First church dedicated on the Rialto islet in Venice (421), and Belarusian protesters clash with riot police over disputed election (2006). Born on this day: Aretha Franklin, Elton John and Béla Bartók. Died: Claude Debussy, Frédéric Mistral and Faisal of Saudi Arabia.
29 events, 81 births and 51 deaths on this date.
Traditionally, Venice's story begins here: the church of San Giacomo di Rialto was consecrated on a small islet in the lagoon. It became the foundation of a city that would grow into a major maritime and trading power.
European Space Agency · CC BY-SA 3.0 igoDemonstrators demanding a fresh vote after the rigged presidential election in Belarus were confronted by riot police. Opposition leader Aleksander Kozulin was among those detained.
Greek revolutionaries rose against Ottoman rule, and this date later became the traditional start of their war. The uprising had actually begun earlier under the older Julian calendar, so this is a tradition rather than the exact day.
Leo the Isaurian seized the Byzantine throne after capturing Theodosius's son. Theodosius then gave up the crown, and Leo's rule began the Isaurian dynasty that steadied the empire.
Cortés, arriving in the province of Tabasco on the Mexican mainland, won a fight against the local Tabascan people. The victory opened the way for his advance inland toward the Aztec capital.
Unknown artist Unknown artist · Public domain
Enrico Fermi reported that bombarding elements with neutrons could make them radioactive, a finding that opened the way to new artificial isotopes. The work later earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Department of Energy-Office of Public Affairs, restored by Yann · Public domain
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Known as the Queen of Soul, she grew up singing gospel in Detroit and became one of the most successful singers of her era. Her recordings, including Respect, sold tens of millions of copies worldwide.
Atlantic Records (Life time: Published before 1978 without a copyright notice) · Public domain
Elton John is a British singer, songwriter and pianist, best known for his songwriting partnership with Bernie Taupin and hits such as Rocket Man and Your Song. He has sold over 300 million records and has long campaigned against AIDS through his foundation.
Raph_PH · CC BY 2.0
Hungarian composer and pianist who collected village folk tunes and wove them into modernist works such as the opera Bluebeard's Castle and the Concerto for Orchestra. He is remembered as one of the founders of ethnomusicology.
RIA Novosti · CC BY-SA 3.0
Debussy was a French composer who broke away from the German tradition of Wagner and the classical symphony, and is often called the first Impressionist composer, though he rejected the label. He died in Paris in 1918, after finishing only three of six planned chamber sonatas.
Adam Cuerden · Public domain
Frédéric Mistral was a Provençal poet who wrote in the Occitan language and won the 1904 Nobel Prize in Literature. He also co-founded the Félibrige, a movement that worked to revive Provençal as a living literary language.
Tucker Collection · Public domain
King Faisal ruled Saudi Arabia for eleven years, modernising the kingdom and leading the 1973 oil embargo against nations backing Israel. He was shot dead in Riyadh by a nephew, ending a reign that had won wide popularity at home.
Arrival_ceremony_welcoming_King_Faisal_of_Saudi_Arabia_05-27-1971.jpg : Knudsen, Robert L. (Robert LeRoy), 1929-1989 · Public domain
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