April 4 is the 94th day of the year (95th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 271 days remaining until the end of the year.
Up to 1900
- 1147 – First historic record of Moscow.
- 1581 – Francis Drake is knighted by Queen Elizabeth I of England.
- 1660 - Declaration of Breda by Charles II of England.
- 1721 - Robert Walpole becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- 1789 – The HMAV Bounty leaves Tahiti.
- 1812 – US President James Madison creates a 90-day embargo on trade with the United Kingdom.
- 1814 – Napoleon Bonaparte abdicates as Emperor of France.
- 1818 - United States Congress adopts a 13-stripe and 20-star national flag for the United States.
- 1841 – William Henry Harrison dies, making him the shortest–serving President of the United States, with 31 days in office. John Tyler succeeds him.
- 1850 – Los Angeles is incorporated as a city.
- 1865 - American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln visits Confederate capital city Richmond, Virginia.
- 1866 – Tsar Alexander II of Russia survives an assassination attempt in Kyiv.
- 1873 - The British Kennel Club is founded, for the registry of purebred dogs.
- 1884 - A peace treaty ends the War of the Pacific. Chile gains territory from Bolivia, which loses its coastline.
- 1887 - Argonia, Kansas, elects Susanna M. Salter as its Mayor, becoming the first woman in the United States to take up this role.
1901 – 2000
- 1905 – An earthquake in Kangra, Northern India, kills around 20,000 people.
- 1906 - Mount Vesuvius erupts.
- 1917 - British passenger steamer City of Paris is sunk by a German U-boat off the Cote d'Azur, southern France, killing all 122 people on board.
- 1925 - The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded.
- 1939 – Faisal II becomes King of Iraq.
- 1944 – World War II: The first Anglo-American bombardment of Bucharest kills around 3,000 people.
- 1945 – World War II: The Soviet Army takes control of Hungary.
- 1945 - World War II: American troops capture Kassel.
- 1949 – NATO is founded.
- 1958 - The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time, in London.
- 1960 – France agrees to the independence of Senegal and French Sudan (Mali).
- 1964 - The Beatles occupy all of the top 5 places in the Billboard Hot 100.
- 1967 – Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers the Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence speech in protest against the Vietnam War.
- 1968 – NASA launches Apollo 6.
- 1968 – Martin Luther King, Jr. is shot dead in Memphis, Tennessee.
- 1969 – Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.
- 1973 – The World Trade Center in New York City is officially dedicated.
- 1976 – Microsoft is founded by a partnership of Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
- 1976 – Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia resigns and is placed under house arrest.
- 1979 – Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is executed in Pakistan.
- 1983 – The Space Shuttle Challenger makes its first space flight.
- 1984 - Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.
- 1988 - Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office.
- 1991 - Nicéphore Dieudonné Soglo becomes President of Benin.
- 1996 – Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Rendezvous.
- 1998 - A landslide in Southwestern Iran kills around 120 people.
From 2001
- 2002 - The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty, ending the Angolan Civil War.
- 2003 – Voodoo becomes an official religion in Haiti.
- 2003 - Iraq War: US bombing of Baghdad begins.
- 2004 - Eddie Fenech Adami becomes President of Malta.
- 2005 - From Moscow, where he fled to after a major uprising, Askar Akayev officially announces his resignation as President of Kyrgyzstan.
- 2007 – Iran releases 15 Royal Navy personnel that were arrested 12 days earlier for allegedly trespassing in Iranian waters.
- 2009 – Anders Fogh Rasmussen is announced to succeed Jaap de Hoop Scheffer as NATO Secretary-General. He takes up the post on August 1 of the same year.
- 2009 - George Abela becomes President of Malta.
- 2013 - Over 70 people are killed in a building collapse in Thane, India.
- 2014 - Marie Louise Coleiro Preca becomes President of Malta.
- 2017 - A chemical gas attack in Khan Shaykhun, Syria, kills at least 74 people.
- 2018 - The 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, begin.
- 2019 - George Vella becomes President of Malta.
