/year

February 21 in history

200 sourced entries recorded on February 21, from 337 CE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 362Athanasius returns to Alexandria and convenes a council, at which he appeals for unity among Christians who differ in terminology, but Emperor Julian orders Athanasius to leave Alexandria. He will remain in exile in Upper Egypt, until after Julian's death the next year.source
  • 891Guy III, duke of Spoleto, is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Stephen V. His son Lambert is proclaimed king of Italy, at the capital of Pavia in Lombardy.source
  • 1173Thomas Becket is canonized by Pope Alexander III. His tomb in Canterbury Cathedral becomes a shrine and a popular pilgrimage destination.source
  • 1204February 21–23 – A large solar storm takes place, and is recorded in Meigetsuki, the diary of the Japanese poet Fujiwara no Sadaie.source
  • 1245Thomas, bishop of Turku (modern Finland), is granted resignation by Pope Innocent IV. He admits to committing several felonies, such as torturing and forging a papal letter.source
  • 1254King Louis IX of France ("the Saint") signs a multi-year truce with An-Nasir Yusuf, Ayyubid ruler of Damascus, who is well aware of a Mongol threat and has no wish for war with the Crusader States.source
  • 1272Charles signs a treaty and is proclaimed King of Albania. He promises to protect the nobles and to honor the privileges they have from the Byzantine Empire. The treaty declares the union between the Kingdom of Albania (Latin: Regnum Albanie) and the Kingdom of Sicily, under Charles' rule. He appoints Gazo Chinard as his vicar-general, and sends his Sicilian fleet to Achaea, to defend the principality against Byzantine attacks.source
  • 1372Jean, County of Montfort, Duke of Brittany makes a secret agreement with the Kingdom of England to allow English troops to pass through the lands he owns during the English war with France, event though he had previously allied with King Charles V of France in the same war.source
  • 1407Ming–Việt War: Hồ Nguyên Trừng, commander of the Vietnamese armada of 500 ships, launches a counterattack on invading Chinese ships on the Thai Binh River, but the Chinese forces use cannons to destroy the Viet fleet, killing as many as 10,000 of the defending forces.source
  • 1431The trial of Joan of Arc for heresy begins.source
  • 1431The trial of Joan of Arc for heresy begins in Rouen.source
  • 1440The Prussian Confederation is proposed as an opposition to the Teutonic Knights at a meeting in Elbing by nobles from the cities of Culm, Elbing, Thorn, Danzig, Braunsberg, Königsberg, and Kneiphof. The delegates agree to hold a larger meeting on March 14 at Marienwerder.source
  • 1474The Treaty of Ófalu is signed between the Kingdom of Poland and the Kingdom of Hungary.source
  • 1516Sir Edward Poynings becomes England's ambassador to Spain a second time and meets with King Carlos I to negotiate a treaty.source
  • 1527The Mughal–Rajput wars begin in India between the Emperor Babur of the Mughal Empire and states of the Rajput Confederacy, with the victory of the Rajput faction at the Battle of Bayana.source
  • 1543Battle of Wayna Daga: A joint Ethiopian-Portuguese force of 8,500, under Emperor Gelawdewos of Ethiopia, defeats Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi's army of over 14,000, ending the Ethiopian–Adal War.source
  • 1553Lieutenant General Luis Álvarez de Toledo y Osorio temporarily serves as the Spanish Viceroy of Naples (in modern-day Italy) upon the death of his father, Pedro Álvarez de Toledo. Luis steps down after Pedro Pacheco de Villena is appointed as the new Viceroy in June.source
  • 1585King Johan III of Sweden, widowed since 1583, marries Gunilla Bielke in a ceremony at Västerås, which the King's siblings refuse to attend. The coronation of Queen consort Gunilla takes place the next day. Over the next seven years, she works on changing the Catholic government's attitude towards Protestants.source
  • 1598Boris Godunov is elected as the Tsar of Russia by unanimous vote of the parliament of nobles, the Zemsky Sobor.source
  • 1599Lorenzo Sauli becomes the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa, succeeding Lazzaro Grimaldi Cebà. Sauli will serve until 1601.source
