/year

April 1 in history

286 sourced entries recorded on April 1, from 286 CE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 286Diocletian rewards Maximian by elevating him to co-emperor, giving him the title Augustus.source
  • 325Crown Prince Cheng of Jin, age 4, succeeds his father Ming of Jin as emperor of the Eastern Jin dynasty. During his reign, he is largely advised by regents, his uncle Yu Liang and high-level officials.source
  • 457Majorian is acclaimed emperor by the Roman army, after defeating 900 Alemanni near Lake Maggiore (Italy).source
  • 527Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler, as an incurable wound saps his strength.source
  • 528The 6-week-old only daughter of Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei is proclaimed empress regnant of Northern Wei, by Empress Dowager Hu.source
  • 675King Hlothhere of Kent re-establishes Kentish supremacy in London.source
  • 98816-year old Robert II of France ("Robert the Pious") is married to the much older Rozala (the widow of Arnulf II). The marriage is arranged by Robert's father, King Hugh Capet, to secure the loyalty of the County of Flanders.source
  • 1081Emperor Nikephoros III is forced to abdicate the throne, and retires to the Peribleptos monastery. He is succeeded by Alexios I Komnenos, who is crowned on April 5, as ruler of the Byzantine Empire. His brother-in-law Nikephoros Melissenos supports Alexios as new emperor, in exchange for the title of Caesar (co-emperor), and is appointed as commander of the Byzantine armies in the West.source
  • 1085Emperor Zhezong ascends the throne at the age of 8 under the supervision of his grandmother, Grand Empress Dowager Gao. She cancels the reform policy of Chancellor Wang Anshi.source
  • 1141Alberic of Ostia, papal legate to Outremer, solemnly dedicates the Templum Domini in Jerusalem.source
  • 1299Kingston upon Hull is granted city status in England by royal charter of Edward I.source
  • 1318After the appointment of Guglielmo di Balaeto as rector by Pope John XXII with broad powers before the city of Benevento, the inhabitants rise against the Pope and demand some political autonomy. Finally, the rebellion is crushed by papal forces.source
  • 1318Pope John XXII creates the Archdiocese of Soltaniyeh (now located in northwestern Iran), bringing the Roman Catholic hierarchy to the Ilkhanate in Persia, with the Dominican missionary Francesco da Perugia (Francon de Perouse) as the first Archbishop. Francesco and six bishops arrive on August 1.source
  • 1346August 20 – Siege of Aiguillon: The French fail to take Aiguillon from its English defenders.source
  • 1351Hundred Years' War: Battle of Saintes. – The French are defeated by the English.source
  • 1351The Battle of Saintes between French and English forces takes place near Saint-Jean-d'Angély. The English force led by the Seneschal of Gascony, John de Cheverston and Arnaud-Amanieu are victorious, but was unable to fulfil its mission to resupply the besieged town of Saint-Jean-d'Angély.source
  • 1389Following the Battle of Sempach, a seven-year peace agreement is concluded between the Duchy of Austria and the Old Swiss Confederacy.source
  • 1391Rebelling against the rule of King Martin of Sicily, the rebel Brancaleone Doria begins the takeover of the island of Sardinia by laying siege to the Castel di Cagliari.source
  • 1401Conwy Castle in English-ruled North Wales, is captured on Good Friday by trickery by two Welsh brothers, Rhys ap Tudur and Gwilym ap Tudur of the Island of Anglesey, in support of the anti-English rebellion led by Owain Glyndŵr.source
  • 1403Prince Henry of England, son of King Henry IV, is appointed by his father to serve for one year as the Royal Lieutenant of Wales, with command over English toops to fight the Welsh rebels.source
  • 1411Carlo I Tocco arrives at Ioannina in Greece to become the new ruler of the former Byzantine state, the Despotate of Epirus.source
  • 1422Al-Ashraf Sayf ad-Dīn Barsbāy leads a coup d'etat against the Egyptian Sultan Al-Nasir al-Din Muhammad and begins a 16-year reign as the new Sultan.source
  • 1424China's Emperor Zhu Di, angry over the refusal of the Mongolian vassal Arughtai to pay tribute, departs from Beijing with an army of almost one million troops on a campaign in Inner Mongolia.source
  • 1441Prince Carlos of Viana legally becomes the King of Navarre in Spain upon the death of his mother, Queen Blanca, who had ruled since 1425.source
  • 1462Bishop Antony Kokkas becomes the new Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, succeeding the late Patriarch Isidore II as leader of the Eastern Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire. He takes the name Ioasaf I.source
