31 March

Events

• 307 - After divorcing his wife Minerva, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Maximian.
• 1854 - Commodore Matthew Perry signs the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade.
• 1866 - Spanish Navy bombed the harbour of Valparaíso, Chile
• 1885 - The United Kingdom establishes a protectorate over Bechuanaland.
• 1889 - The Eiffel Tower is inaugurated.
• 1903 - Richard Pearse is reputed to have flown a heavier than air machine in powered flight near Pleasant Point, South Canterbury, New Zealand; some claim 1902
• 1906 - The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (IAAUS) is established to set rules for amateur sports in the United States. The IAAUS would later become the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 1910.
• 1909 - Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
• 1917 - The United States takes possession of the U.S. Virgin Islands after paying $25 million to Denmark.
• 1918 - Daylight Savings Time goes into effect in the United States for the first time.
• 1930 - The Motion Pictures Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in motion pictures for the next forty years.
• 1931 - An earthquake destroys Managua Nicaragua killing 2,000.
• 1933 - The Civilian Conservation Corps is established with the mission to relieve rampant unemployment.
• 1966 - The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first spaceprobe to enter orbit around the moon.
• 1970 - Explorer I re-enters the earth's atmosphere (after 12 years in orbit)
• 1986 - A Mexicana Boeing 727 enroute to Puerto Vallarta erupts in flames and crashes in the mountains northwest of Mexico City killing 166
• 1990 - Thunder Meets Lightning: Julio Cesar Chavez defeats Meldrick Taylor to unify boxing's world junior welterweight title in very controversial fight.
• 1991 - The Warsaw Pact comes to an end.
• 1993 - Actor Brandon Lee is accidentally killed during the filming of The Crow.
• 1994 - The journal Nature reports the finding in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull (see Human evolution).

Births

• 1596 - René Descartes, mathematician († 1650)
• 1732 - Joseph Haydn, composer († 1809)
• 1742 - P. D. Q. Bach, fictitious composer († 1807)
• 1809 - Nikolai Gogol, writer († 1852)
• 1878 - Jack Johnson, African-American boxer († 1946)
• 1885 - Pascin, the "Prince of Montparnasse" († 1930)
• 1900 - Richard Alexander Walter Windsor, Duke of Gloucester
• 1912 - Hermann Höcherl, politician († 1989)
• 1914 - Ocatvio Paz, author, Nobel Prize for Literature († 1998)
• 1922 - Richard Kiley, actor, singer († 1999)
• 1927 - Cesar Chavez, labor activist († 1993)
• 1927 - William Daniels, actor
• 1928 - Gordie Howe, ice hockey player
• 1928 - Lefty Frizzell, country music performer
• 1934 - Shirley Jones, singer, actress
• 1935 - Richard Chamberlain, actor
• 1935 - Herb Alpert, musician
• 1939 - Zviad Gamsakhurdia, scientist and writer, first President of the Republic of Georgia († 1993)
• 1939 - Volker Schlöndorff, film director
• 1943 - Christopher Walken, actor
• 1948 - Al Gore, Vice President of the United States
• 1948 - Rhea Perlman, actress
• 1971 - Ewan McGregor, actor
• 1971 - Pavel Bure, ice hockey player
• 1976 - Colin Farrell, actor

Deaths

• 1837 - John Constable, painter
• 1855 - Charlotte Bronte, author
• 1917 - Emil Adolf von Behring, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1901
• 1931 - Knute Rockne, American football coach
• 1978 - Charles Best, medical scientist
• 1980 - Jesse Owens, athlete
• 1988 - William McMahon, Australian Prime Minister
• 1993 - Brandon Lee, actor
• 1998 - Bella Abzug, American politician

Holidays and observances

• 1991, 2002, 2013, 2024: Easter day
• Thomas Mundy Peterson Day in New Jersey

March 30 - April 1 - February 28 - April 30 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By