Historical Events on March 31

Events 1 - 200 of 213

• 1084 Anti-pope Clemens crowns German King Hendrik IV as Holy Roman Emperor

• 1504 France & Spain sign truce

• 1644 Pope Urbanus VIII and Duke of Parma sign Peace of Ferrara
• 1651 Great earthquake at Cuzco, Peru

• 1667 France & England sign anti-Dutch military accord
• 1683 Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and King John III Sobieski of Poland sign a covenant against Turkey, beginning of the Holy League
• 1717 A sermon on "The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ" by Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, provokes the Bangorian Controversy
• 1736 Bellevue Hospital founded in a New York City almshouse - 1st public hospital in the US
• 1745 Jews are expelled from Prague

• 1808 French created Kingdom of Westphalia orders Jews to adopt family names

• 1822 Massacre of the population of the Greek island of Chios by soldiers of the Ottoman Empire following a rebellion attempt, (later depicted by artist Eugène Delacroix)
• 1831 Mainzer Rijnvaart Convention ends
• 1831 Quebec & Montreal incorporated

• 1849 Colonel John W Geary arrives as 1st postmaster of San Francisco
• 1850 US population hits 23,191,876 (Black population: 3,638,808 (15.7%))
• 1854 Treaty of Kanagawa: Commodore Perry forces Japan to opens ports to US
• 1861 Confederacy takes over mint at New Orleans (US Civil War)
• 1862 Civil War action at Island #10 on Mississippi River
• 1863 Battle of Grand Gulf, Mississippi and Dinwiddie Court House, Virginia
• 1865 Battle of Boydton, Virginia (White Oaks Roads, Dinwiddie C H)
• 1865 General Pickett moves to 5 Forks, abandoning the defense of Petersburg
• 1866 The Spanish navy bombards the harbor of Valparaíso, Chile
• 1868 Chinese Embassy arrives aboard steamship China
• 1870 Thomas Mundy Peterson of Perth Amboy, New Jersey is the first African American to vote in the US under provisions of the 15th Amendment to the Constitution, in a local election on town's charter [1]
• 1877 British High Commissioner Sir Bartle Frere arrives in Capetown

• 1877 The family with samurai antecedents who responded to the Saigo army in Ōita Nakatsu rebels.
• 1880 1st town to claim to be completely illuminated by electric lighting (Wabash, Indiana)
• 1883 1st performance of Caesar Franck's symphonic poem for orchestra "Le Chasseur Maudit" (The Accursed Huntsman) at the Salle Érard in Paris
• 1883 Utrecht, Belgium begins water pipe system
• 1885 Great Britain declares Bechuanaland a protectorate

• 1900 At " Surprise of Sanna’s Post" in the Second Boer War 150 troops under Brigadier General Robert Broadwood are killed
• 1903 Richard Pearse flies a monoplane several hundred yards in New Zealand

• 1906 Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States is founded to set rules in amateur sports; becomes the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 1910
• 1907 Romanian Army puts down Moldavian farmers' revolt

• 1909 In a diplomatic note to Austria, Serbia recognizes the Bosnian annexation and promises to maintain friendly relations with Austria
• 1909 National Baseball Commission rules players who jump contracts to be suspended for 5 years; players joining outlaw organizations suspended for 3 years
• 1916 Dutch government ends all military engagements
• 1917 The Danish West Indies are officially ceded to the US for $25 million and renamed the Virgin Islands
• 1918 1st daylight savings time in US goes into effect
• 1919 Strike against Ruhrgebied government of Scheidemann
• 1920 British parliament accepts Irish Home Rule law
• 1921 British coal miners goes on strike
• 1922 KFI-AM in Los Angeles CA begins radio transmissions
• 1922 Prince Hendrik opens trade fair building in Amsterdam
• 1923 First dance marathon in New York City; Alma Cummings sets record of 27 hours with 6 different partners
• 1923 Occupying French soldiers fire on workers when surrounded at Krupp auto factory in Essen, Germany; 6 die, dozens wounded
• 1923 Stanley Cup Final, Denman Arena, Vancouver, BC: Ottawa Senators (NHL) edge Edmonton Eskimos (WCHL), 1-0 for a 2-0 series sweep
• 1924 Croydon Airport, London: Imperial Airways established
• 1924 London public transport strike ends
• 1925 WOWO-AM, Ft Wayne Indiana begins radio transmission (500 watts)
• 1926 German Special Court of Justice for state security disbands
• 1930 The Motion Pictures Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in film for the next 38 years
• 1931 Brilliant Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne (43) is killed with 7 others when light plane crashes on trip from Kansas City to Los Angeles; record 105-12-5 @ .881 remains best ever
• 1932 150 wild swans die in Niagara Falls
• 1932 Ford publicly unveils its V-8 engine
• 1933 "Soperton News" publishes 1st newspaper on pine pulp paper, in Soperton, Georgia
• 1933 US Congress authorizes Civilian Conservation Corps
• 1934 Netherlands Indies BC Ltd begins radio transmission (Indonesia)

