1976 CE

Mao Zedong dies, ending a political era in China; the 1976 Tangshan earthquake kills over 240,000 people; the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal face boycotts and controversy; the 1976 Argentine coup d'état topples Isabel Perón; the MV George Prince ferry disaster kills 78 people in Louisiana; the Soweto uprising erupts against apartheid in South Africa; the 1976 Cavalese cable car crash in Italy kills 43; the debut of VHS transforms home video; and the U.S. celebrates its Bicentennial.

In the 1970s, the 20th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.source
  • January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.source
  • January 5 - The government of Democratic Kampuchea was proclaimed and constituted as a Communist People's Republic, and a 250-member Assembly of the Representatives of the People of Kampuchea (PRA) was selected in March to choose the collective leadership of a State Presidium, the chairman of which became the head of state within the CPK, the Paris-educated leadership of Saloth Sâr (Pol Pot) was in control over Cambodia which had become Southeast Asia's secretive and most isolated totalitarian country from the rest of the world after North Korea which proceeded to implement the policy of Year Zero led by Angkar and its Khmer Rouge cadres, with these relationships were based on shared Marxist-Leninist and Maoist ideology, Democratic Kampuchea had very close ties with North Korea and China, while Burma (Myanmar) recognized the government.Cambodiasource
  • January 27 – The United States vetoes a United Nations resolution that calls for an independent Palestinian state.source
  • February 9 – The Australian Defence Force is formed by unification of the Australian Army, the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force.source
  • February 16 - Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State of the United States, visits the country on an official diplomatic tour.Venezuelasource
  • February 27 – The Polisario Front, Western Sahara's national liberation movement, declares independence of the territory under the name "Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic".source
  • 28 February – Yahya Petra of Kelantan was installed as the sixth Yang di-Pertuan Agong.Malaysiasource
  • March 4 – The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention is formally dissolved in Northern Ireland, resulting in Direct rule over Northern Ireland by the Government of the United Kingdom in London.source
  • June 1 – The United Kingdom and Iceland end the Third Cod War, with the UK accepting Iceland's extension of its territorial waters to 200 nautical miles in exchange for defined fishing rights.source
  • June 2 – The Philippine government opens relations with the Soviet Union.source
  • June 12 – Alberto Demicheli, a jurist, is inaugurated as a civilian de facto President of Uruguay after Juan María Bordaberry is deposed by the military.source
  • June 27 – G-6 is renamed "Group of 7" (G-7) with the inclusion of Canada.source
  • July 2 – North Vietnam dissolves the Provisional Government of South Vietnam and unites the two countries to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.source
  • July 7 – David Steel becomes leader of the UK's Liberal Party in the aftermath of the scandal which forced out Jeremy Thorpe.source
  • July 17 – East Timor is declared the 27th province of Indonesia.source
  • July 26 – In Los Angeles, Ronald Reagan announces his choice of liberal U.S. Senator Richard Schweiker as his vice presidential running mate, in an effort to woo moderate Republican delegates away from President Gerald Ford.source
  • July 27 – The United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with its former colony Uganda in response to the hijacking of Air France Flight 139.source
  • August 14 – The Senegalese political party PAI-Rénovation is legally recognized, becoming the third legal party in the country.source
  • August 25 – Jacques Chirac resigns as Prime Minister of France; he is succeeded by Raymond Barre.source
  • 5 September – The Democratic Front won 21 of the 35 seats in the parliament following parliamentary elections. Voter turnout was 85.3%.Cyprussource
  • October 12 – The People's Republic of China announces that Hua Guofeng is the successor to Mao Zedong as Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party following the latter's death on September 9 from a heart attack.source
  • November 2 – 1976 United States presidential election: Jimmy Carter narrowly defeats incumbent Gerald Ford, becoming the first candidate from the Deep South to win since the Civil War.source
  • 19 November - General Zia took over the powers of Chief Martial Law Administrator, leaving President Sayem with only ceremonial function.Bangladeshsource
  • November 26 – The Warsaw Treaty Organization joint secretariat is established.source
  • December 1 – Sir Douglas Nicholls is appointed the 28th Governor of South Australia, the first Australian Aboriginal appointed to vice-regal office.source
  • December 1 – José López Portillo takes office as President of Mexico.source
  • December 3 – Patrick Hillery is sworn in after being elected unopposed as the 6th President of Ireland.source
  • December 8 – The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is established by the five Latinos in the United States Congress: Herman Badillo of the Bronx, E. de la Garza and Henry B. Gonzalez of Texas, Edward R. Roybal of California, and the nonvoting Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, Baltasar Corrada del Río.source
  • 28 December - promulgation of the Constitution of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania.Albaniasource
  • Henry Kissinger visits Afghanistan. He was the last US Secretary of State to visit the country until 2002 which is when Colin Powell visited the country.Afghanistansource
  • Five years after the secession of East Pakistan, Pakistan begins diplomatic relations with Bangladesh.Pakistansource