  • 1599At Southwark, near London on the south bank of the River Thames, the land upon which the Globe Theatre will be built is leased by Nicholas Brend to a team of investors led by William Shakespeare, Thomas Pope, actors Cuthbert and Richard Burbage, and three others.source
  • 1605Stephen Bocskai is elected Prince of Transylvania at the capital, Belugrad (modern-day Alba Iulia in Romania.)source
  • 1612The Battle of Skillingehed takes place in Halland between the Swedish army and forces led by Christian IV. Christian Barnekow famously sacrifices his life to save King Christian IV's.source
  • 1623the Barnewall Baronetcy, of Crickstown Castle in the County of Meath, is created in the Baronetage of Ireland for Patrick Barnewall.source
  • 1662James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, returns to the office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (until 1669).source
  • 1665In India, Shivaji Bhonsale of the Maratha Empire captures the English East India Company's trading post at Sadashivgad (in the modern-day Indian state of Karnataka).source
  • 1682the Eaton Baronetcy of Dunmoylin, County Limerick is created in the Baronetage of Ireland for Simon Eaton.source
  • 1690The opera Orphée by Louis Lully receives its first performance at the Académie Royale de Musique (the Paris Opera).source
  • 1702Vornedskab is abolished on Zealand and Lolland-Falster (already abolished on Møn in 1696).source
  • 1719The Riksdag of the Estates in Sweden adopts the Instrument of Government (1719), a constitution which (with slight amendment in 1720) introduces the "Age of Liberty" in the country; it includes limited women's suffrage.source
  • 1719The new constitution is applied and the absolute monarchy is thereby abolished.source
  • 1722Nasir-ud-Din Muḥammad Shah, the Grand Mogul of north India's Mughal Empire, names Nizam-ul-Mulk as his Grand Vizier. Three years later, the Nizam will rebel against the Grand Mogul and create his own independent nation as the Nizam of Hyderabad, reigning as Asaf Jah.source
  • 1743George Frideric Handel's oratorio, Samson, premieres in London.source
  • 1743premiere in London of George Frideric Handel's oratorio, Samson.source
  • 1746Jacobite rising: Siege of Inverness ends with British government forces surrendering Old Fort George to the Jacobite army under threat of mining.source
  • 1760February 21–26 – Seven Years' War: Battle of Carrickfergus in the north of Ireland – A force of French troops, under the command of privateer François Thurot, captures and holds the town and castle of Carrickfergus before retiring; the force is defeated (and Thurot killed) in the naval Battle of Bishops Court in the Irish Sea on February 28.source
  • 1787The Confederation Congress sends word to the 13 states that a convention will be held in Philadelphia on May 14 to revise the Articles of Confederation.source
  • 1789King Gustav III enforces the Union and Security Act, delivering the coup de grace to Sweden's 70-year-old parliamentarian system, in favor of absolute monarchy.source
  • 1791The United States opens diplomatic relations with Portugal.source
  • 1803Edward Despard and six others are hanged and beheaded for plotting to assassinate King George III, and to destroy the Bank of England.source
  • 1804Cornishman Richard Trevithick's newly built Penydarren steam locomotive operates on the Merthyr Tramroad, between Penydarren in Merthyr Tydfil and Abercynon in South Wales, following several trials since February 13, the world's first locomotive to work on rails.source
  • 1804The Cornishman Richard Trevithick's newly built "Penydarren" steam locomotive operates on the Merthyr Tramroad between Penydarren Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil and Abercynon in South Wales, following several trials since 13 February, the world's first locomotive to work on rails.source
  • 1804The Cornishman Richard Trevithick's newly built "Penydarren" steam locomotive operates on the Merthyr Tramroad between the Penydarren Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil and Abercynon, following several trials since February 13, the world's first locomotive to work on rails. As a result of this achievement, Samuel Homfray wins a 1000 guineas wager with Richard Crawshay as to which of them could first build a steam locomotive for use in their works.source
