July 27

1189 – En route to the Holy Land during the Third Crusade, Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa I, leading his army, arrives at Niš, the capital of Serbian King Stefan Nemanja for resupply.

1299 – Historians date the day as the founding of the Ottoman state when  Osman I invades the territory of Nicomedia in modern northwest Turkey, for the first time.

1663 – The English Parliament passes the second Navigation Act requiring that all goods bound for the American colonies have to be sent in English ships from English ports.

1775 – The Second Continental Congress passes legislation establishing “an hospital for an army consisting of 20,000 men.”, founding the U.S. Army Medical Department.

1778 – During the Revolutionary War, the British and American ally French fleets fight to a standoff west of the isle of Ushant, at the mouth of the English Channel.

1789 – President Washington signs the legislation establishing The  Department of Foreign Affairs, later to be renamed The Department of State.

1816 – During the Seminole Wars, US Navy Gunboat No. 154 ends the siege of Negro Fort when its cannon fire explodes the fort’s powder magazine

1866 – The first permanent transatlantic telegraph cable is successfully completed, laid from Valentia Island, Ireland, to Heart’s Content, Newfoundland.

1880 – During the Second Anglo-Afghan War, Afghan forces led by Mohammad Ayub Khan defeat the British Army in battle near Maiwand, Afghanistan.

1890 – Vincent van Gogh shoots himself and dies 2 days later.

1919 – The Chicago Race Riot erupts after a racial incident occurred on a South Side beach, leading to 38 fatalities and 537 injuries over 5 days.

1921 – At the University of Toronto, biochemist Frederick Banting proves that the hormone insulin regulates blood sugar.

1929 – The Geneva Convention of 1929, dealing with treatment of prisoners of war, is signed by 53 nations.

1940 – The animated short A Wild Hare is released, introducing the character of Bugs Bunny.

1949 – The de Havilland Comet, the first jet-powered airliner, flies for the first time.

1953 – A cessation of hostilities is achieved in the Korean War when the United States, China, and North Korea sign an armistice agreement.

1964 – 5,000 American military advisers are sent to South Vietnam bringing the total number of United States forces there to 21,000.

1974 – The House Judiciary Committee votes 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment against President Richard Nixon.

1995 – The Korean War Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C..

1996 – In Atlanta, a pipe bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics.

2002 –  A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes during an air show at Lviv, Ukraine killing 77 people and injuring more than 500 others, to date the deadliest air show disaster in history.

2005 – After an incident during STS-114, launching Shuttle Discovery on the first flight since the Shuttle Columbia disaster,  NASA grounds the Space Shuttle fleet, pending an investigation of the continuing problem with the shedding of foam insulation from the external fuel tank.