Conflict & Security

  • 5 January - Kingsmill massacre: ten Protestant men killed in South Armagh, Northern Ireland, by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), using the cover name "South Armagh Republican Action Force".Northern Irelandsource
  • January 27 – Western Sahara War: The First Battle of Amgala breaks out between Morocco and Algeria in the Spanish Sahara.source
  • February 26 – The Spanish Armed Forces withdraw from Western Sahara.source
  • 14 March - 1975–76 Albanian Cup: KF Tirana defeats KF Skënderbeu 3-1 at Qemal Stafa Stadium, TiranaAlbaniasource
  • March 24 – A general strike takes place in the People's Republic of the Congo.source
  • March 27 – The South African Defence Force withdraws from Angola and concludes Operation Savannah.source
  • March 29 – The military dictatorship of General Jorge Rafael Videla comes to power in Argentina.source
  • April 5 – Segovia prison break: in Spain's largest prison break since the Spanish Civil War, 29 political prisoners escape from Segovia prison.source
  • April 12 – The 1976 West Bank local elections were held.source
  • 27 April – A Royal Malaysian Air Force RMAF's Sikorsky S-61 Nuri helicopter was shot down by communist terrorists in Gubir, Kedah killing eleven Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) military personnel. This was the first person killed in action (KIA) in RMAF history.Malaysiasource
  • May 21–23 – Six terrorists hijack a Philippine Airlines plane, which lands later on the Zamboanga Airport; hostage crisis ends on May 23 as they explode a plane and a shootout followed, killing 3 of them as well as 10 passengers.Philippinessource
  • May 31 – Syria intervenes in the Lebanese Civil War in opposition to the Palestine Liberation Organization, which it has previously supported.source
  • June 16 – The Soweto uprising in South Africa begins.source
  • June 27 – Palestinian militants hijack an Air France plane in Greece with 246 passengers and 12 crew. They take it to Entebbe, Uganda.source
  • June 28 - Elena Quinteros, a Uruguayan teacher and anarchist activist previously detained by the dictatorship, is brought to the Venezuelan embassy in Montevideo under the guise of being transferred to a "contact." During this, she attempts to escape by leaping over the embassy's fence, declaring her identity and seeking asylum. However, she is forcibly removed from the premises by police and military officers, despite the intervention of diplomatic officials.Venezuelasource
  • June 29 – The Conference of Communist and Workers Parties of Europe convenes in East Berlin.source
  • July 10 – Four mercenaries, three British and one American, are shot by firing squad in Angola, following the Luanda Trial.source
  • July 12 – California State University, Fullerton massacre: seven people are shot and killed, and two others are wounded in a mass shooting on campus at California State University, Fullerton.source
  • July 15 – Jimmy Carter is nominated for U.S. president at the Democratic National Convention in New York City.source
  • July 21 – A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb kills Christopher Ewart-Biggs, new British ambassador to the Irish Republic, and Judith Cooke, a Northern Ireland Office private secretary, in Dublin; two others are seriously wounded but survive.source
  • August 1 – Defending F1 World Champion Niki Lauda suffers serious burns in the German Grand Prix after a huge accident that nearly cost him his life.source
  • August 5 – The clock of "Big Ben" at the Palace of Westminster in London suffers internal damage and requires frequent repairs. The clock is stopped at times on 26 of the next 275 days.source
  • August 9 – The Selous Scouts of the Rhodesian Army conduct a cross-border raid into Nyadzonya, Mozambique in Operation Eland, an action that led to severe political and diplomatic consequences on Rhodesia.source
  • August 11 – A sniper rampage in Wichita, Kansas on a Holiday Inn results in 3 deaths while 7 others are wounded.source
  • September 6 – Cold War: Soviet Air Force pilot Lt. Viktor Belenko lands a MiG-25 jet fighter at Hakodate, on the island of Hokkaidō in Japan, and requests political asylum in the United States.source
  • 4 October – 5 people die during the Assassination of Juan María de Araluce Villar, part of the ongoing Basque conflict.Spainsource
  • October 6 – Students gathering at Thammasat University in Bangkok, Thailand are massacred, while protesting the return of ex-dictator Thanom Kittikachorn by a coalition of right-wing paramilitary and government forces, triggering the return of the military to government.source
  • October 6 – In San Francisco, during his second televised debate with Jimmy Carter, U.S. President Gerald Ford incorrectly declares that "there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe" (there is at the time).source
  • October 10 – Taiwan Governor Hsieh Tung-min is injured by a letter bomb from a pro-independence activist.source
  • October 19 – The Battle of Aishiya is fought in Lebanon.source
  • 10 December – The first F-15 fighter aircraft arrive in Israel. The fact that they landed in Israel on a Friday evening, after the start of Sabbath, causes a political crisis and prompts the religious parties in the Knesset to topple the first Rabin government.Israelsource
  • Main opposition – Republican People's Party (CHP)Turkeysource