Up to 1900
- 188 – Caracalla, Roman Emperor (d. 217)
- 1179 – Farid-ud-din Ganj Shakar, Islamic saint in South Asia (d. 1266)
- 1492 - Ambrosius Blarer, German-Swiss theologian and reformer (d. 1564)
- 1572 – William Strachey, English writer (d. 1621)
- 1593 - Edward Nicholas, English statesman (d. 1669)
- 1614 - Henry II, Duke of Guise (d. 1664)
- 1640 - Gaspar Sanz, Aragonese composer, guitarist, organist and priest (d. 1710)
- 1646 – Antoine Galland, French archaeologist (d. 1715)
- 1648 – Grinling Gibbons, Dutch woodcarver (d. 1721)
- 1676 - Giuseppe Maria Orlandini, Italian composer (d. 1760)
- 1688 - Joseph-Nicolas Delisle, French astronomer (d. 1768)
- 1752 - Niccolo Antonio Zingarelli, Italian composer (d. 1837)
- 1759 - Israel Smith, Governor of Vermont (d. 1810)
- 1760 - Juan Manuel Olivares, Venezuelan composer (d. 1797)
- 1773 - Etienne Maurice Gerard, French general and statesman (d. 1852)
- 1785 – Bettina von Arnim, German writer (d. 1859)
- 1792 - Thaddeus Stevens, American lawyer and politician (d. 1868)
- 1802 – Dorothea Dix, American social activist (d. 1887)
- 1806 - Claiborne Fox Jackson, Governor of Missouri (d. 1862)
- 1809 - Benjamin Peirce, American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1880)
- 1819 – Queen Maria II of Portugal (d. 1853)
- 1821 – Linus Yale, Jr., American inventor and manufacturer (d. 1868)
- 1826 - Zenobe Gramme, Belgian engineer (d. 1901)
- 1828 - Margaret Oliphant, Scottish novelist (d. 1897)
- 1835 - John Hughlings Jackson, English neurologist (d. 1911)
- 1842 - Edouard Lucas, French mathematician (d. 1891)
- 1843 - William Henry Jackson, American painter (d. 1942)
- 1848 - Artruro Prat, Chilean naval hero (d. 1879)
- 1858 - Remy de Gourmont, French writer, poet and critic (d. 1915)
- 1869 - Mary Jane Cotter, American architect (d. 1958)
- 1875 - Pierre Monteux, French conductor (d. 1964)
- 1876 – Maurice de Vlaminck, French painter (d. 1958)
- 1878 - Stylianos Lykoudis, Greek admiral (d. 1958)
- 1884 – Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese naval commander (d. 1943)
- 1889 - Makhanlal Chaturvedi, Indian Hindi language poet (d. 1968)
- 1895 - Arthur Murray, American dancer and educator (d. 1991)
- 1896 - Robert E. Sherwood, American playwright, editor and screenwriter (d. 1955)
- 1897 – Dina Manfredini, Italian-born American supercentenarian (d. 2012)
- 1897 - Pierre Fresnay, French actor (d. 1975)
- 1898 - Agnes Ayres, American actress (d. 1940)
- 1899 - Hillel Oppenheimer, German-Israeli botanist (d. 1971)
1901 – 1950
- 1905 - Dougie Gray, Scottish footballer (d. 1972)
- 1905 - George Stevenson, Scottish footballer (d. 1990)
- 1905 - Shojiro Sugimura, Japanese footballer (d. 1975)
- 1906 - Yasuo Haruyama, Japanese footballer (d. 1987)
- 1906 - Bea Benaderet, American actress (d. 1968)
- 1906 - John Cameron Swayze, American journalist (d. 1995)
- 1907 – Robert Askin, Premier of New South Wales (d. 1981)
- 1910 – Barthélemy Boganda, Central African politician (d. 1959)
- 1910 - Dang Van Ngu, Vietnamese physician (d. 1967)
- 1911 - Max Dupain, Australian photographer (d. 1992)
- 1913 - Rosemary Lane, American actress and singer (d. 1974)
- 1913 - Frances Langford, American actress and singer (d. 2005)
- 1913 – Jules Léger, Canadian diplomat and Governor General of Canada (d. 1980)
- 1914 – Marguerite Duras, French writer (d. 1996)
- 1914 - Richard Coogan, American actor (d. 2014)
- 1915 – Muddy Waters, American musician (d. 1983)
- 1916 – Nikola Ljubicic, Yugoslavian general and politician (d. 2005)
- 1920 - Ignatius IV of Antioch, Syrian patriarch (d. 2012)
- 1920 - Eric Rohmer, French movie director (d. 2010)
- 1921 - Elizabeth Wilson, American actress (d. 2015)