  • 1468King Louis XI summons a meeting of France's parliament, the Estates-General, and obtains approval of all concessions he had previously made to the Kingdom of England, including those with reference to Normandy.source
  • 1468Meeting of the Estates General in Tours.source
  • 1504Guilds in England become subject to state control.source
  • 1515The Portuguese Navy, led by Afonso de Albuquerque, conquers the strategic Hormuz Island as King Turan Shah and his prime minister, Rais Nureddin invited Albuquerque to land his forces and formally take possession of Hormuz.source
  • 1537The Archbishop of Norway, Olav Engelbrektsson, flees from Trondheim to Lier, Belgium.source
  • 1542As the 1542 session of the English Parliament ends, King Henry VIII gives royal assent to numerous laws, including the Witchcraft Act, the Treason Act, and the Leases by Corporations Act.source
  • 1545Potosí is founded by the Spanish as a mining town after the discovery of huge silver deposits in this area of modern-day Bolivia. Silver mined from Huayna Potosí Mountain provides most of the wealth on which the Spanish Empire is based until its fall in the early 19th century.source
  • 1548Sigismund II Augustus succeeds his father, Sigismund I the Old, as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.source
  • 1562A royal guard of archers is created.source
  • 1572Capture of Brielle: The Sea Beggars, Netherlandish Calvinist rebels, capture the port city of Brielle. This leads to a wave of uprisings in Holland and Zeeland against Spanish Habsburg rule, leaving most of those provinces (with the exception of Amsterdam) under rebel control.source
  • 1573On his expedition to the New World, Francis Drake and his crew make their most lucrative capture by seizing a wagon train of silver at Panama, near the settlement of Nombre de Dios.source
  • 1605Cardinal Alessandro Ottaviano de' Medici, the Bishop of Pistoia, is elected by the assembled 61 cardinals at the papal conclave after 17 days of balloting. He takes the regnal name of Pope Leo XI to become the 232nd pope, but serves for less than four weeks.source
  • 1620Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor and former King of Bohemia, sends a two-month ultimatum directing King Frederick of Bohemia (who has usurped the throne in the modern-day Czech Republic) to leave Bohemia by June 1. Frederick refuses to depart his capital at Prague.source
  • 1621The Plymouth, Massachusetts colonists create the first treaty with native Americans.source
  • 1633Dutch refuse to acknowledge Habsburg sovereignty; peace talks at an impasse.source
  • 1634Nicholas II, Duke of Lorraine, who assumed rule of the duchy on January 19 upon the abdication of his older brother Charles IV abdicates in favor of Charles.source
  • 1634Nicholas Francis of Lorraine and his wife flee to Franche-Comté; of their family only Nicole, Duchess of Lorraine, who is ill, remains in Nancy. She is transferred to Paris where she arrives on May 7. Richelieu charges the count of Brassac to administer Lorraine.source
  • 1643Åmål, Sweden, is granted its city charter.source
  • 1656John II Casimir Vasa, King of Poland, crowns the Black Madonna of Częstochowa as Queen and Protector of Poland in the cathedral of Lwów, after the miraculous saving of the Jasna Góra Monastery during the Deluge, an event which changed the course of the Second Northern War. The King swears a vow, the Lwów Oath, pledging to protect Poland's people from being conquered again.source
  • 1656Lwów Oath: John II Casimir Vasa, King of Poland, grands the title of the "Queen and Protector of Poland", to the painting Black Madonna of Częstochowa in the cathedral of Lwów after the saving of the Jasna Góra Monastery during the Deluge, an event which changed the course of the Second Northern War.source
  • 1698Scottish pirate William Kidd and his crew arrive at Île Sainte-Marie off of the coast of Madagascar in Kidd's Adventure Galley bringing with them the cargo of the captured ships Quedagh Merchant and Rouparelle. Upon arrival, all but 13 of Kidd's crew desert to work for another pirate, Robert Culliford. The Adventure Galley, which is leaking and falling apart, sinks and the Rouparelle is sunk by the deserters. Kidd and his 13 henchmen depart on Quedah Merchant.source
  • 1715The Battle of Gurdas Nangal begins during the Mughal-Sikh Wars in India, as the Mughal Army begins an eight-month siege of a fortress near Gurdaspur (in what is now the Punjab state), where Sikh General Banda Singh Bahadur and 1,250 of his men have fled. The siege ends on December 7 when the 750 survivors, including Banda Singh, are captured. By June 1716, most of the Sikh prisoners have been tortured, killed and executed, with Banda Singh dying on June 9.source