Exploration & Expansion

Religion & Belief

  • January 5 - The Archbishop of Santiago, Raúl Silva Henríquez, creates the Vicariate of Solidarity.Chilesource
  • 12 May – Islamic Conference opens.Turkeysource
  • July 19 – Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal is created.source
  • 19 September – Yehezkel Abramsky (born 1886), Russian (Belarus)-born eminent Israeli Orthodox rabbi.Israelsource
  • 15 December - Georges Thorn is appointed to the Council of State, replacing Norbert Droessaert, who resigned in November.Luxembourgsource
  • dissolution of Mariscal Santa CruzBoliviasource
  • Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan: Tuanku JaafarMalaysiasource
  • Ruth Patterson becomes the first woman to be ordained to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.Northern Irelandsource
  • Literature: Antonia Palacios for "The Long Day Now Sure" (narrative). Juan Sánchez Peláez for "Common Features" (poetry). Orlando Araujo for "Counterpoint of Life and Death: Essay on the Poetry of Alberto Arvelo Torrealba" (essay).Venezuelasource

Economy & Finance

  • 9 January – The Ministry of Development Planning is dissolved.Spainsource
  • 24 January – Pinhas Lavon (born 1910), Austro-Hungarian (Galicia)-born Israeli politician, minister and labor leader, best known for the Lavon Affair.Israelsource
  • March 26 – The Body Shop, the retail chain for skin care products and cosmetics founded by Anita Roddick, opens its first branch in Brighton, England.source
  • April 1 – Conrail (Consolidated Rails Corporation) is formed by the U.S. government, to take control of 13 major Northeast Class-1 railroads that have filed for bankruptcy protection. Conrail takes control at midnight, as a government-owned and operated railroad until 1986, when it is sold to the public.source
  • April 13 – The United States Treasury Department reintroduces the two-dollar bill as a Federal Reserve Note on Thomas Jefferson's 233rd birthday as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration.source
  • June - The Pearl Bank Apartments is completed, making it Singapore's tallest and densest residential building in Singapore at that time. The Apartments will soon be demolished after being sold to CapitaLand in an en-bloc sale in 2018, which will be redeveloped into One Pearl Bank by 2023.Singaporesource
  • July 12 – Price Club, as predecessor of Costco, a worldwide membership-registration-only retailer, is founded in California.source
  • 21 July - Raymond Vouel resigns as Deputy Prime Minister to take up his position as European Commissioner for Competition. He is replaced by Bernard Berg.Luxembourgsource
  • August 8 – As part of the American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger, a dispersal draft is conducted to assign teams for the players on the two ABA franchises which have folded.source
  • October 13 – The United States Commission on Civil Rights releases the report, Puerto Ricans in the Continental United States: An Uncertain Future, that documents that Puerto Ricans in the United States have a poverty rate of 33 percent in 1974 (up from 29 percent in 1970), the highest of all major racial-ethnic groups in the country (not including Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory).source
  • November 26 – Microsoft is officially registered with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico.source
  • 14 December – The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) was incorporated.Malaysiasource
  • Afghanistan and the Soviet Union signed a 5-year trade agreement to improve Soviet–Afghan trade by 50% in 1980.Afghanistansource
  • Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.United Arab Emiratessource
  • Unemployment in Venezuela reaches an all-time low of 4%.Venezuelasource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • 16 March - Downtown Radio, an adult contemporary music station, begins broadcasting from Newtownards to the Belfast area, the first Independent Local Radio in Northern Ireland.Northern Irelandsource
  • March 27 – The first 7.4 km of the Washington Metro subway system opens.source
  • March – The Cray-1, the first commercially developed supercomputer, is released by Seymour Cray's Cray Research, with the first purchaser being the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) in Los Alamos, New Mexico.source
  • April 1 – Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in California.source
  • April 9 - Air France launches a weekly service of its Concorde supersonic aircraft on the Paris/Charles de Gaulle to Caracas/Maiquetía route. This service continues until March 27, 1982.Venezuelasource
  • April 17 – Everland, as well known for theme park in nation's, officially was open in Gyeongi-doSouth Koreasource
  • May 24 – Washington, D.C. Concorde service begins.source
  • May 30 – Indianapolis 500 automobile race: Johnny Rutherford wins the (rain-shortened) shortest race in event history to date, at 102 laps or 408 km.source
  • June 11 - Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh gathers 126 of the UK's leading engineers at Buckingham Palace to form the Fellowship of Engineering, later to be known as the Royal Academy of Engineering.source
  • June 26 – The CN Tower is opened in Toronto, the tallest free-standing land structure opens to the public.source
  • July 6 – The first class of women is inducted at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.source
  • September 1 – Cigarette and tobacco advertising is banned on Australian television and radio.source
  • September 15 – Darryl Sittler scores the winning goal in the 1976 Canada Cup for Canada to win over Czechoslovakia in overtime, to win the first Canada Cup in ice hockey.source
  • 1 October – The OCBC Centre is officially opened.Singaporesource
  • October 4 – The InterCity 125 high-speed train is introduced in the United Kingdom.source
  • 27 November – The opening of Hsinchu CKS Baseball Stadium in North District, Hsinchu City.Taiwansource
  • December 15: The Trolleybuses in Guadalajara start operating.Mexicosource
  • The first laser printer is introduced by IBM (the IBM 3800).source
  • The Samjhauta Express, the only rail link between Pakistan and India, starts running.Pakistansource
  • 39th government of Turkey (also called first MC)Turkeysource

