March 21st

March 21 is the 80th (eightieth) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar and the 81stᵉʳ in leap years. There are 285 days left to end the year.

Events

• 537: Site of Rome by King Vitiges, who tries to assault the Authentic Walls, in the north and east of the city, but is rejected at the gate Prenestina—known as the Vivarium—by the defenders commanded by Bessas and Peranius.
• 717: near Cambrai (north of France) is the Battle of Vincy between Carlos Martel and Ragenfrid.
• 752: In Rome, Italy, Stephen II is chosen as a Pope, but he dies three days before being ordained bishop of Rome, so he was not considered a legitimate Pope.
• 1098: in Citeaux (Borgoña), the French religious Robert de Molesme founded the first monastery of Císter.
• 1188: In Japan, Antoku becomes emperor.
• 1222: Alfonso X of Castile, called the Sabio, a few months old, is a jury heir to the throne of Castile, in the city of Burgos.
• 1413: In England, Henry V became king.
• 1534: the Spanish conqueror Pedro de Mendoza is appointed "detached" of the Rio de la Plata.
• 1556: In Oxford (England) the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, accused of heresy, is burned.
• 1788: In the United States, a fire completely destroys the city of New Orleans.
• 1800: in Venice, while the dome of the church evicts Rome because of the armed conflict, Pius VII is crowned with a temporary papal tiara made of mache paper.
• 1801: near the ruins of Nicopolis (Egypt) the British and French armies wage the battle of Alexandria.
• 1804: France adopts Napoleon Code as a new body of civil law.
• 1829: in the province of Alicante (Spain), there is the earthquake of Torrevieja, of magnitude 6.6 in the scale of Richter, which shook the Vega Baja causing 389 dead and destroying 1895 houses.
• 1843: In the United States the End of the World should have begun by the millennial William Miller according to his interpretation of Daniel's prophecies. (See List of dates of the end of the world).
• 1844: In the United States the last probable day of the end of the world, according to the beliefs of William Miller. He prophesied that Armageddon would then happen on October 22, 1844. The proof that the prophecies were false generated the Great Deception and originated the adventist religion.
• 1844: the Bahái era begins (first day of the calendar of that religion).
• 1847: Captain General Rafael Carrera and Turcios establishes the Republic of Guatemala.
• 1871: German Foreign Minister Otto von Bismarck inaugurates the first Parliament of the German Empire.

Imperial Chancellor Otto von Bismarck inaugurates the first German parliament.