- 1921 - Orunamamu, American-Canadian storyteller (d. 2014)
- 1922 - Elmer Bernstein, American movie composer (d. 2004)
- 1923 - Peter Vaughan, English actor (d. 2016)
- 1924 - Gil Hodges, American baseball player and manager (d. 1972)
- 1925 - Gene Reynolds, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter
- 1925 - Dettmar Cramer, German footballer and coach (d. 2015)
- 1925 - Frank Truitt, American sports coach (d. 2014)
- 1926 - Ronnie Masterson, Irish actress (d. 2014)
- 1928 – Maya Angelou, American writer and poet (d. 2014)
- 1928 - Elina Bystritskaya, Russian actress (d. 2019)
- 1931 - Catherine Tizard, 16th Governor-General of New Zealand
- 1931 - Bobby Ray Inman, American admiral and intelligence director
- 1932 – Andrei Tarkovsky, Soviet movie maker (d. 1986)
- 1932 – Anthony Perkins, American actor (d. 1993)
- 1932 - Richard Lugar, American politician (d. 2019)
- 1932 – Clive Davis, American music manager and producer
- 1935 - Kenneth Mars, American actor (d. 2011)
- 1935 - Trevor Griffiths, English playwright
- 1938 - A. Bartlett Giamatti, 7th Commissioner of Major League Baseball (d. 1989)
- 1938 - Norro Wilson, American country music singer-songwriter and record producer (d. 2017)
- 1939 - Ragnhild Queseth Haarstad, Norwegian politician (d. 2017)
- 1939 – Hugh Masekela, South African musician (d. 2018)
- 1939 - Ernie Terrell, American boxer and singer (d. 2014)
- 1942 - Jim Fregosi, American baseball player and manager
- 1942 – Kitty Kelley, American actress
- 1942 - Michel Fourniret, French serial killer
- 1944 - Ann-Louise Hanson, Swedish singer
- 1944 – Craig T. Nelson, American actor
- 1945 – Daniel Cohn-Bendit, French-German political activist
- 1945 - Katherine Neville, American writer
- 1946 - Katsuaki Sato, Japanese martial artist
- 1946 – Dave Hill, English musician (Slade)
- 1948 - Abdullah Ocalan, Kurdish activist
- 1948 - Berry Oakley, American musician (d. 1997)
- 1948 - Pick Withers, British musician
- 1949 – Junior Braithwaite, Jamaican musician (d. 1999)
- 1950 – Christine Lahti, American actress
1951 – 1975
- 1951 - Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia
- 1952 – Gary Moore, Northern Irish musician (d. 2011)
- 1952 - Rosemarie Ackermann, German athlete
- 1952 - Karen Magnussen, Canadian figure skater
- 1952 - Cherie Lunghi, English actress
- 1953 - Chen Yi, Chinese composer and violinist
- 1953 - Henry Fotheringham, South African cricketer
- 1954 - Michel Camilo, Dominican pianist
- 1954 - Dave Ulliott, English poker player (d. 2015)
- 1956 – David E. Kelley, American writer and television producer
- 1957 – Aki Kaurismaki, Finnish director
- 1957 - Graeme Kelling, Scottish guitarist (Deacon Blue) (d. 2004)
- 1958 - Cazuza, Brazilian composer and singer (d. 1990)
- 1958 - Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, Thai businessman (d. 2018)
- 1960 - Hugo Weaving, Australian actor
- 1960 - Jonathan Agnew, English cricketer
- 1962 - Craig Adams, English bass player and songwriter
- 1963 – Graham Norton, Irish television host
- 1963 - A. Michael Baldwin, American actor, producer and screenwriter
- 1963 - Jane McDonald, English singer and actress
- 1964 – Branco, Brazilian footballer
- 1965 – Robert Downey Jr., American actor
- 1966 – Mike Starr, American musician (d. 2011)
- 1966 – Stefan Mappus, German politician
- 1967 - Edith Masai, Kenyan runner
- 1969 – Karren Brady, British sports executive and broadcaster
- 1970 – Georgius Amanatidis, Greek footballer
- 1970 - Greg Garcia, American director, producer and screenwriter
- 1970 - Yelena Yelesina, Russian high jumper
- 1972 – Magnus Sveningsson, Swedish musician (The Cardigans)
- 1972 – Jill Scott, American singer and actress
