1977 CE

Star Wars is released; the Atari Video Computer System is released; Elvis Presley dies at Graceland; the Ogaden War erupts as Somalia invades Ethiopia’s Ogaden region; the Torrijos–Carter Treaties set the framework for Panama Canal transfer; the Tenerife airport disaster kills 583 when two Boeing 747s collide; the Apple II is released; the 1977 Vrancea earthquake in Romania kills thousands and causes widespread destruction; and the Johnstown flood of 1977 kills 84 in Pennsylvania.

In the 1970s, the 20th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 6 - The first anniversary of the establishment of Democratic Kampuchea as the totalitarian society since the Fall of Phnom Penh after the Cambodian Civil War had ended, China and North Korea provided a significant support to Angkar and the Khmer Rouge, with China as the main backer while North Korea became lesser extent by its diplomatic relations with a very strong support of Communist allies who learned the same lines with Marxist-Leninist ideology in the Far East.Cambodiasource
  • January 20 - Jimmy Carter is sworn in as the 39th President of the United States after defeating Gerald Ford in the 1976 election.source
  • February 2 – The Congress Party of India, led by Indira Gandhi, splits with Jagjivan Ram and other senior leaders, forming Congress for Democracy. This party later merges with the Janata Party.source
  • 7 March – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's political party Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) wins elections. PPP wins 155, PNA 35 seats out of 200. Soon afterwards riots erupt over allegations of vote-rigging by the PPP.Pakistansource
  • March 19 – Results of elections to the Indian Parliament are declared. Indira Gandhi's Congress Party is routed by the opposition Janata alliance.source
  • March 21 – Prime Minister Indira Gandhi withdraws the state of emergency which was implemented on June 25, 1975.source
  • April 9 – Spain legalizes the Communist Party of Spain, which had been outlawed since 1939.source
  • April 17 – Belgian prime minister Leo Tindemans' Christian Social Party gains eight seats in the lower house in parliamentary elections.source
  • May 12 – Portugal and Israel establish diplomatic relations.source
  • May 17 – The Likud Party, led by Menachem Begin, wins the national elections in Israel.source
  • June 15 – Spain has its first democratic elections, after 41 years of Francoist Spain.source
  • June 21 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP forms the new government of Turkey (40th government since the founding of the Turkish republic, but fails to receive the vote of confidence).source
  • June 23 – Venezuela ratifies the American Convention on Human Rights.Venezuelasource
  • June 27 – Djibouti receives its independence from France.source
  • June 27 – Constitution for the Federation of Earth is adopted by the second session of the World Constituent Assembly, held at Innsbruck, Austria.source
  • June 30 – The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization is permanently disbanded.source
  • July 5 – General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq overthrows Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan.source
  • 18 July - Laos signs a friendship treaty with Vietnam, providing for Vietnamese aid loans and reconstruction projects.Laossource
  • August 4 – U.S. president Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy.source
  • August 9 – The military-controlled government of Uruguay announces that it will return the nation to civilian rule through general elections in 1981 for a president and Congress.source
  • August 26 – The National Assembly of Quebec passes the Charter of the French Language (Law 101, La charte de la langue française) making French the official language of the Canadian province of Quebec.source
  • September 7 – Torrijos-Carter treaties: Treaties between Panama and the United States on the status of the Panama Canal are signed. The U.S. agrees to transfer control of the canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century.source
  • October 7 – The Soviet Union adopts its third Constitution. The Soviet National Anthem's lyrics are returned after a 24-year period, with Joseph Stalin's name omitted.source
  • October 23 – The president of Catalonia, Josep Tarradellas, returns to Barcelona from exile and the autonomous government of Catalonia, the Generalitat, is restored.source
  • November 19 – Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to make an official visit to Israel, when he meets with Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, seeking a permanent peace settlement.source
  • November – 1977 Greek legislative electionGreecesource
  • Libya officially leaves the Federation of Arab RepublicsLibyasource
  • The Israeli settlement of Beit El is established.Palestinesource
  • December 6 – South Africa grants independence to Bophuthatswana, although it is not recognized by any other country.source
  • December 10 – 1977 Australian federal election: Malcolm Fraser's Liberal/National Country Coalition government is re-elected with a slightly reduced majority, defeating the Labor Party led by former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. Consequently, Whitlam resigns as ALP leader after holding the job for nearly 11 years; he is replaced by former treasurer Bill Hayden.source
  • December 20 – Djibouti and Vietnam join the United Nations.source
  • Bangladesh became an Associate member of the International Cricket CouncilBangladeshsource