  • 1723In Switzerland, the attempt by Major Abraham Davel to make the canton of Vaud independent of the Swiss government, is put down, one day after he and 500 men had taken control of the Vaudois capital, Lausanne. Davel is arrested, tortured and tried for treason; he is beheaded on April 24.source
  • 1725J. S. Bach's later Easter Oratorio in its first version is performed at the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig on Easter Sunday.source
  • 1743Pope Benedict XIV issues a new bill, barring agreements by spouses not to appeal annulments of marriagessource
  • 1744The Hon. Richard Trevor is consecrated as Bishop of St David's, replacing Edward Willes. Samuel Lisle is consecrated as Bishop of St Asaph on the same day.source
  • 1748under the Sheriffs (Scotland) Act 1747, trials for treason in Scotland can take place outside the shire in which the crime is committed.source
  • 1756Yirmisekizzade Mehmed Said Pasha resigns as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. He is replaced by Köse Bahir Mustafa Pasha, who has been Grand Vizier from 1752 to 1755.source
  • 1761The Austrian Empire and the Russian Empire sign a new treaty of alliance.source
  • 1761The Russian Empire and the Austrian Empire sign a treaty of alliance.source
  • 1764A solar eclipse occurs. On the same day, the undefeated Thoroughbred racehorse Eclipse, named after the event, is foaled at Keats Gore, near East Ilsley in Berkshire.source
  • 1777Friedrich Maximilian Klinger's play Sturm und Drang is premiered by the Seyler Theatre Company in Leipzig, giving its name to the whole Sturm und Drang movement in German literature.source
  • 1789At Federal Hall, the United States House of Representatives attains its first quorum, and elects congressman Frederick Muhlenberg as the first Speaker of the House.source
  • 1794John Macarthur receives a further grant of 100 acres at Parramatta.source
  • 1807April 1–3 – Great Sortie of Stralsundsource
  • 1811The Figueroa mutiny, a failed attempt to restore royalism, occurs.source
  • 1813whaler Oscar wrecked off Aberdeen with the loss of 44 lives.source
  • 1816March 29–April 10 – The Second Bank of the United States obtains its charter.source
  • 1816March 30–April 11 – In Philadelphia, the African Methodist Episcopal Church is established by Richard Allen and other African-American Methodists, the first such denomination in the U.S. completely independent of White churches.source
  • 1818First Seminole War – Battle of Miccosukee, Florida: General Andrew Jackson defeats chief Kinhagee.source
  • 1820Benjamin Chew Wilcocks becomes Consul of the United States at the Port of Cantonsource
  • 1820A proclamation, signed "By order of the Committee of Organisation for forming a Provisional Government", begins the "Radical War" in Scotland.source
  • 1826In the U.S., Samuel Morey patents an internal combustion engine.source
  • 1826Samuel Morey patents an internal combustion engine.source
  • 1829Vicente Guerrero becomes president of Mexico.source
  • 1830resignation of President Ruiz-Taglesource
  • 1830The annual Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition openssource
  • 1833General Antonio López de Santa Anna is elected President of Mexico by the legislatures of 16 of the 18 Mexican states. During his frequent absences from office to fight on the battlefield, Santa Anna turns the duties of government over to his vice president, Valentín Gómez Farías.source
  • 1837John Josiah Guest is elected the first chairman of the Merthyr "board of guardians", formed to obtain an act of Parliament for the incorporation of Merthyr.source
  • 1840Theatre Royal, Cork burns down.source
  • 1849José Hilario López is elected President of the Republic of New Granada.source
  • 1849Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Hungarian Revolutionary Army, under the leadership of Arthur Görgey, starts the victorious Spring Campaign, which leads to the liberation of much of Hungary from the Austrian forces.source
  • 1852The Second Anglo-Burmese War begins.source
  • 1854Hard Times begins serialisation in Charles Dickens' magazine, Household Words.source
  • 1854Hard Times begins serialisation in Charles Dickens's magazine, Household Words.source
  • 1857April 1–8 – Reform War: Crabb Massacresource
  • 1859Opening of the Corris Railway.source
  • 1862Second French intervention in Mexico: The Spanish and the British ended their alliance with France.source
  • 1863The Cape Town and Green Point Tramway Company commences with the first horse-drawn trams in Cape Town from the foot of Adderley Street and out along Somerset Road to Green Point.source