- 1972 - Xenia Seeberg, German actress
- 1973 – David Blaine, American illusionist and magician
- 1973 - Chris McCormack, Australian athlete
- 1974 - Dave Mirra, American BMX rider (d. 2016)
- 1975 - Thobias Fredriksson, Swedish cross-country skier
- 1975 - Carl Ruiz, American chef and television personality (d. 2019)
From 1976
- 1976 – Emerson, Brazilian footballer
- 1977 – Adam Dutkiewicz, American guitarist and producer
- 1977 – Stephen Mulhern, English magician
- 1978 – Lemar, English singer
- 1978 – Irene Skliva, Greek model
- 1978 - Sam Moran, Australian musician (The Wiggles)
- 1979 – Heath Ledger, Australian actor (d. 2008)
- 1980 – Johnny Borrell, English singer (Razorlight)
- 1980 – Trevor Moore, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter
- 1981 – Anna Pyatykh, Russian triple jumper
- 1981 – Ned Vizzini, American writer (d. 2013)
- 1983 – Amanda Righetti, American actress
- 1983 – Evgeny Artyukhin, Russian ice hockey player
- 1984 – Sean May, American basketball player
- 1985 – Rudy Fernandez, Spanish basketball player
- 1986 – Eunhyuk, South Korean singer
- 1986 – Rachel Korine, American actress
- 1986 – Aiden McGeady, Scottish-Irish footballer
- 1987 – Devon Anderson, English actor
- 1987 – Sami Khedira, German footballer
- 1988 – Nadine Kessler, German footballer
- 1991 – Jamie Lynn Spears, American singer and actress
- 1992 – Alexa Nikolas, American actress
- 1992 – Lucy Mae Barker, English actress and singer
- 1992 – Christina Metaxa, Cypriot singer-songwriter
- 1996 – Austin Mahone, American singer
- 1999 – Miki Nishino, Japanese singer, dancer and actress (AKB48)
- 2012 – Grumpy Cat, famous American cat and internet celebrity (d. 2019)
Up to 1900
- 397 – Saint Ambrose of Milan (b. 338)
- 636 - Isidore of Seville, Spanish archbishop and saint (b. 560)
- 896 - Pope Formosus
- 968 - Abu Firas al-Hamdani, Arab prince, general and poet (b. 932)
- 1284 - Alfonso X of Castile (b. 1221)
- 1292 - Pope Nicholas IV (b. 1227)
- 1305 - Jeanne of Navarre, Queen of France (b. 1273)
- 1406 – King Robert III of Scotland (b. 1337)
- 1459 - Eric of Pomerania, King of Denmark (b. 1382)
- 1536 - Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (b. 1460)
- 1588 – King Frederick II of Denmark (b. 1534)
- 1617 - John Napier, Scottish mathematician (b. 1550)
- 1761 - Theodore Gardell, Swiss painter and enameler (b. 1722)
- 1774 – Oliver Goldsmith, Irish writer (b. 1728)
- 1807 - Joseph Jerome Lefrancais de Lalande, French astronomer (b. 1732)
- 1817 - Andre Massena, Marshal of France (b. 1758)
- 1841 – William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States (b. 1773)
- 1846 - Solomon Sibley, United States Senator (b. 1769)
- 1861 - John McLean, 6th United States Postmaster General (b. 1785)
- 1863 – Ludwig Emil Grimm, German painter and engraver (b. 1790)
- 1870 - Heinrich Gustav Magnus, German chemist and physicist (b. 1802)
- 1874 - Charles Ernest Beulé, French archaeologist and politician (b. 1826)
- 1875 - Karl Mauch, German explorer (b. 1837)
- 1879 - Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, German physicist (b. 1803)
- 1883 - Peter Cooper, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1791)
- 1890 - Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau, 1st Premier of Quebec (b. 1820)
- 1890 - Edmond Hébert, French geologist (b. 1812)
1901 – 2000
- 1912 - Charles Brantley Aycock, 50th Governor of North Carolina (b. 1859)
- 1919 - Francisco Marto, Portuguese saint (b. 1908)
- 1923 - John Venn, English mathematician and philosopher (b. 1834)
- 1929 – Karl Benz, German automobile designer and inventor (b. 1844)
- 1931 – André Michelin, French industrialist (b. 1853)