  • 1805Charles Manners-Sutton confirmed as Archbishop of Canterbury.source
  • 1808Russia issues an ultimatum to Sweden, to join Napoleon's Continental System against the United Kingdom.source
  • 1808The Finnish War begins as Russian troops cross the border into Finland without a declaration of war.source
  • 1814The Great Stock Exchange Fraud is exposed in London.source
  • 1814Great Stock Exchange Fraud in London.source
  • 1815Thomas Holloway King is the first European born in New Zealand. (see also 1816, 1817 & 1818)source
  • 1828The Cherokee Phœnix, the earliest newspaper published by Native Americans in the United States and in one of their indigenous languages, Cherokee, is first issued in New Echota.source
  • 1842Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway opened.source
  • 1843repeal (of the Act of Union) debate in Dublin Corporation.source
  • 1846February 20–March 3 – Kraków uprising: Polish nationalists stage an uprising in the Free City of Kraków; it is suppressed by forces of the Austrian Empire, supported by peasants.source
  • 1848Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto (Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei) in London.source
  • 1852Earl Russell resigns as Prime Minister after his Militia Bill is amended.source
  • 1861Mariehamn, the capital of Åland, is founded.source
  • 1863James Cockle is appointed the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland.source
  • 1865John Deere receives a United States patent for ploughs.source
  • 1865A Royal Commission into the origin and nature of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (a cattle disease) presents its third and final report to the Parliament of Victoria.source
  • 1871Regular railway services between France and Belgium resumed.source
  • 1871The District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871 is signed into law by U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant.source
  • 1871District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871source
  • 1874The Oakland Daily Tribune publishes its first issue in California.source
  • 1875Margary Affair British explorer Augustus Raymond Margary and his entire staff murdered in Yunnansource
  • 1879An explosion in the coal mine at Kaitangata kills 34 men.source
  • 1885United States President Chester A. Arthur dedicates the Washington Monument.source
  • 1887German federal election, 1887source
  • 1890First Franco-Dahomean War begins.source
  • 1891Springhill, Nova Scotia suffers a serious mining disaster.source
  • 1891The first Springhill Mining Disaster occurs killing 125.source
  • 1899The British freighter SS Jumna is last seen passing Rathlin Island off Northern Ireland. Bound from Scotland to deliver a shipment of coal to Uruguay with minimal crew, it never arrives and is never seen again.source
  • 1905Sir Wilfrid Laurier introduces a resolution in the Canadian parliament proposing that two new provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, be created out of the Northwest Territories.source
  • 1907The Bondi Surf Bather's Lifesaving Club is formed at Bondi Beach, Sydney, the first of its kind in the world.source
  • 1907The English mail steamship Berlin is wrecked off the Hook of Holland; 142 lives are lost.source
  • 1914Militant suffragette Ethel Moorhead, imprisoned in Calton Jail, Edinburgh, for attempted fire-raising, becomes the first in Scotland to suffer force-feeding while on hunger strike; four days later she is released on health grounds.source
  • 1915Nellie McClung presents a petition to the Alberta Legislature demanding women's suffragesource
  • 1918February 19–25 – WWI: The Imperial Russian Navy evacuates Tallinn through thick ice, over the Gulf of Finland.source
  • 1919February 16–21 – Estonian War of Independence: Uniformed peasants in Saaremaa rebel against the government of Estonia; the rebellion is crushed by government forces, leaving more than 200 dead.source
  • 1919Communist leaders arrested. Béla Kun is beaten up and imprisonedsource
  • 1920February 12–24 – Conference of London: Leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Italy meet to discuss the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire.source
  • 19211921 Persian coup d'état: Rezā Khan and Zia'eddin Tabatabaee stage a coup d'état in Qajar dynasty Iran.source
