/year

March 31 in history

246 sourced entries recorded on March 31, from 32 BCE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 528Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei, emperor of Northern Wei, is poisoned by order of his mother, the regent Empress Dowager Hu.source
  • 627Battle of the Trench: Muhammad successfully withstands a siege for 27 days at Medina, by Meccan forces (10,000 men) under Abu Sufyan, whose allies, the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza, ultimately surrender to Muhammad.source
  • 1084Emperor Henry IV besieges Rome and enters the city. He is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Antipope Clement III in Rome and receives the patrician authority.source
  • 1146Bernard of Clairvaux, commissioned by Pope Eugene III, preaches the Second Crusade at Vézelay, in Burgundy. King Louis VII of France and his wife, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, take up the cross. In a repeat of the events of 1096, Crusaders attack and massacre Jewish communities along the Rhine. Encouraged by his success, Bernard undertakes a tour in Burgundy, Lorraine and Flanders – preaching the Crusade as he goes.source
  • 1174A conspiracy against Saladin, aiming to restore the Fatimid Caliphate, is revealed in Cairo, involving senior figures of the former Fatimid regime and the poet Umara al-Yamani. Modern historians doubt the extent and danger of the conspiracy reported in official sources, but its ringleaders will be publicly executed over the following weeks.source
  • 1317Pope John XXII claims imperial rights of government in Italy for the papacy. He erects the dioceses of Luçon, Maillezais, and Tulle and issues the decretal Spondent Pariter prohibiting alchemy.source
  • 1324Hugh IV becomes the new King of Cyprus upon the death of his father, King Henry II. Hugh also inherits Henry's nominal title of "King of Jerusalem".source
  • 1325A truce is signed between King Edward II of England (who is also Duke of Aquitaine within France) and King Charles IV of France to end the War of Saint-Sardos. Under terms negotiated by England's Queen Isabella (who is King Edward's wife and King Charles's sister), Edward cedes Agenais (part of modern-day France's Lot-et-Garonne département) and pledges to swear homage to King Charles from then on as a condition of keeping the rest of Aquitaine. England is allowed to reclaim Ponthieu and the Duchy of Gascony if Edward will come to Paris to pay him homage. Isabella, unhappy with her marriage to Edward, remains in France indefinitely.source
  • 1327King Charles IV of France makes a peace treaty with England. He returns Aquitaine and Gascony to English rule. Charles receives 50,000 livres. The territories of Limousin, Quercy and Périgord county come under control of France.source
  • 1373The Treaty of Villeneuve, signed on August 20, 1372 to settle the dispute between the Capetian House of Anjou and the House of Barcelona over rule of the Kingdom of Sicily, is ratified by Queen Giovanna of Naples (for Anjou), acknowledging the loss of Sicily to King Frederick the Simple of Sicily of the House of Barcelona.source
  • 1375In the Principality of Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal (now part of Russia), the Grand Prince Dmitry of Suzdal oversees the massacre of the Tatar prisoners of war who had been captured during the Blue Horde's unsuccessful attempt by Sary-Aka to incite a rebellion against the principality's domination by Moscow.source
  • 1376Pope Gregory XI excommunicates all members of the government of the Republic of Florence, and places the city under an interdict.source
  • 1379The Treaty of Briones is signed between King Carlos of Navarre and King Enrique of Castile, ending a war that started the previous year. The Kingdom of Navarre ends its alliance with the Kingdom of England, whose troops it had allowed passage during the Hundred Years War.source
  • 1405Antonio I Acciaioli, Duke of Athens, reaches an agreement with the Venetian Senate and with Michele Steno, Doge of Venice, for payment of reparations to Venice in return for being able to continue ruling Athens.source
  • 1413Trùng Quang Đế, Emperor of Vietnam (at the time Đại Việt), surrenders the Kingdom to the control of China. The Chinese occupying force installs Trần Cảo as the figurehead king.source
  • 1434Yury of Zvenigorod marches into Moscow with his army and plunders Vasily II's treasury.source
