On this day: 21 April
Events, births and deaths on 21 April. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
- Deaths · Pope Francis
- Events · death and funeral of Pope Francis
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · Prince
100 years ago1926
- Births · Elizabeth II
- Births · Arthur Rowley
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 1109 · Deaths · Anselm of Canterbury
- 1073 · Deaths · Alexander II
- 1092 · Events · Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Pisa
Events · 25
- 753 BCE(Julian date)Rome — capital and largest city of Italy
- 753 BCE(Julian date)founding of Rome — mythical tale
- 43 BCE(Julian date)Battle of Matina — 21 April 43 BCE
- 900(Julian date)Laguna Copperplate Inscription — 900 CE ancient legal document found in the Philippines that records the release of a debt
- 1092(Julian date)Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Pisa — Catholic archdiocese in Italy
- 1782Bangkok — capital of Thailand
- 1789Vice President of the United States — second-highest constitutional office in the United States
- 1789George Washington's reception at Trenton — reception at Trenton, New Jersey for president-elect George Washington on April 21, 1789
- 1796Battle of Mondovì — 1796 battle
- 1802Wahhabi sack of Karbala — 1802 sack of a city
- 1836Battle of San Jacinto — 1836 decisive battle of the Texas Revolution
- 1914Ypiranga incident — 1914 detention of a German ship by US forces
- 1928Shanghai Manhua — pictorial magazine
- 19351935 Hsinchu-Taichung earthquake — earthquake
- 1958United Airlines Flight 736 — mid-air collision
- 1960Brasília — federal capital of Brazil
- 1963Universal House of Justice — Elected institution governing the worldwide Bahá'í community
- 19641964 New York World's Fair — showcase of mid-20th-century American culture and technology fair
- 1967Greek junta — military rulers of Greece (1967–1974)
- 1970Principality of Morosvia — It was a micronation in Australia (C.E.1970–Now)
- 1996Jokela rail accident — train accident in Tuusula, Finland, on 21 April 1996
- 2010Kharkiv Pact — 2010 agreement between Ukraine and Russia on the status of the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea
- 2012Sloterdijk train collision — train collision
- 20192019 Sri Lanka bombings — a series of explosions in Sri Lanka across multiple cities on Easter Sunday, 21 April 2019
- 2025death and funeral of Pope Francis — 2025 death and funeral of the 266th pope
Births · 60
- 1132Sancho VI of Navarre — King of Navarre
- 1488(Julian date)
- 1619Jan van Riebeeck — Dutch colonial governor (1619–1677)
- 1651Joseph Vaz — Oratorian priest and missionary in Sri Lanka
- 1652Michel Rolle — French mathematician
- 1671John Law — Scottish economist and banker (1671-1729)
- 1673Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg — Holy Roman Empress consort (1673-1742)
- 1774Jean-Baptiste Biot — French scientist (1774-1862)
- 1782Friedrich Fröbel — German educator
- 1790Manuel Blanco Encalada — Chilean politician and President (1790-1876)
- 1814Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts — British peer, philanthropist and humanitarian (1814-1906)
- 1816Charlotte Brontë — British novelist and poet (1816-1855)
- 1837Fredrik Bajer — Danish politician (1837-1922)
- 1838John Muir — Scottish-American naturalist (1838–1914)
- 1864Max Weber — German sociologist, philosopher, and political economist (1864–1920)
- 1870Edwin Stanton Porter — American film pioneer (1870–1941)
- 1882Percy Williams Bridgman — American physicist
- 1889Paul Karrer — Swiss chemist (1889-1971)
- 1904Odilo Globočnik — Austrian-German SS officer, SS-Group Leader and Lieutenant General of the Police, temporary leader of Operation Reinhardt (1904–1945)
- 1905Pat Brown — 32nd governor of California from 1959 to 1967
- 1912Marcel Camus — French film director (1912-1982)
- 1912Eve Arnold — American photojournalist (1913–2012)
- 1915Anthony Quinn — Mexican and American actor (1915–2001)
- 1915Garrett Hardin — American ecologist (1915–2003)
- 1919Licio Gelli — Italian financier, liaison with Nazi Germany, P2 grandmaster, involved in many scandals (1919-2015)
Deaths · 60
- 234(Julian date)Emperor Xian of Han — Emperor of the Han dynasty from 189 to 220
- 586(Julian date)Liuvigild — Visigothic king
- 1073(Julian date)Alexander II — Head of the Catholic Church from 1061 to 1073
- 1109(Julian date)Anselm of Canterbury — 11th‑century Benedictine monk, Archbishop of Canterbury, philosopher and theologian
- 1142(Julian date)Peter Abelard — French scholastic philosopher, theologian and preeminent logician (c.1079-1142)
- 1213Maria of Montpellier — Queen of Aragon (1182-1213)
- 1509(Julian date)Henry VII of England — King of England from 1485 to 1509
- 1526Ibrahim Khan Lodi — Sultan of the Delhi Sultanate from 1517 to 1526
- 1574(Julian date)Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany — Duke of Florence (1519-1574)
- 1591Sen no Rikyū — Japanese tea master
- 1699Jean Racine — French dramatist (1639-1699)
- 1718Philippe de La Hire — French mathematician and astronomer (1640-1718)
- 1736Eugene of Savoy — prince of the house of Savoy, then commander in chief of the armies of the Holy Roman Empire (1663-1736)
- 1793John Michell — English philosopher
- 1825Johann Friedrich Pfaff — German mathematician (1765-1825)
- 1900Alphonse Milne-Edwards — Anglo-French zoologist (1835-1900)
- 1909Higinio Uriarte — Paraguayan politician (1843-1909)
- 1910Mark Twain — American author and humorist (1835–1910)
- 1918Manfred von Richthofen — German fighter pilot (1892-1918)
- 1924Eleonora Duse — Italian stage actress (1858-1924)
- 1930Robert Bridges — British writer (1844-1930)
- 1930Albert von Le Coq — German brewery owner and wine merchant (1860-1930)
- 1932Friedrich Gustav Piffl — Catholic cardinal and Archbishop from Vienna 1913-1932
- 1934Carsten Borchgrevink — Anglo-Norwegian polar explorer (1864-1934)
- 1938Muhammad Iqbal — British-Indian Islamic philosopher, poet and politician (1877-1938)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.