Learn about important dates in French and francophone history: famous birthdays, holidays and celebrations, and other milestones. If the above does not match today's date or you wish to choose a specific date, please click here.

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Birthdays

1316 - Jean Ier le Posthume

1498 - Eleonore of Austria (Queen of France and Portugal)

1556 - Jacques-Davy Duperron (French cardinal)

1607 - Madeleine de Scudéry (French writer)

1688 - Louis Bertrand Castel (French mathematician)

1793 - Michel Chasles (French mathematician)

1886 - René Guénon (French-Egyptian author)

1913 - Arthur Haulot (Belgian journalist and humanist)

1926 - François Craenhals (Belgian comic strip artist)

1970 - Patrick Mboma (Cameroonian soccer player)

1976 - Virginie Ledoyen (French actress)

Deaths

1795 - Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo (French painter)

1917 - Émile Durkheim (French sociologist)

Holidays/Celebrations

Belgium - King's Day

Milestones/Events

1920 - First assembly of the League of Nations held in Geneva

1935 - Canada and the United States signed the reciprocal trade agreement

1948 - Louis Stephen St.

Laurent succeeded William Lyon Mackenzie King as Prime Minister of Canada

1976 - René Lévesque and the Parti Québécois took power; the first 20th century Québec government clearly in favor of independence

Errors and Omissions

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