  • 1452In an attempt to end the rebellion in Ghent, Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, declares war against the Ghentenaar rebels.source
  • 1468King Matyas of Hungary issues a declaration of war against King Jiri of Bohemia, starting a war that will last 10 years.source
  • 1492Ferdinand and Isabella sign the Alhambra Decree, expelling all Jews from Spain unless they convert to Roman Catholicism.source
  • 1495In response to the French invasion and rapid subjugation of the Italian nations, the League of Venice is formed by representatives of Pope Alexander, King Ferdinand of Spain, the acting Holy Emperor Maximilian, and Ludovico, Duke of Milan.source
  • 1505King Alexander Jagiellon of Poland agrees to support the Act of Nihil novi, prohibiting the king to issue laws without consent of the nobles represented by their parliament, the Sejm. The official title is "Nihil novi nisi commune consensu", Latin for "Nothing new without common consent."source
  • 1515Pope Leo X issues a papal bull, at the suggestion of the German cardinal Albert of Brandenburg, providing for a special indulgence on worshipers in four Roman Catholic dioceses in order to pay for construction of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, with half to be paid to Albert for services.source
  • 1515Multiple acts of the English parliament are given royal assent by King Henry VIII, including the Deepening River at Canterbury Act 1514, the Thames Watermen Act 1514, and the Felons and Murderers Act 1514.source
  • 1520The Magellan expedition, led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (Fernão de Magalhães), pauses in its attempt to sail around the world, stopping at Puerto San Julian on the lower east coast of what is now Patagonia in Argentina. His fleet consists of Magellan's flagship, Trinidad, and four other vessels, Concepción, Victoria, San Antonio and Santiago.source
  • 1521The First Mass in the Philippines is held.source
  • 1522Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, turns over control of the Duchy of Württemberg from the Duke Ulrich to the Emperor's brother, the Archduke Ferdiand of Austria.source
  • 1531King Henry VIII gives royal assent to numerous acts at the close of the session of the English Parliament, including the Poisoning Act 1530 (providing for boiling to death people convicted of poisioning other persons); the Vagabonds Act 1530 (permitting licensed begging by certified disabled and elderly people); the Egyptians Act 1530 to allow the expulsion of gypsies; and the Bridges Act 1530 for maintenance of bridges.source
  • 1559The Westminster Conference 1559 opens at Westminster Hall in London with nine leading Catholic churchmen, and nine Protestant reformers of the Church of England. The conference adjourns on April 3 for Easter and never reconvenes.source
  • 1603the Nine Years War (1595–1603) is ended by the submission of Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, to the English Crown and the signing of the Treaty of Mellifont.source
  • 1605Isaac Pieterszoon van Amsterdam is appointed 'commissioner of the Sound', to ensure that Dutch trade ships would return to the Netherlands.source
  • 1616Mughal Emperor Jahangir confers the title of Nur Jahan ('Light of the World') on his 20th wife.source
  • 1621King Philip IV of Spain begins his 44-year rule.source
  • 1645Fearing the spread of the Black Death (plague), Edinburgh Town Council prohibits all gatherings except weddings and funerals.source
  • 1648A major earthquake strikes Van in Ottoman Armenia.source
  • 1660The war in the West Indies between the indigenous Carib people, and the French Jesuits and English people who have colonized the islands, is ended with a treaty signed at Basse-Terre at Guadeloupe at the residence of the French Governor, Charles Houël du Petit Pré.source
  • 1670The British warship HMS Sapphire is wrecked beyond repair when her captain, John Pearce, orders the ship to be run aground at Sicily while fleeing what he believes to be four Algerian pirate ships, rather than attempting to fight. The ships turn out to have been friendly, and Pearce and his lieutenant, Andrew Logan, are court-martialed for their cowardice and executed on September 17.source
  • 1670warship HMS Sapphire is wrecked beyond repair when her captain, John Pearce, orders the ship to be run aground at Sicily while fleeing what he believes to be four Algerian pirate ships, rather than attempting to fight. The ships turn out to have been friendly, and Pearce and his lieutenant, Andrew Logan, are court-martialed for their cowardice and executed on 17 September.source