Conflict & Security

  • January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.source
  • 18 January – Imran Khan takes 12 wickets in a match for Pakistan win at the Sydney Cricket Ground.Pakistansource
  • January 24 – The Massacre of Atocha occurs, during the Spanish transition to democracy.source
  • February 17 - The French newspaper Le Monde reported that the Khmer Rouge had systematically executed all officials from the previous government by the ruling Maoist entity of Angkar Padevat (The Revolutionary Organization), both the flags of Democratic Kampuchea and Vietnam share a common Marxist-Leninist aesthetic, with both relying on a bold red background to symbolize the revolution and the struggles for national liberation, the yellow silhouette of a three-towered temple represented Kampuchean tradition and agricultural prosperity by the representative of the ancient Angkor Wat adapted by the Khmer Rouge guerrillas in the 1950s before it was constituted to become a new state flag on 5 January 1976 as part of socialist movement, blood, and the resolute struggle of the Kampuchean people for liberation and state-building to evoke the idea that the "new" revolutionary people of Cambodia could rebuild a powerful medieval state, it remains unique among communist state flags for featuring a national/religious heritage monument instead of a star or a hammer and sickle that was used by Stalin and Mao.Cambodiasource
  • February 18 – The Xinjiang 61st Regiment Farm fire started during Chinese New Year when a firecracker ignites wreaths to the late Mao Zedong, killing 694 people, mostly children. It remains the deadliest fire in China.source
  • March 9 – Hanafi Siege: Approximately a dozen armed Hanafi Movement members take over 3 buildings in Washington, D.C., killing 1 person and taking 149 hostages (the hostage situation ends 2 days later).source
  • April 28 – A federal court in Stuttgart, West Germany, sentences Red Army Faction members Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, and Jan-Carl Raspe to life imprisonment.source
  • April 30 – The Cold War between Cambodia and Vietnam evolves into the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.source
  • May 1 – The Taksim Square massacre in Istanbul results in 34 deaths and hundreds of injuries.source
  • May 23 – Moluccan terrorists take over a school in Bovensmilde, northern Netherlands (105 hostages), and a passenger train on the Bovensmilde–Assen route nearby (90 hostages) at the same time. The children are released on May 26. On June 11, Dutch Royal Marines storm the train, and six terrorists and two hostages are killed.source
  • June 5 – A bloodless coup installs France-Albert René as President of the Seychelles.source
  • 5 June: General strikes are held in Nablus and Ramallah to mark the tenth anniversary of the Six-Day War and the start of the Israeli occupation.Palestinesource
  • 15 June – U.N. Security Council Resolution 410 was adopted and noted that, due to the existing circumstances, the presence of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus would continue to be essential for a peaceful settlement.Cyprussource
  • Libyan protesters begin a "March on Cairo" as they heads towards the Egyptian border. The Libyans wanted to demonstrate against the increasing likelihood that Egypt would enter into a peace treaty with Israel.Libyasource
  • July 9 – The Pinochet dictatorship in Chile organises the youth event of Acto de Chacarillas, a ritualised act reminiscent of Francoist Spain.source
  • July 13 – Somalia declares war on Ethiopia, starting the Ethio-Somali War.source
  • July 21–24 – The Libyan–Egyptian War, sparked by a Libyan raid on Sallum, begins.source
  • July 22 – The purged Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiaoping is restored to power nine months after the "Gang of Four" was expelled from power in a coup d'état.source
  • July 30 – Left-wing German terrorists Susanne Albrecht, Brigitte Mohnhaupt and Christian Klar assassinate Jürgen Ponto, chairman of the Dresdner Bank in Oberursel, West Germany.source
  • September 4 – The Golden Dragon massacre, involving rival Chinatown gangs, takes place in San Francisco, United States. Five are killed.source
  • September 19 – Under pressure from the Carter Administration, President of Nicaragua Anastasio Somoza Debayle lifts the state of siege in Nicaragua.source
  • September 20 – The Petrozavodsk phenomenon is observed in the Soviet Union and some northern European countries.source
  • 2 October: The mutiners are defeated by government forces, but is followed by another failed attempt to overthrow Zia in DhakaBangladeshsource
  • October 28 – Hong Kong police attack the ICAC headquarters.source
  • November 9 – Gen. Hugo Banzer, president of the military government of Bolivia, announces that the constitutional democracy will be restored in 1978 instead of 1980 as previously provided.source
  • November 11 – According to MLIT of ROK official confirm announced, 59 persons perished, 1343 persons were hurt of Iri station explosion in Iksan, Jeollanam-do.South Koreasource
  • 21 December - 1977-78 Balkans Cup: Albania defeats Yugoslavia 1-0 at Skënderbeu Stadium, KorçëAlbaniasource

