On this day in history - December 6

What Happened On This Day – December 6

• 1977 South Africa grants independence to Bophuthatswana

  The Republic of Bophuthatswana was never internationally recognized. In 1994, after a series of coups, it reintegrated with South Africa.

• 1967 World's first pediatric heart transplant

  3 days after the first heart transplant in the world occurred in South Africa, Adrian Kantrowitz and his team of surgeons performed United States' first heart transplant and the world's first pediatric heart transplant at the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn.

• 1922 Establishment of the Irish Free State

  The Anglo-Irish Treaty signed between the British and Irish representatives in 1921 paved the way for the establishment of the Dominion of the British Empire. The state lasted until December 1937.

• 1917 Finnish Declaration of Independence

  The declaration ended 109 years of Finland being a Grand Duchy in the Russian Empire. The Northern European country came under the control of the Russian Empire in 1809. After the October Revolution in Russia, which created the Soviet Union, the Finnish Parliament declared independence on this day.

• 1865 Adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

  The amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime.