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

1786 - Joseph Nicollet (French mathematician and explorer)

1802 - Alexandre Dumas père (French writer)

1803 - Adolphe Charles Adam (French composer)

1856 - Charles Émile Picard (French mathematician)

1931 - Éric Tabarly (French sailor)

1949 - Yves Duteil (French singer and songwriter)

1985 - Patrice Bergeron (Canadian hockey player)

Deaths

1957 - Sacha Guitry (French actor, director, screenwriter and playwright)

1992 - Arletty (French singer and actress)

2001 - Georges Dor (French Canadian author, composer, singer and playwright)

Milestones/Events

1534 - French explorer Jacques Cartier planted a cross on the Gaspé Peninsula and took possession of the territory in the name of King Francis I of France

1701 - Antoine Laumet de la Mothe, sieur de Cadillac founded trading post at Fort Pontchartrain (today: Detroit)

1929 - The Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy, went into effect

1967 - Montréal, Canada: During an official state visit, French President Charles de Gaulle declared Vive le Québec libre !

(Long live free Quebec!)

2005 - Lance Armstrong won his seventh consecutive Tour de France

Errors and Omissions

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