Events Pre-1600 241 BC – First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates: The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing the First Punic War to an end. 298 – Roman Emperor Maximian concludes his campaign in North Africa and makes a triumphal entry into Carthage. 947 – The Later Han is founded by Liu Zhiyuan. He declares himself emperor. 1496 – After establishing the city of Santo Domingo, Christopher Columbus departs for Spain, leaving his brother in command. 1535 – Spaniard Fray Tomás de Berlanga, the fourth Bishop of Panama, discovers the Galápagos Islands by chance on his way to Peru.
1601–1900 1607 – Susenyos I defeats the combined armies of Yaqob and Abuna Petros II at the Battle of Gol in Gojjam, making him Emperor of Ethiopia. 1629 – Charles I dissolves the Parliament of England, beginning the eleven-year period known as the Personal Rule. 1661 – French "Sun King" Louis XIV begins his personal rule of France after the death of his premier, the Cardinal Mazarin. 1735 – An agreement between Nader Shah and Russia is signed near Ganja, Azerbaijan and Russian troops are withdrawn from occupied territories. 1762 – French Huguenot Jean Calas, who had been wrongly convicted of killing his son, dies after being tortured by authorities; the event inspired Voltaire to begin a campaign for religious tolerance and legal reform. 1814 – Emperor Napoleon I is defeated at the Battle of Laon in France. 1830 – The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army is created. 1831 – The French Foreign Legion is created by Louis Philippe, the King of France, from the foreign regiments of the Kingdom of France. 1848 – The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is ratified by the United States Senate, ending the Mexican–American War. 1861 – El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Ségou, destroying the Bamana Empire of Mali. 1873 – The first Azerbaijani play, The Adventures of the Vizier of the Khan of Lenkaran, prepared by Akhundov, is performed by Hassan-bey Zardabi and dramatist and Najaf-bey Vezirov. 1876 – The first successful test of a telephone is made by Alexander Graham Bell. 1891 – Almon Strowger patents the Strowger switch, a device which led to the automation of telephone circuit switching.
1901–present 1906 – The Courrières mine disaster, Europe's worst ever, kills 1099 miners in northern France. 1909 – By signing the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909, Thailand relinquishes its sovereignty over the Malay states of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu, which become British protectorates. 1922 – Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in India, tried for sedition, and sentenced to six years in prison, only to be released after nearly two years for an appendicitis operation. 1933 – The Long Beach earthquake affects the Greater Los Angeles Area, leaving around 108 people dead. 1944 – Greek Civil War: The Political Committee of National Liberation is established in Greece by the National Liberation Front. 1945 – World War II: The U.S. Army Air Force firebombs Tokyo, and the resulting conflagration kills more than 100,000 people, mostly civilians. 1949 – Mildred Gillars ("Axis Sally") is convicted of treason. 1952 – Fulgencio Batista leads a successful coup in Cuba. 1959 – Tibetan uprising: Fearing an abduction attempt by China, thousands of Tibetans surround the Dalai Lama's palace to prevent his removal. 1966 – Military Prime Minister of South Vietnam Nguyễn Cao Kỳ sacks rival General Nguyễn Chánh Thi, precipitating large-scale civil and military dissension in parts of the nation. 1969 – In Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. He later unsuccessfully attempts to recant. 1970 – Vietnam War: Captain Ernest Medina is charged by the U.S. military with My Lai war crimes. 1971 – John Gorton resigns as Prime Minister of Australia and the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia after a secret ballot vote of confidence, being replaced in both positions by William McMahon."Australian Party Replaces Gorton As Prime Minister— The Vote Is 34 to 33— He Cast the Deciding Ballot", by Robert Trumbull, The New York Times, March 10, 1971, p1"Leader Sworn in by Australians", The New York Times, March 11, 1971, p15 1974 – 1974 Belgian general election: Elections are held in Belgium for all 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives, the Belgian Socialist Party taking the majority with 59.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p289 Nohlen & Stöver, p291 1975 – Vietnam War: Ho Chi Minh Campaign: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Mê Thuột in the South on their way to capturing Saigon in the final push for victory over South Vietnam. 1977 – Astronomers discover the rings of Uranus. 1979 – 1979 International Women's Day protests in Tehran: Protestor involvement peaks with 15,000 Iranian women and girls performing a three‐hour-long sit‐in at the Courthouse of Tehran. 1982 – Syzygy: All nine planets recognized at this time — Mercury to Pluto — align on the same side of the Sun.The Jupiter Effect. 1989 – Air Ontario Flight 1363, a Fokker F-28 Fellowship, crashes at Dryden Regional Airport in Dryden, Ontario, Canada, killing 24. 1990 – In Haiti, Prosper Avril is ousted eighteen months after seizing power in a coup d'état in September 1988. 1991 – 1991 Salvadoran legislative election: The Nationalist Republican Alliance wins 39 of the 84 seats in the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador.Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I 2000 – The Dot-com bubble peaks with the NASDAQ Composite stock market index reaching 5,048.62. 2006 – The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at Mars. 2017 – The impeachment of President Park Geun-hye of South Korea in response to a major political scandal is unanimously upheld by the country's Constitutional Court, ending her presidency. 2019 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 MAX, crashes shortly after takeoff, killing all 157 passengers and crew. This and the prior Lion Air Flight 610 led to all 387 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft being grounded worldwide. 2022 – 2022 Hungarian presidential election: The National Assembly of Hungary elects former minister for Family Affairs, Katalin Novák, as president of Hungary in a 137–51 vote, becoming the first female president in the country's history. 2023 – Silicon Valley Bank collapses due to a run on its deposits, in the second largest bank failure in US history. Its operations are taken over by the FDIC. 2024 – 2024 Portuguese legislative election: Elections are held in Portugal for all 230 seats in the Assembly of the Republic. The Partido Socialista loses its absolute majority to the Partido Social Democrata, winning 77 and 79 seats respectively. 2026 – Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat recorded the second-highest scoring game in NBA history with 83 Points.