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 1 – Canada's offshore exclusive economic zone is extended to 200 nmi.Canadasource
  • 24 June-2 October: documenta 6Germanysource
  • 1 August – The opening of Magong Airport in Penghu County.Taiwansource
  • 24 August – Australia's first 7-Eleven convenience store opens in the Melbourne suburb of Oakleigh.Australiasource
  • August Unknown date – A first Hyundai Department Store open in Ulsan, as predecessor name was Ulsan Shopping Center.South Koreasource
  • September 4 – San Cristóbal: Francesco Moser becomes road cycling world championVenezuelasource
  • September 18 – Courageous (U.S.), skippered by Ted Turner, sweeps the Australian challenger Australia in the 24th America's Cup yacht race at Newport, Rhode Island.source
  • December – The Colombo Plan for Co-operative Economic and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific (CESDAP) is implemented.source
  • Government of Bangladesh launches Operation Dabanal in the Chittagong Hill TractsBangladeshsource
  • New Zealand proclaims an Exclusive Economic Zone of 200 nautical miles (370 km) – the seventh largest in the world at 4.3 million km 2New Zealandsource

Religion & Belief

  • 18 January – Lucien Kraus is appointed to the Council of State.Luxembourgsource
  • February 23 – Óscar Romero, an outspoken opponent of violence, becomes Archbishop of San Salvador, El Salvador.source
  • April 13: Roman Catholic Diocese of Nuevo Casas Grandes established.Mexicosource
  • May 4 – The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops rule that divorced Catholics, including those who remarried outside the Church, are no longer automatically excommunicated and can still attend Mass but if they remarry without obtaining a Church annulment, cannot receive Holy Communion and confession.United Statessource
  • 22 June – The Uniting Church in Australia is formed following the union of the majority of Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregational Union churches in Australia.Australiasource
  • 5 August – Gunvor Galtung Haavik, interpreter charged with espionage (b.1912)Norwaysource
  • September - Rev. Ian Paisley launches the Save Ulster from Sodomy campaign to oppose the decriminalisation of homosexuality.Northern Irelandsource
  • The founding of the kibbutz Beit Rimon.Israelsource
  • Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan: Tuanku JaafarMalaysiasource

