Historical Events on February 21

Events 1 - 200 of 201

• 362 Athanasius returns to Alexandria

• 1245 Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after having confessed to torture and forgery

• 1440 The Prussian Confederation is formed

• 1574 Spanish garrison of Middelburg, Netherlands, surrenders

• 1598 Boris Godunov crowned Tsar of Russia
• 1613 Michael Romanov, son of the Patriarch of Moscow, is elected the first Russian Tsar of the House of Romanov
• 1673 Michiel de Ruyter appointed lt-admiral-general of Dutch fleet

• 1777 British ambassador Joseph Yorke demands dismissal of Governor John de Graaff for saluting US flag
• 1782 US Congress resolves establishment of a US mint
• 1792 US Congress passes Presidential Succession Act
• 1795 Freedom of worship established in France under constitution
• 1797 Trinidad, West Indies, a Spanish colony, surrenders to the British
• 1804 The world’s first steam locomotive, built by Richard Trevithick, runs for the first time along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
• 1808 Russia invades Finland, then part of the Swedish Kingdom, with 24,000 troops
• 1821 Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire begins
• 1828 1st American Indian newspaper in US, "Cherokee Phoenix", published
• 1842 1st known sewing machine patented in US by John Greenough of Washington, D.C.
• 1846 1st US woman telegrapher is Sarah G. Bagley of Lowell, Massachusetts

• 1853 US authorizes minting of $3 gold pieces
• 1857 Congress outlaws foreign currency as legal tender in US
• 1857 US issues flying eagle cents
• 1858 Edwin T. Holmes installs 1st electric burglar alarm (Boston, Massachusetts)
• 1861 Navaho indians elect Herrero Grande as chief
• 1861 Steeple of Chichester Cathedral collapses despite the desperate efforts of 70 workmen

• 1862 US Confederate Constitution and presidency come into effect, last until the end of the Civil War in 1865
• 1864 -22] Battle at Okolona, Mississippi
• 1864 1st US Catholic parish church for black worshippers dedicated in Baltimore
• 1866 Lucy B. Hobbs (Taylor) becomes 1st US woman to earn a DDS degree

• 1874 Oakland Daily Tribune begins publication in Oakland, California
• 1878 Telegraph manager George Coy of New Haven, Connecticut issues world's 1st telephone directory issued; single page contains info for 50 subscribers
• 1882 NYC's 24 hour race begins, winner with most mileage in 24 hours
• 1883 2nd French government of Ferry begins
• 1885 Washington Monument dedicated in Washington, D.C.
• 1887 1st US bacteriology laboratory opens (Brooklyn)
• 1887 Oregon becomes 1st US state to make Labor Day a holiday

• 1901 In Cuba, the constitutional delegates adopt a constitution much like that of the USA
• 1902 Dr. Harvey Cushing, 1st US brain surgeon, performs his 1st brain operation
• 1903 Cornerstone laid for US army war college, Washington, D.C.
• 1904 National Ski Association forms in Ishpeming, Michigan
• 1907 SS Berlin sinks off the Hook of Holland (142 dead)
• 1909 John Galsworthy's "Strife" premieres in London
• 1910 John Galsworthy's "Justice" premieres in London

• 1914 Bai Lang ("White Wolf") troops attack Zhanjiang, China
• 1914 In a secret meeting of civil and military leaders, Russian Foreign Minister Sazonov convinces them to support a plan for seizing the straits, controlled by Turkey, that block access to the Mediterranean
• 1915 Russian 20th Army corps surrenders to the German 10th Army after being surrounded
• 1916 Battle of Verdun begins with a German offensive, leads to an estimated 1 million casualties, and becomes the longest battle of the entire war (9 months)
• 1917 British troopship SS Mendi sinks off Isle of Wight, 646 die
• 1918 Australians chase Turkish troop out of Jericho, Dutch Palestine
• 1918 The last Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo (Cincinnati, Ohio)
• 1919 German National Meeting accepts Anschluss: incorporation of Austria
• 1919 Kurt Eisner, Premier of the Bavarian Republic, is assassinated by a far-right German nationalist in Munich
• 1919 Revolutionary strike in Barcelona
• 1921 Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia adopts the country's first constitution
• 1921 The London Conference on the Near East begins: the issue is the Allies' 1920 Treaty of Sevres, which had given part of Turkish Asia Minor to Greece
• 1922 Airship "Rome" explodes at Hampton Roads, Virginia; 34 die
• 1922 Britain declares Egypt a sovereign state

• 1922 WHK-AM in Cleveland, Ohio begins radio transmissions
• 1923 Andre Charlot's musical "Rats" premieres in London
• 1925 1st issue of "New Yorker" magazine published
• 1925 Mass meeting of SPD's Reichsbanner Black-Red-Gold in Magdeburg

