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1447 - Nicholas V becomes Pope.

1454 - Thirteen Years' War: Delegates of the Prussian Confederation pledged allegiance to Casimir IV of Poland, and the Polish king agreed to help in their struggle for independence from the Teutonic Knights.

1460 - Treaty of Alcaçovas - Portugal gives the Canary Islands to Castile in exchange for claims in West Africa.

1521 - Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Guam.

1788 - The First Fleet arrives to Norfolk Island in order to found a convict settlement.

1820 - The Missouri Compromise is signed into law by President James Monroe. The compromise allows Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, but makes the rest of the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase territory slavery-free.

1834 - York, Upper Canada is incorporated as Toronto.

1836 - Texas Revolution: Battle of the Alamo - After a 13-day siege by an army of 3,000 Mexican troops, the 189 Texas volunteers defending the Alamo are defeated and the fort taken.

1853 - The Giuseppe Verdi opera La Traviata premieres in Venice.

1856 - The University of Maryland, College Park is chartered as the Maryland Agricultural College.

1857 - The Supreme Court of the United States rules in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case.

1869 - Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society.

1899 - Bayer registers aspirin as a trademark.

1900 - A coal mine explosion in West Virginia traps 50 coal miners.

1901 - In Bremen an assassin attempts to kill Wilhelm II of Germany.

1902 - The Spanish football club Real Madrid is founded.

1921 - The Portuguese Communist Party is founded as the Portuguese Section of the Communist International.

1925 - Pionerskaya Pravda, one of the oldest children's newspapers in Europe, is founded.

1925 - Belgium annexes Eupen, Malmedy, and Sankt Vith.

1940 - Winter War: An armistice is signed by Finland and the Soviet Union.

1945 - A communist-dominated government under Petru Groza assumes power in Romania.

1946 - Vietnam War: Ho Chi Minh signs an agreement with France which recognizes Vietnam as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union.

1948 - USS Newport News, the first air-conditioned naval ship, is launched from Newport News, Virginia.

1951 - The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg begins.

1953 - Georgy Maksimilianovich Malenkov succeeds Josef Stalin as Premier and First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

1957 - United Kingdom colonies Gold Coast and British Togoland become the independent Republic of Ghana.

1957 - Israel withdraws its troops from the Sinai Peninsula.

1964 - Prophet Elijah Muhammad officially gives Cassius Clay the name Muhammad Ali meaning "beloved of Allah".

1964 - Constantine II becomes King of Greece.

1964 - Tom O'Hara sets a new world record for the indoor mile run by completing it in 3 minutes, 56.4 seconds.

1970 - Cult leader and suspected murderer Charles Manson releases an album titled to help finance his defense.

1975 - Algiers Accord: Iran and Iraq announce a settlement over their border dispute.

1981 - After 19 years presenting the CBS Evening News, Walter Cronkite signs off for the last time.

1983 - The United States Football League begins its first year of competition.

1984 - Twelve-month-long strike in British coal industry begins.

1987 - The British ferry M/S ''Herald of Free Enterprise'' capsizes in about 90 seconds after leaving the harbour of Zeebrugge, Belgium en route to Dover, England across the English Channel, killing 193.

1988 - Students at Gallaudet University go on strike for the selection of a deaf university president. The protest is called Deaf President Now.

1992 - The Michelangelo computer virus begins to affect computers.

1994 - Referendum in Moldova results in the electorate voting against possible reunification with Romania.

1997 - Picasso's painting Tête de Femme is stolen from a London gallery, and is recovered a week later.

2006 - South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds signs a bill into legislation that would ban most abortions in the state.

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1405 - King John II of Castile (d. 1454)

1459 - Jacob Fugger, German banker (d. 1525)

1475 - Michelangelo Buonarroti, Italian painter (d. 1564)

1483 - Francesco Guicciardini, Italian statesman and historian (d. 1540)

1495 - Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet (d. 1556)

1619 - Cyrano de Bergerac, French soldier, poet (d. 1655)

1663 - Francis Atterbury, British man of letters (d. 1732)

1706 - George Pocock, British admiral (d. 1792)

1716 - Pehr Kalm, Swedish explorer and naturalist (d. 1779)

1761 - Antoine-Francois Andreossy, French General (d. 1828)

1779 - Antoine-Henri Jomini, French general (d. 1869)

1787 - Joseph von Fraunhofer, German physicist (d. 1826)

1806 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning, British poet (d. 1861)

1812 - Aaron Lufkin Dennison American watch manufacturer (d. 1895)

1841 - Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, French physicist (d. 1902)

1882 - F. Burrall Hoffman, American architect d. 1980)

1885 - Ring Lardner, American writer (d. 1933)

1903 - Empress Nagako of Japan (d. 2000)

1904 - Joseph Schmidt, Austrian tenor (d. 1942)

1905 - Bob Wills, American singer (d. 1975)

1906 - Lou Costello, American actor comedian (d. 1959)

1914 - Kiril Kondrashin, Russian conductor (d. 1981)

1915 - Pete Gray, American baseball player (d. 2002)

1917 - Will Eisner, American illustrator and cartoonist (d. 2005)

1923 - Ed McMahon, American television personality

1923 - Wes Montgomery, American musician (d. 1968)

1926 - Alan Greenspan, American economist

1926 - Andrzej Wajda, Polish film director

1927 - Gordon Cooper, astronaut (d. 2004)

1928 - Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian writer, Nobel Prize laureate

1930 - Lorin Maazel, French-born American conductor

1931 - Hal Needham, American stunt man

1933 - Ted Abernathy, baseball player (d. 2004)