  • 1865American Civil War – Battle of Five Forks: In Petersburg, Virginia, Confederate General Robert E. Lee begins his final offensive.source
  • 1867The Strait Settlement of Singapore, formerly ruled from Calcutta, becomes a Crown colony, under the jurisdiction of the Colonial Office in London.source
  • 1867November 3 – Exposition Universelle, an international exhibition in Paris. Among the visitors is Abdülaziz, making the first visit of a Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to Western Europe.source
  • 18671 April–3 November - Exposition Universelle in Paris.source
  • 1868The Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute is established in Hampton, Virginia.source
  • 1873James Pope becomes Premier of Prince Edward Island for the second time, replacing Robert Haythorne.source
  • 1873The British ocean liner RMS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, killing 547 people.source
  • 1873The SS Atlantic is wrecked off Peggys Cove.source
  • 1873the White Star liner RMS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, 547 die.source
  • 1874John Forrest leads an expedition from Geraldton, Western Australia across the Gibson Desert to the Peake telegraph station in South Australia.source
  • 1875The Times publishes the first daily weather map.source
  • 1876Lars Magnus Ericsson starts a small mechanical workshop in Stockholm, Sweden (from April 27 partnering with Carl Johan Andersson), dealing with telegraphy equipment, which grows into the worldwide company Ericsson.source
  • 1877A settlement on Thursday Island was established for the refueling of steam shipssource
  • 1879Dundee Stock Exchange established.source
  • 1887Glasgow Botanic Gardens management taken over by town council.source
  • 1887The final of the first All-Ireland Hurling Championship is held.source
  • 1889Following a failure on January 27 to launch a coup, former French defense minister General Georges Boulanger flees to Brussels to avoid arrest for treason.source
  • 1891The London–Paris telephone system is opened to the general public.source
  • 1891The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago.source
  • 1893The rank of Chief Petty Officer is established in the United States Navy.source
  • 1905The British Imperial Penny Post is extended to include Australia.source
  • 1906Cape Midland – Port Elizabeth to Humewood Road (Narrow gauge), 75 ch.source
  • 1906A sports goods brand Mizuno, as predecessor name was Mizuno Sports Goods was founded.source
  • 1907Ungmennafélag Bolungarvíkur is establishedsource
  • 1909Natal – Vryheid East to Hlobane, 17 mi.source
  • 1909Lennox Robinson's first play, The Cross Roads, was performed at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin; he became the theatre manager later in the year.source
  • 1911Guarani Futebol Clube is founded in Campinas, São Paulo, by a group of 12 students.source
  • 1912A partial lunar eclipse takes place, the first of two lunar eclipses this year. It is the 61st lunar eclipse of the 111th Saros cycle, which started with a penumbral lunar eclipse on June 10, 830 AD and will conclude with another penumbral lunar eclipse on July 19, 2092.source
  • 1918The Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service in Britain are merged to form the Royal Air Force, the first autonomous Air Force in the world.source
  • 1919Antonio Toledo Corro, Governor of Sinaloa 1981–1986 (died 2018)source
  • 1922SWA – Kolmanskop to Bogenfels, 74 mi.source
  • 1922South African Railways takes control of all railway operations in South West Africa.source
  • 1922The SAR inherits seven former German Colonial narrow gauge and Cape gauge steam locomotive types in SWA.source
  • 1922Arnon Street killings: Members of the police force murder six Belfast Catholic civilians in a revenge attack for the previous killing of a police officer.source
  • 1922The opening of Shinchiku Prefectural Shinchiku High School in Shinchiku Prefecture.source
  • 1923The Provisional Government of Ireland establishes customs posts on the border with Northern Ireland.source
  • 1923Safety Last!, a silent romantic comedy film starring Harold Lloyd, is released.source
  • 1924Adolf Hitler is sentenced to 5 years in Landsberg Prison in Germany for his participation in the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch (he serves less than 9 months).source
  • 1925Frank Heath and his horse Gypsy Queen leave Washington, D.C. to begin a two-year journey to visit all 48 states.source
  • 1925The Foodstuffs cooperative is registeredsource
  • 1925The Patent and Trademark Office is transferred to the Department of Commerce.source
