February 28

2024 Calendar

February 28 is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 306 days remaining until the end of the year (307 in leap years). In a common year this is the last day of February, and the next day is March 1. In Leap years, February 28 is followed by February 29. In some countries, people born on that date, legally reach the ages of 18 and 21 on February 28.

Events

Up to 1900

202 BC – Emperor Gaozu of Han is crowned in China, marking the beginning of the Han Dynasty.
870 – The fourth council of Constantinople closes.
1246 - The Siege of Jaén ends in the context of the Spanish Reconquista, resulting in the Castilian takeover of the city from the Taifa of Jaén.
1525 – Aztec ruler Cuauhtemoc is executed by Hernan Cortes' forces.
1638 – The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh.
1700 – In Sweden, this date is followed by March 1 instead of February 29, creating the Swedish calendar.
1710 - Battle of Helsingborg: 14,000 Danish invaders under Jorgen Rantzau are decisively defeated by an equally-sized Swedish force under Magnus Stenbock.
1784 – John Wesley charters the Methodist Church.
1811 - Cry of Asencio: Beginning of Uruguay's War of Independence.
1813 - In a treaty with Russia, Prussia changes sides from that of Napoleon Bonaparte to that of the coalition against him.
1827 - The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad is incorporated, offering commercial transportation of both people and freight, the first US railroad to do so.
1835 – The Kalevala, Finland's national epic, compiled by Elias Lönnrot, is published for the first time.
1838 – Robert Nelson proclaims the independence of Lower Canada (present-day Quebec).
1844 - A gun on USS Princeton explodes on a Potomac River cruise, including two united States cabinet members.
1847 - The Battle of the Sacramento River during the Mexican-American War is a decisive victory for the United States leading to the capture of Chihuahua.
1849 - Regular steamboat service between the east and west coasts of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay, over four months after it left New York City Harbor.
1854 - In Wisconsin, the Republican Party is founded. Abraham Lincoln is the party's first elected president in 1860.
1870 - The Bulgarian exarchate is created by decree of Sultan Abd-ul-Aziz of the Ottoman Empire.
1883 - The first vaudeville theatre opens in Boston, Massachusetts.
1885 - The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York State.
1890 - In the Torres Strait, between Queensland, Australia, and Papua New Guinea, the ship HMS Quetta sinks after a rock collision, killing 134 people.
1893 - American battleship USS Indiana is launched.
1897 – Madagascar's last Queen, Ranavalona III, is deposed by French military forces.
1900 - Second Boer War: The 118-day Siege of Ladysmith ends.

1901 – 2000

1914 - Greeks living in Southern Albania declare the "Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus".
1922 – Egypt declares independence.
1928 – C.V. Raman discovers the Raman effect, on the spread of light.
1933 - Bertolt Brecht and Helene Weigel go into exile in Prague.
1935 – DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents nylon.
1939 - The erroneous word "dord" is discovered in the Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, prompting an investigation.
1940 – Basketball is shown on television for the first time.
1942 – The heavy cruiser USS Houston is sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait, killing 693 people. The same also happens to the HMAS Perth, on which 375 are killed.
1946 - French sports paper L'Equipe publishes its first edition.
1947 – 228 Incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the loss of 30,000 lives.
1948 - A British police officer opens fire on a march of ex-servicemen in Accra, then-Gold Coast, present-day Ghana, killing 3, and sparking major riots.
1952 - End of the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo.
1953 – James D. Watson and Francis Crick announce that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA.
1958 – A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky, hits a wrecker truck and plunges into the Lerisa Fork River, killing 26 children and the driver.
1960 - The 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California, end.
1972 - The United States and the People's Republic of China sign the Shanghai Communique in a step towards improving their diplomatic relations.
1974 - The United Kingdom General Election ends without either the Labour or Conservative Parties winning a parliamentary majority. Another election is held later in the year.
1975 – A tube train crashes at Moorgate Station in London, killing 43 people.
1980 – Andalusia approves its statute of autonomy through a referendum.
1983 – The final episode of M*A*S*H airs. It is one of the most watched shows in TV history with 125 million people watching.
1985 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station in Newry, Northern Ireland, killing 9 officers.
1986 – Sweden's Prime Minister Olof Palme is shot dead.
1988 – The 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary end, with host nation Canada winning no gold medals.
1993 - The standoff lasting until April 19 at the compound of the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas begins. This occurs when ATF and FBI agents raid it to arrest its leader David Koresh.
1997 – A magnitude 6.1 earthquake in Armenia and Azerbaijan kills around 1,100 people.
1997 – An earthquake in northern Iran kills around 3,000 people.
1997 – GRB 970228, a very luminous flash of gamma rays, strikes Earth for 80 seconds.
1998 – Kosovo War: Serbian police begin an offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army.

From 2001

2001 – Ten people are killed in a train crash in Selby, Yorkshire.
2001 - The Nisqually earthquake at magnitude 6.8 strikes Washington State.
2002 - Religious violence in Gujarat: Two separate massacres kill a total of 166 people.
2002 - The twelve Eurozone countries officially give up their old currencies.
2003 - Vaclav Klaus is elected President of the Czech Republic.
2004 – 1 million people form a human chain in Taiwan, in memory of the 228 Incident.
2005 – In Al Hillah, Iraq, a bomb explodes outside a police training academy, killing 127 people.
2005 – In Lebanon the pro-Syrian Prime Minister Omar Karami resigns.
2008 - Dimitris Christofias becomes President of Cyprus.
2010 – The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver end with host nation Canada winning the most gold medals.
2013 - Nicos Anastasiades becomes President of Cyprus.
2013 - Pope Benedict XVI officially resigns as Pope, as the first Pope to do so since 1415.