Births Pre-1600 1452 – Ferdinand II, King of Castile and León (died 1516) 1503 – Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1564) 1536 – Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, English politician, Earl Marshal of the United Kingdom (died 1572) 1596 – Princess Maria Elizabeth of Sweden, daughter of King Charles IX of Sweden (died 1618)
1601–1900 1604 – Johann Rudolf Glauber, German-Dutch alchemist and chemist (died 1670) 1628 – François Girardon, French sculptor (died 1715) 1628 – Marcello Malpighi, Italian physician and biologist (died 1694) 1653 – John Benbow, Royal Navy admiral (died 1702) 1656 – Giacomo Serpotta, Italian Rococo sculptor (died 1732) 1709 – Georg Wilhelm Steller, German botanist, zoologist, physician, and explorer (died 1746) 1748 – John Playfair, Scottish minister and scientist (died 1819) 1749 – Lorenzo Da Ponte, Italian-American priest and poet (died 1838) 1769 – Joseph Williamson, English businessman and philanthropist (died 1840) 1772 – Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel, German poet and critic (died 1829) 1777 – Louis Hersent, French painter (died 1860) 1787 – Francisco de Paula Martínez de la Rosa y Berdejo, Spanish playwright and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (died 1862) 1787 – William Etty, English painter and academic (died 1849) 1788 – Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff, German author, poet, playwright, and critic (died 1857) 1788 – Edward Hodges Baily, English sculptor (died 1867) 1789 – Manuel de la Peña y Peña, Mexican lawyer and 20th President (1847) (died 1850) 1795 – Joseph Légaré, Canadian painter and glazier, artist, seigneur and political figure (died 1855) 1810 – Samuel Ferguson, Irish poet and lawyer (died 1886) 1841 – Ina Coolbrith, first poet laureate of California, writer, and librarian (died 1928) 1843 – Evelyn Abbott, English classical scholar (died 1901) 1844 – Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish violinist and composer (died 1908) 1844 – Marie Euphrosyne Spartali, British Pre-Raphaelite painter (died 1927) 1845 – Alexander III of Russia (died 1894) 1846 – Edward Baker Lincoln, American son of Abraham Lincoln (died 1850) 1850 – Spencer Gore, English tennis player and cricketer (died 1906) 1853 – Thomas Mackenzie, Scottish-New Zealand cartographer and politician, 18th Prime Minister of New Zealand (died 1930) 1861 – E. Pauline Johnson, Canadian First Nations poet and performer (died 1913) 1867 – Hector Guimard, French-American architect (died 1942) 1867 – Lillian Wald, American nurse, humanitarian, and author, founded the Henry Street Settlement (died 1940) 1870 – David Riazanov, Russian theorist and politician (died 1938) 1873 – Jakob Wassermann, German-Austrian soldier and author (died 1934) 1876 – Anna Hyatt Huntington, American sculptor (died 1973) 1877 – Pascual Ortiz Rubio, Mexican diplomat and president (1930–1932) (died 1963) 1881 – Jessie Boswell, English painter (died 1956) 1888 – Barry Fitzgerald, Irish actor (died 1961) 1890 – Albert Ogilvie, Australian politician, 28th Premier of Tasmania (died 1939) 1891 – Sam Jaffe, American actor, teacher, musician and engineer (died 1984) 1892 – Arthur Honegger, French composer and educator (died 1955) 1892 – Gregory La Cava, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1952) 1896 – Frederick Coulton Waugh, British cartoonist, painter, teacher and author (died 1973) 1900 – Violet Brown, Jamaican supercentenarian, oldest Jamaican ever (died 2017) 1900 – Pandelis Pouliopoulos, Greek lawyer and politician (died 1943)
1901–present 1901 – Michel Seuphor, Belgian painter (died 1999) 1903 – Edward Bawden, English artist and illustrator (died 1989) 1903 – Bix Beiderbecke, American cornet player, pianist, and composer (died 1931) 1903 – Clare Boothe Luce, American playwright, journalist, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Italy (died 1987) 1915 – Harry Bertoia, Italian-American sculptor and furniture designer (died 1978) 1915 – Joža Horvat, Croatian writer (died 2012) 1917 – David Hare, American Surrealist artist, sculptor, photographer and painter (died 1992) 1918 – Günther Rall, German general and pilot (died 2009) 1919 – Leonor Oyarzún, Chilean socialite, First Lady of Chile from 1990 to 1994 (died 2022) 1920 – Alfred Peet, Dutch-American businessman, founded Peet's Coffee & Tea (died 2007) 1920 – Kenneth C. "Jethro" Burns, American mandolinist and comic singer (died 1989) 1923 – Val Logsdon Fitch, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2015) 1924 – Judith Jones, American literary and cookbook editor (died 2017) 1925 – Bob Lanier, American lawyer, banker, and politician, Mayor of Houston (died 2014) 1926 – Marques Haynes, American basketball player (died 2015) 1927 – Claude Laydu, Belgian-French actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 2011) 1928 – Sara Montiel, Spanish actress (died 2013) 1928 – James Earl Ray, American criminal; assassin of Martin Luther King Jr. (died 1998) 1929 – Sam Steiger, American journalist and politician (died 2012) 1930 – Sándor Iharos, Hungarian runner (died 1996) 1931 – Georges Dor, Canadian author, playwright, and composer (died 2001) 1932 – Marcia Falkender, Baroness Falkender, English politician (died 2019)