/year

March 25 in history

273 sourced entries recorded on March 25, from 421 CE to 2024 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 421Venice is founded at twelve o'clock noon (according to legend) with the dedication of the first church, San Giacomo, at the islet of Rialto (Italy).source
  • 533In a letter, Emperor Justinian I declares the Bishop of Rome (currently John) to be "head of all Bishops, and the true and effective corrector of heretics."source
  • 624Heraclius, Emperor of Byzantium, departs from his capital at Constantinople (now Istanbul in Turkey) with his wife, the Empress Martina, and two of his children, and does not return for more than four years.source
  • 708Pope Constantine I succeeds Pope Sisinnius as the 88th pope.source
  • 717Emperor Theodosios III is deposed after a reign of 1 year and 10 months. He is succeeded by the 32-year-old Leo III the Isaurian, a general (strategos) of the Anatolic Theme (modern Turkey). Theodosios and his son enter the clergy, and he probably becomes bishop of Ephesus. Leo brings an end to the Twenty Years' Anarchy in the Byzantine Empire, which marks the beginning of the so-called Isaurian Dynasty.source
  • 919Romanos Lekapenos, admiral (droungarios) of the Byzantine navy, seizes the Boukoleon Palace in Constantinople. He is named megas hetaireiarches (head of the imperial guard). Lekapenos consolidates his position and becomes regent of Emperor Constantine VII. He marries his 9-year-old daughter Helena Lekapene to Constantine and assumes the new title of basileopator (one of the highest offices in the Byzantine Empire).source
  • 940Taira no Masakado, the self-proclaimed "New Emperor" (新皇), is subdued by local rivals who revolt against his rule. His forces are defeated by his cousin, Taira no Sadamori, in Shimōsa Province. Masakado's head is brought back to Emperor Suzaku in Tokyo.source
  • 1016Battle of Nesjar (off the coast of Norway): Olaf Haraldsson is victorious over former co-regent Sweyn Haakonsson, confirming his status as king of Norway.source
  • 1123St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, commonly known as Barts, is founded by Rahere, a favourite courtier of King Henry I; it is now the oldest hospital in the United Kingdom operating on its original site.source
  • 1137Bazwāj, a mamluk (slave) commander of Damascus, launches a military campaign against Tripoli, reaching Pilgrims' Mount. He defeats a Crusader army under Count Pons (protector of Tripoli). Pons is forced to flee into the mountains where native Christians capture him. Later, he is handed over and instantly put to death by Bazwāj.source
  • 1190Conrad of Montferrat sails south with a Crusader fleet (some 50 ships) from Tyre. As Conrad's fleet approaches the harbour of Acre, an equally sized Muslim fleet sorties out to meet the Crusaders in open battle. Eventually, the Ayyubid fleet is blockaded (supported by Danish and Pisan ships) in the port. Acre is again cut off from reinforcements; the city's supplies are exhausted, and the Muslim garrison has to resort to eating their own beasts. In the event, troops are driven to cannibalism.source
  • 1201Constance, duchess of Brittany, founds Villeneuve Abbey and gives it a charter.source
  • 1223Sancho II "the Pious" becomes the new King of Portugal upon the death of his father, King Afonso II "the Fat".source
  • 1305Juan Manuel of Castile is made Lord of Alarcón.source
  • 1305The College of Navarre, one of the colleges of the historic University of Paris is founded.source
  • 1306Robert the Bruce is crowned king of Scotland by Bishop William de Lamberton at Scone, near Perth. Despite lacking the traditional coronation stone, diadem and scepter, all of which have transferred to London. During the ceremony, the Scottish nobles of Atholl, Lennox, Mar and Menteith are present – while the 18-year-old Elizabeth de Burgh is crowned queen of Scots. The coronation takes place in defiance of the English claims of suzerainty after King Edward I of England, strips John de Baliol of his crown as King of Scots.source
  • 1306Robert the Bruce crowned King of the Scots.source
  • 1326At Dagnum (a former city in modern-day Albania), a peace treaty is signed between Venetian merchants of Ragusa and King Stefan Dečanski of Serbia.source
  • 1347Lord Nicholas de Verdun is buried at Drogheda "with great splendour and solemn rites and with many in the procession to the convent."source
  • 1387The Battle of Margate, a naval battle off the coast of England at Margate, ends with the England navy, commanded by the Earl of Arundel, victorious over a combined fleet of shipsf rom the Kingdom of France, the Crown of Castile and the County of Flanders.source
  • 1409On the day of the Feast of the Annunciation, the Council of Pisa opens at the Cathedral of Pisa with 22 cardinals, four patriarchs and 80 bishops to seek an end to the Western Schism and resolve the conflict between Pope Gregory XII of the Rome and Antipope Benedict XIII of Avignon.source