• 1871: In Africa, journalist Henry Morton Stanley (1841-1904) begins his journey in search of the missionary and explorer David Livingstone (1813-1873), to whom he will find on 27 October.
• 1892: In the province of Catamarca, Argentina, an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 occurs in the seismological scale of Richter, leaving a balance of some fatal victims. (See Recreation Earthquake).
• 1913 (Holy Fridays): in Dayton (Ohio), from today begins a flood of several days that will kill 360 people and destroy 20 000 homes. It's the worst disaster in state history.
• 1918: In the framework of the First World War, at 4:40 h the Germans carry out their last offensive (Kaiserschlacht, or ‘Kiser’s Battle’), a line of simultaneous attack of 69 km wide, which will end the allied victory of French, British and American.
• 1919: The Hungarian Soviet Republic is proclaimed in Hungary.
• 1921: The Bolshevik Party implements the New Economic Policy in response to economic failure as a result of war communism.
• 1930: In Chile the Air Force, founded by Arturo Merino Benítez, began to operate.
• 1933: the Foreign Minister of Germany Adolf Hitler inaugurates the first German Parliament of Nazi Germany.
• 1933: 16 km northwest of Munich (Germany) the construction of the concentration camp of Dachau, the first built by the Nazis, is completed. There will be 32 000 deaths.
• 1937: The Battle of Guadalajara (Spanish Civil War) ends in Spain.
• 1937: in Ponce (Puerto Rico), by the orders of U.S. Governor Blanton C. Winship (1869-1947), the police fire at a peaceful demonstration (Masacre de Ponce). They die 16 adults and a 13-year-old girl. Because the police surrounded the crowd, two police officers also die for “a friend” (cross-fire).
• 1945: in Copenhagen (Denmark)—in the framework of World War II—British aircraft carry out Operation Cartago: they bomb the Gestapo barracks. 55 German soldiers and 55 Danish civilians (47 employees and 8 prisoners) are killed. They also destroy a school, where 39 adults and 86 children die.
• 1945: As part of World War II, Bulgaria and the Soviet Union successfully completed their defense of the northern shore of the Drava River when the battle of the transdanubian hills ended.
• 1947: in Chihuahua, Mexico, the Colonial cinema was opened in the place of the Betancourt theatre.
• 1957: in El Salvador, there are other charges against the commander of the national police Adam Torres Valencia, according to the FGR, Lieutenant Domingo Monterrosa Ríos, who was the head of the GN in San Pedro Masahuat when the elderly Francisca of Peace was murdered in mysterious circumstances.
• 1960: In South Africa, the police fire at a peaceful demonstration, killing 69 Black people and wounding 180 (Sharpeville Massacre).
• 1963: In the United States the prison of the island of Alcatraz is officially closed, due to the pollution that it produced in the Bay of San Francisco
• 1964: in Copenhagen (Denmark)—when 19 years of the Copenhagen massacre (see above, 1945)—Italian Gigliola Cinquetti wins the ninth Eurovision Song Festival with the song Non ho l’età (‘I am not old [to love you]’).
• 1965: in Corporal Cañaveral (United States), NASA launches Ranger 9, which will be the last lunar probe.
• 1966: in New York (United States) the UN General Assembly proclaims the "International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination" in memory of the Sharpeville Massacre (South Africa) on the same date in 1960.
• 1968: The battle of Karameh between the Israeli Defense Forces and Fatah is waged in Jordan.
• 1970: in Amsterdam, Ireland wins the 15th Eurovision Edition with the theme All kinds of everything Dana.
• 1975: in the Great Buenos Aires (Argentina) the Triple A perpetrates the massacre of Pasco against militants of the Peronist Youth.
• 1980: in the United States, at the end of the season of the soap opera Dallas, the infamous character J. R. Ewing (represented by actor Larry Hagman, 1931-2012) is shot by an off-plan character, generating the slogan "Who shot Jota Erre?".
• 1981: in Chile a fire in the Santa Maria Tower causes the death of 11 people, including a firefighter. The sinister started on the 12th floor, when workers installed carpets with neo-prén jars.
• 1990: Namibia is independent of South Africa.
• 1990: In the Basque Country, Gaztea broadcasts for the first time.
• 1991: in the Autonomous Community of Madrid the segregation of part of the municipality of Colmenar Viejo is approved to create a new municipality called Tres Cantos.
• 1994: the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change enters into force.
• 1994: The Sedan crater (the largest artificial crater in that country) is included in the United States in the National Register of Historic Places.
• 1997: in a Tel Aviv (Israel) bar, a suicide bomber explodes killing 3 people and wounding 49.
• 1999: in the oasis of Bawiti (in the Egyptian desert), 300 km west of Cairo, Swiss Bertrand Piccard (1958-) — Auguste Piccard's granddaughter, inventor of the Batiscaf — and British Brian Jones (1947–) complete the first air balloon flight around the Earth. They had taken off Château D’Oex (Switzerland) on 1 March.
• 2001: In Afghanistan, the Taliban government of Mohammed Omar destroys the two gigantic Buddhas of Bāmiyān (V century), with the help of Arab and Pakistani engineers.
• 2001: Japanese company Nintendo launches the Game Boy Advance portable console.
• 2004: in El Salvador, Elías Antonio Saca (presidential candidate of the official party, ARENA) defeats Schafik Handal (presidential candidate of the FMLN opposition party) with 57.71 % of the votes in the presidential elections held on the same day.
• 2005: The Megaupload download page is founded in Hong Kong.
• 2006: In Dubai, immigrant workers who build the Burj Khalifa and the new terminal of the Dubai International Airport carry out riots that cause a million US dollars to damage.
• 2006: In San Francisco (California), Twitter is founded, the microblogging website.
• 2014: In Spain, Adolfo Suárez Illana announced that his father, the former president of the Government Adolfo Suárez, is in urgent hospital.
• 2018: Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigns from the presidency of Peru, in his third year of term, being the strong point of the political crisis that the country lived between 2017 and 2018.

