Learning Opportunities! Today in History: March 24
are a list of events that took place today in history.
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- 1401 – Turko-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus.
- 1603 – James VI of Scotland also becomes James I of England, upon the death of Elizabeth I.
- 1603 – Tokugawa Ieyasu is granted the title of shogun from Emperor Go-Yozei, and establishes the Tokugawa Shogunate in Edo, Japan.
- 1663 – The Province of Carolina is granted by charter to eight Lords Proprietor in reward for their assistance in restoring Charles II of England to the throne.
- 1707 – The Acts of Union 1707 is signed, officially uniting the Kingdoms of England and Scotland to create the Kingdom of Great Britain.
- 1720 – Count Frederick of Hesse-Kassel is elected King of Sweden by the Riksdag of the Estates, after his consort Ulrika Eleonora has abdicated the throne on 29 February. She has been wanting to rule jointly with her husband in the same manner as William and Mary in the British isles, but after the Riksdag of the Estates has said no to this, she has chosen to abdicate the throne in his favour instead.
- 1721 – Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated six concertos to Christian Ludwig, margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, now commonly called the Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046-1051.
- 1731 – Naturalization of Hieronimus de Salis Parliamentary Act is passed.
- 1765 – American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain passes the Quartering Act that requires the Thirteen Colonies to house British troops.
- 1829 – Catholic Emancipation: The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, allowing Catholics to serve in Parliament.
- 1832 – In Hiram, Ohio a group of men beat, tar and feather Mormon leader Joseph Smith, Jr..
- 1837 – Canada gives African Canadian men the right to vote.
- 1860 – Sakuradamon incident (1860): Assassination of Japanese Chief Minister (Tairō) Ii Naosuke
- 1869 – The last of Titokowaru's forces surrendered to the New Zealand government, ending his uprising.
- 1878 – The British frigate HMS Eurydice sinks, killing more than 300.
- 1882 – Robert Koch announces the discovery of mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis.
- 1896 – A. S. Popov makes the first radio signal transmission in history.
- 1900 – Mayor of New York City Robert Anderson Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.
- 1907 – The first issue of the Georgian Bolshevik newspaper Dro is published.
- 1922 – Irish War of Independence: In Belfast, Northern Irish policemen break into the home of a Catholic family and shoot all eight males inside.
- 1927 – Nanjing Incident: Foreign warships bombard Nanjing, China, in defense of the foreign citizens within the city.
- 1934 – U.S. Congress passes the Tydings-McDuffie Act allowing the Philippines to become a self-governing commonwealth.
- 1944 – Ardeatine Massacre: German troops kill 335 Italian civilians in Rome.
- 1944 – World War II: In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 prisoners begin breaking out of Stalag Luft III.
- 1946 – The British Cabinet Mission, consisting of Lord Pethick-Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps and A. V. Alexander, arrives in India to discuss and plan for the transfer of power from the British Raj to Indian leadership.
- 1958 – Rock'N'Roll teen idol Elvis Presley is drafted in the U.S. Army.
- 1959 – The Party of the African Federation is launched by Léopold Sédar Senghor and Modibo Keita.
- 1965 – NASA spacecraft Ranger 9, equipped to convert its signals into a form suitable for showing on domestic television, brings images of the Moon into ordinary homes before crash landing.
- 1972 – The United Kingdom imposes direct rule over Northern Ireland.
- 1973 – Kenyan athlete Kip Keino defeats Jim Ryun at the first-ever professional track meet in Los Angeles, California.
- 1976 – In Argentina, the armed forces overthrow the constitutional government of President Isabel Perón and start a 7-year dictatorial period self-styled the National Reorganization Process. Since 2006, a public holiday known as Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice is held on this day.
- 1980 – Archbishop Óscar Romero is killed while celebrating Mass in San Salvador.
- 1986 – The Loscoe gas explosion leads to new UK laws on landfill gas migration and gas protection on landfill sites.
- 1989 – Exxon Valdez oil spill: In Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (38,000 m3) of petroleum after running aground.
- 1993 – Discovery of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.
- 1998 – Jonesboro massacre: Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden, aged 11 and 13 respectively, fire upon teachers and students at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas; five people are killed and ten are wounded.
- 1998 – A tornado sweeps through Dantan in India killing 250 people and injuring 3000 others.
- 1999 – Mont Blanc Tunnel fire kills 38 people
- 1999 – Kosovo War: NATO commences air bombardment against Yugoslavia, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.
- 2000 – S&P 500 index reaches an intraday high of 1,552.87, a peak that, due to the collapse of the dot-com bubble, it will not reach again for another seven-and-a-half years.
- 2003 – The Arab League votes 21-1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of U.S. and British soldiers from Iraq.
- 2008 – Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election.