Science & Discovery

  • 12 January – Nobel Prize winning chemist John Cornforth is proclaimed as the Australian of the Year for 1975.Australiasource
  • February 1 – Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1976Germanysource
  • April 1 – The Jovian–Plutonian gravitational effect is first reported by British astronomer Patrick Moore.source
  • 25 April – Markus Reiner (born 1886), Austro-Hungarian (Bukovina)-born Israeli scientist.Israelsource
  • April 25: Aquiles Nazoa (born 1920) — writer, journalist and humorist.Venezuelasource
  • May 4 – The first LAGEOS (Laser Geodynamics Satellite) is launched.source
  • May 13 – The Atari video arcade game Breakout is released.source
  • 31 May – Roar Ljøkelsøy, ski jumper.Norwaysource
  • July 20 – Viking program: The Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.source
  • July 31 – NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1.source
  • August 7 – Viking program: Viking 2 enters into orbit around Mars.source
  • September 3 – Viking program: The Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars, taking the first close-up color photographs of the planet's surface.source
  • September 17 – The space shuttle Enterprise is rolled out of a hangar in Palmdale, California, United States.source
  • October 19 – The Copyright Act of 1976 extends copyright duration for an additional 19 years in the United States.source
  • Astro Tower, Brussels, completed.Belgiumsource
  • Joy Fielding: The TransformationCanadasource
  • New Zealand sends a team of 80 competitors.New Zealandsource

Health & Medicine

  • February 7 – Toronto Maple Leafs star Darryl Sittler scores ten points in one game.Canadasource
  • 28 February – Three people, including a fire officer, are taken to hospital after inhaling fumes from an ammonia leak in Harris Street in the Sydney suburb of Broadway.Australiasource
  • March 25 - San Pablo Hospital is inaugurated in the city of Coquimbo.Chilesource
  • March 31 – The New Jersey Supreme Court rules that patient in a persistent vegetative state in the Karen Ann Quinlan case can be disconnected from her ventilator. She remains comatose and dies in 1985.source
  • 7 June – The nation's first McDonald's restaurant opens in central Porirua; a Big Mac initially cost 75c.New Zealandsource
  • June 27 – The world's first known case of Ebola is recorded in Nzara, Sudan (now South Sudan).source
  • July 27 – Delegates attending an American Legion convention at The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, US, begin falling ill with a form of pneumonia: this will eventually be recognised as the first outbreak of Legionnaires' disease and will end in the deaths of 29 attendees.source
  • August 26 – The second known outbreak of Ebola virus occurs in Yambuku, Zaire.source
  • August 26 - Parliamentary immunity is revoked for leftist deputies Fortunato Herrera and Salom Mesa Espinoza in connection with the Niehous case.Venezuelasource
  • September 1 – The state of emergency in the Republic of Ireland legally still in force since 1939 is lifted.source
  • 10 October – Wang Sing-nan sent a mail bomb to Chairman of Taiwan Provincial Government Hsieh Tung-min; as a result of the explosion, Hsieh lost a hand.Taiwansource
  • November 6 - Uttawar forced sterilisations: Mass vasectomy of nearly 800 men of Uttawar village, Palwal district, Haryana during India's Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi.source
  • 6 November - Uttawar forced sterilisations: Mass vasectomy of nearly 800 men of Uttawar village, Palwal district, Haryana during India’s Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi.Indiasource
  • 18 December – 10,000 public sector workers go on strike.Luxembourgsource
  • Random breath testing is introduced in Victoria (Australia).source