Births

• 927: Song Taizu, Chinese emperor (f. 976).
• 1226: Charles of Anjou, king of Sicily (f. 1285).
• 1300: Heinrich Seuse, mystic German (f. 1366).
• 1521: Mauritius of Saxony, Saxon elector (f. 1553).
• 1527: Hermann Finck, German composer (f. 1558).
• 1551: María Ana de Baviera, German aristocrat (f. 1608).
• 1557: Anne Howard, aristocrat and English poet (f. 1630).
• 1626: San Pedro de San José Betancur, a Spanish religious (f. 1667).
• 1665: José Benito de Churriguera, Spanish architect (f. 1725).
• 1666: Ogyū Sorai, Japanese Confucian philosopher (f. 1728).
• 1685: Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer and organist (f. 1750).
• 1736: Claude-Nicolas Ledoux, French architect and urbanist (f. 1806).
• 1752: Mary Dixon Kies, American inventor (f. 1837).
• 1763: Jean Paul, German writer (f. 1825).
• 1768: Jean-Baptiste Joseph Fourier, French mathematician and physicist (f. 1830).
• 1806: Benito Juárez, Mexican lawyer and politician, president of Mexico between 1858 and 1872 (f. 1872).
• 1836: Jesus of Monastery, violinist and Spanish composer (f. 1903).
• 1839: Modest Músorgski, Russian nationalist composer (f. 1881).
• 1844: Serafín Peña, a Mexican teacher and educator (f. 1926).
• 1849: Federico Madariaga, a Spanish military and writer (f. 1927).
• 1866: Antonia Maury, American astronomer (f. 1952).
• 1869: Florenz Ziegfeld, director of American theatre and producer (f. 1932).
• 1876: John Tewksbury, American athlete (f. 1968).
• 1877: Andrés Saliquet, a Spanish military officer (f. 1959).
• 1885: Pierre Renoir, French film and theatre actor (f. 1952).
• 1886: Emilio Jimeno Gil, Spanish scientist (f. 1976).
• 1887: Erich Mendelsohn, American architect (f. 1953).
• 1889: W. S. Van Dyke, American filmmaker (f. 1943).
• 1893: M. N. Roy, a revolutionary, activist and Bengali theorist (f. 1956).
• 1895: Sabino Alvarez Gendin, a university professor (f. 1983).
• 1900: Antonio Romañá Pujó, mathematician and Spanish priest (f. 1981).
• 1901: Karl Arnold, German politician (f. 1958).
• 1902: Son House, American musician (f. 1988).
• 1904: Nikolaos Skalkottas, Greek composer (f. 1949).
• 1905: Joan Corominas, Spanish philologist (f. 1997).
• 1913: George Abecassis, British Formula 1 pilot (f. 1991).
• 1913: Rodney Arismendi, Uruguayan politician (f. 1989).
• 1913: Guillermo Haro Barraza, Mexican astronomer (f. 1988).
• 1913: Bismillah Khan, Indian musician (f. 2006).
• 1914: Paul Tortelier, French chelist (f. 1990).
• 1915: José Barros, Colombian composer (f. 2007).
• 1920: Éric Rohmer, French filmmaker (f. 2010).
• 1921: Abdul Salam Arif, Iraqi military and political, president of Iraq between 1963 and 1966 (f. 1966).
• 1922: Russ Meyer, American filmmaker (f. 2004).
• 1923: Gregorio Vardanega, Italian artist (f. 2007).
• 1925: Peter Brook, British producer and theatre director.
• 1926: Camilo Rodolfo Cervino, Argentine footballer (f. 2017).
• 1927: Hans-Dietrich Genscher, a German politician (f. 2016).
• 1928: Surya Bahadur Thapa, Nepalese politician, Prime Minister of Nepal (f. 2015).
• 1931: Alda Merini, Italian poet (f. 2009).
• 1932: Carlos Artigas, Argentine actor (f. 2012).
• 1932: Walter Gilbert, American scientist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1980.
• 1932: Joseph Silverstein, director of American orchestra and violinist (f. 2015).
• 1935: Brian Clough, British football coach (f. 2004).
• 1935: Filaret, a Belarusian priest (f. 2021).
• 1937: Pierre-Jean Rémy, French diplomat and writer (f. 2010).
• 1940: Solomon Burke, American singer (f. 2010).
• 1940: Rafael Lorente Mourelle, Uruguayan architect.
• 1942: Françoise Dorléac, French actress (f. 1967).
• 1944: Marie-Christine Barrault, French actress.
