March 22: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

March 22 is the 81st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (82nd in Leap years). There are 284 days remaining. It is sometimes the date of the equinox.

Events

• 238 - Gordian I and his son Gordian II are proclaimed Roman emperors.
• 1621 - The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony sign a peace treaty with Massasoit of the Wampanoags.
• 1622 - Jamestown massacre: Algonquian Indians kill 347 English settlers around Jamestown, Virginia, a third of the colony's population.
• 1630 - Massachusetts Bay Colony outlaws the possession of cards, dice, and gaming tables.
• 1638 - Anne Hutchinson is expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious dissent.
• 1765 - The British Parliament passes the Stamp Act, the first direct tax levied from England on the American colonies.
• 1809 - Charles XIII succeeds Gustav IV Adolf to the Swedish throne.
• 1849 - The Austrians defeat the Piedmontese at the Battle of Novara.
• 1871 - In North Carolina, William Woods Holden becomes the first governor of a U.S. state to be removed from office by impeachment.
• 1888 - The Football League is formed.
• 1894 - The first playoff game for the Stanley Cup starts.
• 1895 - First display (a private screening) of motion pictures by Auguste and Louis Lumière.
• 1933 - President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs into law a bill legalizing the sale of beer and wine.
• 1939 - World War II: Germany takes Memel from Lithuania.
• 1941 - Washington's Grand Coulee Dam begins to generate electricity.
• 1942 - World War II: In the Mediterranean Sea, Regia Marina defeats Royal Navy in the Second Battle of Sirte.
• 1945 - The Arab League is founded when a charter is adopted in Cairo, Egypt.
• 1954 - Closed since 1939, the London bullion market reopens.
• 1958 - Faisal becomes King of Saudi Arabia.
• 1960 - Arthur Leonard Schawlow & Charles Townes receive the first patent for a laser.
• 1963 - Please Please Me, the first Beatles album, is released in the UK.
• 1965 - Bob Dylan "goes electric," releasing his first album featuring electric instruments, Bringing It All Back Home.
• 1975 - A fire at the Brown's Ferry nuclear reactor in Decatur, Alabama causes dangerous lowering of cooling water levels.
• 1975 - In Stockholm, Sweden, Teach-In wins the twentieth Eurovision Song Contest for the Netherlands singing "Ding-a-dong."
• 1978 - Karl Wallenda of the Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• 1984 - Teachers at the McMartin preschool in Manhattan Beach, California are charged with Satanic ritual abuse of the children in the school. The charges are later dropped as completely unfounded.
• 1989 - Fawn Hall, Oliver North's former secretary, begins two days of testimony at North's Iran-Contra trial in Washington.
• 1993 - The Intel Corporation ships the first Pentium chips (80586), featuring a 60 MHz clock speed, 100+ MIPS, and a 64 bit data path.
• 1995 - Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returns after setting a record for 438 days in space.
• 1997 - Tara Lipinski, age 14 years and 10 months, becomes the youngest champion of the women's world figure skating competition.
• 1997 - The comet Hale-Bopp has its closest approach to earth.
• 2005 - Pat Summitt, coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols (women's college basketball), becomes the all-time leader in victories for both men's and women's college basketball, getting her 880th win as coach of the team.

