March 29 - Events

Events

• 1461 – Wars of the Roses: Battle of Towton – Edward of York defeatsQueen Margaret to become King Edward IV of England.
• 1549 – The city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, is founded.
• 1632 – Treaty of Saint-Germain is signed, returning Quebec to Frenchcontrol after the English had seized it in 1629.
• 1638 – Swedish colonists establish the first settlement in Delaware, naming it New Sweden.
• 1792 – King Gustav III of Sweden dies after being shot in the back at a midnight masquerade ball at Stockholm's Royal Opera 13 days earlier. He is succeeded by Gustav IV Adolf.
• 1799 – New York passes a law aimed at gradually abolishing slavery in the state.
• 1806 – Construction is authorized of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first United Statesfederal highway.
• 1809 – King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden abdicates after a coup d'état. At the Diet of Porvoo, Finland'sfour Estates pledge allegiance to Alexander I of Russia, commencing the secession of the Grand Duchy of Finland from Sweden.
• 1831 – Great Bosnian uprising: Bosniak rebel against Turkey.
• 1847 – Mexican-American War: United States forces led by General Winfield Scott take Veracruzafter a siege.
• 1849 – The United Kingdom annexes the Punjab.
• 1857 – Sepoy Mangal Pandey of the 34th Regiment, Bengal Native Infantry revolts against the British rule in India and inspires a long-drawn War of Independence of 1857 also known as the Sepoy Mutiny.
• 1865 – American Civil War: Federal forces under Major General Philip Sheridan move to flank Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee as the Appomattox Campaign begins.
• 1867 – Queen Victoria gives Royal Assent to the British North America Act which establishes theDominion of Canada on July 1.
• 1871 – The Royal Albert Hall is opened by Queen Victoria.
• 1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Kambula: British forces defeat 20,000 Zulus.
• 1882 – The Knights of Columbus are established.
• 1886 – Dr. John Pemberton brews the first batch of Coca-Cola in a backyard in Atlanta, Georgia.
• 1911 – The M1911 .45 ACP pistol became the official U.S. Army side arm.
• 1930 – Heinrich Brüning is appointed German Reichskanzler.
• 1936 – In Germany, Adolf Hitler receives 99% of the votes in a referendum to ratify Germany's illegal reoccupation of the Rhineland, receiving 44.5 million votes out of 45.5 million registered voters.
• 1941 – The North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement goes into effect at 03:00 local time.
• 1941 – World War II: British Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy forces defeat those of the ItalianRegia Marina off the Peloponnesian coast of Greece in the Battle of Cape Matapan.
• 1942 – The Bombing of Lübeck in World War II is the first major success for the RAF Bomber Command against Germany and a German city.
• 1945 – World War II: Last day of V-1 flying bomb attacks on England.
• 1951 – Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage.
• 1957 – The New York, Ontario and Western Railway makes its final run.
• 1961 – The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, D.C., to vote in presidential elections.
• 1971 – My Lai massacre: Lt. William Calley is convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison.
• 1971 – A Los Angeles, California jury recommends the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers.
• 1973 – Vietnam War: The last United States combat soldiers leave South Vietnam.
• 1973 – Operation Barrel Roll, a covert US bombing campaign in Laos to stop communist infiltration ofSouth Vietnam, ends.
• 1974 – NASA's Mariner 10 becomes the first spaceprobe to fly by Mercury. It was launched onNovember 3, 1973.
• 1982 – The Telegu Desam Party (India's regional political party) was established by N. T. Rama Rao.
• 1982 – The Canada Act 1982 (U.K.) receives the Royal Assent from Queen Elizabeth II, setting the stage for the Queen of Canada to proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982.
• 1993 – Catherine Callbeck becomes premier of Prince Edward Island and the first woman to be elected in a general election as premier of a Canadian province.
• 1999 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 10,000 mark (10,006.78) for the first time, during the height of the internet boom.
• 2004 – Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO as full members.
• 2004 – The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants.
• 2008 – Thirty-five countries and over 370 cities join Earth Hour for the first time.
• 2010 – Two female suicide bombers hit the Moscow Metro system at the peak of the morning rush hour, killing 40.