• 1946: Timothy Dalton, British actor.
• 1946: Miguel Granduelo, Argentine singer of rock (f. 1988).
• 1947: Ali Abdullah Saleh, political and military Yemeni, president of Yemen between 1990 and 2012 (f. 2017).
• 1947: Jenny Pronczuk de Garbino, a Uruguayan toxicologist (f. 2010).
• 1948: Scott Fahlman, American computer scientist.
• 1949: Slavoj Žižek, a Slovenian philosopher and sociologist.
• 1950: Roger Hodgson, British singer, Supertramp band.
• 1950: Serguéi Lavrov, Russian politician and diplomat.
• 1951: Siosaia Maulupekotofa Tuita, a Togolese diplomat.
• 1952: Berenice Azambuja, singer, songwriter and Brazilian musician.
• 1955: Jair Bolsonaro, Brazilian military and political, President of Brazil between 2019 and 2022.
• 1956: Ingrid Kristiansen, Norwegian runner.
• 1957: Youssef Rzouga, Tunisian poet.
• 1958: Gary Oldman, British actor.
• 1959: Nobuo Uematsu, Japanese composer of video games music.
• 1960: Marito (Mario Perrotta), accompanying singer of Jorge Cafrune (1937-1978) between 1972 and 1974.
• 1960: Ayrton Senna, a Brazilian motor racing pilot (f. 1994).
• 1961: Shawn Lane, American guitarist (f. 2003).
• 1961: Marcelo Longobardi, Argentine journalist.
• 1961: Lothar Matthäus, German footballer.
• 1961: Luz Helena Cordero Villamizar, Colombian poet.
• 1962: Matthew Broderick, American actor.
• 1962: Gilles Lalay, a French bike rider (f. 1992).
• 1962: Rosie O'Donnell, American actress and comedian.
• 1962: Mark Waid, American comic book writer.
• 1963: Ronald Koeman, Dutch footballer.
• 1964: Jesper Skibby, Danish cyclist.
• 1965: Francisco Serrano Castro, Spanish jurist and politician.
• 1965: Wakana Yamazaki, actress, seiyū and Japanese narrator.
• 1966: Armando Archundia, Mexican football referee.
• 1968: DJ Premier, American rap producer, and hip hop diyéi.
• 1969: Ali Daei, Iranian footballer.
• 1969: Jaya, Filipino singer.
• 1970: Shiho Niiyama, Japanese Seiyū (f. 2000).
• 1968: Mauricio Daza, a Chilean lawyer and politician.
• 1972: Large Professor, American hip hop singer.
• 1974: Laura Allen, American actress.
• 1974: Pilar García Muñiz, Spanish journalist.
• 1974: Edsel Dope, American singer, composer and producer.
• 1975: Fabricio Oberto, Argentine basketball.
• 1975: Michale Graves, American singer, of the band The Misfits.
• 1975: Vitaly Potapenko, Ukrainian basketball.
• 1976: Liza Harper, French actress.
• 1977: Raúl Peña, Spanish actor.
• 1978: Kevin Federline, model, actor and American hip hop dancer.
• 1978: Marco de Luigi, footballer sanmarinense.
• 1979: Yahir, Mexican singer and actor.
• 1980: Ronaldinho Gaúcho, Brazilian footballer.
• 1980: Deryck Whibley, Canadian singer and guitarist, of the band Sum 41.
• 1981: Juan Martín Juárez, Uruguayan footballer.
• 1983: Gonzalo Fierro, Chilean footballer.
• 1983: Lucila Pascua, Spanish basketball
• 1983: Sofia Zámolo, model and presenter of Argentine television.
• 1984: Armando Alonso, Costa Rican footballer of the Saprissa Sportsman.
• 1984: Guillermo Daniel Rodríguez, Uruguayan footballer.
• 1984: Karl Svensson, Swedish footballer.
• 1985: Sonequa Martin-Green, American actress.
• 1985: Jonathan Vázquez, Argentine driver of motorism.
• 1985: Clara, Princess of Luxembourg.
• 1986: Scott Eastwood, American actor.
• 1987: Carlos Carrasco, Venezuelan baseball player.
• 1989: Jordi Alba, Spanish footballer.
• 1989: Nicolás Lodeiro, Uruguayan footballer.
• 1990: Ramin Rezaeian, Iranian footballer.
• 1991: Antoine Griezmann, French footballer.
• 1991: Djaniny Tavares, a Cape Verdean footballer.
• 1997: Martina Stoessel, Argentine singer and actress.
• 1997: Moses Dyer, New Zealand footballer.
• 2000: Jace Norman, American actor.