  • 1410The first of the Yongle Emperor's campaigns against the Mongols is launched by the Emperor Cheng Zu, as at least 100,000 soldiers depart from Beijing on a mission to depose Öljei Temür Khan.source
  • 1420Hussite Wars After their offer of a surrender is refused, the outnumbered Hussites of Bohemia, led by Jan Zizka, defeat the invading Holy Roman Imperial forces at the Battle of Sudoměř fought near modern-day Čejetice in the Czech Republic.source
  • 1428The Fifth Parliament of King Henry VI of England closes its session, as the King grants royal assent to the Commissioners of Sewers Act 1427, the Wages of Artificers Act granting the justices of peace power to "assign the wages of artificers and workmen by proclamation", and the Assizes Act and the Exigent on Indictment Act which both set statutes of limitation on certain proceedings.source
  • 1428China's Emperor Xuanzong of Ming directs Admiral Zheng He to oversee the rebuilding of the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing. The construction of the temple was completed in 1431.source
  • 1436March 25 (New Year's Day in local calendars) – Pope Eugene IV consecrates Florence Cathedral. Construction had started 140 years earlier in 1296 and is nearly complete with the finishing of a dome that has been engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi. The dome itself would be dedicated five months later.source
  • 1437In a ceremony in Holyrood Abbey, six-year old Prince James is crowned as James II of Scotland by Pope Eugene IV. For the security of the crown, the capital of Scotland is moved from Dunfermline to Edinburgh.source
  • 1442Battle of Hermannstadt: After seven days of fighting that began on March 18, John Hunyadi defeats an army of the Ottoman Empire (80,000 strong), led by Mezid Bey of Vidin, near Sibiu in what is now Romania.source
  • 1450Francesco I Sforza becomes the Duke of Milan, restoring the Duchy of Milan and bringing an end to the Golden Ambrosian Republic that had governed Milan.source
  • 1457At the age of 11, Mirza Shah Mahmud briefly becomes the Sultan of the Timurid Empire upon the death at Mashhad of the Sultan Abul-Qasim Babur Mirza. Shah Mahmud is overthrown a few weeks later by his cousin Ibrahim Mirza.source
  • 1458The Loveday is staged in London, by which Henry VI of England attempts to unite the warring factions who have triggered the Wars of the Roses.source
  • 1458The Love Day is staged in London, by which Henry VI of England attempts to unite the warring factions who have triggered the Wars of the Rosessource
  • 1464The coronation ceremony of Matthias Hunyadi as King Mátyás I of Hungary takes place in Székesfehérvár as Dénes Szécsi places the Crown of Saint Stephen on the King's head. Corvinus has reigned for more than six years at the time of his formal coronation.source
  • 1465Queens' College, Cambridge, dormant since 1447, is re-established on the campus of the University of Cambridge by the queen consort of England, Elizabeth Woodville, with the official name of "the College of St. Margaret and St. Bernard in the University of Cambridge."source
  • 1501Portuguese navigator João da Nova discovers Ascension Island. It is definitely sighted and named on May 20, 1503 (Feast of the Ascension) by Afonso de Albuquerque.source
  • 1505Appointed as the Viceroy of Portuguese India by King Manuel I of Portugal, Dom Francisco de Almeida departs from Portugal with an armada of 22 ships and 1,500 men, according to one estimate by João de Barros.source
  • 1527The Confederation of Shan States sacks Ava, the capital of the Ava Kingdom.source
  • 1529A blood libel is carried out against the Jewish community of Bosen in Hungary (now Pezinok in Slovakia), on the first day of Passover, after a boy in the town disappears. Three Jews are accused and killed. The boy is later discovered alive, having been kidnapped for the benefit of the scheme.source
  • 1555Valencia, Venezuela, is founded by Captain Alonso Díaz Moreno.source
  • 1564Battle of Angol in Chile: Spanish Conquistador Lorenzo Bernal del Mercado defeats and kills the toqui Illangulién.source
  • 1571Elisabeth of Austria is crowned as queen of France.source
  • 1573Gerald FitzGerald, 15th Earl of Desmond, returns to Ireland. He is detained in Dublin but escapes about 11 November.source
  • 1580Iberian Union: King Philip II of Spain becomes King of Portugal under the name Philip I, following the death without heirs of King Henry of Portugal, in a personal union of the crowns, thus maintaining Portuguese independence (in Europe and throughout the Portuguese Empire). The Philippine Dynasty rule lasts until 1640.source
  • 1581Iberian Union: Philip II of Spain is crowned Philip I of Portugal.source
  • 1586Forty Martyrs of England and Wales: The most infamous case in England of a torture and execution by Peine forte et dure— slowly piling heavy stones upon a prisoner until they make a plea or die — is carried out against Margaret Clitherow of York after she refuses to enter a plea on charges of harboring Roman Catholic priests. She will be canonized as a Catholic saint in 1970 by Pope Paul VI.source
