History Events on February 28

Andalusia approves its statute of autonomy through a referendum.

#Andalusia

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad is incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.

#Baltimore_and_Ohio_Railroad

Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes, proclaims the independence of Lower Canada (today Quebec).

#Robert_Nelson_(insurrectionist)

An earthquake in northern Iran is responsible for about 3,000 deaths.

#1997_Ardabil_earthquake

Gleichschaltung: The Reichstag Fire Decree is passed in Germany a day after the Reichstag fire.

#Gleichschaltung

China-United States relations: The United States and China sign the Shanghai Communiqué.

#China-United_States_relations

James Watson and Francis Crick announce to friends that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA; the formal announcement takes place on April 25 following publication in April's Nature (pub. April 2).

#James_Watson

The Bulgarian Exarchate is established by decree of Sultan Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire.

#Bulgarian_Exarchate

A gun on USS Princeton explodes while the boat is on a Potomac River cruise, killing six people, including two United States Cabinet members.

#USS_Princeton_(1843)

The USS Indiana, the lead ship of her class and the first battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships of the time, is launched.

#USS_Indiana_(BB-1)

Kosovo War: Serbian police begin the offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo.

#Kosovo_War

Basketball is televised for the first time (Fordham University vs. the University of Pittsburgh in Madison Square Garden).

#Basketball

John Wesley charters the Methodist Church.

#John_Wesley

Regular steamship service from the east to the west coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay, four months 22 days after leaving New York Harbor.

#Steamship

Liu Bang is enthroned as the Emperor of China, beginning four centuries of rule by the Han dynasty.

#Emperor_Gaozu_of_Han

The Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquake strikes northeastern North America.

#1925_Charlevoix-Kamouraska_earthquake

The heavy cruiser USS Houston is sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait with 693 crew members killed, along with HMAS Perth which lost 375 men.

#USS_Houston_(CA-30)

During the religious violence in Gujarat, the 97 people killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre and 69 in Gulbarg Society massacre.

#2002_Gujarat_riots

The Scottish National Covenant is signed in Edinburgh.

#National_Covenant

The Second Boer War: The 118-day "Siege of Ladysmith" is lifted.

#Second_Boer_War

DuPont scientist Wallace Carothers invents nylon.

#DuPont

Olof Palme, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden, is assassinated in Stockholm.

#Olof_Palme

The first Gulf War ends.

#Gulf_War

Over one million Taiwanese participate in the 228 Hand-in-Hand rally form a 500-kilometre (310 mi) long human chain to commemorate the February 28 Incident in 1947.

#Taiwan

Discoverer 1, an American spy satellite that is the first object intended to achieve a polar orbit, is launched but fails to achieve orbit.

#Discoverer_1

GRB 970228, a highly luminous flash of gamma rays, strikes the Earth for 80 seconds, providing early evidence that gamma-ray bursts occur well beyond the Milky Way.

#GRB_970228

The first color television sets using the NTSC standard are offered for sale to the general public.

#Color_television

A school bus in Floyd County, Kentucky hits a wrecker truck and plunges down an embankment into the rain-swollen Levisa Fork river. The driver and 26 children die in what remains one of the worst school bus accidents in U.S. history.

#Floyd_County,_Kentucky

Peshwa Bajirao I of the Maratha Empire defeats Asaf Jah I in the Battle of Palkhed.

#Baji_Rao_I

In London, an underground train fails to stop at Moorgate terminus station and crashes into the end of the tunnel, killing 43 people.

#Moorgate_tube_crash

Former Australian Liberal party leader John Hewson resigns from the Australian parliament almost two years after losing the 1993 Australian federal election.

#John_Hewson

Pope Benedict XVI resigns as the pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first pope to do so since Pope Gregory XII, in 1415.

#Pope_Benedict_XVI

Battle of Helsingborg: 14,000 Danish invaders under Jørgen Rantzau are decisively defeated by an equally sized Swedish force under Magnus Stenbock. This is the last time Swedish and Danish troops meet on Swedish soil.

#Battle_of_Helsingborg

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.

#Battle_of_the_Sacramento_River

Seventy years of Holy See-United States relations are ended by a Congressional ban on federal funding of diplomatic envoys to the Vatican and are not restored until January 10, 1984.

#Holy_See-United_States_relations

The siege of Jaén ends in the context of the Spanish Reconquista resulting in the Castilian takeover of the city from the Taifa of Jaen.

#Siege_of_Jaén_(1245-46)

Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch of Madagascar, is deposed by a French military force.

#Ranavalona_III

A suicide bombing at a police recruiting centre in Al Hillah, Iraq kills 127.

First flight of RQ-4 Global Hawk, the first unmanned aerial vehicle certified to file its own flight plans and fly regularly in U.S. civilian airspace.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents raid the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas with a warrant to arrest the group's leader David Koresh. Four ATF agents and six Davidians die in the initial raid, starting a 51-day standoff.

The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers in the highest loss of life for the RUC on a single day.

The final episode of M*A*S*H airs, with almost 106 million viewers. It still holds the record for the highest viewership of a season finale.

Christiansborg Cross-Roads shooting in the Gold Coast, when a British police officer opens fire on a march of ex-servicemen, killing three of them and sparking major riots and looting in Accra.

February 28 Incident: In Taiwan, civil disorder is put down with the loss of an estimated 30,000 civilians.

The erroneous word "dord" is discovered in the Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, prompting an investigation.

The United Kingdom ends its protectorate over Egypt through a Unilateral Declaration of Independence.

S.L. Benfica is founded in Portugal.

One of the longest cases ever heard in an English court ends when the defendant is convicted of perjury for attempting to assume the identity of the heir to the Tichborne baronetcy.

Today is followed by March 1 in Sweden, thus creating the Swedish calendar.

Aztec king Cuauhtémoc is executed on the order of conquistador Hernán Cortés.

The Fourth Council of Constantinople closes.