  • 1921Conference of London of 1921–1922 convenes in an attempt to resolve problems arising from the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.source
  • 1929In the first battle of the Warlord Rebellion in northeastern Shandong against the Nationalist government of China, a 24,000-strong rebel force led by Zhang Zongchang is defeated at Zhifu by 7,000 NRA troops.source
  • 1931Peruvian revolutionaries hijack a Ford Trimotor aeroplane, and demand that the pilot drop propaganda leaflets over Lima.source
  • 1933representatives from the Netherlands and Germany arrive in Galway to inspect the site of a proposed new £3 million airport.source
  • 1936According to USGS official report, a Richer scale 6.0 earthquake hit on Mount Nijō, Nara Prefecture, according to Japanese government official confirmed report, kills nine persons and injures 59 persons.source
  • 1937The League of Nations Non-Intervention Committee prohibits foreign nationals from fighting in the Spanish Civil War.source
  • 1941First flight by a Royal Air Force flying boat through the "Donegal Corridor", neutral Republic of Ireland airspace between its base in Northern Ireland and the Atlantic Ocean, a concession secretly agreed by Éamon de Valera.source
  • 1943WWII: North Atlantic convoy ON 166 is attacked by U-boats, which sink eleven ships.source
  • 1945The last V-2 rocket is launched from Peenemünde.source
  • 1945The last V-2-rocket is launched from Peenemünde.source
  • 1947Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", his Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America in New York City.source
  • 1948The United States stock car racing organization NASCAR is founded by Bill France Sr. with other drivers.source
  • 1949Anders Beer Wilse, photographer (born 1865)source
  • 1950Cunard liner Aquitania arrives at the scrapyard in Faslane at the end of a 36-year career, the longest of any in the 20th Century.source
  • 1952In Dhaka, East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) police open fire on a procession of students, killing 4 people and starting a country-wide protest, which leads to the recognition of Bengali as one of the national languages of Pakistan. The day is later declared "International Mother Language Day" by UNESCO.source
  • 1952The first ethnic riots occur in Dhaka, East Pakistan against attempts to make Urdu the national language and lack of representation for Bengalis in central administration. This marks the start of the political struggle for the Bengali language movement.source
  • 1952February 14–25 – The Winter Olympics are held in Oslo, Norway.source
  • 1956February 14–25 – The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is held in Moscow.source
  • 1963The 5.6 Mw Marj earthquake affects northern Libya with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), causing 290–375 deaths and 375–500 injuries.source
  • 1965Malcolm X is gunned down while giving a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem.source
  • 1970A plane crashes 15 minutes after leaving Zurich Airport on route to Israel after a bomb planted by PLO members explodes, killing all 47 people on board.source
  • 1971Between February 21 and 22, an outbreak of nineteen tornadoes rages across the Mississippi Delta in Mississippi and Louisiana, killing 123 people.source
  • 1971The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna.source
  • 1972February 21–28 – U.S. President Richard Nixon makes an unprecedented 8-day visit to the People's Republic of China and meets with Mao Zedong.source
  • 1972The Soviet uncrewed spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon.source
  • 1973The Vientiane Treaty is signed.source
  • 1973Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1973source
  • 1973Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 (Boeing 727) is shot down by Israeli fighter aircraft over the Sinai Desert, after the passenger plane is suspected of being an enemy military plane. There are 108 fatalities, and only five people on board survive (one crew member and four passengers).source
  • 1976Subang Jaya, a new township in Petaling Jaya, Selangor developed by Sime Darby was established.source
  • 1981February 17–22 – Pope John Paul II visits the Philippines.source