  • 1925The Hebrew University of Jerusalem campus on Mount Scopus is opened at a gala ceremony attended by the leaders of the Jewish world, distinguished scholars and public figures, and British dignitaries, including the Earl of Balfour, Viscount Allenby and Sir Herbert Samuel.source
  • 1927The Hashomer Hatzair kibbutzim federate into the Kibbutz Artzi movement.source
  • 1931May 31 — Second encirclement campaign against the Jiangxi Sovietsource
  • 1931The Second Encirclement Campaign against Jiangxi Soviet in China is launched by the Kuomintang government, to destroy the Communist forces in Jiangxi Province.source
  • 1932Cluj Airport is founded by the Romanian Ministry of Industry and Trade.source
  • 1933The recently elected Nazis (under Julius Streicher) organize a one-day boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses in Germany.source
  • 1935The National Athletics and Cycling Association is suspended from the International Amateur Athletic Federation for refusing to confine its activities to the Free State side of the border.source
  • 1937Aden becomes a British crown colony.source
  • 1937The Bombing of Jaén is carried out in Spain, by the Condor Legion of the Nazi German Luftwaffe.source
  • 1942The establishment of Yilan Middle School in Taihoku Prefecture.source
  • 1944Schaffhausen is accidentally bombed by the United States causing serious damage to the city and killing or wounding more than 100 people.source
  • 1945Per Kværne, tibetologist and historian of religion.source
  • 1946The Malayan Union is formed on dissolution of the British Military Administration and Singapore becomes a Crown colony.source
  • 1946The Malayan Union was established, combining the Straits Settlements (except Singapore), Federated Malay States and Unfederated Malay States into a single entity, and replaced British Military Administration (BMA).source
  • 1946The Battle of Määritsa takes place between Estonian partisans and Soviet forces in southeastern Estonia.source
  • 1946Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) was established.source
  • 1946The 8.6 Mw Aleutian Islands earthquake shakes the Aleutian Islands, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong). A destructive tsunami reaches the Hawaiian Islands, resulting in many deaths, mostly in Hilo. Between 165 and 173 are killed.source
  • 1946Malayan Film Unit (MFU) was established.source
  • 1947Paul I becomes King of Greece, aged 45, following the death of his brother, King George II.source
  • 1947The 1947 Royal New Zealand Navy mutinies begin.source
  • 1947Jackie Robinson, the first African American in Major League Baseball since the 1880s, signs a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers.source
  • 1947Jackie Robinson signs with the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first African American Major League Baseball player since the 1880s.source
  • 1948Physicists Ralph Asher Alpher and George Gamow publish the Alpher–Bethe–Gamow paper, about the Big Bang.source
  • 1952Al Arabi sports and association football club is founded in Qatar.source
  • 1954The U.S. Congress and President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorize the founding of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.source
  • 1954South Point School in India is founded, and becomes the largest school in the world by 1992.source
  • 1955EOKA starts a resistance campaign against British rule in the Crown colony of Cyprus.source
  • 1957Second Nehru ministry adopts Decimalisation of Indian rupee and discontinue the concept of anna coin system.source
  • 1957The first new conscripts join the Bundeswehr.source
  • 1958The Treaty of Angra de Cintra is signed by Spain and Morocco, ending the Spanish protectorate in Morocco.source
  • 1960The United States launches the first weather satellite, TIROS-1.source
  • 1960The 1960 United States census begins. There are 179,323,175 U.S. residents on this day. All people from Latin America are listed as white, including blacks from the Dominican Republic, European whites from Argentina and Mexicans who resemble Native Americans.source
  • 1961The ban on political activities was liftedsource
  • 1962Belfast Zoo (Bellevue Gardens) is transferred from Belfast Corporation's Transport Department to the Parks & Cemeteries Department to halt its further decline.source
  • 1962The upgrade of Sanchong from an urban township to a county-administered city.source
  • 1963April 1 German broadcaster ZDF started.source
  • 1963The long-running soap opera General Hospital debuts on ABC Televisions.source
  • 1964Japanese citizens are permitted to freely travel overseas.source
  • 1965TEAL is renamed Air New Zealand.source