  • 1671England's Royal Navy launches its first warship to have a frame reinforced by iron bars rather than an all wooden ship, an innovation by naval architect Anthony Deane. The state of the art, 102-gun ship is commissioned on January 18, 1672, as the flagship for Admiral Edward Montagu but is sunk less than five months later in the Battle of Solebay. Iron-framed ships are not attempted again for almost 50 years.source
  • 1671The Royal Navy launches 102-gun HMS Royal James at Portsmouth Royal Dockyard, its first warship to have a frame reinforced by iron bars rather than an all wooden ship, an innovation by naval architect Anthony Deane.source
  • 1683Authorized representatives of King John III Sobieski of Poland and Emperor Leopold I of the Holy Roman Empire sign a military alliance treaty in Warsaw.source
  • 1699A total solar eclipse is visible across the southern Indian Ocean.source
  • 1705March 31 (March 20 O.S.) – The Twelfth siege of Gibraltar ends as a fleet of warships from the navies of England, Portugal and the Netherlands, commanded by English Admiral John Leake, arrives at the Bay of Gibraltar with 35 warships and English and Portuguese troops. In the battle that follows, five of the French Navy's ships are sunk and Admiral Desjean is seriously wounded, forcing the French and Spanish to retreat.source
  • 1706The last Courts (parliament) of the Principality of Catalonia are finished; their dissolution is presided over by King Philip V of Spain.source
  • 1717Benjamin Hoadly, Bishop of Bangor, brings the Bangorian Controversy within the Church of England into the open by delivering a sermon to, and supposedly at the request of, King George I of Great Britain, on The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ with the text "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36), concluding there is no Biblical justification for church government.source
  • 1717Benjamin Hoadly, Bishop of Bangor, extends the Bangorian Controversy by delivering a sermon to, and supposedly at the request of, King George on The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ with the text "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36), concluding there is no Biblical justification for church government.source
  • 1717In the presence of King George I of Great Britain, Benjamin Hoadly, Bishop of Bangor, gives a sermon on "The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ", beginning the Bangorian Controversy.source
  • 1726France's first ambassador to Russia, Jacques de Campredon, leaves after four years of trying to negotiate a Franco-Russian alliance with Catherine I and a failed attempt to arrange a marriage between King Louis XV and Catherine's daughter Elizabeth.source
  • 1736Bellevue Hospital is founded in New York.source
  • 1741The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is given its rules.source
  • 1750The County of Bregentved is established by Adam Gottlob Moltke from the manors of Bregentved, Turebyholm, Juellinge, Alslevgård, Tryggevælde and Sophiendal.source
  • 1754The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts is founded as a gift to King Frederick V on his 31st birthday.source
  • 1761An 8.5 magnitude earthquake strikes Lisbon in the Kingdom of Portugal, with effects felt as far north as Scotland, but few deaths are reported because of censorship by the Portuguese government.source
  • 1764A mutual defense treaty between the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia is signed in Saint Petersburg between representatives of Russia's Empress Catherine the Great and Prussia's King Frederick the Great. By agreement, each nation agrees (for an eight-year period) to commit 10,000 soldiers and 2,000 horses to the defense of the other in case of an attack, and secretly agree to maintain security within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.source
  • 1764"Jones" performs on the Welsh harp at a benefit concert in Dublin, "in the true Spirit and Taste peculiar to the Genius of his Country".source
  • 1767Enforcement begins of the February 27 decree by King Carlos III of Spain, ordering the suppression of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in the colonies in Spanish America. Over the next few months approximately 2,200 Jesuit priests and missionaries are deported.source
