What happened on March 31? There are more than 295 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About March 31
March 31 is the 91st day of the year 2024. There are 275 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Sunday. This day falls under the 13th week of the year 2024.
On this day in Bradford, New Hampshire 03221 sunrise occured at 06:28 AM and sunset occured at 07:14 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Aries. The modern birthstone for this month is Aquamarine while the mystical birthstone is Jade.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 304 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
Is your birthday coming up in two days? Are you not curious to find out who is sharing your special day? Discover all the April 28 famous birthdays. There are fun facts about that day that you must know. (Sponsored link)
Historical Events For March 31
- 307After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Maximian.
- 1146Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade. Louis VII is present, and joins the Crusade.
- 1492Queen Isabella of Castille issues the Alhambra decree, ordering her 150,000 Jewish subjects to convert to Christianity or face expulsion.
- 1717A sermon on “The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ” by Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, provokes the Bangorian Controversy.
- 1774American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain orders the port of Boston, Massachusetts closed pursuant to the Boston Port Act.
- 1822The massacre of the population of the Greek island of Chios by soldiers of the Ottoman Empire following an attempted rebellion, depicted by the French artist Eugène Delacroix.
- 1854Commodore Matthew Perry signs the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade.
- 1866The Spanish Navy bombs the harbor of Valparaíso, Chile.
- 1877The family with samurai antecedents that responded to the Saigō army in Ōita Nakatsu, rebels.
- 1885The United Kingdom establishes a protectorate over Bechuanaland.
- 1889The Eiffel Tower is officially opened.
- 1903Richard Pearse allegedly makes a powered flight in an early aircraft.
- 1906The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (later the National Collegiate Athletic Association) is established to set rules for college sports in the United States.
- 1909Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- 1910Six North Staffordshire Pottery towns federate to form modern Stoke-on-Trent.
- 1917The United States takes possession of the Danish West Indies after paying $25 million to Denmark, and renames the territory the United States Virgin Islands.
- 1918Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States for the first time.
- 1918Massacre of ethnic Azerbaijanis is committed by allied armed groups of Armenian Revolutionary Federation and Bolsheviks. Nearly 12,000 Azerbaijani Muslims are killed.
- 1921The Royal Australian Air Force is formed.
- 1930The Motion Pictures Production Code is instituted, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in film, in the U.S., for the next thirty eight years.
- 1931An earthquake destroys Managua, Nicaragua, killing 2,000.
- 1931TWA Flight 599 crashes near Bazaar, Kansas killing 8 including Knute Rockne, head football coach at the University of Notre Dame
- 1933The Civilian Conservation Corps is established with the mission of relieving rampant unemployment.
- 1942World War II: Japanese forces invade Christmas Island, then a British possession.
- 1945World War II: a defecting German pilot delivers a Messerschmitt Me 262A-1, the world’s first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft, to the Americans, the first to fall into Allied hands.
- 1949The Dominion of Newfoundland joins the Canadian Confederation and becomes the 10th Province of Canada.
- 1951Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau.
- 1957Elections to the Territorial Assembly of the French colony Upper Volta are held. After the elections PDU and MDV form a government.
- 1958In the Canadian federal election, the Progressive Conservatives, led by John Diefenbaker, win the largest percentage of seats in Canadian history, with 208 seats of 265.
- 1959The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, crosses the border into India and is granted political asylum.
- 1964A coup d'état in Brazil establishes a military government, under the aegis of general Castello Branco.
- 1965An Iberia Airlines Convair 440 crashes into the sea on approach to Tangier, killing 47 of 51 occupants.
- 1966The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon.
- 1970Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere after 12 years in orbit.
- 1970Nine terrorists from the Japanese Red Army hijack Japan Airlines Flight 351 at Tokyo International Airport, wielding samurai swords and carrying a bomb.
- 1979The last British soldier leaves the Maltese Islands. Malta declares its Freedom Day (Jum il-Helsien).
- 1980The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad operates its final train after being ordered to liquidate its assets because of bankruptcy and debts owed to creditors.