  • 1588The English Army begins the recruitment of volunteers to prepare for the expected invasion by Spain. On April 10, 1593, the English Parliament will enact the first military pension, "An Acte for relief of Soudiours", providing that "forasmuch as it is agreable with Christian Charity Policy and the Honor of our Nation, that shuch as have since the 25th day of March 1588, adventured their lives and lost their limbs or disabled their bodies, or shall hereafter adventure the lives, lose their limbs or disable their bodies, in defence and service of Her Majesty and the State, should at their return be relieved and rewarded to the end that they may reap the fruit of their good deservings, and others may be encouraged to perform like endeavors..."source
  • 1608Annunciation: Following a sermon by Franciscan Father Basile, reform of the abbey of Port-Royal-des-Champs by abbess Mother Marie Angélique Arnauld is initiated.source
  • 1624In a ceremony, Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, renews his oath to restore Catholicism in Germany, Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia.source
  • 1625Battle of Martqopi: The Safavids are defeated in Georgia.source
  • 1634Leonard Calvert arrives in Maryland, with Jesuit missionaries Andrew White, John Altham Gravenor, and Thomas Gervase, establishing St. Mary's as the fourth permanent settlement in British North America. In this year they also establish an institution of higher learning here, which later becomes Georgetown University, the United States's oldest university.source
  • 1635Hailstones four inches (10 cm) in diameter fall at Castletown, south of Ballycumber.source
  • 1637The Blessed Virgin is proclaimed Queen of Genoa.source
  • 1647In an incident that attracted attention, an orphan, Elisabett Månsdåtter, leads sixteen orphans from the Allmänna Barnhuset up to the royal palace, where she successfully demands to be given an audience with queen Christina and states in a complaint, that the children in the orphanage had been forced to beg on the streets to be given anything to eat.source
  • 1655Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christiaan Huygens.source
  • 1675loss of HMY Mary off Anglesey; 35 die.source
  • 1675England's first royal yacht, HMY Mary, strikes rocks off of the coast of Anglesey while traveling from Dublin to Chester with 74 passengers and crew, and quickly sinks, with the loss of 35 people. The other 39 are able to get to safety. The wreckage is not discovered until almost 300 years later, on July 11, 1971.source
  • 1678The Spanish Netherlands city of Ypres falls after a seven-day siege by the French Army. It is later returned to the Netherlands and eventually becomes part of Belgium.source
  • 1680Troops sent by the Sultan of Morocco, Ismail Ibn Sharif, begin a blockade of the port of Tangier, occupied by the English and located on the North African coast. Palmes Fairborne is dispatched to defend Tangier as the colonial governor and commander-in-chief of English forces.source
  • 1684Royal Hospital Kilmainham is completed in Dublin as a home for retired soldiers, to the design of Sir William Robinson.source
  • 1708a registry of deeds begins operation in Ireland.source
  • 1714Archbishop Tenison's School, the world's earliest surviving mixed gender school, is endowed by Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury, in Croydon.source
  • 1725Bach's chorale cantata Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1, is first performed on the Feast of the Annunciation, coinciding with Palm Sunday.source
  • 1733English replaces Latin and Law French as the official language of English and Scottish courts following the enforcement of the Proceedings in Courts of Justice Act 1730.source
  • 1733English replaces Latin and Law French as the official language of English and Scottish courts on coming into effect of the Proceedings in Courts of Justice Act 1730.source
  • 1740Construction begins on Bethesda Orphanage for boys near Savannah, Georgia, founded by George Whitefield.source
  • 1748A fire in the City of London starts at Change Alley in Cornhill and continues for two days. Dr. Samuel Johnson later writes, "The conflagration of a city, with all its turmoil and concominant distress, is one of the most dreadful spectacles which this world can afford to human eyes". Another history notes more than a century later that "the fire led to a great increase in the practice of fire insurance", after the blaze causes more than £1,000,000 worth of damage.source
  • 1751For the last time, New Year's Day is legally on March 25, in England and Wales and "in all his Majesty's Dominions in Europe, Asia, Africa and America" due to the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750. The months of January 1751, February 1751 and most of March 1751 did not exist in British territories: those months were recorded as the last three of 1750 according to the Old Style dating system; the equivalent months a year later were recorded as the first three of 1752 under the New Style system.source
