March 31

On This Day In History
	1889: Eiffel Tower opened to public The 984-foot (300-metre) Eiffel Tower, a wrought iron technological masterpiece created by Gustave Eiffel to commemorate the French Revolution, was opened to the public at the Centennial Exposition in Paris this day in 1889.
Eiffel Tower, Paris
Biography Of The Day
	René Descartes René Descartes, born this day in 1596 and perhaps best known for the famous phrase “I think, therefore I am, was a French mathematician, scientist, and philosopher who has often been called the father of modern philosophy.
René Descartes, lithograph, 19th century.
More Events On This Day In History
	1980 American track-and-field legend Jesse Owens died in Phoenix, Arizona.
1918	1918 Clocks in the United States were set one hour ahead as daylight saving time went into operation for the first time.
1870	1870 Thomas Peterson-Mundy of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, became the first African American to vote under the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
	1854 U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry signed the Treaty of Kanagawa in Japan, ending that country's period of seclusion.
1732	1732 Composer Joseph Haydn was born in Rohrau, Austria.
1521	1521 The first Roman Catholic mass in the Philippines was celebrated on the island of Limasawa.

March 30

On This Day In History
	1981: Failed assassination attempt against U.S. President Ronald Reagan In Washington, D.C., on this day in 1981, barely two months after his inauguration as the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously wounded by would-be assassin John W. Hinckley, Jr.
U.S. government agents attending to the wounded after the assassination attempt on President Ronald
Biography Of The Day
	Vincent van Gogh Works of one of the greatest Post-Impressionists—Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, born this day in 1853—convey not only keen observations of nature but the anguish of a mental illness that eventually led to his suicide.
Detail of Sunflowers, oil painting by Vincent van Gogh, 1888
More Events On This Day In History
	2003 A law banning cigarette smoking in all places of employment, including restaurants and bars, went into effect in New York City.
2002	2002 Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, who was queen consort of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1936–52), died in her sleep at Windsor Castle at age 101.
	1914 American blues vocalist and harmonica virtuoso Sonny Boy Williamson was born in Jackson, Tennessee.
1912	1912 The Treaty of Fès established the French protectorate in Morocco.
	1867 William H. Seward, secretary of state under U.S. President Andrew Johnson, signed the Alaska Purchase, a treaty ceding Russian North America to the United States for a price—$7.2 million—that amounted to about two cents per acre.
1856	1856 The Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the Crimean War.
	1840 The English dandy Beau Brummell died, destitute and mad, in Caen, France.
1282	1282 The people of Palermo massacred 2,000 French residents in the Sicilian Vespers, a revolt against the Angevin king Charles I.

March 29

On This Day In History
	1867: Dominion of Canada created On this day in 1867, with the British North America Act, the British colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Canada were united as the Dominion of Canada, and the province of Canada was separated into Quebec and Ontario.
The arms of Canada, derived from the royal arms of the United Kingdom
Biography Of The Day
	Sam Walton Retail magnate Sam Walton, born this day in 1918, became one of the wealthiest individuals in American history, founding Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., and developing it into the largest retail sales chain in the United States.
Sam Walton, 1988
More Events On This Day In History
	1973 American troops evacuated Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) as the United States ended its involvement in the Vietnam War.
	1951 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were found guilty of espionage and sentenced to death for turning over U.S. military secrets to the Soviet Union.
	1943 British Conservative politician John Major, who served as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1990 to 1997, was born.
1917	1917 Man o' War, perhaps the most famous American Thoroughbred in 20th-century horse racing, was foaled.
	1807 German astronomer Wilhelm Olbers discovered the minor planet Vesta, the brightest asteroid in the sky.
	1790 John Tyler, the 10th president of the United States (1841–45), was born.
	1461 Edward IV defeated Henry VI for the throne of England in the bloodiest battle of the York-Lancaster conflict known as the Wars of the Roses.