  • 1774Intolerable Acts: The British Parliament passes the Boston Port Act, closing the port of Boston, Massachusetts, as punishment for the Boston Tea Party.source
  • 1774American Revolutionary War: Britain orders the port of Boston, Massachusetts closed in the Boston Port Act.source
  • 1782March 31 (Easter Sunday) – Mission San Buenaventura is founded in Las Californias, part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain.source
  • 1798George Herbert, 2nd Earl of Powis, becomes Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire;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
  • 1818Joseph Tregelles Price and his partners take out a new lease on Neath Abbey ironworks.source
  • 1822Greek War of Independence – Chios massacre: 20,000 Greeks on the island of Chios are slaughtered by Ottoman troops, and 23,000 more are exiled.source
  • 1828HDMS hvalfisken sets out from Copenhagen, marking the beginning of the 1828–1831 Danish East Greenland Expedition.source
  • 1829Pope Pius VIII succeeds Pope Leo XII as the 253rd pope.source
  • 1831Chilean presidential election, 1831source
  • 1836March 31 (dated April) – The first monthly part of Charles Dickens's The Pickwick Papers ("The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club..., edited by Boz") is published in London.source
  • 1836Chilean presidential election, 1836source
  • 1836Marshall College, named for John Marshall, opens in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. It later merges with Franklin College to become Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.source
  • 1838The first installment of Nicholas Nickleby, the new novel by Charles Dickens, is released as the opener of a 20-part serialization in London.source
  • 1841The William Bryan arrives at Taranaki from Plymouth, bearing 148 settlers to found New Plymouth.source
  • 1842The Middleton Junction and Oldham Branch Railway line is opened up to Werneth in North West England.source
  • 1848Lt. Col. Henry Stanton Burton defeated Mexican forces in Baja California Sursource
  • 1850The paddle steamer RMS Royal Adelaide, bound from Cork to London, is wrecked in the English Channel with the loss of all 250 on board.source
  • 1850the paddle steamer RMS Royal Adelaide, bound from Cork to London, sinks in the English Channel with the loss of all 250 on board.source
  • 1854United States Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry signs the Convention of Kanagawa with the Japanese government (the Tokugawa shogunate), opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade.source
  • 1854Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy signs the Treaty/Convention of Kanagawa with the Japanese government (the Tokugawa Shogunate), opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade (see History of Japan).source
  • 1862Victor Hugo's epic French historical novel Les Misérables begins publication in Brussels.source
  • 1866A total lunar eclipse occurs.source
  • 1870Thomas Mundy Peterson is the first African American to vote in an election.source
  • 1873Supreme Court of Judicature Act reforms the judiciary, establishing the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal of England and Wales and abolishing the Court of Common Pleas as a separate institution and, with it, the office of attorney at law.source
  • 1881last Anti-Socialist Law is passed by the German Reichstag.source
  • 1881Edward Rudolf founds the 'Church of England Central Society for Providing Homes for Waifs and Strays' (later The Children's Society).source
  • 1884Cape Midland – Noupoort to De Aar, to link up with the Cape Western System, 69 mi 6 ch.source
  • 1885The United Kingdom establishes the Bechuanaland Protectorate.source
  • 1887St. John Ambulance Brigade formed.source
  • 1889The Eiffel Tower is inaugurated in Paris (opens May 6). At 300 m, its height exceeds the previous tallest structure in the world by 130 m. Contemporary critics regard it as aesthetically displeasing.source
  • 1890Manitoba Liberals under Thomas Greenway halt public funding of Catholic schools; causes uproar in Quebec.source
  • 1892The world's first fingerprinting bureau is formally opened by the Buenos Aires Chief of Police; it has been operating unofficially since the previous year.source
  • 1899In the Philippine–American War, Malolos, capital of the First Philippine Republic, is captured by American forces.source
  • 1900The Ministry of Education is created via a budget act as the Ministry of Public Instruction and Fine Arts.source