  • 1981February 17–22 – First papal visit of Pope John Paul II in the country; during the visit, he beatified Lorenzo Ruiz.source
  • 1983The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) endorses the Prices and Incomes Accord drawn up jointly with the Australian Labor Party.source
  • 19851985 Kuwaiti general electionsource
  • 1989Tradewinds starts its first flight, which is formed in 1975 as a hotelier.source
  • 1989Moshe Unna (born 1902), German-born Israeli politician.source
  • 1990Spain grants Protestantism and Judaism legal equality with the Roman Catholic Church.source
  • 1992The United Nations Security Council approves Resolution 743 to send a UNPROFOR peacekeeping force to Yugoslavia.source
  • 1993The World of Aquarium closes due to bad business, less than two years after it reopened. The building reopens as the Fort Canning Aquarium after a few months.source
  • 1995Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada, becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.source
  • 1998King Hussein of Jordan imposes martial law in Ma'an to quell growing pro-Iraqi demonstrations.source
  • 2000UNESCO holds the inaugural celebration of International Mother Language Day.source
  • 2002SBS Plus is launched.source
  • 2004The U.S. permits the Red Cross to visit Saddam Hussein for first time since his capture in December.source
  • 2012Greek government-debt crisis: Eurozone finance ministers reach an agreement on a second, €130-billion Greek bailout.source
  • 2013American scientists use a 3D printer to create a living lab-grown ear from collagen and animal ear cell cultures. In the future, it is hoped that similar ears could be grown to order as transplants for human patients with ear trauma or amputation.source
  • 2015Currency value temporarily falls in face of military threats.source
  • 2018Murder of Ján Kuciaksource
  • 2018a bomb exploded between two banks in Lashio, Shan State, killing two employees of Yoma Bank and injuring 22 others.source
  • 2019SpaceIL launches the Beresheet probe, the world's first privately financed mission to the Moon.source
  • 2022February 21 – February 24 – Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a decree declaring the Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic as independent from Ukraine, and, despite international condemnation and sanctions, launched the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine; at dawn on 24 February missiles strike Kyiv. Ukraine severs diplomatic relations with Russia, followed by the Federated States of Micronesia on 25 February.source
  • 2025Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan announce an agreement to delineate their common border.source

Births

  • 921Abe no Seimei, Japanese astrologer (died 1005)source
  • 1276Thomas de Multon, 1st Baron Multon of Gilsland, English nobleman (died 1313)source
  • 1397Infanta Isabel, Duchess of Burgundy (died 1471)source
  • 1462Joanna la Beltraneja, princess of Castile (died 1530)source
  • 1484Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg (1499–1535) (died 1535)source
  • 1498Ralph Neville, 4th Earl of Westmorland, English earl (died 1549)source
  • 1507James, Duke of Rothesay, Scottish prince (died 1508)source
  • 1507James Stewart, Duke of Rothesay, son of James IV and Margaret Tudor, at Holyrood Palace.source
  • 1518John of Denmark, Danish prince (died 1532)source
  • 1541Philipp V, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (died 1599)source
  • 1559Nurhaci, Chinese emperor (died 1626)source
  • 1609Raimondo Montecuccoli, Italian general (died 1680)source
  • 1621Rebecca Nurse, Massachusetts colonist, executed as a witch (died 1692)source
  • 1622Camillo Francesco Maria Pamphili, Italian Catholic cardinal (died 1666)source
  • 1705Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, British Royal Navy admiral (died 1781)source
  • 1721John McKinly, American physician, President of Delaware (died 1796)source
  • 1728Emperor Peter III of Russia, husband of Catherine the Great (died 1762)source
  • 1747Eugenio Espejo, Ecuadorian scientist (died 1795)source
  • 1755Anne Grant, Scottish poet (died 1838)source
  • 1791Carl Czerny, Austrian composer (died 1857)source
  • 1794Antonio López de Santa Anna, Mexican general and President of Mexico (died 1876)source
  • 1801John Henry Newman, English cardinal (died 1890)source