  • 1751legally New Year's Day for the last time in England and Wales.source
  • 1754The Clandestine Marriages Act 1753 comes into force in England and Wales, placing marriage in that jurisdiction on a statutory basis for the first time.source
  • 1754Lord Harwicke's Marriage Act 1753 "for the Better Preventing of Clandestine Marriage" comes into force in England and Wales, giving increased incentive for couples to contract Border marriages in Scotland.source
  • 1755Landslip at Whitestone Cliff in the Hambleton Hills of North Yorkshire.source
  • 176125 March–5 May – a general election is held. The Whig party retains its majority.source
  • 1776American Revolutionary War: American Patriots conduct a Raid on Tybee Island, primarily seeking to capture runaway slaves who sought refuge with British forces stationed there.source
  • 1792The National Legislative Assembly (France) agrees that the guillotine should be used for judicial executions.source
  • 1799War of the Second Coalition: Victory of Archduke Charles and the Austrian army over the French army of Jean-Baptiste Jourdan at the Battle of Stockach (1799), a key crossroads at the western end of Lake Constance.source
  • 1802March 25–27 – The Treaty of Amiens between the French Republic and the United Kingdom ends the War of the Second Coalition. The treaty also ends the French Revolutionary Wars.source
  • 1802Treaty of Amiens, temporarily ended hostilities between France and the United Kingdom during the French Revolutionary Wars.source
  • 1807The United Kingdom Slave Trade Act becomes law abolishing the slave trade in most of the British Empire with effect from 1 May (slavery itself is abolished in British colonies in 1833).source
  • 1807The Slave Trade Act becomes law, abolishing the slave trade throughout the British Empire with effect from 1 May (slavery itself is abolished in British colonies in 1833).source
  • 1807The Swansea and Mumbles Railway in South Wales, at this time known as the Oystermouth Railway, becomes the first passenger-carrying railway in the world.source
  • 1807The Swansea and Mumbles Railway, at this time known as the Oystermouth Railway, becomes the first passenger carrying railway in the world.source
  • 1807Opening of the world's first fare-paying passenger railway – the horse-drawn Oystermouth Railway between Oystermouth and Mumbles.source
  • 1810the Commercial Bank of Scotland is founded in Edinburgh by John Pitcairn, Lord Cockburn and others.source
  • 1811Battle of Campo Maiorsource
  • 1811Sir Joseph Bailey takes over Nantyglo Ironworks.source
  • 1811The Great Comet of 1811 is discovered by Honoré Flaugergues.source
  • 1811The Great Comet of 1811 is discovered by Honoré Flaugergues.source
  • 1814De Nederlandsche Bank is established.source
  • 1815Governor George Prevost informs Parliament that then-prince regent George IV has ordered him to England to answer charges of the naval commander.source
  • 1818Caspar Wessel, mathematician (born 1745).source
  • 1821March 25 (O.S.)/April 6 (N.S.) – Metropolitan bishop Germanos of Patras raises the revolutionary flag of Greece at the Monastery of Agia Lavra (according to oral tradition), symbolically marking the beginning of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire; later celebrated as Greece's traditional Independence Day.source
  • 1824The Brazilian Constitution of 1824 was adopted, establishing a hereditary Catholic monarchy headed by the emperor Dom Pedro I.source
  • 1826William Williams, missionary brother of Henry Williams, arrives in the Bay of Islands on the Brampton with his wife and daughter.source
  • 1826The 1825 New Zealand Company vessels Rosanna, Captain James Herd, and Lambton, Captain Barnett, arrive at Stewart Island and undergo refitting for a month.source
  • 1829Ignacio Zaragoza, General of the Mexican Army best known for his 1862 victory against the French forces during the Battle of Puebla on May 5.source
  • 1843Marc Isambard Brunel's Thames Tunnel, the first tunnel under the River Thames and the world's first bored underwater tunnel, is opened in London for pedestrians.source
  • 1843Marc Isambard Brunel's Thames Tunnel, the first tunnel under the River Thames, is opened to pedestrians.source
  • 1848Nicolai Wergeland, priest, writer and politician (born 1780).source
  • 1857The phonautograph is patented by French typesetter Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. It is the earliest known device for recording sound.source
  • 1863U.S. Army Private Jacob Parrott, a soldier in "Andrews' Raiders", becomes the first person to receive the Medal of Honor, presented by U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to six of the Raiders. Parrott is followed that day by six others.source