- 1985The first WrestleMania, the biggest wrestling event from the WWE (then the WWF), takes place in Madison Square Garden in New York.
- 1986A Mexicana Boeing 727 en route to Puerto Vallarta erupts in flames and crashes in the mountains northwest of Mexico City, killing 166.
- 1986Six metropolitan county councils are abolished in England.
- 1990200,000 protestors take to the streets of London to protest against the newly introduced Poll Tax.
- 1991Georgian independence referendum, 1991: nearly 99 percent of the voters support the country’s independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1991The Islamic Constitutional Movement, or Hadas, is established in Kuwait.
- 1992The USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, is decommissioned in Long Beach, California.
- 1994Human evolution: The journal Nature reports the finding in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull.
- 1995Selena, an American singer, was murdered by her friend and employee of her boutiques Yolanda Saldívar who was embezzling money from the establishments. The event was named “Black Friday” by Hispanics.
- 2004Iraq War in Anbar Province - In Fallujah, Iraq, 4 American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA, are killed after being ambushed.
Who Were Born On March 31?
- 250Constantius Chlorus, Roman Emperor (d. 306)
- 1360Philippa of Lancaster, queen of Portugal (d. 1415)
- 1425Bianca Maria Visconti, Duchess of Milan (d. 1468)
- 1499Pope Pius IV (d. 1565)
- 1504Guru Angad Dev, second Sikh guru (d. 1552)
- 1519King Henry II of France (d. 1559)
- 1536Ashikaga Yoshiteru, Japanese shogun (d. 1565)
- 1576Louise Juliana of Nassau, Regent of Bohemia (d. 1644)
- 1596René Descartes, French philosopher, mathematician (d. 1650)
- 1621Andrew Marvell, English poet (d. 1678)
- 1651Karl II, Elector Palatine (d. 1685)
- 1675Pope Benedict XIV (d. 1758)
- 1718Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain (d. 1781)
- 1723King Frederick V of Denmark (d. 1766)
- 1730Étienne Bézout, French mathematician (d. 1783)
- 1732Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer (d. 1809)
- 1777Charles Cagniard de la Tour, French physicist (d. 1859)
- 1778Coenraad Jacob Temminck, Dutch zoologist (d. 1858)
- 1794Thomas McKean Thompson McKennan, American politician and cabinet member (d. 1852)
- 1809Edward FitzGerald, English poet (d. 1883)
- 1809Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, Ukrainian-born Russian writer (d. 1852)
- 1809Otto Lindblad, Swedish composer (d. 1864)
- 1819Prince Chlodwig zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, German statesman (d. 1901)
- 1823Mary Boykin Chesnut, American author (d. 1886)
- 1847Yegor Ivanovich Zolotarev, Russian mathematician (d. 1878)
- 1855Alfred E. Hunt, American entrepreneur (d. 1899)
- 1871Arthur Griffith, Irish politician (d. 1922)
- 1872Alexandra Kollontai, Russian statesman (d. 1952)
- 1872Sergei Diaghilev, Russian ballet impresario (d. 1929)
- 1876Borisav Stanković, Serbian writer (d. 1927)
- 1878Jack Johnson, American boxer (d. 1946)
- 1884Adriaan van Maanen, Dutch-born American astronomer (d. 1946)
- 1885Pascin, Bulgarian painter (d. 1930)
- 1890William Lawrence Bragg, English physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1971)
- 1891Victor Varconi, Hungarian film actor (d. 1976)
- 1893Clemens Krauss, Austrian conductor (d. 1954)