Deaths

• 547: Benito de Nursia, religious and holy Italian, founder of the Benedictines (n. 480).
• 1076: Robert I, aristocrat Borgovites (n. 1011).
• 1181: Taira no Kiyomori, Japanese feudal general (n. 1118).
• 1306: Robert II, aristocrat Borgogne (n. 1248).
• 1487: Nicholas of Flüe (Brother Klaus), Swiss hermit (n. 1417).
• 1556: Thomas Cranmer, an English religious, Archbishop of Canterbury (n. 1489).
• 1617: Pocahontas, Native American, daughter of Chief Powhatan.
• 1656: James Ussher, Irish Anglican archbishop (n. 1581).
• 1720: María Ana de Borbón-Conti, an Italian aristocrat (n. 1689).
• 1721: Juan de Gaona and Abad, a Spanish diplomat and aristocrat (n. 1658).
• 1729: John Law, Scottish economist and politician (n. 1671).
• 1751: Johann Heinrich Zedler, German editor (n. 1706).
• 1762: Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, a French astronomer (n. 1713).
• 1795: Honour III of Monaco (n. 1720).
• 1801: Andrea Luchesi, Italian composer (n. 1741).
• 1804: Luis Antonio Enrique de Borbón-Condé, aristocrat french (n. 1772).
• 1829: Windradyne, Australian Aboriginal warrior (n. 1800).
• 1831: José Tomás Ovalle, lawyer, politician and Chilean president (n. 1787).
• 1843: Robert Southey, British poet (n. 1774).
• 1843: Guadalupe Victoria (José Miguel Ramón A. Fernández Félix), the first Mexican president (n. 1786).
• 1854: Pedro María Anaya, Mexican military and political (n. 1795).
• 1892: Annibale de Gasparis, astronomer and Italian mathematician (n. 1819).
• 1910: Nadar (Gaspard-Félix Tournachon), French photographer (n. 1820).
• 1915: Frederick Winslow Taylor, American engineer and economist (n. 1856).
• 1934: Franz Schreker, director of Austrian orchestra and composer (n. 1878).
• 1936: Alexander Glazunov, Russian composer (n. 1865).
• 1938: Viviano L. Villareal, Mexican lawyer and politician (n. 1838).
• 1951: Willem Mengelberg, director of Dutch orchestra and musician (n. 1871).
• 1955: Aristide Baghetti, an Italian actor (n. 1874).
• 1958: Cyril M. Kornbluth, American writer of fantasy and science fiction (n. 1923).
• 1960: Sheila Scott Macintyre, Scottish mathematics (n. 1910).
• 1980: Peter Stoner, American mathematician and astronomer (n. 1888).
• 1985: Sir Michael Redgrave, British actor (n. 1908).
• 1987: Robert Preston, American actor (n. 1918).
• 1987: Dean Paul Martin, American musician (n. 1951).
• 1990: Juan Carlos De Seta, actor and conductor of Argentine television (n. 1930).
• 1991: Leo Fender, American businessman, guitar manufacturer (n. 1909).
• 1991: Vedat Dalokay, Turkish architect and politician (n. 1927).
• 1992: John Ireland, Canadian actor and filmmaker (n. 1914).
• 1992: Natalie Sleeth, American pianist and composer (n. 1930).
• 1994: Macdonald Carey, an American actor (n. 1913).
• 1994: Dack Rambo, American actor (n. 1941).
• 1994: Lili Damita, French actress (n. 1904).
• 1998: Galina Ulanova, Russian dancer (n. 1910).
• 1999: Ernie Wise, British comedian (n. 1925).
• 2001: Dora Alonso, Cuban writer (n. 1910).
• 2001: Chung Ju-yung, Korean industrial entrepreneur (n. 1915).
• 2001: Anthony Steel, British actor and singer (n. 1920).
• 2002: Herman Talmadge, lieutenant, attorney and American politician (n. 1913).
• 2003: Shivani, Indian author (n. 1923).
• 2003: Umar Wirahadikusumah, general and political Indonesian (n. 1924).
• 2005: Barney Martin, American actor (n. 1923).
• 2007: Juan José Hernández, Argentine writer (n. 1931).
• 2008: Gabriel Paris, military and Colombian president (n. 1910).
• 2008: Oscar Terán, an Argentine philosopher (n. 1938).
• 2010: Wolfgang Wagner, German opera director and musician (n. 1919).
• 2011: Txutxi Aranguren, footballer and Spanish coach (n. 1944).
• 2011: Pinetop Perkins, American blues pianist (n. 1913).
• 2012: Tonino Guerra, Italian writer and writer (n. 1920).
• 2012: Yuri Razuváyev, Russian chess player (n. 1945).
• 2013: Pietro Mennea, an Italian athlete and politician (n. 1952).
• 2013: Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian writer (n. 1930).
• 2013: Rick Hautala, author and American writer (n. 1949).
• 2013: Aníbal Paz, Uruguayan footballer (n. 1917).
• 2014: James Rebhorn, American actor (n. 1948).
• 2014: Ignatius Zakka I I Iwas, an Iraqi patriarch (n. 1933).
• 2015: Moncho Alpuente, Spanish writer, musician and journalist (n. 1949).
• 2017: Chuck Barris, host and producer of American gaming programs (n. 1929).
• 2021: Nawal El Saadawi, Egyptian writer and activist (n. 1931).

