On this day in history - October 27

What Happened On This Day – October 27

• 1999 Shooting in the Armenian Parliament

  8 people, including the country’s prime minister, Vazgen Sargsyan and Speaker Karen Demirchyan, were killed when armed gunmen shot at the members of the Armenian National Assembly. The gunmen claimed that they were there to carry out a coup and that the prime minister was their target. The siege ended after the Armenian troops surrounded the parliament building and the gunmen surrendered.

• 1991 Turkmenistan Declares Independence from the Soviet Union

  The Central Asian country had been a separate republic of the USSR since 1925. Saparmurat Niyazov, the head of the country under the Soviets, continued ruling the country under the title of President for Life until his death in 2006. The day is annually celebrated in the country as Independence Day.

• 1904 New York City Subway Begins Operations

  The oldest underground subway system in the United States, construction of the transit system began in 1902. Today, the NYC subway is one of the world’s largest and the most used rapid transit systems in the world.

• 1838 State of Missouri Passes the Extermination Order

  Governor Lilburn Boggs signed Missouri Executive Order 44 as a result of the Battle of Crooked River which took place a few days earlier on October 24-25. The fight occurred between Mormon forces and a Missouri state militia and it resulted in 4 fatalities. The executive order ruled that ‘all Mormons were to be treated as enemies and that they must be exterminated or driven out of the state for public peace.' The order forced members of the Church of Latter Day Saints to migrate from Missouri to Illinois.

• 1682 City of Philadelphia Founded

  The historical city in the State of Pennsylvania was founded by English entrepreneur, William Penn. Penn received the land as a payment to fulfill a debt that King Charles II owed to Penn’s father. Philadelphia is the only UNESCO-declared World Heritage City in the United States and it was temporarily the capital of the United States in the 1800s.