  • 1968American evangelist Billy Graham begins a tour of Australia.source
  • 1968POSCO founded in Gyeongsangnam-do, as predecessor name was Pohang Steel.source
  • 1972March 23–April 2 – A 47-member expedition conducted by Presidential Assistant for National Minorities (Panamin) which has been headed by Manuel Elizalde Jr., mostly scientists and later joined by one of the agency's directors—American Charles Lindbergh, makes a first visit to the caves inhabited by 25 "surviving" Tasadays, a group of Stone Age-style people discovered in June 1971, in an isolated mountain rainforest in South Cotabato—the "first discovery of cavemen in modern times." The expedition ends as explorers are rescued by the United States Armed Forces.source
  • 1973Value Added Tax (VAT) is introduced in the United Kingdom.source
  • 1973The establishment of Taiwan Water Corporation.source
  • 1973India launches the wildlife conservation program Project Tiger.source
  • 1974The Urban Redevelopment Authority is formed to redevelop the Central Area.source
  • 1976Conrail (Consolidated Rails Corporation) is formed by the U.S. government, to take control of 13 major Northeast Class-1 railroads that have filed for bankruptcy protection. Conrail takes control at midnight, as a government-owned and operated railroad until 1986, when it is sold to the public.source
  • 1976Apple Computer Company is formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in California.source
  • 1976The Jovian–Plutonian gravitational effect is first reported by British astronomer Patrick Moore.source
  • 1977President Ernesto Geisel closes the National Congress of Brazil to control presidential succession as conflict erupts between him, the duristas, Congress, the Church, and the media.source
  • 1978New Zealand National Airways Corporation (the domestic airline of New Zealand) is merged with New Zealand's international airline, Air New Zealand.source
  • 1978Flag carriers Air New Zealand and the National Airways Corporation merge to form a single airline under the Air New Zealand name.source
  • 1978Dick Smith of Dick Smith Foods tows a fake iceberg to Sydney Harbour.source
  • 1978The Philippine College of Commerce, through a presidential decree, is converted to the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.source
  • 1979Iran's government becomes an Islamic Republic by a 98% vote, overthrowing the Shah officially.source
  • 1979Nickelodeon launches from QUBE's Pinwheel experiment and begins airing on various Warner Cable systems beginning in Buffalo, New York, expanding its audience reach.source
  • 1979April 1–18 – Police lock Andreas Mihavecz in a holding cell in Bregenz, Austria and forget about him, leaving him there without food or drink.source
  • 1979Dale Earnhardt Sr. wins his first career NASCAR race at the 1979 Southeastern 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. He would go on to win 76 races and seven championships during his career.source
  • 1980The Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) is formed in Lusaka, Zambia.source
  • 1980New regulation came into effect enabling the protection of foreign investments in Bangladesh from Government actions like nationalization and expropriation.source
  • 1981Daylight saving time was implemented for the first time in the USSRsource
  • 1981The opening of Far Eastern Memorial Hospital in Banqiao City, Taipei County.source
  • 1982The 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands begins when Argentine forces land near Stanley, beginning the Falklands War.source
  • 1984Medisave is launched as a personal savings scheme for medical bills.source
  • 1985Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation, and Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation, are privatized and change their names to Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, and Japan Tobacco, respectively.source
  • 1986Sector Kanda: Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal) cadres attack a number of police stations in Kathmandu, seeking to incite a popular rebellion.source
  • 1988A bus carrying 54 passengers falls into the Han River in Seoul, South Korea killing 19 and injuring 35.source
  • 1989Iraqi parliamentary election are held, as a result the Ba'ath Party won 207 of the 250 seats.source
  • 1989Margaret Thatcher's new local government tax (the poll tax) is introduced in Scotland. It will be introduced in England and Wales the following year.source
  • 1990Strangeways Prison riot: The longest prison riot in Britain's history begins at Strangeways Prison in Manchester, and continues for 3 weeks and 3 days, until April 25.source
  • 1990The Community Charge (poll tax) takes effect in England and Wales amid widespread protests.source
