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April 1: National Day in Iran (1979); Assyrian New Year; Edible Book Day; and April Fools' Day
More anniversaries: March 31 – April 1 – April 2
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April 2: Malvinas Day in Argentina
More anniversaries: April 1 – April 2 – April 3
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April 3: Laetare Sunday (Western Christianity, 2011); Mothering Sunday (United Kingdom and Ireland, 2011)
More anniversaries: April 2 – April 3 – April 4
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April 4: Independence Day in Senegal (1960); Cheti Chand, Gudi Padwa and Ugadi in various parts of India (2011); Qingming Festival in the Chinese calendar; Hansik in South Korea; (2012); Children's Day in Taiwan and Hong Kong
More anniversaries: April 3 – April 4 – April 5
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April 5: Feast Day of Vincent Ferrer
More anniversaries: April 4 – April 5 – April 6
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April 6: Good Friday (Western Christianity, 2012); Tartan Day
More anniversaries: April 5 – April 6 – April 7
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April 7: World Health Day
More anniversaries: April 6 – April 7 – April 8
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April 8: Easter (Western Christianity, 2012); Hanamatsuri in Japan
More anniversaries: April 7 – April 8 – April 9
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April 9: Day of National Unity in Georgia (1989); Vimy Ridge Day in Canada
More anniversaries: April 8 – April 9 – April 10
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April 10

- 1710 – The Statute of Anne, the first fully-fledged law regulating copyright, entered into force in Great Britain.
- 1815 – Mount Tambora in Indonesia began one of the most violent volcanic eruptions in recorded history, killing at least 71,000 people, and affecting worldwide temperatures for the next two years.
- 1868 – A British military expedition to Abyssinia culminated in a rout of Ethiopians and the later suicide of Emperor Tewodros II.
- 1908 – The SMS Zrinyi, one of the last pre-dreadnoughts built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy, was laid down.
- 1941 – World War II: The Independent State of Croatia was established, with Ustaše leader Ante Pavelić (pictured) as head of the puppet government of the Axis powers.
- 1992 – Nagorno-Karabakh War: At least 40 Armenian civilians were massacred in Maraga, Azerbaijan.
- 2010 – A Tupolev Tu-154M aircraft carrying President of Poland Lech Kaczyński and other Polish officials crashed while attempting to land in heavy fog at Smolensk-North air base near Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 on board.
More anniversaries: April 9 – April 10 – April 11
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April 11
More anniversaries: April 10 – April 11 – April 12
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April 12: Rama Navami begins (Hinduism, 2011); Cosmonautics Day in Russia; Yuri's Night

- 467 – Anthemius was proclaimed Western Roman Emperor at the third or twelfth mile from Rome.
- 1831 – The Broughton Suspension Bridge in Manchester, England, collapsed, reportedly owing to a mechanical resonance induced by troops marching over the bridge in step.
- 1861 – Confederate forces began firing at Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, starting the American Civil War.
- 1910 – The SMS Zrínyi, one of the last pre-dreadnoughts built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy, was launched.
- 1961 – Aboard Vostok 3KA-3, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (pictured) became the first man to enter outer space, completing one orbit in a time of 108 minutes.
- 1980 – Terry Fox dipped his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean at St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, and began running his "Marathon of Hope" towards the Pacific Ocean at Vancouver, British Columbia, to raise funds across Canada for cancer research.
More anniversaries: April 11 – April 12 – April 13
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April 13: Vaisakhi (Sikhism); Festival of Mazu (Chinese calendar, 2012)
- 1598 – King Henry IV of France issued the Edict of Nantes, granting freedom of religion to the Huguenots.
- 1919 – British Indian Army troops massacred hundreds of unarmed men, women and children who were attending a peaceful gathering at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab, India.
- 1941 – The Soviet Union and the Empire of Japan signed a neutrality pact, which lasted through most of World War II.
- 1948 – A convoy bringing medical and fortification supplies and personnel to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus was ambushed by Arab forces, leaving about eighty people dead.
- 1953 – The CIA began Project MKULTRA, an illegal, covert human research program into mind control.
- 2009 - Twenty-three people died in a homeless hostel fire (damage pictured) in Kamień Pomorski, Poland, the country's deadliest fire since 1980.
More anniversaries: April 12 – April 13 – April 14
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April 14: Tamil New Year; N'Ko Alphabet Day in West Africa; Day of the Georgian language in Georgia (1978)

- 966 – After his marriage to the Christian Dobrawa of Bohemia, the pagan ruler of the Polans, Mieszko I, converted to Christianity, an event considered to be the founding of the Polish state.
- 1471 – Wars of the Roses: The Yorkists under Edward IV defeated the Lancastrians near the town of Barnet, killing Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick.
- 1865 – Actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth fatally shot U.S. President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.
- 1999 – A storm dropped an estimated 500,000 tonnes of hailstones (example pictured) in Sydney and along the east coast of New South Wales, causing about A$2.3 billion in damages, the costliest natural disaster in Australian insurance history.
- 2007 – In Ankara, Turkey, the first of the Republic Protests took place, when hundreds of thousands of people protested against the possible presidential candidacy of incumbent Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
More anniversaries: April 13 – April 14 – April 15
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April 15: Father Damien Day in Hawaii; Birthday of the Great Leader in North Korea