• 1931 Alka Seltzer introduced
• 1931 Chicago White Sox & NY Giants play 1st exhibition night game
• 1932 Andre Tardieu becomes Premier of France
• 1932 US camera exposure meter patented to W.N. Goodwin
• 1934 Nicaraguan patriot Augusto César Sandino and three others kidnapped and assassinated by the National Guard in Larreynaga
• 1937 The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War
• 1937 Walter Waterman's Arrowbile, the 1st working automobile-airplane combination, tested at Santa Monica, California
• 1939 Belgian government of Pierlot forms

• 1943 Dutch RC bishops protest against persecution of Jews
• 1944 "War As It Happens" news show premieres on NBC-TV, in New York City only
• 1945 Battle of Monte Castello (Italy): Allied forces, including the first land battle of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force, defeat Germans after three months of fierce fighting in the foothills of the Apennine Mountains
• 1945 Dutch Archbishop of Utrecht Johannes de Jong calls to the Allies for help with war casualties following the Nazi occupation of Netherlands
• 1945 Operation Veritable: British Army captures Goch from Germany, forcing German retreat away from the Rhineland
• 1945 WWII: US Army 10th Armored Division overthrows Germany's Orscholz line of defense
• 1946 Anti-British demonstrations in Egypt

• 1948 NASCAR is incorporated
• 1949 US TV soap opera "A Woman to Remember" is 1st broadcast on DuMont Television Network
• 1950 WOI TV channel 5 in Ames-Des Moines, IA (ABC/PBS) begins broadcasting
• 1951 South Carolina House of Representatives urges "Shoeless Joe" Jackson be reinstated by Major League Baseball
• 1952 Bangladesh Martyrs Day (martyrs of Bengali Language Movement)
• 1953 Longest collegiate basketball game (6 OTs) Niagara beats Siena 88-81
• 1957 Dodgers (Fort Worth) & Cubs (LA) "trade" minor league franchises
• 1958 British artist Gerald Holtom designs Nuclear Disarmament logo, based on blended semaphore signals for the letters N and D; it later became an international peace symbol
• 1958 Egypt-Syria as United Arab Republic elect Nasser president (99.9% vote)
• 1960 Biathlon debuts at the Squaw Valley Winter Olympics; Klas Lestander from Sweden becomes the first Olympic champion ahead of Finland's Antti Tyrväinen and Soviet Aleksandr Privalov

• 1961 Gabon adopts constitution
• 1961 Mercury-Atlas 2 reentry Test reaches 172 km
• 1962 Minister De Pous confirms natural gas reserves in Groningen, Netherlands
• 1963 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1964 UK flies 24,000 rolls of Beatles wallpaper to US

• 1968 150,000 demonstrate against leftist students in West Berlin
• 1968 Baseball announces a minimum annual salary of $10,000
• 1969 1st launching of heavy N-1 rocket at Baikonur Kazakhstan (explodes)

• 1970 Jackson 5 make TV debut on "American Bandstand"
• 1970 Pathet Lao conquers Xieng Khuang & Muong Suy
• 1971 Series of tornadoes cuts through Mississippi & Louisiana killing 117
• 1971 The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna
• 1972 Michael Weller's "Moonchildren" premieres in NYC

• 1972 The first session of the Widgery Tribunal, investigating the events of 'Bloody Sunday' (30 January 1972), is held in Coleraine, County Derry
• 1973 Chicago Black Hawks, record 262nd NHL game without being shut-out
• 1973 Israeli fighters shoot Libyan aircraft down, killing 108
• 1974 Israeli forces leave western Suez
• 1974 Silver hits record $5.96½ an ounce in London
• 1974 Yugoslavia adopts constitution

• 1976 Cardinal Willebrands installed as Archbishop of Utrecht
• 1977 74 Unification Church couples wed in NYC
• 1978 Electrical workers accidentally discover the Aztec Templo Mayor, or High Temple, two blocks from Mexico City's central square, the Zócalo
• 1979 2 Iowa girls HS basketball teams play 4 scoreless quarters game was won 4-2 in 4th overtime period
• 1979 Japan launches Hakucho X-ray satellite & Corsa-B (550/580 km)

• 1980 British figure skater Robin Cousins wins men's singles gold medal at the Lake Placid Winter Olympics; goes on to pro career, TV analysis and stage performance & production
• 1980 East German cross country skier Barbara Petzold wins her second gold medal of the Lake Placid Winter Olympics as part of the women's 4 x 5k relay team; also wins 10k gold
• 1980 Liechtenstein becomes the smallest country to produce an Olympic champion as Hanni Wenzel wins the women's giant slalom at the Lake Placid Winter Games
• 1981 Charles Rocket clearly says "f*ck" on "Saturday Night Live"
• 1981 Japan launches Hinotori satellite to study solar flares (580/640 k)
• 1981 NASA launches Comstar D-4
• 1983 Donald Davis runs 1 mile backwards in 6 m 7.1 s
• 1983 NBA San Diego Clippers begin a 29 game road losing streak
• 1985 Evert van Benthem wins his 13th Elfstedentocht, a long distance 11 city skating race
• 1985 Largest NBA crowd to date 44,970 (Atlanta at Detroit)

