Important Events From This day in History – 6th December

Today in History

• 1977 South Africa grants independence to Bophuthatswana

  The Republic of Botswana was never recognized internationally. After a series of coups, it reintegrated with South Africa in 1994.

• 1967 World’s first pediatric heart transplant

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

• 1922 Establishment of the Irish Free State

  The Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed in 1921 by British and Irish representatives, paved the way for establishing the British Empire’s Dominion. The state was in effect until December 1937.

• 1917 Finnish Declaration of Independence

  Finland had been a Grand Duchy in the Russian Empire for 109 years before the declaration. In 1809, the Russian Empire took control of the country in Northern Europe. On this day, the Finnish Parliament declared independence from Russia following the October Revolution, which resulted in the formation of the Soviet Union.

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

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