April 7 facts for kids

April 7 is the 97th day of the year (98th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 268 days remain until the end of the year. This page tells you about important things that happened on April 7th throughout history. You'll discover famous people who were born or passed away on this day, and learn about big events that shaped the world.

Historic Events on April 7

Early History (Before 1600)

• 451 – Attila the Hun captures Metz in France.
• 529 – The first Corpus Juris Civilis, a very important collection of laws, is released by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I.
• 1141 – Empress Matilda becomes the first female ruler of England. She takes the title "Lady of the English."
• 1348 – Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV starts Prague University.
• 1449 – Felix V gives up his claim to be Pope, ending the time of the last Antipope.
• 1521 – Explorer Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu in the Philippines.
• 1541 – Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon to go on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.

Later History (1601–1900)

• 1724 – The first show of Bach's St John Passion takes place in St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig.
• 1767 – The Burmese–Siamese War (1765–67) comes to an end.
• 1788 – Settlers create Marietta, Ohio. This is the first lasting settlement made by U.S. citizens in the Northwest Territory.
• 1795 – The French First Republic starts using the kilogram and gram as its main units of mass.
• 1790 – During the Greek War of Independence, Greek revolutionary Lambros Katsonis loses three of his ships in the Battle of Andros.
• 1798 – The Mississippi Territory is created from land claimed by both the United States and the Spanish Empire.
• 1805 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition continues its journey West along the Missouri River.
• 1805 – German composer Ludwig van Beethoven performs his Third Symphony for the first time in Vienna.
• 1824 – The Mechanics' Institution is started in Manchester, England. This was part of a movement to educate working men.
• 1831 – Pedro II becomes Emperor of Empire of Brazil.
• 1862 – American Civil War: The Union armies win against the Confederate army near Shiloh, Tennessee.
• 1868 – Thomas D'Arcy McGee, one of the important figures who helped create Canada, is assassinated.

Modern History (1901–Present)

• 1906 – Mount Vesuvius erupts and causes great damage to Naples.
• 1906 – The Algeciras Conference gives France and Spain control over Morocco.
• 1922 – Teapot Dome scandal: A U.S. government official leases federal oil reserves to private companies on very easy terms.
• 1926 – Violet Gibson tries to assassinate Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini.
• 1927 – AT&T engineer Herbert Ives sends the first long-distance public television broadcast. It goes from Washington, D.C. to New York City.
• 1933 – Prohibition in the United States ends for beer with low alcohol content. This is now celebrated as National Beer Day.
• 1933 – Nazi Germany issues a law that bans Jewish people and political opponents from government jobs.
• 1939 – Benito Mussolini declares that Albania is under Italian protection, forcing King Zog I to leave the country.
• 1940 – Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be shown on a United States postage stamp.
• 1943 – In Terebovlia, Germans force 1,100 Jewish people to march and then shoot them.
• 1943 – Ioannis Rallis becomes the collaborationist Prime Minister of Greece during the Axis Occupation.
• 1943 – The National Football League makes helmets a must-have for players.
• 1945 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Yamato, one of the largest ever built, is sunk by United States Navy aircraft.
• 1946 – The Soviet Union takes over East Prussia and renames it the Kaliningrad Oblast.
• 1948 – The World Health Organization is created by the United Nations.
• 1954 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech.
• 1955 – Winston Churchill steps down as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom due to health reasons.
• 1956 – Francoist Spain agrees to give up its protectorate in Morocco.
• 1964 – IBM announces the System/360 computer.
• 1965 – Native American leaders speak to the U.S. Senate against ending the Colville tribe's special status.
• 1968 – Two-time Formula One champion Jim Clark dies in an accident during a race.
• 1969 – The Internet's symbolic birth date: RFC 1 is published.
• 1971 – Vietnam War: President Richard Nixon announces he will speed up the process of Vietnamization.
• 1972 – Vietnam War: Communist forces take over the South Vietnamese town of Loc Ninh.
• 1976 – Member of Parliament John Stonehouse resigns from the Labour Party after being arrested for faking his own death.
• 1977 – German prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members.
• 1978 – President Jimmy Carter cancels the development of the neutron bomb.
• 1980 – During the Iran hostage crisis, the United States breaks off relations with Iran.
• 1982 – Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Sadegh Ghotbzadeh is arrested.
• 1983 – During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson perform the first Space Shuttle spacewalk.
• 1988 – Soviet Defense Minister Dmitry Yazov orders the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan.
• 1990 – A fire breaks out on the passenger ferry Scandinavian Star, killing 159 people.
• 1990 – John Poindexter is found guilty for his part in the Iran–Contra affair.
• 1994 – Rwandan genocide: Mass killings of Tutsis begin in Kigali, Rwanda. Soldiers kill the Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana.
• 1994 – Auburn Calloway tries to crash Federal Express Flight 705.
• 1995 – First Chechen War: Russian troops begin a massacre of civilians in Samashki, Chechnya.
• 2001 – NASA launches the 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter.
• 2003 – Iraq War: U.S. troops capture Baghdad.
• 2009 – Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is sentenced to 25 years in prison.
• 2009 – Mass protests begin across Moldova because people believe the election results are fake.
• 2011 – The Israel Defense Forces use their Iron Dome missile system to stop a missile from Gaza. This is the first time a short-range missile has been stopped this way.
• 2017 – U.S. President Donald Trump orders a missile strike against Syria in response to a chemical attack.
• 2018 – Former Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is arrested.
• 2018 – Syria launches the Douma chemical attack during the Syrian Civil War.
• 2020 – COVID-19 pandemic: China ends its lockdown in Wuhan.
• 2020 – Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly resigns due to his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic on USS Theodore Roosevelt.
• 2021 – COVID-19 pandemic: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announces that the SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant is the main type of COVID-19 in the United States.
• 2022 – Ketanji Brown Jackson is confirmed for the Supreme Court of the United States, becoming the first black female justice.