- 1895Vardis Fisher, American author (d. 1968)
- 1906Shin'ichiro Tomonaga, Japanese physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1979)
- 1907Eddie Quillan, American actor (d. 1990)
- 1908Red Norvo, American jazz vibraphonist (d. 1999)
- 1911Elisabeth Grümmer, German soprano (d. 1986)
- 1912William Lederer, American writer (d. 2009)
- 1914Octavio Paz, Mexican diplomat and writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1998)
- 1915Albert Hourani, English historian (d. 1993)
- 1915Shoichi Yokoi, Japanese military man (d. 1997)
- 1916John H. Wood, Jr., American jurist (d. 1979)
- 1916Lucille Bliss, American voice actress
- 1919Frank Akins, American football player (d. 1993)
- 1920Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, English noble
- 1922Richard Kiley, American actor and singer (d. 1999)
- 1924Charles Guggenheim, American film director and producer (d. 2002)
- 1924Leo Buscaglia, American author (d. 1998)
- 1925Jean Coutu, French Canadian actor (d. 1999)
- 1926John Fowles, English author (d. 2005)
- 1927César Chávez, American labor activist (d. 1993)
- 1927William Daniels, American actor
- 1928Gordie Howe, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1928Lefty Frizzell, American singer and songwriter (d. 1975)
- 1929Bertram Fields, American lawyer
- 1929Liz Claiborne, Belgian-born American fashion designer (d. 2007)
- 1931Miller Barber, American golfer
- 1932John Jakes, American writer
- 1932Nagisa Oshima, Japanese film director
- 1933Nichita Stănescu, Romanian poet (d. 1983)
- 1934Carlo Rubbia, Italian physicist, Nobel Laureate
- 1934John D. Loudermilk, American singer and songwriter
- 1934Richard Chamberlain, American actor
- 1934Shirley Jones, American singer and actress
- 1935Herb Alpert, American trumpeter and band leader
- 1935Judith Rossner, American author
- 1936Bob Pulford, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1936Dokumamushi Sandayu, Japanese actor
- 1936Marge Piercy, American writer
- 1938Arthur B. Rubinstein, American composer
- 1938Bill Hicke, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
- 1938David Steel, Scottish politician
- 1938Michiko Nomura, Japanese voice actor
- 1938Sheila Dikshit, Indian statesman
- 1939Volker Schlöndorff, German film director
- 1939Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Georgian politician (d. 1993)
- 1940Barney Frank, American politician
- 1940Patrick Leahy, American politician
- 1941Franco Bonvicini, also known as Bonvi, Italian comic book artist (Sturmtruppen, Nick Carter) (d. 1995)
- 1942Michael Savage, American radio host and political commentator
- 1942Ulla Hoffmann, Swedish politician
- 1943Christopher Walken, American actor
- 1944Mick Ralphs, English guitarist (Mott the Hoople, Bad Company)
- 1944Pascal Danel, French singer and songwriter
- 1945Gabe Kaplan, American actor and comedian
- 1945Myfanwy Talog, Welsh actress (d. 1995)
- 1945Valerie Curtin, American actress, writer, and producer
- 1946Gonzalo Márquez, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 1984)
- 1947César Gaviria Trujillo, Colombian politician
- 1947Kristian Blak, Danish musician and recording executive
- 1948Al Gore, 45th Vice President of the United States and Nobel laureate
- 1948Gustaaf Van Cauter, Belgian cyclist
- 1948Rhea Perlman, American actress
- 1950András Adorján, Hungarian chess player
- 1950Ed Marinaro, American football player and actor