- 1738 – Serse, an opera by Baroque composer George Frideric Handel (pictured) loosely based on Xerxes I of Persia, premiered in London.
- 1755 – A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson was first published, becoming one of the most influential dictionaries in the history of the English language.
- 1912 – The passenger liner RMS Titanic sank about two hours and forty minutes after colliding with an iceberg, killing over 1,500 people.
- 1947 – Jackie Robinson, the first African American to break the baseball color line, played his first game in Major League Baseball.
- 1955 – American restaurateur Ray Kroc opened the ninth McDonald's franchise in Des Plaines, Illinois, an occasion considered to be the founding of the present corporation.
- 1995 – At a GATT ministerial meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, representatives of 124 countries and the European Communities signed an agreement to establish the World Trade Organization.
More anniversaries: April 14 – April 15 – April 16
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April 16: Emancipation Day in Washington, D.C.
More anniversaries: April 15 – April 16 – April 17
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April 17: Palm Sunday (Christianity, 2011); Evacuation Day in Syria (1946)
- 1080 – On the death of his brother Harald III, Canute IV, who would later be the first Dane to be canonized, became King of Denmark.
- 1907 – Construction started on the first ship in the Minas Geraes class, making Brazil the third country in the world to build a dreadnought battleship and sparking a South American naval arms race.
- 1961 – Armed Cuban exiles backed by the CIA invaded Cuba, landing in the Bay of Pigs, with the aim of overthrowing the Cuban government under Fidel Castro.
- 1975 – The Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot (pictured) captured Phnom Penh, ending the Cambodian Civil War, and established Democratic Kampuchea.
- 1984 – British police officer Yvonne Fletcher was shot and killed while on duty during a protest outside the Libyan embassy in London's St James's Square, resulting in an eleven-day police siege of the building, and causing a breakdown of diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and Libya.
More anniversaries: April 16 – April 17 – April 18
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April 18: Independence Day in Zimbabwe (1980); Fast of the Firstborn begins at dawn and Passover begins at sunset (Judaism, 2011); Patriots' Day (Massachusetts and Maine, 2011)
More anniversaries: April 17 – April 18 – April 19
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April 19: Feast of Saint Alphege (Western Christianity)
More anniversaries: April 18 – April 19 – April 20
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April 20: Ridván begins at sunset (Bahá'í Faith); 4/20 (cannabis culture)
More anniversaries: April 19 – April 20 – April 21
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April 21: Maundy Thursday (Christianity, 2011); Grounation Day in the Rastafari movement; First day of Ridván in the Bahá'í Faith
- 753 BC – Romulus and Remus founded Rome, according to the calculations by Roman scholar Varro Reatinus.
- 1509 – Henry VIII became King of England, following the death of his father Henry VII, eventually becoming a significant figure in the history of the English monarchy.
- 1863 – After the Ottoman Empire exiled him from Baghdad, Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, began his twelve-day stay in the Garden of Ridván where he declared his mission as "He whom God shall make manifest".
- 1960 – Brasília (Cathedral of Brasilia pictured), a planned city primarily designed by architect and urban planner Lúcio Costa, was officially inaugurated, replacing Rio de Janeiro as the capital of Brazil.
- 1975 – Nguyễn Văn Thiệu resigned as President of South Vietnam, and was replaced by Tran Van Huong, as communist forces closed in on victory.
More anniversaries: April 20 – April 21 – April 22
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April 22: Earth Day
More anniversaries: April 21 – April 22 – April 23
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April 23: World Book and Copyright Day; St George's Day in various countries; Children's Day in Turkey; Holy Saturday (Christianity, 2011)
More anniversaries: April 22 – April 23 – April 24
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April 24: Republic Day in The Gambia (1970)
More anniversaries: April 23 – April 24 – April 25
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April 25: Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealand; Red Hat Society Day
More anniversaries: April 24 – April 25 – April 26
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April 26: Feast Day of Our Lady of Good Counsel (Roman Catholic Church)
- 1865 – U.S. Army soldiers cornered and fatally shot John Wilkes Booth (pictured), the assassin of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, in rural northern Virginia, ending a twelve-day manhunt.
- 1944 – U.S. Navy submarines began attacks on Japan's Take Ichi convoy as it sailed in waters between Taiwan and the Philippines, eventually sinking four vessels and killing over 4,000 troops.
- 1956 – The SS Ideal X, the world's first container ship, set sail from Port Newark in New Jersey, beginning the international standardization of shipping containers.
- 1989 – An editorial was published in the People's Daily denouncing the recent unrest in Tiananmen Square, which would remain contentious through the remainder of the protests.
- 2002 – Expelled student Robert Steinhäuser murdered 16 people and wounded seven others before committing suicide at the Gutenberg-Gymnasium Erfurt in Erfurt, Germany.
More anniversaries: April 25 – April 26 – April 27
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April 27: Independence Day in Sierra Leone (1961); Freedom Day in South Africa
More anniversaries: April 26 – April 27 – April 28
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April 28: International Workers' Memorial Day; Heroes' Day in Barbados
More anniversaries: April 27 – April 28 – April 29
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April 29: Arbor Day in the United States (2011); Easter Friday (Christianity, 2011)
More anniversaries: April 28 – April 29 – April 30
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April 30: National Persian Gulf Day in Iran; Queen's Day in the Netherlands; Consumer Protection Day in Thailand
More anniversaries: April 29 – April 30 – May 1
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