• 1939 Britain & France agree to support Poland if invaded by Germany
• 1940 Karelo-Finnish SSR becomes 12th Soviet republic (until 1956)
• 1941 Ground broken for Union Square Garage, San Francisco
• 1943 US errantly bombs Rotterdam, kills 326
• 1944 Hungary orders all Jews to wear yellow stars
• 1945 3rd Algerian division crosses the Rhine
• 1945 Sicherheitsdienst murders 10 political prisoners in Zutphen

• 1945 US artillery lands on Keise Shima/begins firing on Okinawa
• 1946 Belgian government of Acker forms
• 1946 Belgian government of Spaak resigns - shortest ever Belgian government
• 1946 First election is held in Greece after World War II
• 1948 US Congress passes Marshall Aid Act to rehabilitate war-torn Europe
• 1949 Newfoundland becomes Canada's 10th province
• 1949 RCA Victor of Camden, New Jersey, introduces the 45 RPM record player and the 7-inch single, a vinyl disc more durable than the 78 RPM shellac; initial releases include: Eddy Arnold's "Texarkana Baby"; Spade Cooley's "Spanish Fandango"; Arthur Crudup's "Crudup's After Hours"; and Saul Meisel's "A Klein Melamedl"

• 1951 US tanks exceed 38° of latitude in Korea

• 1953 US Department of Health, Education & Welfare established
• 1954 USSR offers to join NATO
• 1955 Merger of Chase National Bank (3rd largest bank) and Bank of the Manhattan Company (15th largest bank) forms Chase Manhattan
• 1955 West Indies cricket all-rounder Collie Smith scores 104 in his Test debut in a 9 wicket 1st Test defeat to Australia in Kingston, Jamaica

• 1958 US Navy forms atomic submarine division
• 1958 USSR suspends nuclear weapons tests, & urges US & Britain to do same
• 1960 First Nations people first granted the right to vote in Canada, without giving up their Indian status, in repeal of part of Canada Elections Act [1]
• 1960 Gore Vidal's play "Best Man" premieres in NYC (Melvyn Douglas - Tony for Best Actor)
• 1961 Aklilou Habtewold becomes 1st premier of Ethiopia
• 1963 LA ends streetcar service after 90 years
• 1965 Iberia Airlines Convair 440 crashes into the sea on approach to Tangier killing 47 of 51 occupants
• 1966 25,000 anti war demonstrators march in NYC

• 1966 USSR launches Luna 10, 1st lunar orbiter

• 1968 Pirate Radio Station Pegaus (NZ) begins transmitting
• 1968 Seattle's AL club is named Pilots

• 1968 US President Lyndon B. Johnson authorizes a troop surge in Vietnam, bringing the total number of US soldiers to a peak of 549,500

• 1970 Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth's atmosphere after 12 years in orbit
• 1970 Federal bankruptcy court allows Seattle Pilots to be sold to Milwaukee
• 1970 Following an Orange Order parade, intense riots erupt on the Springfield Road in Belfast; violence lasts for three days, and the British Army use CS gas for the first time in large quantities
• 1971 South Africa national debt hits 5.45 billion
• 1971 William Calley sentenced to life for Mi Lai Massacre

• 1972 Official Beatles Fan Club closes down

• 1973 Philadelphia Flyers score an NHL record tying 8 goals from an astounding 60 shots in the 2nd period of a 10-2 win over New York Islanders

• 1976 Cleveland Cavaliers beat Jazz, 110-101 in New Orleans to clinch club's first ever NBA playoff berth
• 1976 NJ Court rules Karen Anne Quinlan may be disconnected from respirator
• 1977 Michael Cristofer's "Shadow Box" premieres in NYC
• 1978 USSR launches Kosmos 1000 navigational satellite
• 1978 Wings release "London Town" album
• 1979 Montreal Canadiens beat visiting Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-3 to become just the 2nd team in NHL history to win 50 (or more) games for 4 straight years
• 1979 The last British soldier leaves the Maltese Islands. Malta declares its Freedom Day (Jum il-Helsien).

• 1980 The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad operates its final train after being ordered to liquidate its assets due to bankruptcy and debt owed to creditors.