  • 1865American Civil War: In Virginia, Confederate forces capture Fort Stedman from the Union, although it is retaken the same day. Lee's army suffers heavy casualties: about 2,900, including 1,000 captured in the Union counterattack. Confederate positions are weakened. After the battle, Lee's defeat is only a matter of time.source
  • 1865The "Claywater Meteorite" explodes just before reaching ground level in Vernon County, Wisconsin; fragments having a combined mass of 1.5 kg are recovered.source
  • 1874March 25–27 – Third Carlist War: Second Battle of Somorrostro – In a renewed attempt to raise the siege of Bilbao by Don Carlos VII, Republican commander Marshal Francisco Serrano himself arrives with 27,000 men and 70 cannons. However, in three days of fierce fighting, the Carlist General Joaquín Elío, with just 17,000 men, once again drives off the attack at nearby Somorrostro, and it is another six weeks before Serrano manages to relieve Bilbao.source
  • 1874The Republic of Ecuador is consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, carried out by President Gabriel García Moreno and supported, blessed and specified by Pope Pius IX.source
  • 1879Dvořák's Symphony No. 5 in F major, Op. 76, B. 54, is premiered (four years after being written) in Prague with Adolf Čech conducting.source
  • 1880George Brown fatally shot by a disgruntled employee.source
  • 1884Ceará is the first Brazilian state to abolish slavery.source
  • 1888Opening of an international Congress for Women's Rights organized by Susan B. Anthony in Washington, D.C., leading to formation of the International Council of Women, a key event in the international women's movement.source
  • 1894Coxey's Army (of the unemployed), the first significant protest march in the United States, departs from Massillon, Ohio, for Washington, D.C.source
  • 1895March 23–26 - Pescadores Campaign (1895)source
  • 1901The Argentine Regional Workers' Federation, a syndicalist movement, is founded.source
  • 1907The first university sports federation in Europe is established in Hungary, with the participation or support of the associations of ten universities and colleges.source
  • 1911murder of Andrei Yushchinsky, a student of the preparatory class of the Kiev Sophia religious school. The authorities (including the Minister of Justice) put pressure on the investigation and contributed to the adoption of a religious-ritual version of the murder. The Jew Mendel Beilis was accused of the crime, but the jury acquitted him. The murder investigation and the ensuing trial, known as the "Beilis case", were widely covered in the Russian and world press.source
  • 1911The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City kills 146 people.source
  • 1911The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City kills 146.source
  • 1913The Great Dayton Flood, after four days of rain in the Miami Valley, kills over 360 and destroys 20,000 homes (chiefly in Dayton, Ohio).source
  • 1913Great Dayton Flood: Four days of rain in the Miami Valley flood the region and mark the worst natural disaster in Ohio's recorded history, killing over 360 people and destroying 20,000 homes, chiefly in Dayton.source
  • 19151915 Japanese general election: The Rikken Dōshikai party emerged as the largest party in the House of Representatives, winning 153 of the 381 seats. The 381 members of the House of Representatives were elected in 51 multi-member constituencies based on prefectures and cities. Voting was restricted to men aged over 25 who paid at least 10 yen a year in direct taxation.source
  • 1917The Georgian Orthodox Church restores the autocephaly, abolished by Imperial Russia in 1811.source
  • 1918Karl Muck, music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, is arrested under the Alien Enemies Act, and imprisoned for the duration of WWI.source
  • 1920Irish War of Independence: British recruits to the Royal Irish Constabulary begin to arrive in Ireland. They become known from their improvised uniforms as the "Black and Tans".source
  • 1924The Second Hellenic Republic is proclaimed in Greece.source
  • 1931The Scottsboro Boys are arrested in Alabama and charged with sexual activity.source
  • 1932The far-right National Socialist Party (Partidul Național-Socialist din România, PNSR) is founded by Gheorghe Tătărescu.source
  • 1936President Manuel L. Quezon issues Executive Order No. 23 which provided for the technical description and specifications of the Philippine national flag.source
  • 1941The Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) is formed.source
  • 1943the ship Bungsberg was sunk.source
  • 1948second deportation. Over 20,500 people are sent to Siberia.source
  • 1949March 25–28 — Operation Priboisource
  • 1949Operation Priboi: An extensive deportation campaign begins in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The Soviet authorities deport more than 92,000 people from the Baltic states to remote areas of the Soviet Union.source
  • 1949First issue of weekly magazine Paris Match published in France.source