• 1212 - Emperor Go-Horikawa of Japan (d. 1234)
• 1366 - Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, English politician (d. 1399)
• 1459 - Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1519)
• 1503 - Antonio Francesco Grazzini, Italian writer (d. 1583)
• 1599 - Anthony van Dyck, Flemish painter (d. 1641)
• 1609 - King John II Casimir of Poland (d. 1672)
• 1663 - August Hermann Francke, German protestant minister (d. 1727)
• 1712 - Edward Moore, English writer (d. 1757)
• 1720 - Nicolas-Henri Jardin, French architect (d. 1799)
• 1723 - Charles Carroll, American lawyer and delegate to the Continental Congress (d. 1783)
• 1797 - King Wilhelm I of Germany (d. 1888)
• 1812 - Stephen Pearl Andrews, abolitionist (d. 1886)
• 1817 - Bahá'u'lláh, Persian prophet of the Bahá'í Faith (d. 1892)
• 1817 - Braxton Bragg, American Confederate general (d. 1876)
• 1860 - Alfred Ploetz, German physician, biologist, and eugenicist (d. 1940)
• 1868 - Robert Millikan, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1953)
• 1878 - Michel Théato, Luxembourg athlete (d. 1919)
• 1887 - Chico Marx, American comedian and actor (d. 1961)
• 1901 - Greta Kempton, American artist (d. 1991)
• 1907 - Lucia dos Santos, Portuguese nun (d. 2005)
• 1908 - Louis L'Amour, American author (d. 1988)
• 1909 - Gabrielle Roy, Canadian author (d. 1983)
• 1912 - Wilfrid Brambell, Irish actor (d. 1985)
• 1912 - Karl Malden, American actor
• 1913 - Tom McCall, Governor of Oregon (d. 1983)
• 1915 - Georgiy Zhzhonov, Russian actor and writer
• 1918 - Cheddi Jagan, President of Guyana (d. 1997)
• 1920 - Werner Klemperer, German actor (d. 2000)
• 1920 - Ross Martin, Polish-American actor (d. 1981)
• 1924 - Allen Neuharth, American businessman and writer
• 1923 - Marcel Marceau, French mime
• 1928 - Carrie Donovan, American fashion editor (d. 2001)
• 1928 - Ed Macauley, American basketball player
• 1930 - Derek Bok, American lawyer and educator
• 1930 - Pat Robertson, American televangelist
• 1930 - Stephen Sondheim, American composer and lyricist
• 1931 - Burton Richter, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1931 - William Shatner, Canadian actor
• 1933 - May Britt, Swedish actress
• 1933 - Abolhassan Banisadr, President of Iran
• 1934 - Orrin Hatch, U.S. Senator from Utah
• 1935 - M. Emmet Walsh, American actor
• 1936 - Ron Carey, labor leader
• 1936 - Roger Whittaker, British singer
• 1937 - Armin Hary, German athlete
• 1940 - Haing S. Ngor, Cambodian actor (d. 1996)
• 1941 - Jeremy Clyde, British actor and singer
• 1941 - Bruno Ganz, Swiss actor
• 1943 - George Benson, American musician
• 1943 - Keith Relf, British musician (The Yardbirds) (d. 1976)
• 1946 - Rudy Rucker, American author
• 1948 - Wolf Blitzer, American television journalist
• 1948 - Andrew Lloyd Webber, British composer
• 1949 - Fanny Ardant, French actress
• 1952 - Bob Costas, American sports commentator and talk show host
• 1955 - Pete Sessions, American politician
• 1956 - Lena Olin, Swedish actress
• 1957 - Stephanie Mills, American actress, singer
• 1959 - Matthew Modine, American actor
• 1966 - Artis Pabriks, Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs
• 1967 - Mario Cipollini, Italian cyclist
• 1970 - Leontien van Moorsel, Dutch cyclist
• 1972 - Shawn Bradley, American basketball player
• 1972 - Elvis Stojko, Canadian figure skater
• 1973 - Juninho, Brazilian football player
• 1974 - Marcus Camby, American basketball player
• 1976 - Teun de Nooijer, Dutch field hockey player
• 1976 - Reese Witherspoon, American actress

• 1322 - Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster, English politician (b. 1278)
• 1418 - Dietrich of Nieheim, German historian
• 1421 - Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence, second son of Henry IV of England (killed in battle) (b. 1388)
• 1471 - Pope Paul II (b. 1418)
• 1544 - Johannes Magnus, last Catholic Archbishop of Sweden (b. 1488)
• 1602 - Agostino Carracci, Italian artist (b. 1557)
• 1685 - Emperor Go-Sai of Japan (b. 1638)
• 1687 - Jean Baptiste Lully, Italian-born French composer (b. 1632)
• 1758 - Jonathan Edwards, American minister (b. 1703)
• 1758 - Richard Leveridge, English bass and composer (b. 1670)
• 1772 - John Canton, English physicist (b. 1718)
• 1820 - Stephen Decatur, American naval officer (b. 1779)
• 1832 - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer (b. 1749)
• 1896 - Thomas Hughes, English novelist (b. 1822)
• 1913 - Sung Chiao-jen, Chinese Nationalist (b. 1882)
• 1924 - William Macewen, Scottish surgeon (b. 1848)
• 1945 - John Hessin Clarke, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1857)
• 1951 - Willem Mengelberg, Dutch conductor (b. 1871)
• 1952 - Uncle Dave Macon, American musician (b. 1870)
• 1958 - Michael Todd, American film producer (b. 1909)
• 1977 - A.K. Gopalan, Indian communist leader (d. 1904)
• 1978 - Karl Wallenda, German acrobat (b. 1905)
• 1981 - James "Jumbo" Elliott, American track coach (b. 1915)
• 1986 - Charles Starrett, American actor
• 1990 - Gerald Bull, Canadian engineer (b. 1928)
• 1994 - Dan Hartman, American musician, songwriter, and record producer (b. 1950)
• 1994 - Walter Lantz, American cartoonist (b. 1899)
• 1999 - David Strickland, American actor (b. 1969)
• 2001 - William Hanna, American animator and studio founder (b. 1910)
• 2003 - Terry Lloyd, English reporter (b. 1952)
• 2004 - Ahmed Yassin, Palestinian co-founder of Hamas
• 2005 - Kenzo Tange, Japanese architect (b. 1913)

• The fourth day of Quinquatria in ancient Rome, held in honor of Minerva.
• Easter Sunday - 1818, 2285. In the Gregorian Calendar 22 March is the earliest date on which Easter Sunday can fall (25th April is the latest).
• World Water Day

March 21 - March 23 - February 22 - April 22 -- listing of all days