Crime & Justice

  • March 1 – U.K. Home Secretary Merlyn Rees ends Special Category Status for those sentenced for scheduled terrorist crimes relating to the civil violence in Northern Ireland.source
  • March 1 – Bradford Bishop allegedly murders five of his family members in Bethesda, Maryland. The crime goes undiscovered for 10 days and the suspect is never caught. From 2014 to 2018 he is on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.source
  • March 4 – The Maguire Seven are found guilty in London of possessing explosives for use by the Provisional Irish Republican Army and subsequently jailed for 14 years; their convictions were overturned in 1991.source
  • 12 March - Lenny Murphy, leader of the Shankill Butchers, is arrested, but his gang continue to murder.Northern Irelandsource
  • March 20 – Patty Hearst is found guilty of armed robbery of a San Francisco bank in 1974.source
  • 31 March - 1976 Balkans Cup: Albania is defeated by Yugoslavia 1-2 at Dinamo Stadium, TiranaAlbaniasource
  • April 21 – The Great Bookie Robbery in Melbourne, Australia: Bandits steal A$1.4 million in bookmakers' settlements from Queen Street, Melbourne.source
  • May 9 – Ulrike Meinhof of the Red Army Faction is found hanged in an apparent suicide in her Stuttgart-Stammheim prison cell.source
  • May 20: Ramón Hernández — baseball player.Venezuelasource
  • June 20 – Hundreds of Western tourists are moved from Beirut and taken to safety in Syria by the U.S. military, following the murder of the U.S. Ambassador.source
  • June 20 – Czechoslovakia beats West Germany 5–3 on penalties to win Euro 76 when the game ends 2–2 after extra time.source
  • July 3 – Gregg v. Georgia: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that the death penalty is not inherently cruel or unusual and is a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment overturning the Furman v. Georgia case of 1972.source
  • July 15 – Twenty-six Chowchilla schoolchildren and their bus driver are abducted and buried in a box truck within a quarry in Livermore, California. The captives dig themselves free after 16 hours. The quarry-owner's son and two accomplices are arrested for the crime.source
  • July 16–20 – Albert Spaggiari and his gang break into the vault of the Société Generale Bank in Nice, France.source
  • July 20 – American criminal Gary Gilmore is arrested for murdering two men in Utah.source
  • 21 July - Col. Abu Taher was tried by a military tribunal inside the Dhaka Central Jail and sentenced to death. The trial was later considered flawed.Bangladeshsource
  • July 29 – In New York City, the "Son of Sam" pulls a gun from a paper bag, killing one and seriously wounding another, in the first of a series of attacks that terrorize the city for the next year.source
  • August 2 – A gunman murders Andrea Wilborn and Stan Farr and injures Priscilla Davis and Gus Gavrel, in an incident at Priscilla's mansion in Fort Worth, Texas. T. Cullen Davis, Priscilla's husband and one of the richest men in Texas, is tried and found innocent for Andrea's murder, involvement in a plot to kill several people (including Priscilla and a judge), and a wrongful death lawsuit. Cullen goes broke afterwards.source
  • August 6 – Former United Kingdom Postmaster General John Stonehouse is sentenced to 7 years' jail for fraud, theft and forgery.source
  • August 18 – Korean axe murder incidentNorth Koreasource
  • August 24 – In Uruguay, the army captures Marcelo Gelman and his pregnant wife. Gelman is later killed and his wife disappears.source
  • August 26 - Bernabe Buscayno also known as Kumander Dante of the New People's Army is arrested.Philippinessource
  • September 16 – Beginning with the Night of the Pencils, a series of kidnappings and forced disappearances followed by torture, rape, and murder of students under the Argentine dictatorship takes place.source
  • September 24 – Patty Hearst is sentenced to seven years in prison for her role in the armed robbery of a San Francisco bank in 1974 (an executive clemency order from U.S. President Jimmy Carter will set her free after only 22 months).source
  • October 6 – The Cultural Revolution in China concludes upon the capture of the Gang of Four.source
  • The New Jersey Legislature passes legislation legalizing casinos in the shore town of Atlantic City commencing in 1978. After signing the bill into law, Governor Brendan Byrne declares "The mob is not welcome in New Jersey!" referring to the Mafia's influence at casinos in Nevada.source
  • Tuol Svay Prey High School once named after a royal ancestor of King Norodom Sihanouk had turned into an extermination camp, torture, execution center, human slaughterhouse and prison renamed the complex "Tuol Sleng Prison" or "Security Prison 21" (S-21) and construction began to adapt the prison for the inmates by Santebal: the buildings in the deserted capital city of Phnom Penh were enclosed in electrified barbed wire, the classrooms converted into tiny prison and torture chambers, and all windows were covered with iron bars and barbed wire to prevent escapes and suicides once they are arrested and detained as political enemies, dissidents, party cadres including their entire extended families, soldiers of Lon Nol government as well as academics, doctors, teachers, students, factory workers, monks, engineers, etc, brought en masse to be interrogated and later executed at Choeung Ek near the killing field after S-21 has a long strict set of rules that was completely enforced by Angkar.Cambodiasource
  • Sultan of Selangor: Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz ShahMalaysiasource