Economy & Finance

  • January 5 - The Government intervenes in Banco Osorno and La Unión.Chilesource
  • 7 April – Yitzhak Rabin announces his retirement from the premiership of the Labor Party, following the Dollar Account affair.Israelsource
  • June 25 – Hyundai Mobis was founded, as predecessor name was Hyundai Precision & Industries.South Koreasource
  • 2 August – A law creating the Société nationale de Crédit et d'Investissement is passed.Luxembourgsource
  • September 23 – The Netherlands suspends its cultural agreement with South Africa.South Africasource
  • 12 December – The Singapore Labour Foundation is formed to ensure families in unions are well-taken care of, as well as to promote union groups in Singapore.Singaporesource
  • Tun Mohd Hamdan Abdullah (Until November)Malaysiasource
  • The now-ubiquitous convenience store chain OXXO is founded.Mexicosource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • 3 January – Kirkuk-Iskenderun pipeline officially opens.Turkeysource
  • January 11 – The first episode of Finnish children's TV show Pikku Kakkonen ("Little Number Two") is aired on Yle TV2.source
  • January 18 – Australia's worst railway disaster at Granville, a suburb of Sydney, leaves 83 people dead.source
  • 27 February – The Upper Peirce Reservoir is officially opened as Singapore's fourth reservoir. On the same day, a 10-year plan to clean up the Singapore River is announced by the late Lee Kuan Yew.Singaporesource
  • April 11 – London Transport's Silver Jubilee AEC Routemaster buses are launched.source
  • May 29 – Indianapolis 500: A. J. Foyt becomes the first driver to win the race four times.source
  • 22 June – The government abandons plan to build a nuclear power plant at Remerschen, due to fears that the country wouldn't have enough police to protect the site from protestors.Luxembourgsource
  • 7 July – The 25th anniversary of Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) was celebrated.Malaysiasource
  • July 31 – the Caricuao Zoo Park opens to the public.Venezuelasource
  • August 25 – Radio Shack’s new TRS-80 Micro Computer System uses a computer keyboard to plug into an included 64 column video monitor, programmed by cassette tapes played on a home cassette player, shown at the Boston Computer Show on August 25, 1977. From left, visitors Robert Lundgren of Des Plaines, Illinois, Malcolm MacLeod of Montreal, and Radio Shack salesman Steven Carlozzi of Brockton, MassachusettsUnited Statessource
  • September 5 - Invited to participate in the ratification of the Panama Canal agreements, Augusto Pinochet travels to United States, where he meets with President Jimmy Carter and other Latin American leaders.Chilesource
  • September 15 – Optical fiber is first used to carry live telephone traffic, as an Italian company in Turin, Centro Studi e Laboratori Telecomunicazioni (CSELT) begins operation of two telephone exchanges.source
  • October 21 – The European Patent Institute is founded.source
  • November 6 – The Kelly Barnes Dam, located above Toccoa Falls Bible College near Toccoa, Georgia, United States, fails, killing 39 people.source
  • November 22 – British Airways inaugurates regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service.source
  • November 22 – The TCP/IP test succeeds, connecting 3 ARPANET nodes (of 111), in what eventually becomes the Internet protocol. See Packet Radio Vansource
  • Domestic football: Abahani KC won 1977 Dhaka First Division League title, while Rahmatganj MFS came out runners-up.Bangladeshsource
  • Development of Tallinn Lasnamäe area begins.Estoniasource