March 28

On This Day In History
	1930: Constantinople renamed Istanbul Built as Byzantium about 657 BC, then renamed Constantinople in the 4th century AD after Constantine the Great made the city his capital, the Turkish city of Istanbul officially received its present name on this day in 1930.
The Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmed Mosque) with its distinctive ensemble of six minarets, Istanbul
Biography Of The Day
	Fra Bartolomeo Painter Fra Bartolomeo, a prominent exponent of the High Renaissance style in early 16th-century Florence whose works include God the Father with SS. Catherine of Siena and Mary Magdalene (1509), was born this day in 1472.
God the Father with SS. Catherine of Siena and Mary Magdalene
More Events On This Day In History
1979	1979 At 4:00 AM an automatic valve mistakenly closed at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, culminating in radioactive leakage.
	1969 Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States, died in Washington, D.C.
	1939 Francisco Franco, leader of the Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War, captured the capital city of Madrid en route to his overthrow of the democratic Spanish republic.
	1920 American motion-picture actors Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks were wed.
1890	1890 American bandleader Paul Whiteman, called the “King of Jazz” for popularizing a musical style that helped to introduce jazz to mainstream audiences during the 1920s and '30s, was born.

March 27

On This Day In History
	47: Cleopatra reinstated as queen of Egypt The legendary Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator, aided by her Roman lover Julius Caesar, was reinstated as coruler of Egypt (with her brother Ptolemy XIV) this day in 47 BC following a civil war with her brother Ptolemy XIII.
Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator
Biography Of The Day
	Mstislav Rostropovich Born this day in 1927 in Azerbaijan was Mstislav Rostropovich, one of the best-known cellists of the 20th century and music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., from 1977 to 1994.
Mstislav Rostropovich, 1965
More Events On This Day In History
	1998 The drug Viagra from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in treating erectile dysfunction.
1977	1977 Two airplanes, a Pan Am 747 and a KLM 747, collided on a runway in the Canary Islands, killing 582.
	1958 Nikita Khrushchev replaced Nikolay Bulganin as premier of the Soviet Union.
	1886 German American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, whose rectilinear forms crafted in elegant simplicity epitomized the International style of architecture, was born.
1814	1814 At the Battle of Horseshoe Bend (Tohopeka, Alabama) in the Creek War, Andrew Jackson and his 3,000 troops defeated the Creek Indians, slaughtering more than 800 warriors and imprisoning 500 women and children.
	1625 Upon the death of James I, Charles I ascended the throne of Great Britain and Ireland.
1351	1351 As part of the struggle between Charles of Blois (supported by the king of France) and John of Montfort (backed by the king of England) over succession to the duchy of Brittany, their knights waged the Battle of the Thirty near Ploërmel.

March 26

On This Day In History
	1979: Signing of Israel-Egypt peace treaty The historic peace accord between Israel and Egypt, agreed to by Menachem Begin and Anwar el-Sadat and negotiated by U.S. President Jimmy Carter at Camp David, Maryland, in September 1978, was signed this day in 1979.
Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat (left), U.S. President Jimmy Carter
Biography Of The Day
	Robert Frost American poet Robert Frost, much admired for his depictions of New England rural life, his command of American colloquial speech, and his realistic verse portraying ordinary people, was born this day in 1874.
Robert Frost, 1954
More Events On This Day In History
	1992 Heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson was sentenced to six years in prison following a rape conviction in Indianapolis, Indiana.
1971	1971 Members of the Awami League set up a government-in-exile in Calcutta (Kolkata) and declared Bangladesh an independent state.
	1930 Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to become a U.S. Supreme Court justice, was born in El Paso, Texas.
1927	1927 The Mille Miglia, the famed automobile race across Italy, was inaugurated.
	1885 The first clash of the Riel Rebellion in Canada took place in Duck Lake, Saskatchewan.
	1827 Ludwig van Beethoven died of cirrhosis of the liver in Vienna.

