March 22Birthdays & History

On this day: March 22 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 106Start of the Bostran era, the calendar of the province of Arabia Petraea.Middle East
2. 235Roman emperor Severus Alexander is murdered, marking the start of the Crisis of the Third Century.Europe
3. 871Æthelred of Wessex is defeated by a Danish invasion army at the Battle of Marton.Europe
4. 1185Battle of Yashima: the Japanese forces of the Taira clan are defeated by the Minamoto clan.Asia
5. 1312Vox in excelso: Pope Clement V dissolves the Order of the Knights Templar.Europe
6. 1508Ferdinand II of Aragon commissions Amerigo Vespucci chief navigator of the Spanish Empire.Europe
7. 1621The 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.North America
8. 1622Jamestown massacre: Algonquians kill 347 English settlers around Jamestown, Virginia, a third of the colony's population, during the Second Anglo-Powhatan War.EuropeNorth America
9. 1631The Massachusetts Bay Colony outlaws the possession of cards, dice, and gaming tables.North America
10. 1638Anne Hutchinson is expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious dissent.North America
11. 1668Notable 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 (1654–1660).Latin AmericaEurope
12. 1739Nader Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne.Asia
13. 1765The British Parliament passes the Stamp Act that introduces a tax to be levied directly on its American colonies.EuropeNorth America
14. 1784The Emerald Buddha is moved with great ceremony to its current location in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand.Asia
15. 1792Battle of Croix-des-Bouquets: Black slave insurgents gain a victory in the first major battle of the Haitian Revolution.Latin America
16. 1794The 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.North America
17. 1829In the London Protocol, the three protecting powers (United Kingdom, France and Russia) establish the borders of Greece.Europe
18. 1849The Austrians defeat the Piedmontese at the Battle of Novara.Europe
19. 1871In North Carolina, William Woods Holden becomes the first governor of a U.S. state to be removed from office by impeachment.North America
20. 1873The Spanish National Assembly abolishes slavery in Puerto Rico.EuropeLatin America
21. 1894The Stanley Cup ice hockey competition is held for the first time, in Montreal, Canada.North America
22. 1895Before the Société pour L'Encouragement à l'Industrie, brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière demonstrate movie film technology publicly for the first time.Europe
23. 1896Charilaos Vasilakos wins the first modern Olympic marathon race with a time of three hours and 18 minutes.Europe
24. 1906The first England vs France rugby union match is played at Parc des Princes in Paris.Europe
25. 1913Mystic 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.AsiaEurope
26. 1916Yuan Shikai abdicates as Emperor of China, restoring the Republic and returning to the Presidency.Asia
27. 1920Azeri and Turkish army soldiers with participation of Kurdish gangs attack the Armenian inhabitants of Shushi (Nagorno Karabakh).Middle EastEurope
28. 1933Cullen–Harrison Act: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an amendment to the Volstead Act, legalizing the manufacture and sale of "3.2 beer" (3.2% alcohol by weight, approximately 4% alcohol by volume) and light wines.North America
29. 1933Nazi Germany opens its first concentration camp, Dachau.Europe
30. 1934The first Masters Tournament is held at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.North America
31. 1939Germany takes Memel from Lithuania.Europe
32. 1942World War II: In the Mediterranean Sea, the Royal Navy confronts Italy's Regia Marina in the Second Battle of Sirte.Europe
33. 1943World War II: The entire village of Khatyn (in present-day Republic of Belarus) is burnt alive by Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118.Europe
34. 1945The Arab League is founded when a charter is adopted in Cairo, Egypt.Middle East
35. 1945World 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.Europe
36. 1946The United Kingdom grants full independence to Transjordan.Europe
37. 1955A United States Navy Douglas R6D-1 Liftmaster crashes into Hawaii's Waiʻanae Range, killing 66.North America
38. 1957A United States Air Force aircraft disappears with all 67 people on board somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.North America
39. 1960Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser.North America
40. 1963The Beatles release their debut album Please Please Me.Europe
41. 1972The United States Congress sends the Equal Rights Amendment to the states for ratification.North America
42. 1972In Eisenstadt v. Baird, the United States Supreme Court decides that unmarried persons have the right to possess contraceptives.North America
43. 1975A fire at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Decatur, Alabama, causes a dangerous reduction in cooling water levels.North America
44. 1978Karl Wallenda of The Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope suspended between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.Latin America
45. 1982NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia is launched from the Kennedy Space Center on its third mission, STS-3.North America
46. 1988The United States Congress votes to override President Ronald Reagan's veto of the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987.North America
47. 1992USAir 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.North America
48. 1992Fall of communism in Albania: The Democratic Party of Albania wins a decisive majority in the parliamentary election.Europe
49. 1993The Intel Corporation ships the first Pentium chips (80586), featuring a 60 MHz clock speed, 100+ MIPS, and a 64 bit data path.North America
50. 1995Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returns to earth after setting a record of 438 days in space.Europe
51. 1996NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on its 16th mission, STS-76.North America
52. 1997Comet Hale–Bopp reaches its closest approach to Earth at 1.315 AU.World
53. 1997Tara Lipinski, aged 14 years and nine months, becomes the youngest women's World Figure Skating Champion.North America
54. 2004Ahmed 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.Middle East
55. 2006Three Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) 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.EuropeMiddle EastNorth America
56. 2013At least 37 people are killed and 200 are injured after a fire destroys a camp containing Burmese refugees near Ban Mae, Thailand.Asia
57. 2016Three suicide bombers kill 32 people and injure 316 in the 2016 Brussels bombings at the airport and at the Maelbeek/Maalbeek metro station.Europe
58. 2017Syrian civil war: Five hundred members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are airlifted south of the Euphrates by United States Air Force helicopters, beginning the Battle of Tabqa.Middle EastNorth America
59. 2017A terrorist attack in London near the Houses of Parliament leaves four people dead and at least 20 injured.Europe
60. 2019Two buses crash in Kitampo, a town north of Ghana's capital Accra, killing at least 50 people.Africa
61. 2019The Special Counsel investigation on the 2016 United States presidential election concludes when Robert Mueller submits his report to the United States Attorney General.North America
62. 2020Greek 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.Europe
63. 2020Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces the country's largest ever self-imposed curfew, in an effort to fight the spread of COVID-19.Asia
64. 2021Ten people are killed in a mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado.North America
65. 2024At least 151 people are killed and 609 injured in a bombing and mass shooting at the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, Russia.Europe
66. 2026Air Canada Express Flight 8646, a Bombardier CRJ-900 operated by Jazz Aviation, collided with a fire truck while landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Two fatalities were reported, both being the captain and the co-pilot. This marked the first fatal accident involving a CRJ-900.North America

Source: Wikipedia "March 22" / CC BY-SA 4.0