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 16 – A locomotive crashes into the rear of a commuter train in Glenbrook, Australia, killing one person onboard and injuring ten others in the 1976 Glenbrook rail accident.source
  • March 9 – A cable car disaster occurs when a supporting cable breaks in Cavalese, Italy, resulting in 43 deaths.source
  • March 9–11 – Two coal mine explosions claim 26 lives at the Blue Diamond Coal Co. Scotia Mine, in Letcher County, Kentucky.source
  • 9 March – 1976 Cavalese cable car crash: 42 deaths, 1 injured.Italysource
  • 8 April – The 20-storey Campbell Shopping Complex, Kuala Lumpur's very first high-rise shopping complex was completely destroyed in a fire. It was Malaysia's first towering inferno and the worst fire disaster involving a high-rise building to date.Malaysiasource
  • April 13 – The Lapua Cartridge Factory explosion in Lapua, Finland kills 40.source
  • April 29 – Sino-Soviet split: A concealed bomb explodes at the gates of the Soviet embassy in China, killing four Chinese. The targets were embassy employees, returning from lunch, but on this day they had returned to the embassy earlier.source
  • May 4 – A train crash in Schiedam, the Netherlands, kills 24 people.source
  • 9 May – Imperial Iranian Air Force Flight 48 crashes on its approach to Madrid.Spainsource
  • May 11 – An accident involving a tanker truck carrying anhydrous ammonia takes place in Houston, Texas, resulting in the deaths of 7 people.source
  • May 21 – The Yuba City bus disaster, the second-worst bus crash in U.S. history, leaves 28 students and one teacher killed.source
  • 30 May - An explosion caused by the release of gasoline tears through a block of houses in Pfaffenthal, killing 3 and injuring at least 20.Luxembourgsource
  • June 2 – A car bomb fatally injures Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles.source
  • June 5 – The Teton Dam collapses in southeast Idaho in the US, killing 11 people.source
  • June 6 – The Double Six Crash, a plane crash in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, kills everyone on board, including Sabahan Chief Minister Tun Fuad Stephens.source
  • 27 June – Air France Flight 139, originating in Tel Aviv and carrying 248 passengers and a crew of 12 takes off from Athens, Greece, headed for Paris, France. The flight is hijacked by Palestinian Arab assailants with German Revolutionäre Zellen supporters and flown to Entebbe Airport (now known as Entebbe International Airport) in Uganda. Shortly after landing, all non-Jewish passengers were released. The hijacking of this flight leads to the IDF hostage-rescue mission "Operation Entebbe" carried out in the Entebbe Airport seven days later (see details above).Israelsource
  • July 10 – Seveso disaster: An explosion at a chemical plant in Seveso, Italy, causes extensive pollution to a large area in the neighborhood of Milan, with many evacuations and a large number of people affected by the toxic cloud.source
  • August 29 – A boat capsized in Davao River, leaving 19 persons missing and presumed dead.Philippinessource
  • September 3 – A Lockheed C-130 Hercules of the Venezuelan Air Force crashed near Lajes Field, Azores Islands, Portugal, killing all 68 occupants on board.source
  • 3 September - A Lockheed C-130H Hercules crashed at the Azores Islands killing all 68 passengers and crew onboard.Portugalsource
  • September 3 - A Venezuelan Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft crashes near the runway of Lajes Airbase on Terceira Island, Azores, Portugal. The aircraft was transporting all members of the UCV University Choir, including Vinicio Adames. There were no survivors in the tragic accident.Venezuelasource
  • September 10 – Zagreb mid-air collision: A British Airways Trident and a Yugoslav DC-9 collide near Zagreb, Yugoslavia (modern-day Zagreb, Croatia), killing all 176 aboard.source
  • September 16 – Shavarsh Karapetyan saves 20 people from a trolleybus that had fallen into a Yerevan reservoir.source
  • 19 September – Turkish Airlines Flight 452 crashes near IspartaTurkeysource
  • October 20 – The Mississippi River ferry MV George Prince is struck by a ship while crossing from Destrehan, Louisiana to Luling, Louisiana, killing 78 passengers and crew.source

