February 27: Arba'een in Shi'a Islam ( 2008); Independence Day in the Dominican Republic.

• 1594 – The King of Navarre was crowned King Henry IV of France at the Cathedral of Chartres near Paris, beginning the Bourbon dynasty.

• 1801 – Washington, D.C., a new planned city and capital of the United States, was placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.

• 1933 – The Reichstag building in Berlin, the assembly location of the German Parliament, was set on fire (pictured), a pivotal event in the establishment of the Nazi regime in Germany.

• 1940 – American biochemists Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discovered the radioactive isotope carbon-14, which today is used extensively as the basis of the radiocarbon dating method to date archaeological, geological, and hydrogeological samples.

• 1976 – The rebel movement Polisario Front proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in Western Sahara.