  • 1901National census. 26% of the Scottish population live in Glasgow or Edinburgh.source
  • 1901The United Kingdom Census 1901 is taken. The number of people employed in manufacturing is at its highest-ever level.source
  • 1901A 7.2 Mw Black Sea earthquake occurs off the northeast coast of Bulgaria, with a maximum intensity of X (Extreme). A destructive tsunami affects the province of Dobrich.source
  • 1904British expedition to Tibet: The Battle of Guru – British troops under Colonel Francis Younghusband defeat ill-equipped Tibetan troops.source
  • 1905during the First Moroccan Crisis, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany met with representatives of Sultan Abdelaziz of Morocco in Tangiersource
  • 1909Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia and Herzegovina.source
  • 1909Construction begins on the RMS Titanic, at the Harland and Wolff Shipyard in Belfast.source
  • 1910Luzzatti's new government is accepted by the Italian Chamber of Deputies.source
  • 1914Octavio Paz, writer, poet, and diplomat, and the winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize in Literaturesource
  • 1917The United States takes possession of the Danish West Indies, which become the US Virgin Islands, after paying $25 million to Denmark.source
  • 1920Charles David Murray is appointed Solicitor General for Scotland, replacing Thomas Brash Morison.source
  • 1921Abkhazia becomes the Socialist Soviet Republic of Abkhazia.source
  • 1921The British government formally returns the coal mines from wartime control to their private owners, who demand wage cuts; in response, the Miners' Federation of Great Britain calls on its partner trade unions in the Triple Alliance to join it in strike action, leading in turn to the government declaring a state of emergency for the first time under the Emergency Powers Act 1920. On April 1, a lockout of striking coal miners begins.source
  • 1922Six die in the Hinterkaifeck murders north of Munich.source
  • 1922first issue of Jornal Sportingsource
  • 1925The Bauhaus closes in Weimar and moves to a building in Dessau designed by Walter Gropius.source
  • 1928Earthquake around Torbalı (west Anatolia)source
  • 1930The Motion Picture Production Code (Hays Code) is instituted by the studios in the United States, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in films for the next 40 years.source
  • 1930The Motion Pictures Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in motion pictures for the next 40 years.source
  • 1931An earthquake destroys Managua, Nicaragua, killing 2,000 people.source
  • 1933The Civilian Conservation Corps is established in the United States as an unemployment relief program.source
  • 1937July 1 - Biscay Campaignsource
  • 1938First public statement about Atatürks's healthsource
  • 1940WWII: Commerce raiding German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis leaves the Wadden Sea for what will become the longest warship cruise of the war (622 days without in-port replenishment or repair).source
  • 1947The leaders of the Kurdish People's Republic of Mahabad, the second Kurdish state in the history of Iran, are hanged at Chuwarchira Square in Mahabad, after the state has been overrun by the Iranian army.source
  • 1949The former British colony of Newfoundland joins Canada, as its 10th province.source
  • 1949Newfoundland becomes Canada's 10th province at a fraction of a second from April 1source
  • 1951Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau.source
  • 1952Gibalta rail accidentsource
  • 1954Jewish writer A. L. Zissu is sentenced to life imprisonment for "conspiring against the social order".source
  • 1959India grants political asylum to the Dalai Lama after he fled Tibet and crossed into Indian territory following 1959 Tibetan uprising.source
  • 1959The Dalai Lama is granted asylum in India.source
  • 1964The military overthrows Brazilian President João Goulart in a coup, starting 21 years of dictatorship in Brazil, lasting until 1985.source
  • 1965Merle Thorton and Rosalie Bogner chained their ankles to the front bar of the Regatta Hotel in Brisbane in protest against the Queensland liquor laws that banned women from pubs.source
  • 1966The British Labour Party led by Harold Wilson wins the 1966 United Kingdom general election, gaining a 96-seat majority (compared with a single seat majority when the election was called on February 28).source
  • 1966The Soviet Union launches Luna 10, which becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon.source
