Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 7
August 7: Independence Day in Côte d'Ivoire (1960); Civic Holiday in Canada, Emancipation Day in various Caribbean countries (2006).
- 1679 - Le Griffon, a brigantine by René-Robert de LaSalle, became the first sailing ship to navigate the Great Lakes.
- 1782 - The Badge of Military Merit (pictured), the original Purple Heart, was established as a military decoration in the Continental Army.
- 1947 - An expedition led by Thor Heyerdahl crossed the Pacific Ocean in 101 days on his raft, Kon-Tiki.
- 1965 - Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman of the Federation of Malaysia demanded that Singapore withdraw from the federation, choosing to "sever ties with a State Government that showed no measure of loyalty to its Central Government."
- 1998 - The bombing of U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya killed 224 people and injured over 4,500.