  • 1951The Colombian government announced import controls on over 2000 items, including cars and other luxuries, to suppress black market trading.source
  • 1953March 25–26 – Lari Massacre in Kenya: Mau Mau rebels kill up to 150 Kikuyu natives.source
  • 1954The Soviet Union recognises the sovereignty of East Germany. Soviet troops remain in the country.source
  • 1954The 26th Academy Awards Ceremony is held.source
  • 1955The Appeal Court bench increases from six to eleven members.source
  • 1957The Treaty of Rome (Patto di Roma) establishes the European Economic Community (EEC; predecessor of the European Union) between Italy, France, West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.source
  • 1957Luxembourg is one of the six founder signatories of the Treaty of Rome, creating the European Economic Community.source
  • 1958Øyvin Thon, orienteering competitor.source
  • 19621961-63 Balkans Cup: Albania is defeated by Turkey 1-0 at Şükrü Saracoğlu, Istanbulsource
  • 1963Terence O'Neill succeeds Viscount Brookeborough as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.source
  • 1965Martin Luther King Jr. and 25,000 civil rights activists successfully end the 4-day march from Selma, Alabama, to the capitol in Montgomery.source
  • 1969Ayub Khan resigns as President of Pakistan and transfers the power to Yahya Khan.source
  • 196925 March 1969 – General Ayub Khan resigns and General Yahya Khan takes over.source
  • 1971Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistani army starts Operation Searchlight in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) at midnight after President Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, a military ruler, voids election results that gave the Awami League an overwhelming majority in the parliament; start of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide. That ended the non-cooperation movement.source
  • 1971The North East Mall opens in Hurst, Texassource
  • 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
  • 1972"Après toi" sung by Vicky Leandros (music by Klaus Munro & Mario Panas, lyric by Klaus Munro & Yves Dessca) wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1972 (staged in Edinburgh) for Luxembourg.source
  • 1972Representing Luxembourg, Vicky Leandros wins the Eurovision Song Contest 1972 with the song Apres Toi.source
  • 1975King Faisal of Saudi Arabia is shot and killed by his nephew.source
  • 1976San Pablo Hospital is inaugurated in the city of Coquimbo.source
  • 1979The first fully functional Space Shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the Kennedy Space Center, to be prepared for its first launch.source
  • 1980Bangladeshi armed forces allegedly attacked the village of Kawkhali and left about 300 dead.source
  • 1983Sweden re-establishes diplomatic ties with the Vatican after a 450-year interruption. Sweden broke off relations in 1534 in keeping with the rise of Lutheranism.source
  • 1984Pope John Paul II consecrates the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in Fátima, Portugal.source
  • 1985The Organization Commune Africaine et Malgache is officially dissolved.source
  • 1985The 57th Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles, with Amadeus winning Best Picture.source
  • 1987The 1987 Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike begins.source
  • 1988The Candle demonstration in Bratislava, Slovakia, is the first mass demonstration of the 1980s against the socialist government in Czechoslovakia.source
  • 1990Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie announces his intention to retire at the end of the year.source
  • 1990In New York City, a fire due to arson at an illegal social club called "Happy Land" kills 87 people.source
  • 1992Eurocypria Airlines Limited, a charter airline owned by the government of Cyprus, was founded.source
  • 1992The International Atomic Energy Agency orders Iraq to destroy an industrial complex at Al Atheer that is being used to manufacture nuclear weapons.source
  • 1996The 68th Academy Awards, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles with Braveheart winning Best Picture.source
  • 1997March 24–26 – In San Diego, 39 Heaven's Gate cultists commit mass suicide at their compound.source
  • 2000March 12–26 – Pope John Paul II visits Israel, and thus becomes the second pope to visit Israel. During his stay, the Pope visits Yad Vashem (the Israeli national Holocaust memorial) and the Western Wall placing a letter inside it in which he prayed for forgiveness for the actions against Jews in the past.source
  • 2002The renaming of Council of Aboriginal Affairs to the Council of Indigenous Peoples.source
  • 2002Shenzhou 3 is launched from China.source
  • 20022002 Hindu Kush earthquakes: A 6.1 magnitude earthquake strikes Nahrin, Afghanistan, killing 800 people and leaving 10,000 homeless.source
  • 2004The Olympic Flame was ignited at Olympia, Greece and it took it across the continents and return to Athens, Greece.source