  • 1969The Barroterán coal mine disaster kills 153 coal miners in Mexico.source
  • 1970Northern Ireland Railways runs the last regular steam-hauled passenger train on a national network in the British Isles, 17.25 Whitehead, County Antrim–Carrickfergus, hauled by Class WT 2-6-4 tank locomotive No. 4.source
  • 1970NASA's Explorer 1, the first American satellite and Explorer program spacecraft, reenters Earth's atmosphere after 12 years in orbit.source
  • 1970Japan Airlines Flight 351, carrying 131 passengers and 7 crew from Tokyo to Fukuoka, is hijacked by Japanese Red Army members. All passengers and crew are eventually freed.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
  • 1976The New Jersey Supreme Court rules that patient in a persistent vegetative state in the Karen Ann Quinlan case can be disconnected from her ventilator. She remains comatose and dies in 1985.source
  • 19761976 Balkans Cup: Albania is defeated by Yugoslavia 1-2 at Dinamo Stadium, Tiranasource
  • 1979The last British soldier (belonging to the Royal Navy) leaves the Maltese Islands, after 179 years of presence. Malta declares its Freedom Day (Jum il-Helsien).source
  • 1979Representing Luxembourg, Jeane Manson finishes thirteenth in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 with the song J'ai déjà vu ça dans tes yeux.source
  • 1979Milk and Honey win the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 for Israel, with the song Hallelujah.source
  • 1981At 2:40 pm in Bangkok, Indonesian commandos successfully rescued all hostages on board the hijacked Garuda Indonesia Flight 206, after getting permission from Thai authorities.source
  • 198214 killed, 100 injured, and 15,000 others suffer the effects of the eruption of the Chichonal volcano, in Francisco León, Chiapas, 100 km from Villahermosa.source
  • 1985Salvadoran legislative election, 1985source
  • 1985The inaugural WrestleMania is held in Madison Square Garden, New York, and is "main-evented" by Hulk Hogan and Mr. T vs. Paul Orndorff and Roddy Piper in a tag-team match.source
  • 1986Mexicana Flight 940 crashes near Maravatío, Mexico, killing 167.source
  • 1987Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, conducts a 45-minute interview on Soviet television.source
  • 1987Land Day is marked by demonstrations across the occupied Palestinian territories and by some Arab citizens of Israel.source
  • 1988Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1988source
  • 1989The famous alleged Marian apparition in Agoo, La Union to Judiel Nieva, a teenager who later become a transgender took place. It was said that the Blessed Virgin appeared on a guava tree, delivering messages and prophecies to Judiel. It became a highly sensational event for many Filipino Catholics as millions of pilgrims came to Agoo to see the phenomena like the "sun dancing", a statue of the Virgin Mary crying tears of blood, etc. The events in Agoo drew the attention of Catholic hierarchy in Rome, which conducted a thorough investigation on the events. In 1993, the events of Agoo apparitions are declared "non constat de supernaturalitate" (condemned) by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and the judgment of Bishop Salvador L. Lazo of San Fernando diocese who was its Ordinary during the phenomena.source
  • 1990"The Second Battle of Trafalgar": A massive anti-poll tax demonstration in Trafalgar Square, London, turns into a riot; 471 people are injured, and 341 are arrested.source
  • 1990200,000 protesters in Poll Tax Riots in London in the week preceding official introduction of the Community Charge.source
  • 1991Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Georgia votes for independence from the Soviet Union while on April 9, the Supreme Council declares the independent Republic of Georgia.source
  • 1991Albania holds its first multi-party elections since 1923. The socialist ruling Party of Labour of Albania won a landslide victory with 169 of the 250 seats in the parliament.source
  • 1992The United Nations issue United Nations Security Council Resolution 748, implementing sanctions (including an arms embargo, but not an oil embargo) on Libya due to the country's refusal to abide by Resolution 731 from January.source
  • 1992The Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act of Singapore comes into force.source
  • 1994The journal Nature reports the finding in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull.source
