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On this day in history - December 6

What Happened On This Day – December 6

  • 1977 South Africa grants independence to Bophuthatswana

    The Republic of Bophuthatswana was never internationally recognized. In 1994, after a series of coups, it reintegrated with South Africa.

  • 1967 World's first pediatric heart transplant

    3 days after the first heart transplant in the world occurred in South Africa, Adrian Kantrowitz and his team of surgeons performed United States' first heart transplant and the world's first pediatric heart transplant at the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn.

  • 1922 Establishment of the Irish Free State

    The Anglo-Irish Treaty signed between the British and Irish representatives in 1921 paved the way for the establishment of the Dominion of the British Empire. The state lasted until December 1937.

  • 1917 Finnish Declaration of Independence

    The declaration ended 109 years of Finland being a Grand Duchy in the Russian Empire. The Northern European country came under the control of the Russian Empire in 1809. After the October Revolution in Russia, which created the Soviet Union, the Finnish Parliament declared independence on this day.

  • 1865 Adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

    The amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime.

Illustration of stork, signifying birth

Births On This Day,
December 6

  • 1982 Alberto Contador

    Spanish cyclist

  • 1967 Judd Apatow

    American director, producer, screenwriter

  • 1941 Richard Speck

    American murderer

  • 1920 Dave Brubeck

    American pianist, composer

  • 1875 Evelyn Underhill

    English poet

Illustration of tombstone, signifying death

Deaths On This Day,
December 6

  • 1990 Tunku Abdul Rahman

    Malaysian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Malaysia

  • 1988 Roy Orbison

    American singer-songwriter

  • 1956 B. R. Ambedkar

    Indian jurist, politician

  • 1889 Jefferson Davis

    American colonel, politician, President of the Confederate States of America

  • 1882 Alfred Escher

    Swiss businessman, politician