Climate & Environment

  • February 4 – The 7.5 Mw Guatemala earthquake affects Guatemala and Honduras with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving 23,000 dead and 76,000 injured.source
  • April 19 – A violent F5 tornado strikes around Brownwood, Texas, injuring 11 people. Two people were thrown at least 1,000 yd by the tornado and survived uninjured.source
  • May 6 – An earthquake hits the Friuli area in Italy, killing more than 900 people and making another 100,000 homeless.source
  • 16 May - Farakka Long March was led by Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, demanded demolition of the Farakka Barrage constructed by India to divert flow of Ganges waters inside its territory, triggering the drying up of river Padma and desertification of Bangladesh.Bangladeshsource
  • May 20–24 – Flooding in the wake of a typhoon kills 215 persons and left 60,000 homeless in Luzon Island.Philippinessource
  • June 13 – Savage thunderstorms roll through the state of Iowa, spawning several tornadoes, including an F-5 tornado that destroys the town of Jordan.source
  • July 3 – The great heat wave in the United Kingdom, which is currently suffering from drought conditions, reaches its peak.source
  • July 28 – The Tangshan earthquake flattens Tangshan, China, killing 242,769 people, and injuring 164,851.source
  • July 28 — An earthquake hit the region of Tangshan, Hebei Province at 3:42am. This was the 1976 Tangshan earthquake.Chinasource
  • July 31 – The Big Thompson River in northern Colorado floods, destroying more than 400 cars and houses and killing 143 people.source
  • August 6 - A significant flood of the Orinoco River inundates the northern region of Ciudad Bolívar, reaching a height of 18.04 meters above sea level. This marks the third highest flood level recorded in the river's history, a record that would later be surpassed in 2018.Venezuelasource
  • August 17 – The 8.0 Mw Moro Gulf earthquake hits off the coast of Mindanao, Philippines, triggering a destructive tsunami, killing between 5,000 and 8,000 people and leaving more than 90,000 homeless.source
  • August 25 – Landslide disaster in Sau Mau Ping, Hong Kong.source
  • September 7 – 11: Hurricane KathleenMexicosource
  • October 19 – The Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) is placed on the list of endangered species.source
  • 25 October – Osmussaar earthquake.Estoniasource
  • November 12 – Disappearance of Renee MacRae and her 3-year-old son Andrew from Inverness in Scotland; this becomes Britain's longest-running missing persons case.source
  • 24 November – Çaldıran–Muradiye earthquake in East AnatoliaTurkeysource
  • December 23 – A new volcano, Murara, erupts in eastern Zaire.source
  • Sultan of Terengganu: Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin ShahMalaysiasource

