Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/March 31
This is a list of selected March 31 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.
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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Replica of Richard Pearse's aeroplane on display at the South Canterbury Museum in Timaru -
Eiffel Tower -
Eiffel Tower -
Eiffel Tower -
Matthew C. Perry -
Woodcut picture of Matthew C. Perry
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| Freedom Day in Malta | stub |
| 1717 – A sermon on The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ by Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, ignited the Bangorian Controversy, a theological argument within the Church of England about whether the church should have any disciplinary authority. | unreferenced section |
| 1778 – English explorer James Cook landed on Vancouver Island and claimed it for Great Britain. | refimprove sections, expansion |
| 1903 – New Zealand inventor Richard Pearse reportedly flew in one of the first powered flying machines for a distance of several hundred metres, about nine months before the Wright brothers flew their Wright Flyer. | unreferenced section, refimprove section |
| 1917 – The Danish West Indies became the US Virgin Islands after the United States paid Denmark US$25 million for the Caribbean islands. | refimprove section |
| 1931 – TWA Flight 599 crashed in Chase County, Kansas, US, and killed eight people, including football coach Knute Rockne, stimulating advances in aircraft design and development. | refimprove |
| 1951 – The first UNIVAC I, the first commercial computer made in the United States, was delivered to the United States Census Bureau. | refimprove |
Eligible
- 1492 – The Catholic Monarchs of Spain issued the Alhambra Decree, ordering all Jews to convert to Christianity or be expelled from the country.
- 1854 – US Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry and the Tokugawa shogunate signed the Convention of Kanagawa, forcing the opening of Japanese ports to American trade.
- 1889 – The Eiffel Tower was inaugurated in Paris, becoming a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world.
- 1899 – Philippine-American War: Malolos, capital of the First Philippine Republic, was captured by American forces.
- 1901 – A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the Black Sea, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in the area.
- 1910 – Six English towns amalgamated to form a single county borough called Stoke-on-Trent, the first union of its type.
- 1930 – To avoid government censorship, Hollywood movie studios instituted their own set of industry censorship guidelines, popularly known as the Hays Code.
- 1970 – Nine Japanese communists hijacked Japan Airlines Flight 351 and proceeded to Mirim Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea.
- 1992 – The USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, was decommissioned in Long Beach, California.
- 1995 – American singer-songwriter, Selena, known as "The Queen of Tejano music", was murdered in Corpus Christi, Texas, by the president of her fan club, Yolanda Saldívar.
March 31: King Nangklao Memorial Day in Thailand; Cesar Chavez Day in various US states
- 627 – Muslim–Quraish Wars: A confederation of tribes began an ultimately unsuccessful siege of Yathrib (now Medina) against Muhammad and his army.
- 1146 – French abbot Bernard of Clairvaux preached a sermon to a crowd at Vézelay, with King Louis VII in attendance, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade.
- 1822 – Greek War of Independence: Ottoman troops began the massacre of over 20,000 Greeks on the island of Chios.
- 1942 – Second World War: Because of a mutiny by Indian soldiers against their British officers, Japanese troops captured Christmas Island without any resistance.
- 1964 – Brazilian Armed Forces led an overthrow of Brazilian President João Goulart (pictured) and established a military government that lasted for 21 years.