  • 2008African Union and Comoros forces invade the rebel-held island of Anjouan, returning the island to Comorian control.source
  • 20132012–13 Cypriot financial crisis: The European Union agrees to a €10 billion economic bailout for Cyprus. The bailout loan will be equally split between the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism, the European Financial Stability Facility, and the International Monetary Fund. The deal precipitates a banking crisis in the island nation.source
  • 2013Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal rules that foreign domestic workers are not allowed to become Hong Kong permanent residents.source
  • 2014The governor of Gagauzia Mihail Formuzal and the president of the People's Assembly of Gagauzia, Dmitri Constantinov visit Russia with the purpose to meet with Russian president Vladimir Putin and Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev to sign a twinning agreement and trade agreement.source
  • 2015A Saudi Arabia-led coalition of Arab countries starts a military intervention in Yemen in order to uphold the Yemeni government in its fight against the Houthis' southern offensive.source
  • 2015The BBC refuses to renew the contract of Top Gears main presenter, Jeremy Clarkson, resulting in the end of his run on the 2002-format show.source
  • 2017Despite bans on protests, hundreds protest in Minsk against a so-called "social parasites" tax on the unemployed.source
  • 2018Qantas launches direct non-stop Boeing 787 Dreamliner flights between Perth Airport and Heathrow Airport, making it the first commercially non-stop service between Australia and the United Kingdom.source
  • 2021COVID-19 pandemic: The number of vaccinations administered worldwide exceeds 500 million.source
  • 2022The U.S. State Department cancels meetings with the Taliban leadership in Doha, Qatar, dealing with the Afghan economy, in response to the Taliban barring high-school girls from returning to school.source
  • 2023Russian President Vladimir Putin announces that Russia will station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus by July. The nuclear missiles will be operated by Russian forces. It will be the first time that Russian nuclear weapons have been deployed abroad since 1996.source
  • 2023March 24–27 – A tornado outbreak kills at least 26 people in Mississippi and Alabama. This includes a violent tornado which devastated the city of Rolling Fork and the town of Silver City in Mississippi, killing 16 people and injuring 165 others.source
  • 2024The UN Security Council passes a resolution calling for an "immediate ceasefire" in the Gaza war and demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.source

Births

  • 1252Conradin, Duke of Swabia (died 1268)source
  • 1259Andronikos II Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (died 1332)source
  • 1273Henry Percy, English nobleman and knight (died 1314)source
  • 1297Arnošt of Pardubice, Czech archbishop and advisor (died 1364)source
  • 1297Andronikos III Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (died 1341)source
  • 1309Robert de Ferrers, English nobleman and knight (died 1350)source
  • 1345March 25 or 1347 – Blanche of Lancaster, wife of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (died 1369)source
  • 1347Catherine of Siena, Italian saint (died 1380)source
  • 1404March 25 (bapt.) – John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, English military leader (died 1444)source
  • 1408Agnes of Baden, Countess of Holstein-Rendsburg, German noble (died 1473)source
  • 1414Thomas Clifford, 8th Baron de Clifford, English noble (died 1455)source
  • 1434Eustochia Smeralda Calafato, Italian saint (died 1485)source
  • 1479Vasili III of Russia, Grand Prince of Moscow (died 1533)source
  • 1491Marie d'Albret, Countess of Rethel, French nobility (died 1549)source
  • 1494Elisabeth of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach, Margravine (died 1518)source
  • 1509Girolamo Dandini, Italian Cardinalsource
  • 1510Guillaume Postel, French linguist (died 1581)source
  • 1510Guillaume Postel, French linguist, diplomat and scholar (died 1581)source
  • 1525Richard Edwardes, English choral musician, playwright and poet (died 1566)source
  • 1528Jakob Andreae, German theologian (died 1590)source
  • 1538Christopher Clavius, German mathematician and astronomer (died 1612)source
  • 1541Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (died 1587)source
  • 1545John II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sønderburg (died 1622)source
  • 1546Giacomo Castelvetro, Italian writer (died 1616)source
  • 1557Maddalena Aceiaiuoli, Tuscan noblewoman and poet (died 1610)source
  • 1593Jean de Brébeuf, French Jesuit missionary who travelled to Canada in 1625 (died 1649)source
  • 1593Jean de Brébeuf, Jesuit missionary to New France (martyred 1649 in New France)source
  • 1611Evliya Çelebi, Ottoman Turk, travels around the Ottoman Empire for 40 years (died 1682)source
  • 1619Peter Mews, English Royalist theologian and bishop (died 1706)source