March 25

On This Day In History
	1306: Robert the Bruce crowned king of Scotland Robert the Bruce, crowned Scottish king at Scone this day in 1306, freed Scotland from English rule, winning the decisive Battle of Bannockburn (1314) and confirming Scottish independence in the Treaty of Northampton (1328).
Robert the Bruce, coloured engraving by an unknown artist, 1797
Biography Of The Day
	Aretha Franklin American singer Aretha Franklin, born this day in 1942 and crowned the “Queen of Soul,” defined the golden age of 1960s soul music with hits such as "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)," "Respect," and "Think."
Aretha Franklin, 1993
More Events On This Day In History
	1975 King Faysal of Saudi Arabia was shot to death by his nephew.
1957	1957 The Treaties of Rome were signed, establishing the European Community and the European Atomic Energy Community.
	1918 French composer Claude Debussy died in Paris.
	1911 A fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York City killed 146 people, prompting the creation of health and safety legislation.
	1881 Hungarian composer Béla Bartók was born in Nagyszentmiklós.
1807	1807 The British Parliament abolished the slave trade in the British West Indies.
1305	1305 The Arena Chapel, containing frescoes by Giotto, was consecrated in Padua, Italy.

March 24

On This Day In History
	1989: Exxon Valdez Alaskan oil spill On this day in 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground, spilling some 11 million gallons (41 million litres) of oil into Prince William Sound in Alaska and creating the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
Worker cleaning a rock on the beach of Green Island, Alaska, after the Exxon
Biography Of The Day
	Harry Houdini American magician Harry Houdini, born this day in 1874, earned an international reputation for his daring feats of extrication from shackles, ropes, and handcuffs and from locked containers such as coffins and prison cells.
Harry Houdini as Harvey Hanford in the film The Grim Game, c. 1919
More Events On This Day In History
	2002 Film stars Denzel Washington and Halle Berry became the second and third African Americans to win Academy Awards for performances in leading roles.
	1945 With the debut of the Billboard magazine pop album chart, American pianist and singer Nat King Cole's King Cole Trio became the first record album to appear at No. 1.
	1905 Pioneering French science-fiction author Jules Verne died in Amiens, France.
	1882 Robert Koch announced in Berlin that he had isolated and grown the tubercle bacillus, which he believed to be the cause of all forms of tuberculosis.
1603	1603 King James VI of Scotland ascended the English throne as James I following the death of Elizabeth I.

March 23

On This Day In History
	1806: Lewis and Clark's return trip begun Having completed the first U.S. overland expedition to the Pacific coast, explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark this day in 1806 began their return to St. Louis, Missouri, where their journey had begun in May 1804.
Sacagawea (right) with William Clark (left) and Meriwether Lewis (centre) at Three Forks
Biography Of The Day
	Kurosawa Akira Born this day in 1910, Japanese director Kurosawa Akira won worldwide acclaim with subtle, brilliantly composed films, such as Rashomon (1950), that combined Japanese historic themes with a Western sense of action and drama.
Kurosawa Akira during the filming of Ran, 1985
More Events On This Day In History
2001	2001 Although designed for only 5 years of service, the Soviet/Russian space station Mir ended 15 years in orbit when it reentered Earth's atmosphere, falling into the South Pacific Ocean.
	1983 In a nationwide television address, U.S. President Ronald Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative, popularly known as Star Wars, a proposed strategic defensive system against potential nuclear attacks.
1976	1976 The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights entered into force, incorporating almost all the international human rights proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948.
1933	1933 The German Reichstag, dominated by the Nazi Party and German National People's Party, voted to pass the Enabling Act, thereby assuring Nazi primacy, in a process that began with the Reichstag fire about a month prior.
1849	1849 At the Battle of Novara, during the first Italian War of Independence, outnumbered Austrian troops under Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky destroyed the poorly trained Italian troops of Charles Albert, king of Sardinia-Piedmont.
1775	1775 Patrick Henry, a major figure of the American Revolution, delivered the well-known speech featuring the phrase “give me liberty or give me death” at the second Virginia Convention at St. John's Church, Richmond.