Facts

1500:The Portuguese explorer Pedro Adrales Cabral is the first European to reach Brazil and calls it the “Land of the True Cross”.

1827: Georgios Karaiskakis is injured by a bullet in Faliro. There are suspicions of an assassination attempt by his political opponents.

1897: The Battle of Pharsalus. The Greek forces under Brigadier General Smolenskis, despite fierce Turkish attacks, maintain their positions. (The Greek-Turkish War of 1897)

1915: Chemical weapons are used for the first time on the battlefield. At the Battle of Ypres, during World War I, German forces fire cylinders of chlorine gas, killing 5,000 French soldiers.

1931: The Benaki Museum is inaugurated in Athens, in the presence of Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos and other officials.

1963: The founding conference of the National Student Union of Greece (EFEE) convenes at the Hatzichristou Theater in Athens. The later journalist Yannis Tzanetakos will be elected its first president on April 28.

Births

1724: Immanuel Kant, German philosopher, founder of critical idealism. (“The Critique of Pure Reason”) (D. 12/2/1804)

1937: Jack Nicholson, American actor.

1943: Louise Glick, American poet, winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Deaths

1616: Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish writer. (“Don Quixote”) (Born 9/29/1547)

1894: Kostas Krystallis, Greek prose writer and poet. (“The singer of the mountain and the pond”) (Born 1868)

1954:Evgenios Eugenidis, Greek shipowner and philanthropist. (Born 22/12/1882)