  • 1625Ann, Lady Fanshawe, English memoirist (died 1680)source
  • 1633Samuel Whiting, Jr., American clergyman (died 1713)source
  • 1634George Bull, English theologian and Bishop of St David's (died 1710)source
  • 1661Paul de Rapin, French historian (died 1725)source
  • 1675Prince Christian of Denmark (died 1695 in Germany)source
  • 1689Peder Hersleb, bishop (d.1757).source
  • 1699Johann Adolph Hasse, German composer (died 1783)source
  • 174725 March [ O.S. 14 March] – Alexander Bezborodko, (died 1799)source
  • 1767Joachim Murat, French marshal, King of Naples (died 1815)source
  • 1867Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor (died 1957)source
  • 1881Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer (died 1945)source
  • 1887Chūichi Nagumo, admiral (died 1944)source
  • 1911Jack Ruby, American mobster, killer of Lee Harvey Oswald (died 1967)source
  • 1914Norman Borlaug, American agricultural scientist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (died 2009)source
  • 1928Jim Lovell, American astronaut (died 2025)source
  • 1934Gloria Steinem, American feminist (died 2026)source
  • 1935Gabriel Elorde, professional boxer. (died 1985)source
  • 1942Aretha Franklin, American singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist (died 2018)source
  • 1947Elton John, English singer-songwriter and composersource

Deaths

  • 908Li Kening, Chinese generalsource
  • 940Taira no Masakado, Japanese nobleman and samuraisource
  • 990Nicodemus of Mammola, Italian monk and saintsource
  • 1005King Kenneth III of Scotland is killed in the battle of Monzievaird in Strathearn. He is succeeded by his cousin Malcolm II ("Forranach, the Destroyer", son of the late King Kenneth II) as ruler of Scotland.source
  • 1005Kenneth III ("An Donn, the Chief"), king of Scotlandsource
  • 1051Hugh IV, count of Mainesource
  • 1053Procopius of Sázava, Czech hermitsource
  • 1137Pons, count of Tripoli (born 1098)source
  • 1189Frederick, duke of Bohemia (House of Přemyslid)source
  • 1223Afonso II (the Fat), king of Portugal (born 1185)source
  • 1285Pope Martin IV dies after a 4-year pontificate in Perugia. He is succeeded by Honorius IV, who becomes the 190th pope of the Catholic Church.source
  • 1298Siegfried I, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, German prince (House of Ascania)source
  • 1298March 25 or March 27 – William of Louth (or de Luda), English bishopsource
  • 1323Mary of Hungary, Hungarian princess and queen (born 1257)source
  • 1392Hosokawa Yoriyuki, Japanese samuraisource
  • 1458Íñigo López de Mendoza, 1st Marquis of Santillana, Spanish poet (born 1398)source
  • 1482Lucrezia Tornabuoni, Italian writer, adviser and spouse of Piero di Cosimo de' Medici (born 1427)source
  • 1537Charles, Duke of Vendôme, French noble (born 1489)source
  • 1558Marcos de Niza, French Franciscan explorer (born c. 1495)source
  • 1586Margaret Clitherow, English Roman Catholic nun, saint and martyr (born 1556)source
  • 1609Johann Wilhelm, the Roman Catholic Duke of the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg in Germany, dies at the capital in Düsseldorf with no heirs. On April 2, his widow, Duchess Antoinette of Lorraine establishes a regency to determine who the successor will be, prompting the War of the Jülich Succession between the states of the Protestant Union and the states of the Catholic League.source
  • 1623Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne, duc de Bouillon (born 1555)source
  • 1629John Guy, English merchant venturer and first Governor of Newfoundland (born 1568)source
  • 1650John Williams, Welsh clergyman and political advisor to King James I (born 1582)source
  • 1702Lewis Wogan of Boulston, High Sheriff of Pembrokeshire, about 50source
  • 1736Nicholas Hawksmoor, British architect (born c. 1661)source
  • 1736François-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes, explorer and soldier (born 1700).source
  • 1736Nicholas Hawksmoor, architect (born c. 1661)source
  • 1738Turlough O'Carolan, Irish harper and composer (born 1670)source
  • 1751King Frederick I of Sweden (born 1676)source
  • 1766Anna Krefting, businesswoman (born 1683).source
  • 1798General Michel Joachim Marie Raymond, French leader of the army of the Nizam of Hyderabad (poisoned) (born 1755)source
  • 1801Novalis, German poet (born 1772)source
  • 1809Anna Seward, English writer (born 1747)source
  • 1860James Braid, Scottish surgeon (born 1795)source
  • 1913Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley, British field marshal (born 1833)source
  • 1918Claude Debussy, French composer (born 1862)source
  • 1931Ida B. Wells, African-American anti-lynching crusader (born 1862)source
  • 1947A coal mine explosion in Centralia, Illinois, United States; 111 miners are killed.source
  • 1973Edward Steichen, photographersource
  • 1975King Faisal of Saudi Arabia (born 1906)source
  • 1999Viacheslav Chornovil, 61, Ukrainian politician, car crash.source