Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/March 21
This is a list of selected March 21 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article, featured list or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
March 21: Naw-Rúz in the Bahá'í calendar; Benito Juárez Day in Mexico; World Poetry Day
- 1556 – Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer (pictured), one of the founders of Anglicanism, was burnt at the stake in Oxford, England for heresy.
- 1800 – After being elected as a compromise candidate after several months of stalemate, Pius VII was crowned Pope in Venice with a temporary papal tiara made of papier-mâché.
- 1804 – The Napoleonic code, the French civil code established under Napoleon, entered into force, eventually strongly influencing the law of many other countries.
- 1960 – Police in Sharpeville, South Africa opened fire on a group of unarmed black demonstrators who were protesting pass laws, killing almost 70 people and wounding about 180 others.
- 1989 – An article in Sports Illustrated alleged that Pete Rose, the Manager of the Cincinnati Reds, was involved in baseball gambling.