- 1932 – Wilhelm Ostwald, German chemist (b. 1853)
- 1933 - Elizabeth Bacon Custer, American writer (b. 1842)
- 1939 - King Ghazi of Iraq (b. 1912)
- 1951 - George Albert Smith, American Mormon leader (b. 1870)
- 1953 – King Carol II of Romania (b. 1893)
- 1961 - Simeon Stoilow, Romanian mathematician (b. 1873)
- 1962 - James Hanratty, British murderer (b. 1936)
- 1967 - Al Lewis, American songwriter (b. 1901)
- 1967 - Héctor Scarone, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1898)
- 1968 – Martin Luther King, Jr., American civil rights activist (b. 1929)
- 1972 - Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., American politician (b. 1908)
- 1976 - Harry Nyquist, Swedish contributor to Information Theory (b. 1889)
- 1979 – Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Pakistani politician (b. 1928)
- 1983 – Gloria Swanson, American actress (b. 1899)
- 1984 – Oleg Antonov, Russian airplane designer (b. 1906)
- 1991 – Edmund Adamkiewicz, German footballer (b. 1920)
- 1991 – H. John Heinz III, US Senator (b. 1938)
- 1991 – Max Frisch, Swiss writer (b. 1911)
- 1993 – Alfred Mosher-Butts, American inventor of Scrabble (b. 1899)
- 1995 – Kenny Everett, British entertainer (b. 1944)
- 1995 – Priscilla Lane, American singer and actress (b. 1915)
- 1996 - Barney Ewell, American runner (b. 1918)
- 1999 – Faith Domergue, American actor (b. 1924)
From 2001
- 2003 – Anthony Caruso, American actor (b. 1916)
- 2004 - Alberic Schotte, Belgian cyclist (b. 1919)
- 2007 – Bob Clark, American director (b. 1941)
- 2007 - Karen Sparck Jones, British computer scientist (b. 1935)
- 2009 – Gonzalo Olave, Chilean actor (b. 1983)
- 2012 - Claude Miller, French movie director (b. 1942)
- 2013 - Roger Ebert, American movie critic and writer (b. 1942)
- 2013 - Carmine Infantino, American illustrator (b. 1925)
- 2014 - Margo MacDonald, Scottish politician, member of the Scottish Parliament (b. 1943)
- 2014 - Kumba Iala, President of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1953)
- 2014 - Anja Niedringhaus, German journalist (b. 1965)
- 2014 - José Aguilar, Cuban boxer (b. 1958)
- 2015 - Elmer Lach, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1918)
- 2015 - Jamaluddin Jarjis, Malaysian politician (b. 1951)
- 2015 - Klaus Rifbjerg, Danish writer (b. 1931)
- 2015 - Donald N. Levine, American sociologist (b. 1931)
- 2015 - Ira Lewis, American actor and playwright (b. 1932)
- 2016 - Chus Lampreave, Spanish actress (b. 1930)
- 2016 - Getatchew Mekurya, Ethiopian jazz saxophonist (b. 1935)
- 2016 - Royston Nash, English conductor (b. 1933)
- 2016 - George Radosevich, American football player (b. 1928)
- 2016 - Mike Sandlock, American baseball player (b. 1915)
- 2016 - Abe Segal, South African tennis player (b. 1930)
- 2017 - Samir Farid, Egyptian film critic and historian (b. 1943)
- 2017 - Giovanni Sartori, Italian political scientist and journalist (b. 1924)
- 2018 - Andres Ammas, Estonian politician (b. 1956)
- 2018 - Soon-Tek Oh, South Korean-American actor (b. 1932)
- 2018 - Johnny Valiant, American professional wrestler (b. 1946)
- 2018 - Ray Wilkins, English footballer and manager (b. 1956)
- 2018 - Leonid Sokov, Russian artist and sculptor (b. 1941)
- 2019 - Alberto Cortez, Argentine singer and songwriter (b. 1940)
- 2019 - Georgiy Daneliya, Russian film director and screenwriter (b. 1930)
- 2019 - Barry Malkin, American film editor (b. 1938)
- 2019 - Marilyn Mason, American concert organist and academic (b. 1925)
- Independence Day in Senegal
- International Day for Landmine Awareness and Assistance
- Peace Day (Angola)
- Children's Day (Republic of China and Hong Kong)
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