March 27
- 1668 - King Charles II granted Bombay to the East India Company for an annual rent of £10. In exchange, the king obtained a loan of £50,000 at 6% interest from the company.
- 1855 - Abraham Gesner patents kerosene.
- 1866 - USA: President Andrew Johnson vetoes civil rights bill (14th amendment).
- 1871 - 1st international rugby game: Scotland 1, England 0.
- 1890 - USA: Louisville, Kentucky, Tornado kills 76 and injures 200.
- 1912 - USA plants 1st Japanese cherry blossom trees in Washington, D.C.
- 1912 - Birthday: James Callaghan, British PM, born in Portsmouth, England (died March 26 2005).
- 1914 - 1st successful blood transfusion (in Brussels, Belgium).
- 1931 - France's distinguished Legion of Honor given to Charlie Chaplin.
- 1933 - Japan exits League of Nations.
- 1941 - Britain leases defense bases in Trinidad to US for 99 years.
- 1963 - Birthday: Quentin Tarantino born in Knoxville, Tennessee.
- 1964 - USA: Alaska, Earthquake 9.2 magnitude causes tsunami, kills 139.
- 1971 - Mariah Carey, American singer born in NYC, New York.
- 1976 - Washington, D.C. underground Metro opens.
- 1993 - Jiang Zemin appointed President of the People's Republic of China.
- 1997 - Martin Luther King's son meets James Earl Ray (his father's killer).
- 2016 - Pakistan: Suicide bomber killed 70+ people in a park in Lahore, Taliban connected Jamaat-ul-Ahrar claimed responsibility.