EVENTS:
- 1821 – Panama Independence Day: Panama separates from Spain and joins Gran Colombia.
- 1828 – Greek War of Independence: The French Morea expedition to recapture Morea (now the Peloponnese) ends when the last Ottoman forces depart the peninsula.
- 1893 – New Zealand becomes the first country in which women vote in a national election.
- 1912 – Albania declares its independence from the Ottoman Empire.
- 1960 – Mauritania becomes independent of France.
- 1964 – Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 4 probe toward Mars.
- 1975 – East Timor declares its independence from Portugal.
- 1987 – South African Airways Flight 295 crashes into the Indian Ocean, killing all 159 people on board.
- 1991 – South Ossetia declares independence from Georgia.
- 2013 – A 6 earthquake in Iran kills seven people and injures 45 others.
- 2016 – A chartered Avro RJ85 plane carrying at least 81 people, including the Chapecoense football team, crashes near Medellín, Colombia.
BIRTHS:
- 1876 – Bert Vogler, South African cricketer (d. 1946)
- 1942 – Paul Warfield, American football player
- 1950 – Russell Alan Hulse, American physicist and astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1960 – Andy Ritchie, English footballer and manager
- 1960 – Kenny Wharton, English footballer and coach
- 1964 – Michael Bennet, Indian-American lawyer and politician
- 1969 – Nick Knight, English cricketer and commentator
- 1977 – Marlon Broomes, English footballer
- 1978 – Darryl Flahavan, English footballer
- 1978 – Michael Simpkins, English footballer
- 1984 – Andrew Bogut, Australian basketball player
- 1985 – Esha Gupta, Indian model and actress
- 1987 – Craig Kieswetter, English cricketer
- 1989 – Laura Alleway, Australian footballer
HOLIDAYS and OBSERVANCES:
- Independence Day / National Day / Flag Day, celebrate the independence of Albania from Turkey in 1912, the first Albanian flag raise by Skanderbeg in 1443, and for the new parliamentary constitution in 1998.
- Independence Day (Mauritania), celebrate the independence of Mauritania from France in 1960.
- Independence Day (Panama), celebrate the independence of Panama from Spain in 1821.
- Navy Day (Iran)
- Republic Day (Burundi)
- Republic Day (Chad)