  • 1995Murder of Selena: Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez is shot and killed by her fan club president Yolanda Saldívar at a Days Inn in Corpus Christi, Texas.source
  • 1995TAROM Flight 371 from Bucharest to Brussels crashes shortly after takeoff killing all 60 people on board.source
  • 1998Quett Masire voluntarily steps down as President of Botswana after 18 years in office.source
  • 2004The International Court of Justice rules in the Avena case that the United States had violated its obligations to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations when prosecuting Mexican nationals.source
  • 2005The dwarf planet Makemake is discovered by a team led by Michael E. Brown at the Palomar Observatory.source
  • 2009Rachel Crandall Crocker founds the International Transgender Day of Visibility.source
  • 2012Ahmed Ismail Hassan, a journalist and videographer, was shot and killed by security forces.source
  • 2014The United Nations International Court of Justice rules that Japan's Antarctic whaling program is not scientific but commercial and forbids grants of further permits.source
  • 2015India evacuated 348 of its citizens as part of a rescue operation by the Indian Navy, named Operation Raahat.source
  • 2017Horacio Cartes presents to Congress his plans of allowing the re-election of the president of Paraguay for a second term, going against the Constitution of Paraguay, leading to a political crisis which ended in the storm of Congress by liberal activists and in the assassination of Rodrigo Quintana by the police. After this, the Congress votes against the re-election project.source
  • 2019Taiwan scrambles its fighter aircraft after two Chinese jets crossed the maritime border between the two nations. Just the day before, Japan had similarly scrambled its jets after Chinese jets flew between Miyako and Okinawa.source
  • 2020Kristal-Astro, sole operator of Brunei's multi-channel pay-TV service shuts down after 22 years in operation due to 'fast-changing technology trends'.source
  • 2022Expo 2020 closes in Dubai after a 6-month run; originally scheduled for 10 April 2021, it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.source
  • 2022Micronesian president David Panuelo urges Solomon Islands to not sign a security pact with China, citing "grave security concerns" and arguing that the Pacific islands would be "the epicenter of major confrontation" between major powers.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
  • 2024Bulgaria and Romania become members of the Schengen Area through sea and air routes.source
  • 2025The Caribbean guilder is introduced, replacing the Netherlands Antillean guilder as the currency for Curaçao and Sint Maarten.source

Births

  • 250Constantius Chlorus, Roman emperor (died 306)source
  • 356Aelia Flaccilla, Roman empress and wife of Theodosius I (died 386)source
  • 1347Frederick III, Duke of Austria, second son of Duke Albert II of Austria (died 1362)source
  • 1360Philippa of Lancaster, queen consort of Portugal (died 1415)source
  • 1425Bianca Maria Visconti, Duchess of Milan (died 1468)source
  • 1499Pope Pius IV (died 1565)source
  • 1504Guru Angad, Indian religious leader (died 1552)source
  • 1519King Henry II of France (died 1559)source
  • 1519Henry II of France, King of France (d.1559)source
  • 1536Ashikaga Yoshiteru, Japanese shōgun (died 1565)source
  • 1571Pietro Aldobrandini, Italian cardinal, archbishop (died 1621)source
  • 1576Countess Louise Juliana of Nassau, countess consort and a regent of the Palatinate (died 1644)source
  • 1596René Descartes, French philosopher and mathematician (died 1650)source
  • 1596René Descartes, French philosopher (died 1650 in Sweden)source
  • 1601Jakov Mikalja, Italian linguist and lexicographer (died 1654)source
  • 1621Andrew Marvell, English metaphysical poet and politician (died 1678)source
  • 1635Patrick Gordon, Scottish-born Russian general, rear admiral (died 1699)source
  • 1675Pope Benedict XIV (died 1758)source
  • 1685Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer (died 1750)source
  • 1708Jean Chastel, farmer and inn-keeper from the province of Gévaudan in France (died 1790)source
  • 1718Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain, queen regent of Portugal (died 1781)source
  • 1723King Frederick V of Denmark (died 1766)source
  • 1732Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer (died 1809)source
  • 1782Jesse Ketchum, tanner, politician, and philanthropist (d.1867)source