1934 - John Noakes, British television presenter

1935 - Ron Delany, Irish athlete

1936 - Marion Barry Jr., Mayor of Washington DC

1937 - Ivan Boesky, American stock trader

1937 - Valentina Tereshkova, cosmonaut

1939 - Adam Osborne, British author and computer designer (d. 2003)

1940 - Willie Stargell, baseball player (d. 2001)

1942 - Ben Murphy, American actor

1944 - Kiri Te Kanawa, New Zealand soprano

1944 - Mary Wilson, American singer (Supremes)

1946 - David Gilmour, British musician (Pink Floyd)

1947 - Kiki Dee, British singer

1947 - Dick Fosbury, American athlete

1947 - Martin Kove, American actor

1947 - Teru Miyamoto, Japanese author

1947 - Rob Reiner, American actor, comedian, and film producer

1949 - Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister of Pakistan

1949 - Martin Buchan, Scottish footballer

1951 - Gerrie Knetemann, Dutch cyclist (d. 2004)

1953 - Jan Kjærstad, Norwegian author

1953 - Jacklyn Zeman, American actress

1955 - Alberta Watson, Canadian actress

1959 - Tom Arnold, American actor and comedian

1962 - Valerie French, American artist and animatronics art director

1964 - Madonna Wayne Gacy, Musician

1968 - Moira Kelly, American actress

1968 - Michael Romeo - American musician

1969 - Tari Phillips, American basketball player

1970 - Shane Brolly, British actor

1971 - Sean Morley, American professional wrestler

1972 - Terry Murphy, Northern Irish snooker player

1972 - Shaquille O'Neal, American basketball player

1976 - Ken Anderson, American professional wrestler

1979 - Tim Howard, American soccer player

1979 - David Flair, American professional wrestler

1980 - Ross Mawhinney - British born Italian radio DJ

1983 - Andranik Teymourian - Iranian football player

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1252 - Saint Rose of Viterbo, Italian saint (b. 1235)

1490 - Ivan the Young, Ruler of Tver (b. 1458)

1531 - Pedrarias Dávila, Spanish conquistador

1627 - Krzysztof Zbaraski, Polish statesman (b. 1580)

1754 - Henry Pelham, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1694)

1758 - Henry Vane, 1st Earl of Darlington, English politician (b. 1705)

1764 - Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1690)

1796 - Guillaume Thomas François Raynal, French writer (b. 1713)

1836 - Davy Crockett, American frontiersman (b. 1786)

1854 - Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, British soldier and politician (b. 1778)

1866 - William Whewell, English scientist, philosopher, and historian of science (b. 1794)

1888 - Louisa May Alcott, American novelist (b. 1832)

1895 - Camilla Collett, Norwegian writer and feminist (b. 1813)

1899 - Victoria Kaiulani, Hawaiian princess (b. 1875)

1905 - John Henninger Reagan, American Confederate politician (b. 1818)

1932 - John Philip Sousa, American band leader, conductor, and composer (b. 1854)

1933 - Anton Cermak, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1873)

1939 - Ferdinand von Lindemann, German mathematician (b. 1852)

1941 - Gutzon Borglum, Danish sculptor (b. 1867)

1948 - Ross Lockridge, Jr., American novelist (b. 1914)

1950 - Albert Lebrun, President of France (b. 1871)

1951 - Ivor Novello, Welsh actor, musician, and composer (b. 1893)

1951 - Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Ukraianian politician and statesman (b. 1880)

1952 - Jürgen Stroop, Nazi SS-leader (executed) (b. 1895)

1961 - George Formby, British comedian and singer (b. 1904)

1964 - King Paul of Greece (b. 1901)

1965 - Margaret Dumont, American actress (b. 1889)

1967 - John Haden Badley, author and educator (b. 1865)

1967 - Nelson Eddy, American singer and actor (b. 1901)

1967 - Zoltán Kodály, Hungarian composer (b. 1882)

1969 - Nadya Rusheva, Russian painter (b. 1952)

1970 - William Hopper, American actor (b. 1915)

1971 - Thurston Dart, English harpsichordist and conductor (b. 1921)

1973 - Pearl S. Buck, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)

1976 - Max 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom, American boxer and actor (b. 1903)

1981 - George Geary, English cricketer (b. 1893)

1982 - Ayn Rand, Russian-American author (b. 1905)

1985 - Henry Wilcoxon, Dominican actor (b. 1905)

1986 - Georgia O'Keeffe, American artist (b. 1887)

1993 - Douglas Marland, American writer (b. 1935)

1994 - Melina Mercouri, Greek actress, political activist, and politician (b. 1920)

1997 - Cheddi Jagan, President of Guyana (b. 1918)

1997 - Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica (b. 1924)

1998 - Frank Barrett, Baseball player (b. 1913)

1999 - Isa ibn Salman Al Khalifah, emir of Bahrain (b. 1933)

2000 - John Colicos, Canadian actor (b. 1928)

2001 - Kim Walker, American actress (b. 1968)

2003 - John Sanford, American author (b. 1904)

2004 - Frances Dee, American actress (b. 1909)

2004 - Ray Fernandez, wrestler (b. 1957)

2005 - Hans Bethe, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)

2005 - Tommy Vance, British radio disc jockey (b. 1943)

2005 - Danny Gardella, baseball player (b. 1920)

2006 - Kirby Puckett, American Hall of Fame baseball player (b. 1960)

2006 - Dana Reeve, American actress, wife of Christopher Reeve (b. 1961)

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In 2004, the Jewish holiday of Purim begins.

Ghana - Independence Day (from Britain, 1957)

Casimir Pulaski Day in Illinois (2006, first Monday of March).

Alamo Day in Texas

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Liturgical feasts

Saint Chrodegang
Saint Fridolin
Saint Coleta of Ghent