Celebrations

• Equinox:
  • otoñal in the southern hemisphere and
  • spring or vernal in the northern hemisphere.
• Zodiac: beginning of the horoscope.
• World Poetry Day established in 1999 by UNESCO
• International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, proclaimed in 1966 by the United Nations General Assembly in memory of the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa (1960).
• Novruz International Day
• International Day of Forests
• International Color Day, established by the International Color Association and approved by associations and members of more than 30 countries.
• 21-27 March: Week of Solidarity with Peoples Fighting Racism and Racial Discrimination
• Inca culture: Sitwa Raymi festival, celebrating the spring equinox.
• Down Syndrome Day
• Mexico Mexico: Anniversary of the Natalicio de Benito Juárez.
• South Africa: Human Rights Day.
• ChileChile: Chilean Air Force Day.
• PalestinePalestine: Day of the Palestinian Mother.

Catholic saints list

• San Serapion of EgyptAnacoreta.
• Saint Martyrs of Alexandria (f. 339).
• San Lupicino de Lauconneabad (f. 480).
• San Endeo de Aranabad (f. c. 542).
• San Benito de MontecasinoAbbot (f. 547).
• Saint James the Confessormartyr (f. v. 824).
• San Juan de Valence, bishop (f. c. 1145).
• San Nicolás de Flüe, anacoreta (f. 1487).
• Blessed Thomas Pilchard and William Pikemartyrs (f. 1591).
• Blessed Matthew Flathers, priest and martyr (f. 1608).
• St. Augustine Zhao Rong, priest and martyr (f. 1815).
• beata Benita Cambiagio Frassinello (f. 1858).