Science & Discovery

  • February 7 – The Soviet Union launches Soyuz 24 (Viktor Gorbatko, Yury Glazkov) to dock with the Salyut 5 space station.source
  • February 18 – American Space Shuttle program: First test flight of Space Shuttle Enterprise mated to the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.source
  • 3 March – Nehru Planetarium commissioned.Indiasource
  • March 10 – The rings of Uranus are discovered.source
  • April 18 – An annular solar eclipse was visible in Africa, and was the 29th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 138.source
  • May 23 – Scientists report using bacteria in a lab to make insulin via gene splicing.source
  • May 25 - Star Wars is released in the United States by director George Lucas, It immediately became a major pop culture phenomenon, and became a major box office hit for the next 6 years.source
  • 13 June – The first double-decker bus is launched on service 86 by Singapore Bus Service (now SBS Transit).Singaporesource
  • August 12 – The NASA Space Shuttle, named Enterprise, makes its first test free-flight from the back of a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.source
  • August 15 – The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the Wow! signal for a notation made by a volunteer on the project.source
  • August 17 – The Soviet icebreaker Arktika becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.source
  • August 17 — Arktika, a Soviet nuclear-powered icebreaker, became the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.Soviet Unionsource
  • August 20 – Voyager program: The United States launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.source
  • A Soviet surveillance satellite detects South Africa's nuclear test preparations and alerts the United States.South Africasource
  • September 5 – Voyager program: Voyager 1 is launched after a brief delay.source
  • October 1 – Energy Research and Development Administration combines with the Federal Energy Administration to form United States Department of Energy.source
  • October 1: Pelé, playing for the New York Cosmos, scores his last goal to defeat Santos FC 2-1, at Giants Stadium, in East Rutherford, New Jersey, United States. This would be his last official game, thus saying goodbye to his professional football career.Brazilsource
  • October 7 – Pelé plays his final professional football game, as a member of the New York Cosmos.source
  • 11 October – Award of Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Ilya Prigogine announced.Belgiumsource
  • October 26 – Space Shuttle program: Last test taxi flight of Space Shuttle Enterprise, over California.source
  • November 1 – 2060 Chiron, first of the outer Solar System asteroids known as Centaurs, is discovered by Charlie Kowal.source
  • 29 December – Kialoa II wins the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.Australiasource
  • At the conference of the International Telecommunication Union, in Geneva, Luxembourg is assigned five frequencies for satellite broadcasting, furthering the government's move towards making Luxembourg a leader in satellite telecommunications.Luxembourgsource

Health & Medicine

  • January 18 – Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease.source
  • 1 March – Abdul Ati al-Obeidi is appointed General Secretary of the General People's Committee.Libyasource
  • April 4 - The Ministry of the Interior prohibits the importation of the books by Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa and Julio CortázarChilesource
  • 3 May: Two Palestinians die and six Israelis are injured in an outbreak of unrest on the West Bank sparked by a Gush Emunim announcement that it intended to establish more settlements.Palestinesource
  • June 15 – Outbreak of cholera in Arida, Wakayama prefecture.Japansource
  • August 15 – Nazi war criminal Herbert Kappler escapes from the Caelian Hill military hospital in Rome.source
  • August – Herbert Kappler, a war criminal, escapes from a prison hospital with the help of his wife - she carried him out in a large suitcase.Italysource
  • October 26 – The last natural smallpox case is discovered in Merca district, Somalia. The WHO and the CDC consider this date the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, a great success of vaccination and, by extension, of modern science.source
  • November 2 – The worst storm in Athens' modern history causes havoc across the Greek capital and kills 38 people.source
  • November 4 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 418 places a mandatory arms embargo against South Africa.South Africasource
  • 10 December – The Science Centre Singapore (then Singapore Science Centre) is officially opened.Singaporesource
  • A influenza pandemic was reported and the pandemic lasted until 1979.Soviet Unionsource