  • 1870Victor Mercante, educationist (died 1934)source
  • 1877Enrique Mosconi, military engineersource
  • 1910Douglas Bader, British fighter pilot (died 1982)source
  • 1924Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician, 1st President of Zimbabwe (died 2019)source
  • 1940John Lewis, African-American politician, civil rights activist (died 2020)source

Deaths

  • 337Eustathius the Great, patriarch of Antioch (approximate date)source
  • 675Randoald of Grandval, prior of the Benedictine monastery of Grandvalsource
  • 1034Hawise of Normandy, French duchess and regentsource
  • 1073February 21 (approximate date) – Peter Damian, cardinal-bishop of Ostia (born c. 1007)source
  • 1166Abdul Qadir Gilani, Persian preacher (born 1078)source
  • 1184Minamoto no Yoshinaka, Japanese shogun (born 1154)source
  • 1184Battle of Awazu: Minamoto no Yoshinaka is killed during a pursuit by his cousin's armies. He is joined by his foster brother Imai Kanehira, who commits suicide.source
  • 1232Myōe, Japanese Buddhist monk (born 1173)source
  • 1267Baldwin of Ibelin, Seneschal of Cyprussource
  • 1274Ibn Malik, Moorish grammarian and writer (born 1205)source
  • 1437King James I of Scotland is assassinated in an attempted coup d'état led by his uncle and former ally, Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl. The night before, the King and his wife, Catherine Douglas had stopped at Blackfriars monastery in Perth. Queen Catherine is injured while barring the door with her arm in order to allow the King to escape, and King James is found in the early hours of the morning and stabbed to death while trying to escape.source
  • 1437King James I of Scotland (born 1394) (murdered)source
  • 1513Pope Julius II (born 1443)source
  • 1526Lopo Vaz de Sampaio becomes the new Governor of Portuguese India following the February 2 death of the 30-year-old Governor Henrique de Meneses from gangrene resulting from a battle injury to his leg.source
  • 1543Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, Imam of Adal (in battle) (born c. 1506)source
  • 1554Sibylle of Cleves, Electress consort of Saxony (born 1512)source
  • 1572Cho Sik, Korean Confucian scholar and politician (born 1501)source
  • 1575Claude of Valois, Duchess consort of Lorraine and French princess (born 1547)source
  • 1590Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, English nobleman and general (born 1528)source
  • 1595Robert Southwell, Jesuit priest and poet (born 1561)source
  • 1606Richard Field, superior of the Irish Jesuit mission (born c.1554)source
  • 1636Al Walid ben Zidan, Sultan of Morocco, is assassinated by French renegades.source
  • 1668John Thurloe, English Puritan spy (born 1616)source
  • 1677Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher (born 1632)source
  • 1704John Charles, Count Palatine of Gelnhausen, German prince, ancestor of the cadet branch of the royal family of Bavaria (born 1638)source
  • 1715Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, Colonial governor of Maryland (born 1637)source
  • 1718Manuel II (Mpanzu a Nimi) becomes the new monarch of the Kingdom of Kongo (located in western Africa in modern-day Angola) when King Pedro IV (Nusamu a Mvemba) dies after a reign of 22 years. Manuel reigns until 1743.source
  • 1730Pope Benedict XIII, Italian pontiff (born 1649)source
  • 1741Jethro Tull, British agriculturist (born 1674)source
  • 1803Edward Despard, British revolutionary (born 1751)source
  • 1818David Humphreys, American diplomat (born 1752)source
  • 1824Eugène de Beauharnais, son of Joséphine de Beauharnais (born 1781)source
  • 1846Emperor Ninkō of Japan (born 1800)source
  • 1894Gustave Caillebotte, French painter (born 1848)source
  • 1917Adib al-Mamalek Farahani, Iranian poet, writer and journalist.source
  • 1934Augusto César Sandino is assassinated in Managua, by the National Guard.source
  • 1941Sir Frederick Banting, Canadian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (born 1891)source
  • 1965Malcolm X, American civil rights activist (born 1925)source
  • 1968Howard Florey, Australian-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (born 1898)source
  • 1991Margot Fonteyn, 71, English ballerina, ovarian cancer.source
  • 2018Billy Graham, 99, American evangelist and Southern Baptist minister.source