  • 1990The 1990 United States census begins. There are 248,709,873 residents in the U.S.source
  • 1991Economic Minister Domingo Cavallo establishes the Argentine peso's 1:1 peg to the U.S. dollar to control inflation.source
  • 1992Tradewinds is rebranded to SilkAir as part of an overhaul, first announced on 12 March.source
  • 1995Malaysian singer, Siti Nurhaliza won Bintang HMI.source
  • 1996The Halifax Regional Municipality encompassing the City of Halifax, the City of Dartmouth, the Town of Bedford, and the Municipality of the County of Halifax is formed in Nova Scotia, Canada.source
  • 1999Nunavut, an Inuit homeland, is created from the eastern portion of the Northwest Territories to become Canada's third territory.source
  • 2001Arrest in Belgrade of deposed president Slobodan Milošević.source
  • 2001Hainan Island incident: A Chinese fighter jet collides with a U.S. EP-3E surveillance aircraft, which is forced to make an emergency landing in Hainan, China. The U.S. crew is detained for 10 days and the F-8 Chinese pilot, Wang Wei, goes missing and is presumed dead.source
  • 2001The Act on the Opening up of Marriage goes into effect in the Netherlands, which becomes the first modern country to legalize same-sex marriage.source
  • 2002The South West State of Somalia is established as an autonomous territory in Somalia by Hasan Muhammad Nur Shatigadud.source
  • 2002Battle of Jenin: Israeli forces attack Palestinian militants in the Jenin refugee camp.source
  • 2004The merging between West District and Central District to form the West Central District in Tainan City.source
  • 2004Google launches Gmail.source
  • 2005The renaming of National Space Program Office to National Space Organization.source
  • 2009Albania and Croatia join NATO.source
  • 2009Togolese government announces plans to abandon the West African CFA franc, although this never comes to fruitionsource
  • 2014The death toll in Guinea rises to 80 with two people dead in neighbouring Liberia.source
  • 2014NATO suspends "all practical civilian and military cooperation" with Russia as a result of the annexation of Crimea, and no sign that Russian troops have withdrawn from the Ukrainian border.source
  • 2015The Executive Council of Hong Kong announced that Asia Television's television licence will not be renewed, the first time this has happened. Meanwhile HK Television Entertainment is awarded a new television licence.source
  • 2016April 1–5 – 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh clashes: Clashes occur along the Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact with the Artsakh Defense Army, backed by the Armenian Armed Forces, on one side and the Azerbaijani Armed Forces on the other. The US State Department estimates that a total of 350 people have been killed in the clashes, which have been defined as "the worst" since the 1994 ceasefire.source
  • 2016Asia Television shuts down.source
  • 20182018 Costa Rican general election: The second round of voting for the presidential election is held and Citizens' Action Party candidate Carlos Alvarado Quesada is elected president.source
  • 2018President Barrow accuses supporters of former President Jammeh of supporting rebels in Senegal's Casamance region.source
  • 2020Yemen's internationally recognised government releases more than 470 of its prisoners amid concerns of the spread of the virus in Yemen's overcrowded jails. The United Nations Human Rights Council has called for the release of all political prisoners.source
  • 2023March 31 – April 1 – A historic and widespread tornado outbreak occurs in the United States, killing 33 people, injuring more than 218 others, and caused over $5.4 billion in damage. This tornado outbreak produced 147 tornadoes, making it the third-largest tornado outbreak in history.source
  • 2024Israel attacks the Iranian embassy in Damascus, killing 16 people.source
  • 2025Fram2 launches aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, becoming the first crewed spaceflight to enter a polar retrograde orbit.source

Births

  • 1220Go-Saga, Japanese emperor (died 1272)source
  • 1274Robert Clifford, English nobleman and knight (died 1314)source
  • 1282Louis IV ("the Bavarian"), Holy Roman Emperor (died 1347)source
  • 1328Blanche of France, Duchess of Orléans (died 1393)source
  • 1543François de Bonne, Duke of Lesdiguières, Constable of France (died 1626)source
  • 1578William Harvey, English physician (died 1657)source
  • 1613Charles de Saint-Évremond, French soldier and writer (died 1703)source
  • 1621Guru Tegh Bahadur, 9th Sikh Guru (died 1675)source
