Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/March 2
This is a list of selected March 2 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 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 2: Great Lent begins (Eastern Christianity, 2009); Casimir Pulaski Day (Illinois 2009); Independence Day in Morocco; The Nineteen Day Fast begins (Bahá'í Faith)
- 1791 – French inventor Claude Chappe (pictured) and his brothers first demonstrated the semaphore line, a signaling system of conveying information by means of visual signals, using towers with pivoting shutters, also known as blades or paddles.
- 1836 – Texas Revolution: At a convention in Washington-on-the-Brazos, the Mexican state of Texas adopted a declaration of independence from Mexico, establishing the Republic of Texas.
- 1865 – New Zealand land wars: Protestant missionary Carl Sylvius Völkner died at the hands of Hauhau militants in Opotiki for working as an agent for George Grey, Governor-General of New Zealand.
- 1943 – World War II: Australian and American air forces attacked and destroyed a large convoy of the Japanese Navy at the Battle of the Bismarck Sea in the Bismarck Sea north of the island of Papua New Guinea.
- 1962 – American basketball player Wilt Chamberlain, then playing for the Philadelphia Warriors, scored 100 points in a game against the New York Knicks at Hersheypark Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania, still a record in the National Basketball Association today.