March 22

Events

Pre-1600

• 106 - Start of the Bostran era, the calendar of the province of Arabia Petraea.
• 235 - Roman emperor Severus Alexander is murdered, marking the start of the Crisis of the Third Century.
• 871 - Æthelred of Wessex is defeated by a Danish invasion army at the Battle of Marton.
• 1185 - Battle of Yashima: the Japanese forces of the Taira clan are defeated by the Minamoto clan.
• 1312 - Vox in excelso: Pope Clement V dissolves the Order of the Knights Templar.
• 1508 - Ferdinand II of Aragon commissions Amerigo Vespucci chief navigator of the Spanish Empire.

  1601–1900

• 1621 - The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony, led by governor John Carver, sign a peace treaty with Massasoit, sachem of the Wampanoags; Squanto serves as an interpreter between the two sides.
• 1622 - Jamestown massacre: Algonquians kill 347 English settlers around Jamestown, Virginia, a third of the colony's population, during the Second Anglo-Powhatan War.
• 1631 - The Massachusetts Bay Colony outlaws the possession of cards, dice, and gaming tables.
• 1638 - Anne Hutchinson is expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious dissent.
• 1668 - Notable Privateer Henry Morgan lands in Cuba to raid and plunder the inland town of Puerto del Príncipe during the latter stages of the Anglo-Spanish War.
• 1739 - Nader Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne.
• 1765 - The British Parliament passes the Stamp Act that introduces a tax to be levied directly on its American colonies.
• 1784 - The Emerald Buddha is moved with great ceremony to its current location in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand.
• 1792 - Battle of Croix-des-Bouquets: Black slave insurgents gain a victory in the first major battle of the Haitian Revolution.
• 1794 - The Slave Trade Act of 1794 bans the export of slaves from the United States, and prohibits American citizens from outfitting a ship for the purpose of importing slaves.
• 1829 - In the London Protocol, the three protecting powers establish the borders of Greece.
• 1849 - The Austrians defeat the Piedmontese at the Battle of Novara.
• 1871 - In North Carolina, William Woods Holden becomes the first governor of a U.S. state to be removed from office by impeachment.
• 1873 - The Spanish National Assembly abolishes slavery in Puerto Rico.
• 1894 - The Stanley Cup ice hockey competition is held for the first time, in Montreal, Canada.
• 1895 - Before the Société pour L'Encouragement à l'Industrie, brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière demonstrate movie film technology publicly for the first time.
• 1896 - Charilaos Vasilakos wins the first modern Olympic marathon race with a time of three hours and 18 minutes.

  1901–present

• 1906 - The first England vs France rugby union match is played at Parc des Princes in Paris.
• 1913 - Mystic Phan Xích Long, the self-proclaimed Emperor of Vietnam, is arrested for organising a revolt against the colonial rule of French Indochina, which was nevertheless carried out by his supporters the following day.
• 1916 - Yuan Shikai abdicates as Emperor of China, restoring the Republic and returning to the Presidency.
• 1920 - Azeri and Turkish army soldiers with participation of Kurdish gangs attack the Armenian inhabitants of Shushi.
• 1933 - Cullen–Harrison Act: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an amendment to the Volstead Act, legalizing the manufacture and sale of "3.2 beer" and light wines.
• 1933 - Nazi Germany opens its first concentration camp, Dachau.
• 1934 - The first Masters Tournament is held at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.
• 1939 - Germany takes Memel from Lithuania.
• 1942 - World War II: In the Mediterranean Sea, the Royal Navy confronts Italy's Regia Marina in the Second Battle of Sirte.
• 1943 - World War II: The entire village of Khatyn is burnt alive by Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118.
• 1945 - World War II: The city of Hildesheim, Germany, is heavily damaged in a British air raid, though it had little military significance and Germany was on the verge of final defeat.
• 1945 - The Arab League is founded when a charter is adopted in Cairo, Egypt.
• 1946 - The United Kingdom grants full independence to Transjordan.
• 1955 - A United States Navy Douglas R6D-1 Liftmaster crashes into Hawaii's Waiʻanae Range, killing 66.
• 1960 - Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser.
• 1963 - The Beatles release their debut album Please Please Me.
• 1972 - The United States Congress sends the Equal Rights Amendment to the states for ratification.
• 1972 - In Eisenstadt v. Baird, the United States Supreme Court decides that unmarried persons have the right to possess contraceptives.
• 1975 - A fire at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Decatur, Alabama, causes a dangerous reduction in cooling water levels.
• 1978 - Karl Wallenda of The Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope suspended between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• 1982 - NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia is launched from the Kennedy Space Center on its third mission, STS-3.
• 1988 - The United States Congress votes to override President Ronald Reagan's veto of the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987.
• 1992 - USAir Flight 405 crashes shortly after takeoff from New York City's LaGuardia Airport, leading to a number of studies into the effect that ice has on aircraft.
• 1992 - Fall of communism in Albania: The Democratic Party of Albania wins a decisive majority in the parliamentary election.
• 1993 - The Intel Corporation ships the first Pentium chips, featuring a 60 MHz clock speed, 100+ MIPS, and a 64 bit data path.
• 1995 - Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returns to earth after setting a record of 438 days in space.
• 1996 - NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on its 16th mission, STS-76.
• 1997 - Tara Lipinski, aged 14 years and nine months, becomes the youngest women's World Figure Skating Champion.
• 1997 - Comet Hale–Bopp reaches its closest approach to Earth at 1.315 AU.
• 2004 - Ahmed Yassin, co-founder and leader of the Palestinian Sunni Islamist group Hamas, two bodyguards, and nine civilian bystanders are killed in the Gaza Strip when hit by Israeli Air Force Hellfire missiles.
• 2006 - Three Christian Peacemaker Team hostages are freed by British forces in Baghdad after 118 days of captivity and the murder of their colleague from the U.S., Tom Fox.
• 2013 - At least 37 people are killed and 200 are injured after a fire destroys a camp containing Burmese refugees near Ban Mae, Thailand.
• 2016 - Three suicide bombers kill 32 people and injure 316 in the 2016 Brussels bombings at the airport and at the Maelbeek/Maalbeek metro station.
• 2017 - A terrorist attack in London near the Houses of Parliament leaves four people dead and at least 20 injured.
• 2017 - Syrian civil war: Five hundred members of the Syrian Democratic Forces are airlifted south of the Euphrates by United States Air Force helicopters, beginning the Battle of Tabqa.
• 2019 - The Special Counsel investigation on the 2016 United States presidential election concludes when Robert Mueller submits his report to the United States Attorney General.
• 2019 - Two buses crashed in Kitampo, a town north of Ghana's capital Accra, killing at least 50 people.
• 2020 - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces the country's largest ever self-imposed curfew, in an effort to fight the spread of COVID-19.
• 2020 - Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announces a national lockdown and the country's first ever self-imposed curfew, in an effort to fight the spread of COVID-19.
• 2021 - Ten people are killed in a mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado.
• 2024 - At least 145 people are killed and 551 injured in a bombing and mass shooting at the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, Russia.