Crime & Justice

  • 24 January – Former Selangor Menteri Besar, Datuk Harun Idris was found guilty and sentenced by the High Court to six months jail for forgery and fined RM 15,000 or six months jail for abetting criminal breach of trust involving nearly RM 6.5 million worth of Bank Rakyat's stocks and sharesMalaysiasource
  • 19 March – A Turkish aircraft hijacked to Beirut, LebanonTurkeysource
  • April 7 – German Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light near his home in Karlsruhe. The "Ulrike Meinhof Commando" later claims responsibility.source
  • May 16 – A 20-passenger S-61L topples sideways at takeoff from the roof of the Pan Am Building in Midtown Manhattan. Four passengers are killed by the turning rotors and a woman at street level is killed by a falling blade.source
  • May 27 – A demonstration and coup attempt in Angola takes place. Thousands are killed by the government and Cuban forces.source
  • May - Shankill Butchers are arrested.Northern Irelandsource
  • July 10 — 1977 Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-134 hijacking.Soviet Unionsource
  • July 27 – The Soviet Politburo orders Boris Yeltsin to demolish the Ipatiev House, where Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family were shot in 1918. Yeltsin later refers to this as a barbarian act.source
  • September 5 – German Autumn: Employers Association President Hanns Martin Schleyer is kidnapped in Cologne, West Germany. The kidnappers kill three escorting police officers and his chauffeur. They demand the release of Red Army Faction prisoners.source
  • September 8 – Interpol issues a resolution against the copyright infringement of video tapes and other material, which is still cited in warnings on opening pre-credits of videocassettes and DVDs.source
  • September 10 – Murderer Hamida Djandoubi is the last person executed by guillotine in France (at Marseille) and the last legal beheading in the Western world.source
  • 17 September – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is arrested under martial law orders.Pakistansource
  • September 19 – North Korean agents abduct Yutaka Kume from Noto Peninsula starting the North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens.source
  • October 17–18 – German Autumn: GSG 9 troopers storm the hijacked Lufthansa passenger plane in Mogadishu, Somalia; three of the four hijackers die.source
  • October 19 – German Autumn: Kidnapped industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer is found murdered in Mulhouse, France.source
  • 23 November - 1977-78 Balkans Cup: Albania is defeated by Yugoslavia 6-0 at Stadion Kantrida, RijekaAlbaniasource
  • November 25 – Benigno Aquino Jr. was found guilty of charges and sentence him to death by firing squad, but the death sentence was postponed.Philippinessource
  • 1976–77 Mexican Primera División seasonMexicosource

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 4 – Poisoned cola is placed in a telephone booth near Shinagawa Station, killing two.Japansource
  • January 19 – An Ejército del Aire CASA C-207C Azor (registration T.7-15) plane crashes into the side of a mountain near Chiva, on approach to Valencia Airport in Spain, killing all 11 people on board.source
  • 18 February – Kalakuta Republic, a communal compound founded by political activist Fela Kuti is destroyed by armed soldiers.Nigeriasource
  • March 27 – Tenerife disaster: A collision between KLM and Pan Am Boeing 747s at Tenerife, Canary Islands, kills 583 people. This becomes the deadliest accident in aviation history.source
  • March 30 - Unknown persons set fire to the studios of the radio station La Voz de la Costa in Osorno, belonging to the Catholic Church.Chilesource
  • April 4 – Southern Airways Flight 242 crashes on a highway in New Hope, Georgia, United States, killing 72 people.source
  • May 14 – An IAS Cargo Boeing 707 airplane crash in Lusaka, Zambia, kills all six on board.source
  • May 27 – The 1977 Aeroflot Ilyushin 62 airplane crash in Cuba kills 69 people.source
  • July 13 – New York City is affected by a complete electricity blackout lasting through the following day that results in citywide looting and other criminal activity, including arson.source
  • July 27 — The Politburo orders Boris Yeltsin, First Secretary of Sverdlovsk Oblast, to demolish the Ipatiev House, where Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family were shot in 1918.Soviet Unionsource
  • 28 September: A Japan Airlines Flight 472 en route from Mumbai to Tokyo was hijacked by 5 Japanese Red Army terrorists shortly after takeoff, and forced the plane to land at then Zia International Airport. The terrorists' demand of $6 million and release of 6 JRA terrorists from Japanese prison was met by the Japanese Prime Minister. Bangladesh Air Force was deployed to control the situation in the ground and to facilitate negotiationsBangladeshsource
  • October 13 – German Autumn: Four Palestinians hijack Lufthansa Flight 181 to Somalia and demand the release of 11 Red Army Faction members.source
  • October 21 – A U.S. Marine Corps helicopter crashed during a military exercise in Mindoro, killing 24 servicemen.Philippinessource
  • November 19 – TAP Portugal Flight 425 crashes at Madeira Airport, Funchal, Portugal, killing 131 and leaving 33 survivors.source
  • December 4 – Malaysian Airline System Flight 653 is hijacked and crashes in Tanjung Kupang, Johor, Malaysia, killing all 100 passengers and crew on board.source
  • 4 December – Malaysian Airline System Flight 653 was hijacked and crashed in Tanjung Kupang, Johor, killing all 100 people on board.Malaysiasource
  • December 13 – a chartered Douglas DC-3 aircraft carrying the University of Evansville basketball team to Nashville, Tennessee, crashes in rain and dense fog about 90 seconds after takeoff from Evansville Regional Airport; 29 people die in the crash, including 14 members of the team and head coach Bob Watson.source
  • December 18 – SA de Transport Aérien Flight 730, an international charter service from Zurich to Funchal Airport (Madeira), hits the sea during a landing attempt. Many of the 36 who die drown, trapped inside the sinking aircraft. Twenty-one people survive with the help of rescuers and by swimming to the shore.source
  • December 22 – A grain elevator explodes in Westwego, Louisiana, United States, killing 36 people.source
  • 2 december 1977 – a Tupolev Tu-154 runs out of fuel near Benghazi. A total of 59 passengers are killed in the crash.Libyasource

