress (b. 1922)
 2014 - Mickey Rooney, American actor (b. 1920)
 2015 - Gertrude Weaver, American supercentenarian (b. 1898)
 2015 - Dave Ulliott, English poker player (b. 1954)
 2015 - Dollard St. Laurent, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
 2015 - James Best, American actor (b. 1926)
 2015 - Romualdas Ozolas, Lithuanian politician (b. 1939)
 2015 - Giovanni Berlinguer, Italian politician (b. 1924)
 2015 - Ray Charles, American musician (b. 1918)
 2015 - Ben Powers, American actor (b. 1950)
 2015 - Hardijs Baumanis, Latvian diplomat (b. 1967)
 2015 - John Papit, American football player (b. 1928)
 2016 - Merle Haggard, American musician (b. 1937)
 2016 - Darrell Hogan, American football player (b. 1926)
 2017 - Bob Cerv, American baseball player (b. 1925)
 2017 - Armand Gatti, Monegasque-French playwright, filmmaker and journalist (b. 1924)
 2017 - David Peel, American musician and political activist (b. 1943)
 2017 - Don Rickles, American actor and comedian (b. 1926)
 2017 - Jerzy Vetulani, Polish neuroscientist (b. 1936)
 2018 - Daniel Akaka, American politician, United States Senator for Hawaii (b. 1924)
 2018 - Daniel Chavarria, Uruguayan-Cuban author (b. 1933)
 2018 - Jacques Higelin, French singer (b. 1940)
 2018 - Donald McKayle, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1930)
 2018 - Henryk Skolimowski, Polish philosopher (b. 1930)
 2019 - Jim Glaser, American country music singer (b. 1936)
 2019 - Fritz Hollings, American politician, United States Senator and 106th Governor of South Carolina (b. 1922)
 2019 - Lloyd McDermott, Australian rugby union player and barrister (b. 1939)
 2019 - David J. Thouless, Scottish physicist (b. 1934)
 2020 - Al Kaline, American baseball player (b. 1934)

Observances 
 Tartan Day (Canada and United States)
 Chakri Day (Thailand)

April 06