Today in History

February 29th

1504 – Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies.

1644 – Abel Tasman’s second Pacific voyage began.

1704 – Queen Anne’s War: French forces and Native Americans stage a raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing 56 villagers and taking more than 100 captive.

1712 – February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Old style.

1720 – Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden abdicates in favour of her husband, who becomes King Frederick I on 24 March.

1752 – King Alaungpaya founds Konbaung Dynasty, the last dynasty of Burmese monarchy.

1768 – Polish nobles formed Bar Confederation.

1796 – The Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain comes into force, facilitating ten years of peaceful trade between the two nations.

1864 – American Civil War: Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid fails – plans to free 15,000 Union soldiers being held near Richmond, Virginia are thwarted.

1892 – St. Petersburg, Florida is incorporated.

1912 – The Piedra Movediza (Moving Stone) of Tandil falls and breaks.

1916 – Tokelau is annexed by the United Kingdom.

1916 – Child labor: In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill, and mine workers is raised from twelve to fourteen years old.

1920 – Czechoslovak National assembly adopted the Constitution.

1936 – Baby Snooks, played by Fanny Brice, debuts on the radio program The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air.

1936 – February 26 Incident in Tokyo ends.

1940 – For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award.

1940 – Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations.

1940 – In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, because of the war, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from Sweden’s Consul General in San Francisco.

1944 – World War II: The Admiralty Islands are invaded in Operation Brewer led by American General Douglas MacArthur.

1952 – The island of Heligoland is restored to German authority.

1960 – An earthquake in Morocco kills over 3,000 people and nearly destroys Agadir in the southern part of the country.

1964 – In Sydney, Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets a new world record in the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition (58.9 seconds).

1972 – Vietnam War: Vietnamization – South Korea withdraws 11,000 of its 48,000 troops from Vietnam.

1980 – Gordie Howe of the then Hartford Whalers makes NHL history as he scores his 800th goal.

1988 – South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town.

1988 – Svend Robinson becomes the first member of the Canadian House of Commons to come out as gay.

1992 – First day of Bosnia and Herzegovina independence referendum.

1996 – Faucett Flight 251 crashes in the Andes, all 123 passengers and crew died.

2004 – Jean-Bertrand Aristide is removed as President of Haiti following a coup.

2012 – Tokyo Skytree construction completed. Now it is the tallest tower in the world, 634 meters high, and second tallest (man-made) structure on Earth, next to Burj Khalifa.

All above information obtained from Wikipedia.org

Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_29