Historical Events on 29 Mar

Historical Events on 29 Mar

1461 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Towton - Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become King Edward IV of England.
1549 - The city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, is founded.
1632 - Treaty of Saint-Germain is signed, returning Quebec to French control after the English had seized it in 1629.
1638 - Swedish colonists establish the first settlement in Delaware, naming it New Sweden.
1792 - King Gustav III of Sweden dies after being shot in the back at a midnight masquerade ball at Stockholm's Royal Opera just 13 days earlier. He is succeeded by Gustav IV Adolf.
1799 - New York passes a law aimed at gradually abolishing slavery in the state.
1806 - Construction is authorized of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first United States federal highway.
1809 - King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden abdicates after a coup d'état. At the Diet of Porvoo, Finland's four Estates pledge allegiance to Alexander I of Russia, commencing the secession of the Grand Duchy of Finland from Sweden.
1831 - Great Bosnian uprising: Bosniak rebel against Turkey.
1847 - Mexican-American War: United States forces led by General Winfield Scott take Veracruz after a siege.
1849 - The United Kingdom annexes the Punjab.
1857 - Sepoy Mangal Pandey of the 34th Regiment, Bengal Native Infantry revolts against the British rule in India and inspires a long-drawn War of Independence of 1857 also known as the Sepoy Mutiny.
1865 - American Civil War: The Battle of Appomattox Court House begins.
1867 - Queen Victoria gives Royal Assent to the British North America Act which establishes the Dominion of Canada on July 1.
1871 - The Royal Albert Hall is opened by Queen Victoria.
1879 - Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Kambula: British forces defeat 20,000 Zulus.
1882 - The Knights of Columbus are established.
1886 - Dr. John Pemberton brews the first batch of Coca-Cola in a backyard in Atlanta, Georgia.
1930 - Heinrich Brüning is appointed German Reichskanzler.
1936 - In Germany, Adolf Hitler receives 99% of the votes in a referendum to ratify Germany's illegal reoccupation of the Rhineland, receiving 44.5 million votes out of 45.5 million registered voters.
1941 - World War II: British Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy forces defeat those of the Italian Regia Marina off the Peloponnesus coast of Greece in the Battle of Cape Matapan.
1942 - The Bombing of Lübeck in World War II was the first major success for the RAF Bomber Command against Germany and a German city.
1945 - World War II: Last day of V-1 flying bomb attacks on England.
1951 - Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage.
1961 - The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to vote in presidential elections.
1971 - A Los Angeles, California jury recommends the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers.
1971 - My Lai massacre: Lt. William Calley is convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison.
1973 - Vietnam War: The last United States combat soldiers leave South Vietnam.
1974 - NASA's Mariner 10 becomes the first spaceprobe to fly by Mercury. It was launched on November 3, 1973.
1982 - The Canada Act 1982 (U.K.) receives the Royal Assent from Queen Elizabeth II, setting the stage for the Queen of Canada to proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982.
1987 - Wrestlemania III sets a world indoor attendance record at the Pontiac Silverdome with 93,173 fans.
1993 - Catherine Callbeck becomes premier of Prince Edward Island and Canada's first female to be elected in a general election as a premier.
1999 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 10006.78 - above the 10,000 mark for the first time ever.
2004 - Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO as full members.
2004 - The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants.