March 29 is the 88th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (89th in Leap years). There are 277 days remaining.

Events

up to 19th century

• 1461 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Towton - Edward of York defeats Queen Margaret to become King Edward IV of England.
• 1638 - Swedish colonists establish first settlement in Delaware, called New Sweden.
• 1792 - King Gustav III of Sweden dies after being shot in the back at a midnight masquerade at Stockholm's Royal Opera just 13 days earlier.
• 1799 - New York passes a law aimed at gradually abolishing slavery in the state
• 1806 - Construction authorized of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first United States federal highway.
• 1847 - United States forces led by General Winfield Scott take Veracruz after a siege.
• 1848 - An upstream ice jam stops almost all water flow over Niagara Falls.
• 1849 - The United Kingdom annexes the Punjab
• 1865 - American Civil War: 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.

20th century

1930s-1980s

• 1930 - Heinrich Brüning is appointed German Reichskanzler.
• 1945 - World War II: Last day of V-1 flying Bomb attacks on England.
• 1951 - Red Scare: 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, DC to vote in presidential elections.
• 1969 - In Madrid, Spain, four different performers tie for first place at the fourteenth Eurovision Song Contest. The medals were shared by Spain's United Kingdom's Lulu singing "Boom Bang-a-bang", Netherlands' Lenny Kuhr singing "De troubadour" (The troubadour), and France's Frida Boccara singing "Un jour, un enfant" (One day, a child...)
• 1971 - My Lai massacre: Lt. William Calley is convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison.
• 1971 - A Los Angeles, California jury recommends the death penalty for Charles Manson and three female followers.
• 1973 - Vietnam War: The last United States soldiers leave South Vietnam.
• 1974 - NASA's Mariner 10 becomes the first spaceprobe to fly by Mercury. It was launched on November 3, 1973.
• 1981 - First running of the London Marathon
• 1982 - The Canada Act 1982 (U.K.) receives the Royal Assent by Queen Elizabeth II, setting the stage for the Queen of Canada to proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982
• 1982 - Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney release their single Ebony and Ivory

1990s

• 1993 - Catherine Callbeck becomes Premier of Prince Edward Island and Canada's first female premier.
• 1993 - Edouard Balladur becomes Prime Minister of France
• 1999 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 10006.78 – above the 10,000 mark for the first time ever.

21st century

• 2001 - A chartered Gulfstream III jet crashes into a hillside during approach into Aspen, Colorado, killing 18 people.
• 2004 - Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Romania, Slovenia join Republic of Ireland becomes the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places, including bars and restaurants.
• 2006 - Predicted total solar eclipse.

Births

up to 19th century

• 1790 - John Tyler, 10th President of the United States (d. 1862)
• 1826 - Wilhelm Liebknecht, journalist and politician (d. 1900)
• 1835 - Gustaf Zander, physician (d. 1920)
• 1867 - Cy Young, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1955)
• 1874 - Lou Hoover, First Lady of the United States (d. 1944)
• 1889 - Warner Baxter, actor (d. 1951)
• 1891 - Yvan Goll, lyricist and dramatist (d. 1950)
• 1895 - Ernst Jünger, author (d. 1998)
• 1899 - Lavrenty Beria, Soviet Communist leader (d. 1953)

20th century

1900s-1940s

• 1900 - John McEwen, eighteenth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1980)
• 1901 - Andrija Maurovic, Croatian illustrator (d. 1981)
• 1902 - Marcel Aymé, narrator and dramatist, humorist and satirist (d. 1967)
• 1902 - William Walton, composer (d. 1983)
• 1908 - Arthur O'Connell, actor (d. 1981)
• 1911 - Brigitte Horney, actress (d. 1988)
• 1912 - Hanna Reitsch, German aviator (d. 1979
• 1913 - Tony Zale, world champion boxer (d. 1997)
• 1913 - R. S. Thomas, Welsh poet (d. 2000)
• 1918 - Pearl Bailey, singer, actress (d. 1990)
• 1918 - Sam Walton, US businessman, founder of Wal-Mart. (d. 1992)
• 1931 - Aleksei Gubarev, cosmonaut
• 1940 - Ray Davis, musician (P-Funk)
• 1942 - Stingray Davis, musician (P-Funk)
• 1943 - Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou, aka Vangelis, new age musician
• 1943 - Eric Idle, actor, writer, composer (Monty Python's Flying Circus)
• 1943 - John Major, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• 1944 - Denny McLain, baseball pitcher
• 1945 - Walt Frazier, basketball player

1950s-1970s

• 1950 - Bud Cort, actor
• 1952 - Teofilo Stevenson, boxer
• 1955 - Earl Campbell, American football star
• 1956 - Kurt Thomas, gymnast
• 1957 - Christophe Lambert, actor (Greystoke, Highlander)
• 1959 - Perry Farrell, musician ("Jane's Addiction", "Porno for Pyros")
• 1960 - Marina Sirtis, actress (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
• 1964 - Elle Macpherson, model
• 1968 - Lucy Lawless, actress (Xena: Warrior Princess), singer
• 1976 - Jennifer Capriati, professional tennis player

Deaths

• 1058 - Pope Stephen X
• 1772 - Emanuel Swedenborg, philosopher and mathematician (b. 1688)
• 1792 - King Gustav III of Sweden, after being shot on March 16 (b. 1746)
• 1826 - Johann Heinrich Voß, German poet (b. 1751)
• 1855 - Henri Druey, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1799)
• 1906 - Slava Raskaj Croat painter (b. 1878)
• 1912 - Robert Falcon Scott, explorer (b. 1868)
• 1934 - Otto Hermann Kahn, millionaire and benefactor (b. 1867)
• 1937 - Karol Szymanowski, composer (b. 1882)
• 1959 - Barthelemy Boganda, first President of the Central African Republic
• 1972 - Lord J. Arthur Rank, movie theater owner (b. 1888)
• 1980 - Mantovani, musician
• 1991 - Lee Atwater, Republican advisor (b. 1951)
• 1992 - Paul Henreid, actor (b. 1908)
• 1999 - Joe Williams, jazz singer (b. 1918)
• 2001 - Helge Ingstad, explorer (b. 1899)
• 2003 - Dr. Carlo Urbani, discoverer of SARS (b. 1956)
• 2004 - Alistair Cooke, television host (b. 1908)

Holidays and observances

• Festival of Ishtar

March 28 - March 30 - February 28 (February 29) - April 29 -- listing of all days