Famous Births on April 7

Before 1900

• 1506 – Francis Xavier, a Spanish missionary and saint, who helped start the Society of Jesus.
• 1770 – William Wordsworth, a famous English poet.
• 1859 – Walter Camp, an American football player and coach.
• 1860 – Will Keith Kellogg, an American businessman who started the Kellogg Company.
• 1889 – Gabriela Mistral, a Chilean poet and educator who won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• 1891 – Ole Kirk Christiansen, a Danish businessman who founded the Lego Group.
• 1897 – Walter Winchell, an American journalist and radio host.

After 1900

• 1915 – Billie Holiday, a famous American singer-songwriter.
• 1920 – Ravi Shankar, an Indian-American sitar player and composer.
• 1928 – James Garner, an American actor.
• 1931 – Daniel Ellsberg, an American activist and author.
• 1938 – Jerry Brown, an American lawyer and politician, who was Governor of California.
• 1939 – Francis Ford Coppola, a famous American director and producer.
• 1942 – Jeetendra, an Indian actor and producer.
• 1944 – Gerhard Schröder, a German lawyer and politician, who was Chancellor of Germany.
• 1954 – Jackie Chan, a famous Hong Kong martial artist, actor, and director.
• 1972 – Tim Peake, a British astronaut.
• 1975 – Ronde Barber and Tiki Barber, American football players.
• 1983 – Franck Ribéry, a French footballer.
• 1989 – Teddy Riner, a French judoka.
• 1991 – Anne-Marie, an English singer-songwriter.

Notable Deaths on April 7

Before 1900

• AD 30 – Jesus Christ (a possible date for his passing).
• 1498 – Charles VIII of France.
• 1614 – El Greco, a famous Greek-Spanish painter and sculptor.
• 1719 – Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, a French priest and saint.
• 1739 – Dick Turpin, an English criminal.
• 1804 – Toussaint Louverture, a Haitian general.
• 1868 – Thomas D'Arcy McGee, an Irish-Canadian journalist and politician.
• 1891 – P. T. Barnum, an American businessman who helped start The Barnum & Bailey Circus.

After 1900

• 1939 – Joseph Lyons, the 10th Prime Minister of Australia.
• 1947 – Henry Ford, an American engineer and businessman who founded the Ford Motor Company.
• 1950 – Walter Huston, a Canadian-American actor.
• 1955 – Theda Bara, an American actress.
• 1968 – Jim Clark, a Scottish race car driver.
• 1972 – Joe Gallo, an American gangster.
• 1981 – Norman Taurog, an American director.
• 1994 – Agathe Uwilingiyimana, the Prime Minister of Rwanda.
• 2001 – David Graf, an American actor.
• 2009 – Dave Arneson, an American game designer who helped create Dungeons & Dragons.
• 2012 – Mike Wallace, a famous American television news journalist.
• 2015 – Stan Freberg, an American puppeteer and voice actor.
• 2020 – John Prine, an American country folk singer-songwriter.
• 2023 – Ben Ferencz, an American lawyer.

Holidays and Observances

• Christian feast days:
  • Aibert of Crespin
  • Blessed Alexander Rawlins
  • Blessed Edward Oldcorne and Blessed Ralph Ashley
  • Blessed Notker the Stammerer
  • Brynach
  • Hegesippus
  • Henry Walpole
  • Hermann Joseph
  • Jean-Baptiste de La Salle
  • Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow (Eastern Orthodox Church, Episcopal Church (USA))
  • April 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Flag Day (Slovenia)
• Genocide Memorial Day (Rwanda), and its related observance:
  • International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Rwanda Genocide (United Nations)
• Motherhood and Beauty Day (Armenia)
• National Beer Day (United States)
• Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume Day (Tanzania)
• Women's Day (Mozambique)
• Veterans' Day (Belgium)
• World Health Day (International observance)

See also

In Spanish: 7 de abril para niños