• 1981 1st Golden Raspberry Awards: "Can't Stop the Music" wins

• 1982 American rock group The Doobie Brothers split up
• 1982 Arkas tanker at Montz La, spills 1.47 million gallons of oil
• 1982 NBA and Players Association reach a 4-year agreement that includes a 53% revenue-sharing plan in return for minimum & maximum payrolls; first of its kind in team sports

• 1983 Marsha Norman's "'night, Mother" premieres in NYC
• 1983 Popayán Earthquake (5.5 Mw Depth) in Colombia kills 267 people, injuring some 7,500

• 1984 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1985 15th Easter Seal Telethon raises $27,400,000
• 1985 El Salvador's President José Napoleón Duarte' Christian Democratic Party wins election
• 1986 English Hampton Court palace badly damaged by fire, 1 dead
• 1986 Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crashes, killing 167
• 1986 Six metropolitan county councils are abolished in England.
• 1988 Last East Limburg coal mine closes in Gent Belgium

• 1990 Dionisio Castro cycles world record 20km (57:18.4)
• 1990 Major riots occur in London and other British towns in protest against the new Community Charge poll tax laws

• 1991 Albania offers 1st multi-party election in 50 years
• 1991 Danny Bonaduce attacks a transvestite prostitute in Phoenix, Arizona
• 1991 Georgian SSR votes on whether to remain in the Soviet Union

• 1991 Soviet Rep of Georgia endorsed independence; Warsaw Pact dissolves

• 1991 The Establishment of Islamic Constitutional Movement - Hadas in Kuwait.
• 1992 Phoenix coach Cotton Fitzsimmons guides the Suns to a 128-111 home win over Portland to become the 6th coach in NBA history to record 800 career wins
• 1992 Ranji Trophy Cricket Final, Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi: Delhi (Ajay Sharma 175 in 532) beats Tamil Nadu (449) on 1st innings
• 1992 UN Security Council voted to ban flights & arms sales to Libya
• 1994 Actor James Farentino pleads no contest to stalking ex-girlfriend Tina Sinatra

• 1994 The Journal Nature reports the finding in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull
• 1994 Walkway from Cleveland's Tower City to Jacobs Field officially opens
• 1995 Federal judge Sonia Sotomayor of US District Court in NYC issues an injunction against Major League Baseball owners in move that effectively ends 232-day strike
• 1995 Ranji Trophy Cricket Final, Wankhede Stadium, Bombay: Bombay (Sanjay Manjrekar 224 in 6/690) beats Punjab (Vikram Rathour 177 in 372) on 1st innings
• 1996 First time in MLB history, the regular season opens in March with Seattle Mariners beating Chicago White Sox, 3-2 in 12 innings at the Kingdome, Seattle
• 1996 Nabisco Dinah Shore Women's Golf, Mission Hills CC: Patty Sheehan wIns by 1 stroke ahead of runners-up Meg Mallon, Kelly Robbins and Annika Sörenstam
• 1996 Radio Canada International's final shortwave broadcast
• 1996 Ranji Trophy Cricket Final, MA Chidambaram Stadium, Madras: Karnataka (Vijay Bharadwaj 146 of 8/620) beats Tamil Nadu (370) on 1st innings
• 1996 Space Shuttle STS 76 (Atlantis 16), lands
• 1997 "Daytime to Remember" a series showing old soaps premieres on ABC-TV

• 1998 Expansion clubs, Tampa Bay and Arizona both suffer bad losses in their MLB debuts; Devil Rays lose, 11-6 to the Detroit Tigers and the Diamondbacks fall, 9-2 to Colorado Rockies
• 1998 Milwaukee becomes first team since the inception of the American League in 1901 to switch MLB leagues; Brewers lose first NL game, 2-1 to the Braves in Atlanta

• 2002 Kraft Nabisco Championship Women's Golf, Mission Hills CC: Defending champion Annika Sörenstam of Sweden shoots a final round 68 to win, 1 stroke ahead of compatriot Liselotte Neumann

• 2004 Australian swimmer Lisbeth Lenton breaks Inge de Bruijn's 4-year old 100m freestyle women's world record in 53.66s at the Australian Olympic trials in Sydney
• 2004 In Fallujah, Iraq, 4 American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA, are killed and their bodies mutilated after being ambushed
• 2004 With a 12-1 defeat of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in Tokyo, NY Yankees starter Kevin Brown becomes only the 2nd pitcher in MLB history to have beaten all 30 teams
• 2007 In Sydney, Australia, 2.2 million people take part in the first Earth Hour.
• 2008 Aloha Airlines, a bankrupt airline, permanently ends passenger service
• 2009 "Boom Boom Pow" single released by The Black Eyed Peas (Grammy Award for Best Music Video 2010, Billboard Song of the Year 2009)
• 2012 Fiji Floods kill 2 people and force thousands to be evacuated
• 2013 11 people are killed in flooding at Port Louis, Mauritius
• 2013 14 Boko Haram suspects are killed in a Nigerian Army raid
• 2013 2 people die from bird flu (type H7N9) in China

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