- 1951Frankie Sabath, Puerto Rican performer/singer
- 1952Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (d. 1998)
- 1955Angus Young, Scottish-born Australian guitarist (AC/DC)
- 1955Robert Vance, New Zealand cricketer
- 1957Alan Duncan, British politician
- 1957Kyle Secor, American actor
- 1957Marc McClure, American actor
- 1958Tony Cox, American actor
- 1959Ali McMordie, Irish bassist (Stiff Little Fingers)
- 1959Markus Hediger, Swiss poet and translator
- 1960Michelle Nicastro, American actress and singer (d. 2010)
- 1962John Taylor, American football player
- 1963Paul Mercurio, Australian actor/dancer
- 1964Fez Marie Whatley, American radio host and comedian
- 1964Paul Wong Koon-Chung, Hong Kong musician (Beyond)
- 1965Jean-Christophe Lafaille, French mountaineer (d. 2006)
- 1965Steven T. Seagle, American comic-book writer
- 1965Tom Barrasso, American ice hockey player
- 1966Nick Firestone, American race car driver
- 1966Roger Black, English athlete
- 1968J.R. Reid, American basketball player
- 1968Naoya Ogawa, Japanese professional wrestler
- 1969Nyamko Sabuni, Swedish politician
- 1969Samantha Brown, American television host
- 1969Steve Smith, American basketball player
- 1971Craig McCracken, American Animator
- 1971Demetris Assiotis, Greek-Cypriot footballer
- 1971Ewan McGregor, Scottish actor
- 1971Pavel Bure, Russian ice hockey player
- 1972Alejandro Amenábar, Spanish film director
- 1972Andrew Bowen, American actor
- 1972Hristos Polihroniou, Greek hammer thrower
- 1972Luca Gentili, Italian footballer
- 1972Ze Frank, American internet personality
- 1974Benjamin Eicher, Swiss film director
- 1974Stefan Olsdal, Swedish bassist (Placebo)
- 1975Adam Green, American film director
- 1975Emma Atkins, English actress
- 1975Prodromos Dreliozis, Greek basketball player
- 1976Ashton Moore, American porn actress
- 1976Josh Saviano, American actor
- 1977Garth Tander, Australian racing driver
- 1977Toshiya, Japanese musician (Dir en grey)
- 1978Jérôme Rothen, French footballer
- 1978Stephen Clemence, English footballer
- 1978Tony Yayo, American rapper
- 1979Josh Kinney, American baseball player
- 1980Chien-Ming Wang, Taiwanese baseball player
- 1980Dean Clark, English footballer
- 1980Maaya Sakamoto, Japanese voice actor/Singer
- 1980Michael Ryder, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1981Gerard McCarthy, British actor
- 1981Maarten van der Weijden, Dutch swimmer
- 1981Pa Dembo Tourray, Gambian footballer
- 1981Ryan Bingham, American singer/songwriter
- 1982Audrey Kawasaki, American painter
- 1982Lennon Murphy, American rock singer/songwriter
- 1982Ryland Blackinton, American guitarist (Cobra Starship)
- 1982Tal Ben Haim, Israeli footballer
- 1983Paddy McCarthy, Irish footballer
- 1983Vlasios Maras, Greek gymnast
- 1984Alberto Junior Rodríguez, Peruvian footballer
- 1984Dario Bova, Italian footballer
- 1984David Clarkson, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1984Eddie Johnson, American soccer player
- 1984James Jones, American football player
- 1984Yanin Vismistananda, Thai actress
- 1985Jessica Szohr, American actress
- 1987Eros Pisano, Italian footballer
- 1987Humpy Koneru, Indian chess grandmaster
- 1987Nordin Amrabat, Dutch footballer
- 1988Hogan Ephraim, English footballer
- 1988Louis van der Westhuizen, Namibian cricketer
- 1989Liu Zige, Chinese swimmer
Who Died On March 31?
