Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another. Nelson Mandela
South Africa granted independence to Bophuthatswana
The Republic of Bophuthatswana was never internationally recognized. In 1994, after a series of coups, it reintegrated with South Africa in 1977.
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 in 1967.
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 in 1922. The state lasted until December 1937.
Read also: December 5th this day in history
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 in 1917.
Adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The amendment of 1865 abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime.