  • 1878Jack Johnson, American boxer (died 1946)source
  • 1922Patrick Magee, actor (died 1982).source
  • 1927César Chávez, American labor activist, United Farm Workers founder (died 1993)source
  • 1939Zviad Gamsakhurdia, President of Georgia (died 1993)source
  • 1940Patrick Leahy, American politiciansource
  • 1948Al Gore, American politician and environmentalist, 45th Vice President of the United Statessource
  • 1977Maria Sansaridou, rhythmic gymnastsource

Deaths

  • 32 BCETitus Pomponius Atticus, Roman noblemansource
  • 528Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei, emperor of Northern Wei (born 510)source
  • 963Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Muhammad, Saffarid emir (born 906)source
  • 1217Alexander Neckam, English abbot (born 1157)source
  • 1251William of Modena, Bishop of Modenasource
  • 1295Robert V de Brus, Scottish nobleman (born 1215)source
  • 1324Henry II of Cyprus, king of Jerusalem (born 1270)source
  • 1340Ivan I of Moscow (born 1288)source
  • 1342Dionigi di Borgo San Sepolcro, Italian Augustinian friarsource
  • 1462Isidore II of Constantinople, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinoplesource
  • 1491Bonaventura Tornielli, Italian Roman Catholic priest (born 1411)source
  • 1547King Francis I of France dies at the Château de Rambouillet and is succeeded by his eldest surviving son Henry II (on his 28th birthday) as King of France.source
  • 1547King Francis I of France (born 1494)source
  • 1547King Francis I of France (b.1494)source
  • 1567Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse (born 1504)source
  • 1621King Philip III of Spain, (Philip II of Portugal) (born 1578)source
  • 1622Gonzalo Méndez de Canço, Royal Governor of La Florida (born 1554)source
  • 1631John Donne, English writer and prelate (born 1572)source
  • 1671Anne Hyde, wife of the future James II of England (born 1637)source
  • 1704Christian Stockfleth, civil servant (born 1639).source
  • 1706Sultan Muhammad Akbar, Mughal prince (born 1657)source
  • 1723Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon, British Governor of New York and New Jersey (born 1661)source
  • 1727Sir Isaac Newton, English scientist (born 1643)source
  • 1727Sir Isaac Newton, scientist (born 1642)source
  • 1741Pieter Burmann the Elder, Dutch classical scholar (born 1668)source
  • 1751Frederick, Prince of Wales, Hanoverian-born heir to the British throne (born 1707)source
  • 1751Frederick, Prince of Wales, heir-apparent to the British throne, dies of a pulmonary embolism at the age of 44 after a game of cricket. His 12-year-old son, Prince George, becomes the heir-apparent and will later become King George III. Frederick's widow Augusta of Saxe-Gotha becomes Dowager Princess of Wales.source
  • 1751Frederick, Prince of Wales dies at Leicester House, London from a lung injury and is succeeded by his son the future George III of the United Kingdom as heir apparent to the throne; three weeks later George is made Prince of Wales. George's mother, Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, becomes Dowager Princess of Wales.source
  • 1751Frederick, Prince of Wales, 44 (pulmonary embolism)source
  • 1776Jane Randolph Jefferson, wife of Peter Jefferson and the mother of US president Thomas Jefferson (born 1720)source
  • 1783Nikita Ivanovich Panin, Russian statesman (born 1718)source
  • 1790Arthur Bowes Smyth, First Fleet surgeon (born 1750)source
  • 1797Olaudah Equiano, Nigerian ex-slave, abolitionist (born c. 1746)source
  • 1816Francis Asbury, American Methodist bishop (born 1745)source
  • 1837John Constable, English painter (born 1776)source
  • 1850John C. Calhoun, 7th Vice President of the United States (born 1782)source
  • 1855Charlotte Brontë, English author (born 1816)source
  • 1913J. P. Morgan, American financier (born 1837)source
  • 1928Gustave Ador, politician (born 1845)source
  • 1943Pavel Milyukov, historian and liberal politician (born 1859)source
  • 1972Meena Kumari, Indian actress, singer and poet (born 1933; cirrhosis of the liver)source
  • 1980Jesse Owens, 66, American Olympic track and field athlete (1936), four-time gold medalist, lung cancer.source
  • 1988Sir William McMahon, 80, Australian politician, Prime Minister of Australia, cancer.source
  • 1995Selena, 23, American singer, murdered.source
  • 2004Four American security contractors are killed in Fallujah, Iraq, leading to the First Battle of Fallujah.source