  Births

Pre-1600

• 841 - Bernard Plantapilosa, Frankish son of Bernard of Septimania
• 875 - William I, Duke of Aquitaine
• 1212 - Emperor Go-Horikawa of Japan
• 1367 - Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, English politician, Earl Marshal of the United Kingdom ;
• 1394 - Ulugh Beg, Persian astronomer and mathematician
• 1459 - Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
• 1499 - Johann Carion, German astrologer and chronicler
• 1503 - Antonio Francesco Grazzini, Italian author and educator
• 1517 - Gioseffo Zarlino, Italian composer
• 1519 - Catherine Brandon, Duchess of Suffolk, English noblewoman
• 1582 - John Williams, Archbishop of York
• 1599 - Anthony van Dyck, Flemish-English painter and etcher

  1601–1900

• 1609 - John II Casimir Vasa, Polish king
• 1615 - Katherine Jones, Viscountess Ranelagh, British scientist
• 1663 - August Hermann Francke, German clergyman, philanthropist, and scholar
• 1684 - William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath, English politician, Secretary at War
• 1712 - Edward Moore, English poet and playwright
• 1720 - Nicolas-Henri Jardin, French architect, designed the Yellow Palace and Bernstorff Palace
• 1723 - Charles Carroll, American lawyer and politician
• 1728 - Anton Raphael Mengs, German painter and theorist
• 1785 - Adam Sedgwick, English scientist
• 1797 - William I, German Emperor
• 1808 - Caroline Norton, English feminist, social reformer, and author
• 1808 - David Swinson Maynard, American physician and lawyer
• 1812 - Stephen Pearl Andrews, American author and activist
• 1814 - Thomas Crawford, American sculptor, designed the Statue of Freedom
• 1817 - Braxton Bragg, American general
• 1818 - John Ainsworth Horrocks, English-Australian explorer, founded Penwortham
• 1822 - Ahmed Cevdet Pasha, Ottoman sociologist, historian, scholar, statesman and jurist
• 1841 - Anastassios Christomanos, Greek scientist
• 1842 - Mykola Lysenko, Ukrainian pianist, composer, and conductor
• 1846 - Randolph Caldecott, English illustrator and painter
• 1846 - James Timberlake, American lieutenant, police officer, and farmer
• 1852 - Otakar Ševčík, Czech violinist and educator
• 1852 - Hector Sévin, French cardinal
• 1855 - Dorothy Tennant, British painter
• 1857 - Paul Doumer, French mathematician, journalist, and politician, 14th President of France
• 1866 - Jack Boyle, American baseball player and umpire
• 1868 - Robert Andrews Millikan, American colonel and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1869 - Emilio Aguinaldo, Filipino general and politician, 1st President of the Philippines
• 1869 - Tom McInnes, Scottish-English footballer
• 1873 - Ernest Lawson, Canadian-American painter
• 1880 - Ernest C. Quigley, Canadian-American football player and coach
• 1884 - Arthur H. Vandenberg, American journalist and politician
• 1884 - Lyda Borelli, Italian actress
• 1885 - Aryeh Levin, Polish-Lithuanian rabbi and educator
• 1886 - August Rei, Estonian lawyer and politician, Head of State of Estonia
• 1887 - Chico Marx, American actor
• 1890 - George Clark, American race car driver
• 1892 - Charlie Poole, American country banjo player
• 1892 - Johannes Semper, Estonian poet and scholar
• 1896 - He Long, Chinese general and politician, 1st Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China
• 1896 - Joseph Schildkraut, Austrian-American actor
• 1899 - Ruth Page, American ballerina and choreographer