Culture & Society

  • February 4 – The 1976 Winter Olympics begin in Innsbruck, Austria.source
  • April 3 – The Eurovision Song Contest 1976 is won by Brotherhood of Man, representing the United Kingdom, with their song Save Your Kisses for Me.source
  • 3 April – Representing Luxembourg, Juergen Marcus finishes fourteenth in the Eurovision Song Contest 1976 with the song Chansons Pour Ceux Qui S'aiment.Luxembourgsource
  • 3 April – Eurovision Song Contest, held in The HagueNetherlandssource
  • April 16 – As a measure to curb population growth, the minimum age for marriage in India is raised to 21 years for men and 18 years for women.source
  • May 24 – The Judgment of Paris pits French vs. California wines in a blind taste-test in Paris, France. California wines win the contest, surprising the wine world and opening the wine industry to newcomers in several countries.source
  • May 24 - Shortly after being crowned Miss Venezuela, Elluz Peraza relinquishes her title. Judith Castillo assumes the position as the new Miss Venezuela.Venezuelasource
  • June 4 – The Boston Celtics defeat the Phoenix Suns 128–126 in triple overtime in Game 5 of the National Basketball Association Finals at the Boston Garden. In 1997, the game is selected by a panel of experts as the greatest of the NBA's first 50 years.source
  • June 25 – Strikes start in Poland (Ursus, Radom, Płock) after communists raise food prices; they end on June 30.source
  • July 17 – The 1976 Summer Olympics begin in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.source
  • July 17-August 1 - Bolivia participates in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, CanadaBoliviasource
  • July 18 – 14-year-old Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci earns the first of seven perfect scores of 10 at the 1976 Summer Olympics.source
  • July 30 – Bruce Jenner wins the gold medal in the men's decathlon at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.source
  • July 30 – In Santiago, Chile, Cruzeiro from Brazil beats River Plate from Argentina and are the Copa Libertadores de América champions in Association football.source
  • August 1 – The 1976 Summer Olympics ends in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.source
  • August 14 – Around 10,000 Protestant and Catholic women demonstrate for peace in Northern Ireland.source
  • August 26 – Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, husband of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, resigns from various posts over a scandal involving alleged corruption in connection with business dealings with the Lockheed Corporation.source
  • August 29 – The first Women in Print Conference is held in Omaha, Nebraska. Over 130 women from 80 feminist organizations and collectives attend the gathering, which was associated with the women in print movement.source
  • September 6 – Frank Sinatra brings Jerry Lewis's former partner Dean Martin onstage, unannounced, at the 1976 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon in Las Vegas, reuniting the comedy team for the first (and only) time in over 20 years.source
  • November 3 – Carrie, an American supernatural horror film directed by Brian De Palma, is premiered in 17 theaters in the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore area.source
  • Marc Brown's Arthur's Nose is published.source
  • Domestic football: Mohammedan SC won 1976 Dhaka First Division League title, while Abahani KC came out runners-up.Bangladeshsource
  • CS Mindelense won the Cape Verdean Football ChampionshipCape Verdesource
  • The Quaid-i-Azam Academy is established on the 100th anniversary of the birth of Pakistan's founder.Pakistansource
  • Abu Dhabi Crown Prince's Court.United Arab Emiratessource

Births

Deaths

  • January 8 – Zhou Enlai, 1st Premier of China (born 1898)source
  • January 12 – Agatha Christie, English detective fiction writer (born 1890)source
  • January 23 – Paul Robeson, American actor, singer, writer and activist (born 1898)source
  • February 1 – Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1901)source
  • February 13 – General Murtala Mohammed of Nigeria is assassinated in a military coup.source
  • March 6 – Maxie Rosenbloom, American boxer and actor (born 1907)source
  • March 24 – Bernard Montgomery, British field marshal (born 1887)source
  • April 5 – Howard Hughes, American aviation pioneer, film director and millionaire recluse (born 1905)source
  • May 1 - Tuol Svay Prey High School had transformed into "Security Prison 21" or S-21 was opened by the secret police (Santebal) of Angkar which became an extermination center, death camp for the Khmer Rouge guards to torture and kill others which included political prisoners and party cadres, with the executions first took place in the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek; all religious practices are banned in Cambodian society such as practice, worship and prayer, as many of Buddhist monks were labeled as "parasites" and forced to disrobe and perform hard manual labor, which estimates that 25,000 to 50,000 monks (including Huot Tat) were killed by Angkar, with 2,000 Buddhist temples (wats) were destroyed, desecrated, or repurposed as storage units, prisons, and even execution centers, the Khmer Rouge aimed to replace traditional spiritual identity with total loyalty to Angkar.Cambodiasource
  • July 4 – Entebbe Raid: Israeli airborne commandos free 103 hostages being held by Palestinian hijackers of an Air France plane at Uganda's Entebbe Airport; Yonatan Netanyahu and several Ugandan soldiers are killed in the raid.source
  • July 20 - In connection with the investigation into the Niehous kidnapping, DISIP agents detain Jorge Rodríguez, who dies in custody five days later due to torture. Octavio Lepage, the Minister of Internal Affairs at the time, expresses regret over the incident and initiates comprehensive investigations.Venezuelasource
  • August 18 – At Panmunjom, North Korea, two United States soldiers are killed while trying to chop down part of a tree in the Korean Demilitarized Zone which has obscured their view.source
  • 29 August: Kazi Nazrul Islam, the national poet. (born 1899)Bangladeshsource
  • September 9 – Mao Zedong, Chinese revolutionary and political theorist, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (born 1893)source
  • September 9 – Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong dies in Beijing after a series of heart attacks.source
  • September 9 — Mao Zedong, the 1st Paramount leader of China and Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party dies at 82.Chinasource
  • September 19 – Choe Yong-gon, 2nd Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly (born 1900).North Koreasource
  • September 21 – Orlando Letelier is assassinated in Washington, D.C. by agents of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.source
  • December 4 – Benjamin Britten, English composer (born 1913)source