Date in year · 1966 · The 1960s

October 4, 1966

On October 4, 1966, basutoland becomes independent from the United Kingdom and is renamed Lesotho. The year's #1 song was "California Dreamin'" by The Mamas & the Papas. Mando, Véronique Gens, Paul Reiffel would arrive in the same year.

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Year

1966

1960s

Around 1966

The year in brief

1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1966th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 966th year of the 2nd millennium, the 66th year of the 20th century, and the 7th year of the 1960s decade.

Read the full year of 1966 →

What happened

On October 4, 1966

  1. 1966 Basutoland becomes independent from the United Kingdom and is renamed Lesotho.

    British Colony from 1884 to 1966

    Basutoland was a British Crown colony that existed from 1884 to 1966 in present-day Lesotho, bordered with the Cape Colony, Natal Colony and Orange River Colony until 1910 and completely surrounded by South Africa from 1910. Though the Basotho and their territory had been under British control starting in 1868, the rule by Cape Colony was unpopular and unable to control the territory. As a result, Basutoland was brought under direct authority of Queen Victoria, via the High Commissioner, and run by an Executive Council presided over by a series of British Resident Commissioners.

Elsewhere that year

Other moments from 1966

The class of 1966

Others born in 1966

Mando 1966– Greek singer
Véronique Gens 1966– French soprano and actress
Paul Reiffel 1966– Australian cricketer and umpire
David Chalmers 1966– Australian philosopher and academic
David Filo 1966– American businessman, co-founded Yahoo!
Mickey Morandini 1966– American baseball player and manager

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