Climate & Environment

  • January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).source
  • February 3 – In northern Japan a blizzard piles snow on rooftops, causing many to collapse killing at least 31 people.source
  • March 4 – The 1977 Vrancea earthquake in the Vrancea Mountains of Romania kills over 1,500 people.source
  • March 4 — An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 that occur in neighbouring Romania had destroyed and damaged many buildings in Soviet Moldova.Soviet Unionsource
  • April 1: President Ernesto Geisel closes the National Congress of Brazil to control presidential succession as conflict erupts between him, the duristas, Congress, the Church, and the media.Brazilsource
  • April 18 – Due to shortages, President Carlos Andrés Pérez approves the importation of basic foodstuffs.Venezuelasource
  • April 24 – In northern Bangladesh, a cyclone kills 13 people and injures about 100 others.source
  • July 1 – The East African Community is dissolved.source
  • July 10 – A temperature of 48.0 °C, a record for continental Europe, is recorded in Greece.source
  • July 19–20 – Flooding in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, caused by massive rainfall, kills over 75 people and causes billions of dollars in damage.United Statessource
  • August 29 – September 4:Hurricane AnitaMexicosource
  • November 15 – A typhoon kills about 80 persons in northern Philippines. Among the dead are at least 40 killed after a fire at the tourist hotel in Manila a day earlier, caused by a candle being lit during a power failure.Philippinessource
  • November 23 - A strong tremor is felt due to the Caucete earthquake in the province of San Juan, Argentina. The earthquake is felt in the cities of Antofagasta, Chañaral, Copiapó, Vallenar, La Serena, Coquimbo, Ovalle, Illapel, La Ligua, San Felipe and Los Andes.Chilesource
  • December 19 – The Mw 5.9 Bob–Tangol earthquake rocks Iran, killing at least 584 people and injuring 1,000.source
  • 19 December – The Bob–Tangol earthquake strikes Kerman province, killing 584–665 people and causing local destruction.Iransource
  • Sultan of Terengganu: Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin ShahMalaysiasource

