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What Happened Today in History on December 27

Explore the historical events that shaped our world on December 27th. From major milestones to cultural achievements, see what happened on this day in history. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.

The Roman emperor Augustus officially adopts his stepson and heir, Tiberius, as his son.

The death of Chrysaphius, a eunuch advisor to the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I, who played a controversial role in the court.

The Gothic War, fought between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Ostrogoths, sees a significant battle at Taginae, resulting in a Byzantine victory.

British naturalist Charles Darwin sets out from Plymouth, England, aboard the HMS Beagle on a five-year voyage to the Pacific Ocean including the Galapagos Island in South America and New Zealand. He was 22 years old. Darwin's discoveries while visiting such diverse places gave him the basis to develop his theory of evolution which was published in 1859, "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection." More

President Franklin Roosevelt, asserting wartime emergency powers, orders his secretary of commerce to seize the plants and facilities of Montgomery Ward which was in the middle of a labor strike affecting the flow of war supplies. Montgomery Ward appealed the government action in Federal Court, but lost. More