• 1986 AIDS patient Ryan White returns to classes at Western Middle School
• 1987 Syrian army marches into Beirut
• 1988 Gustafson skates world record 10km (13:48.20)
• 1988 Televangelist Jimmy Swaggert confesses his sins to his congregation

• 1989 US bust Chinese drug smuggling ring, capturing a record 820 lbs of heroin worth $1 billion at street value

• 1990 32nd Grammy Awards: "Wind Beneath My Wings"; "Nick of Time" win
• 1991 USSR announces that Iraq has agreed to a proposal to end the Gulf War, but the US calls the plan unacceptable

• 1993 Sergei Bubka pole vaults world record indoor (6.15 m)
• 1995 CFL's Sacramento Gold Miners become San Antonio Texans
• 1995 RAF-pilot Jo Salter is 1st woman to fly in a tornado
• 1996 Soyuz TM-23, launched into orbit
• 1997 "Empire Strikes Back, special edition" premieres
• 1997 NASA's STS 82 (Space Shuttle Discovery 22) lands

• 2001 43rd Grammy Awards: "Beautiful Day"; Shelby Lynne win
• 2002 Canadian world champion women's ice hockey team wins first of 4 consecutive Winter Olympic gold medals with a 3-2 win over the United States at Salt Lake City

• 2004 The first European political party organization, the European Greens, is established in Rome
• 2007 Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi resigns from office. His resignation is rejected by the President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano.
• 2010 "Claybourne Park" by Bruce Norris opens off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in New York (1st play to win a Tony and a Pulitzer) [1]
• 2011 Thailand's GDP rose 3.8% in the fourth quarter of 2010 after a minor recession caused by GDP contractions of 0.4% in the second quarter and 0.3% in the third quarter of 2010, it is reported today
• 2012 Yemeni voters go to the polls for a presidential election where the only candidate on the ballot paper is vice-president Abd Rabbuh Mansur al-Hadi
• 2013 21 people are killed and 54 are injured in a bombing in Hyderabad, India
• 2013 83 people are killed and 250 are injured in a series of bombing attacks in Damascus, Syria
• 2014 10 words from the 15th C Voynich manuscript have been decoded
• 2014 11 people are killed after a Libyan Air Force plan crashes in Tunisia
• 2014 Canada take the curling double at the Sochi Winter Olympics beating Great Britain, 9-3 in the final; also win women's gold medal
• 2014 Park Seung-hi wins Olympic women's 1,000m short track speed skating gold medal in Sochi for her 2nd gold medal of the Games; 3,000m relay winner
• 2014 Police in Kiev open fire on protesters: 27 killed and around 570 injured

• 2014 Viktor An of Russia wins 6th career Olympic short track speed skating gold medal as part of the 5,000m relay team in Sochi; 2nd gold of the day (500m) and 3rd of Games (1,000m)
• 2016 58th Daytona 500: Denny Hamlin wins closest finish in race history - by just 0.01s from Martin Truex Jr
• 2016 Bombings in the Syrian cities of Homs and Damascus kill 140 people, Islamic State claims responsibility

• 2017 Bodies of 87 African migrants wash ashore at Zawiya, Libya
• 2017 Plane crashes into shopping centre in Essendon, Melbourne, Australia killing the five people on board
• 2018 Indian film star Kamal Haasan launches a new political party - Makkal Needhi Mayyam in Tamil Nadu state

• 2018 Norwegian cross country skiers Martin Johnsrud Sundby, Johannes Høsflot & Klæbo win their 2nd Olympic gold medals in Pyeongchang in the men's team sprint freestyle; trio also wins gold in 4 x 10k relay
• 2018 Winter Olympics: Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall become the first Americans in history to win a cross country gold medal (team sprint)
• 2019 Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa-2 touches down on asteroid Ryugu on mission to collect rock samples
• 2019 The Lunar Library, a 30 million page digital library launched on board Israel’s Beresheet Lunar Lander, aiming to be stored on the Moon
• 2021 First democratic transfer of power in Niger, the world's poorest country, as former interior minister Mohamed Bazoum wins Presidential election [1]

• 2021 WHO pleads with Tanzania to start reporting COVID-19 cases amid fears of a hidden epidemic in the country
• 2022 60 people die in an explosion at an unregulated gold mine near Gaoua, Burkina Faso [1]
• 2022 Australia's international border reopens to vaccinated tourists after 704 days, nearly two years [1]
• 2022 Colombia's Constitutional Court, its highest court, decriminalizes abortion [1]

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