Culture & Society

  • 15 January–12 February – FESTAC 77 held in Lagos.Nigeriasource
  • 18 February – Test cricket debuts of Colin Croft and Joel Garner vs. Pakistan Bridgetown.Pakistansource
  • 2 March – Following the Libyan Revolution of 1969 against King Idris of Libya on 1 September 1969, Muammar Gaddafi published The Green Book in 1975 to outline his Third Universal Theory.Libyasource
  • March 12 – The Centenary Test between Australia and England begins at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.source
  • April 2 – Horse racing: Red Rum wins a record third Grand National at Aintree Racecourse in the UK.source
  • 7 May – Representing Luxembourg, Anne-Marie Besse finishes sixteenth in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977 with the song Frère Jacques.Luxembourgsource
  • 11 May – The Tugu Negara (National Monument) was finally repaired and restored to its original state.Malaysiasource
  • June 25 – The 1977 Rugby League World Cup culminates in Australia's 13–12 victory over Great Britain at the Sydney Cricket Ground before about 24,450 spectators.source
  • July 1 – The Championships, Wimbledon (tennis) – Virginia Wade wins the women's singles title in the centenary year of the tournament, Wade's first and only Wimbledon title and her third and final Grand Slam title overall; she remains the last British woman to win the singles title at Wimbledon.source
  • August 14 – The 1977 Austrian Grand Prix was held at the Österreichring in Spielberg, Styria, Austrian with Niki Lauda won in second place.Austriasource
  • September 28 – The Porsche 928 debuts at the Geneva Motor Show.source
  • October 20 – Three members of the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd die in a charter plane crash outside Gillsburg, Mississippi, three days after the release of their fifth studio album Street Survivors.source
  • October 27 – British punk band Sex Pistols release Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols on the Virgin Records label. Despite refusal by major retailers in the UK to stock it, it enters the UK Album Charts at number one the week after its release.source
  • November 8 – San Francisco elects City Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official of any large city in the U.S.source
  • November 8 – Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos discovers the tomb of Philip II of Macedon at Vergina.source
  • November 30 – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is founded as a specialized agency of the United Nations.source
  • CS Mindelense won the Cape Verdean Football ChampionshipCape Verdesource
  • Jewish Museum of Greece establishedGreecesource

Births

Deaths

  • January 18 – SFR Yugoslavia Prime minister Džemal Bijedić, his wife and 6 others are killed in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina.source
  • February 4 – Eleven CTA commuters are killed when an elevated train derails from the Loop in central Chicago, United States.source
  • May 7 – Prince Xavier of Bourbon-Parma, Spanish Carlist pretender (born 1889)source
  • May 10 – Joan Crawford, American actress (born c. 1904)source
  • May 28 – The Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky, United States, is engulfed in fire; 165 are killed inside.source
  • June 16 – Wernher von Braun, German-born American rocket scientist (born 1912)source
  • July 2 – Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born American writer (born 1899)source
  • 26 July – Prince Charles of Luxembourg (1927–1977)Luxembourgsource
  • August 9 – Beryl May Dent, English mathematical physicist (born 1900)source
  • August 16 – Elvis Presley, American actor, musician and singer-songwriter (born 1935)source
  • August 16 – Elvis Presley, the king of rock and roll, dies in his home in Graceland at age 42. 75,000 fans lined the streets of Memphis for his funeral, which occurred on August 18, but wasn't televised until August 20.United Statessource
  • August 19 – Groucho Marx, American actor and comedian (born 1890)source
  • September 12 – Steve Biko, South African anti-apartheid activist (born 1946)source
  • 16 September - Maria Callas, soprano (born 1923 in the United States)Greecesource
  • October 14 – Bing Crosby, American pop singer and actor (born 1903)source
  • October 18 – German Autumn: Red Army Faction members Andreas Baader, Jan-Carl Raspe and Gudrun Ensslin commit suicide in Stammheim prison; Irmgard Möller fails (their supporters still claim they were murdered). They are buried on October 27.source
  • 3 November: Muhammad Qudrat-i-Khuda, scientist. (born 1900)Bangladeshsource
  • November 18 – Kurt Schuschnigg, former chancellor of the Federal State of Austria (born 1897)Austriasource
  • December 26 – Howard Hawks, American film director (born 1896)source