- 1074Regency Yorimichi Fujiwara of Japan (b. 992)
- 1340Ivan I of Russia, Prince of Moscow (b. 1288)
- 1547Francis I of France (b. 1494)
- 1567Philipp I of Hesse (b. 1504)
- 1621King Philip III of Spain (b. 1578)
- 1631John Donne, English writer and prelate (b. 1572)
- 1671Anne Hyde, wife of James II of England (b. 1637)
- 1703Johann Christoph Bach, German composer (b. 1642)
- 1723Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon, British-born U.S. state governor (b. 1661)
- 1727Sir Isaac Newton, English mathematician and physicist (b. 1643)
- 1741Pieter Burmann the Elder, Dutch classical scholar (b. 1668)
- 1783Nikita Ivanovich Panin, Russian statesman (b. 1718)
- 1797Olaudah Equiano, Nigerian slave (b.1745)
- 1837John Constable, English painter (b. 1776)
- 1850John C. Calhoun, 7th Vice President of the United States (b. 1782)
- 1855Charlotte Brontë, English author (b. 1816)
- 1877Antoine Augustin Cournot, French mathematician (b. 1801)
- 1880Henryk Wieniawski, Polish composer (b. 1835)
- 1885Franz Wilhelm Abt, German composer (b. 1819)
- 1913J. P. Morgan, American financier (b. 1837)
- 1915Wyndham Halswelle, Scottish athlete (b. 1882)
- 1917Emil Adolf von Behring, German physician, Nobel laureate (b. 1854)
- 1924George Charles Haité, English designer, painter and illustrator (b.1855)
- 1930Ludwig Schüler, German politician (b. 1836)
- 1931Knute Rockne, American football coach (b. 1888)
- 1935Concordia Selander, Swedish actress (b. 1861)
- 1935Georges V. Matchabelli, Russian-born perfumer (b. 1885)
- 1944Mineichi Koga, Japanese admiral (b. 1885)
- 1945Anne Frank, German-born diarist (b. 1929)
- 1945Frank Findlay, New Zealand politician (b. 1884)
- 1945Hans Fischer, German chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1881)
- 1952Wallace H. White, Jr., American politician (b. 1877)
- 1956Ralph DePalma, Italian-born race car driver (b. 1884)
- 1968Grover Lowdermilk, American baseball player (b. 1885)
- 1972Meena Kumari, Indian actress (b. 1932)
- 1975Percy Alliss, English Golfer (b. 1897)
- 1976Paul Strand, American photographer and filmmaker (b. 1890)
- 1978Charles Best, Canadian medical scientist (b. 1899)
- 1980Jesse Owens, American athlete (b. 1913)
- 1980Vladimír Holan, Czech poet (b. 1905)
- 1981Enid Bagnold, British playwright (b. 1889)
- 1983Christina Stead, Australian writer (b. 1902)
- 1984Ronald Clark O'Bryan, American murderer (b. 1944)
- 1986Jerry Paris, American actor (b. 1925)
- 1986O'Kelly Isley, Jr., American singer (The Isley Brothers) (b. 1937)
- 1988William McMahon, 20th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1908)
- 1993Brandon Lee, American actor (b. 1965)
- 1993Chichay, Filipino actress (b. 1918)
- 1993Mitchell Parish, American lyricist (b. 1900)
- 1995Selena, an American singer (b. 1971)
- 1996Jeffrey Lee Pierce, American musician (The Gun Club) (b. 1958)
- 1998Bella Abzug, American politician (b. 1920)
- 1998Tim Flock, American race car driver (b. 1924)
- 1999Yuri Knorozov, Russian linguist (b. 1922)
- 2001Clifford Shull, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1915)
- 2001David Rocastle, English footballer (b. 1967)
- 2002Barry Took, British comedian (b. 1928)
- 2002Moturu Udayam, Indian women’s activist (b. 1924)
- 2003Anne Gwynne, American film actress (b. 1918)
- 2003H.S.M. Coxeter, English-born geometer (b. 1907)
- 2003Tommy Seebach, Danish singer (b. 1949)
- 2004Scott Helvenston, American Navy SEAL and Blackwater Contractor (b. 1965)
- 2005Frank Perdue, American poultry farmer (b. 1920)
- 2005Justiniano Montano, Filipino politician (b. 1905)
- 2005Stanley J. Korsmeyer, American oncologist (b. 1951)
- 2005Terri Schiavo, American figure in right-to-die case (b. 1963)
- 2006Angela Devi, American adult model (b. 1975)
- 2006Jackie McLean, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1931)
- 2007Paul Watzlawick, Austrian-born theoreticist (b. 1921)
- 2008Bill Keightley (Mr. Wildcat), American basketball equipment manager (b. 1926)
- 2008Jules Dassin, American film director (b. 1911)
- 2009Choor Singh, Singaporean judge (b. 1911)
- 2009Jarl Alfredius, Swedish news anchor (b. 1943)
- 2009Raúl Alfonsín, former President of Argentina (b. 1927)
- 2010Shirley Mills, American actress (b. 1926)
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