  • 1647John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, English poet and courtier of King Charles II's Restoration court (died 1680)source
  • 1647John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, poet (died 1680)source
  • 1706Alexander Boswell, Lord Auchinleck judge (died 1782)source
  • 1763John Wynne Griffith, politician (died 1834)source
  • 1776Sophie Germain, French mathematician (died 1831)source
  • 1809Nikolai Gogol, Russian writer (died 1852)source
  • 1815Otto von Bismarck, German statesman (died 1898)source
  • 1823Simon Bolivar Buckner, American soldier, politician and Confederate soldier (died 1914)source
  • 1829Mohammad-Ali Ala ol-Saltaneh, Iranian politician.source
  • 1832Hossein-Qoli Nezam al-Saltaneh Mafi, Iranian politician.source
  • 1866Ferruccio Busoni, Italian pianist and composer (died 1924)source
  • 1868Vosugh od-Dowleh, Prime Minister of Iran.source
  • 1873April 1 (N.S.)/March 20 (O.S.) – Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian pianist and composer (died 1943)source
  • 1887Aurel Aldea, lieutenant general during World War II, Interior Minister, and anti-communist resistance leader, died in Aiud Prison (died 1949).source
  • 1927Ferenc Puskás, Hungarian footballer (died 2006)source
  • 1931Ita Ever, Estonian actress (died 2023)source
  • 1976Troy Baker, American actor and musiciansource
  • 1976Clarence Seedorf, footballersource
  • 1995Logan Paul, American actor and YouTube personalitysource

Deaths

  • 996Pope John XV dies of fever after an 11-year reign. Meeting a Roman embassy at Ravenna, Otto appoints his cousin Bruno of Carinthia (a grandson of the late Emperor Otto I), who duly ascends as Gregory V. He becomes the 138th pope – and the first German pope of the Catholic Church.source
  • 996John XV, pope of the Catholic Churchsource
  • 1012Herman III, duke of Swabiasource
  • 1085Shenzong, emperor of Song dynasty China (born 1048)source
  • 1132Hugh of Châteauneuf, bishop of Grenoble (born 1053)source
  • 1154April 1 or 15 – Al-Zafir, Fatimid caliph (born 1133)source
  • 1181Ulrich II von Treven, patriarch of Aquileiasource
  • 1204Eleanor of Aquitaine, Sovereign Duchess Regnant of Aquitaine, queen of France and Englandsource
  • 1205Aimery of Cyprus, king of Jerusalem, dies of food poisoning caused by white mullet. He is succeeded by his 9-year-old son Hugh I as ruler of Cyprus. His mother, Queen Isabella I becomes regent over the young boy, but she dies suddenly four days after her husband. The High Court of Cyprus appoints Walter of Montbéliard (brother-in-law of Aimery) as regent and Hugh's guardian.source
  • 1205Aimery of Cyprus (or Amaury), king of Jerusalemsource
  • 1234Battle of the Curragh in County Kildare: forces loyal to King Henry III of England defeat those led by Richard Marshal, Earl of Pembroke and Lord of Leinster who later dies from wounds received.source
  • 1252Kujō Michiie, Japanese regentsource
  • 1261Ahi Evran, Bektashi Sufi preacher and poet (born 1169)source
  • 1304Count Albert I of Gorizia dies and is succeeded by his son Henry III.source
  • 1431Nuno Álvares Pereira, Portuguese general and religious figuresource
  • 1441Blanche I of Navarre, Queen of Navarre (1425–1441) and Regent of Sicily (1404–1405 and 1408–1415)source
  • 1455Zbigniew Oleśnicki, Polish Catholic cardinal and statesman (born 1389)source
  • 1488John II, Duke of Bourbon (born 1426)source
  • 1507Sigismondo d'Este, Italian nobleman (born 1433)source
  • 1511Francis of Denmark, Danish prince (born 1497)source
  • 1548King Sigismund I the Old of Poland (born 1467)source
  • 1557Mikael Agricola, Protestant reformer of Finland (born 1510)source
  • 1640Georg Mohr, mathematician (died 1697)source
  • 1684Roger Williams, theologian and colonist (born 1603)source
  • 1709Henri Jules, Prince of Condé (born 1643)source
  • 1872Frederick Maurice, English theologian (born 1805)source
  • 1914Louise Sophie Blussé, writer, 95source
  • 1917Scott Joplin, African-American ragtime composer, pianist (born c.1868)source
  • 1922Emperor Charles I of Austria (born 1887)source
  • 1930Cosima Wagner, wife and inspiration of Richard Wagner (born 1837)source
  • 1947King George II of Greece (born 1890)source
  • 1952M. D. P. Gilroy, prominent amateur stage magician (born 1902).source
  • 1960Abdul Rahman of Negeri Sembilan, 1st Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaya (modern-day Malaysia), dies in office. He is replaced by Hisamuddin Alam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah, Sultan of Selangor.source
  • 1963Quinim Pholsena, Laotian foreign minister, assassinatedsource
  • 1984Marvin Gaye, 44, American singer, murdered by his fathersource
  • 1987Henri Cochet, 85, French tennis player, world number one player.source