Major Events
- 46 BC Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) in the battle of Thapsus.
- 1453 Turkish forces under Sultan Mehmed II begin the siege of the Byzantine Empire capitol of Constantinople (now İstanbul), which falls May 29
- 1652 Cape Colony, the first European settlement in South Africa, established by Dutch East India Company under Jan van Riebeeck
- 1917 The United States declares war on Germany and enters World War I on the side of the Allies
- 1994 Plane carrying Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down by surface-to-air missiles, abruptly ending peace negotiations and sparking the Rwandan Genocide. Those responsible have never been identified.
- More April 6 Events
Apr 6 in Film & TV
- 1889 George Eastman begins selling his Kodak flexible rolled film for the first time
- 1906 World's first animated cartoon is released, "Humorous Phases of Funny Faces" by J. Stuart Blackton
Apr 6 in Music
Apr 6 in Sport
- 1896 First modern Summer Olympic Games open in Athens, Greece; American athlete James Connolly becomes first modern Olympic champion when he wins triple jump (then 2 hops and a jump); later 3rd in long jump, 2nd in high jump
Did You Know?
First baby born with DNA from 3 parents through mitochondrial transfer in Mexico
Fun Fact About April 6
Catherine the Great Empress of Russia, ends tax on men with beards, enacted by Tsar Peter the Great in 1698
Famous Weddings
- 1896 23rd US President Benjamin Harrison (63) weds Mary Scott (37) at St Thomas Protestant Episcopal Church in New York City
- 1920 Physicist Erwin Schrödinger (32) weds Annemarie Bertel
- 1943 US Marine Corps aviator and astronaut John Glenn (21) weds high school sweetheart Anna Margaret Castor
Famous Divorces
- 1967 American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson (25) divorces Sandi McTaggart (23) in Los Angeles, California, after 2-1/2 years of marriage
- 2012 Actress and model Heidi Klum (39) divorces British soul and R&B singer-songwriter Seal (49) due to irreconcilable differences after almost seven years of marriage
More April 6 Weddings
Articles, Photos and Quiz
Lionheart Richard, The Stranger King
Richard the Lionheart, Robin Hood’s king is considered one of the great English monarchs. Yet he cost his country a fortune and barely lived there.
April 6, 1199Cape Colony Founded
Jan van Riebeeck arrives in Table Bay, South Africa
April 6, 16521st Animated Film
A frame from "Humorous Phases of Funny Faces", released in 1906
April 6, 1906