March 20 facts for kids

March 20 is the 79th day of the year (80th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 286 days remain until the end of the year. March 20th is a special day in history, filled with many important events, births, and deaths of famous people. It's a day when emperors took their thrones, new companies were formed, and big ideas changed the world. Let's explore some of the fascinating things that happened on this date!

Historical Events on March 20

Ancient Times and Early History

• 673 – Emperor Tenmu became the new ruler of Japan. He took his place on the Chrysanthemum Throne at the Kiyomihara Palace in Asuka.
• 1206 – Michael IV Autoreianos was chosen as the top religious leader for the Eastern Orthodox Church in Constantinople.

Important Events from 1601 to 1900

• 1602 – The Dutch East India Company was created. This was a very powerful trading company that helped connect Europe with Asia.
• 1616 – Sir Walter Raleigh was set free from the Tower of London. He had been held there for 13 years.
• 1760 – A huge fire, known as the Great Boston Fire of 1760, destroyed 349 buildings in Boston.
• 1815 – After escaping from Elba, Napoleon returned to Paris. He brought with him a large army, starting his "Hundred Days" rule.
• 1848 – During the German revolutions, King Ludwig I of Bavaria decided to step down from his role as king.
• 1852 – Harriet Beecher Stowe's famous book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, was published. This book was very important in the fight against slavery.
• 1854 – The Republican Party of the United States was officially started in Ripon, Wisconsin, US.
• 1861 – A strong earthquake destroyed the city of Mendoza in Argentina.
• 1883 – The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property was signed. This agreement helps protect new inventions and ideas around the world.
• 1888 – The first ever play in the Romani language was performed in Moscow, Russia.
• 1890 – Otto von Bismarck, a very important leader in Germany, was removed from his position by Emperor Wilhelm II.
• 1896 – With the Emperor's approval, the Qing dynasty post office opened. This marked the beginning of a modern postal service in China.

Modern History: 1901 to Today

• 1913 – Sung Chiao-jen, a founder of the Chinese Nationalist Party, was badly hurt in an attack and passed away two days later.
• 1916 – Albert Einstein shared his paper, "The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity." This paper explained his amazing general theory of relativity.
• 1921 – A special vote, called the Upper Silesia plebiscite, was held. It helped decide part of the border between Weimar Germany and Poland.
• 1922 – The USS Langley became the first aircraft carrier for the United States Navy.
• 1923 – The Arts Club of Chicago showed Pablo Picasso's art for the first time in the United States. This helped bring modern art to the country.
• 1926 – Chiang Kai-shek started a major change within the National Revolutionary Army in Guangzhou.
• 1933 – Heinrich Himmler ordered the creation of the Dachau concentration camp near Munich.
• 1942 – During World War II, General Douglas MacArthur made a famous speech. He promised, "I came out of Bataan and I shall return," after the fall of the Philippines.
• 1948 – For the first time, classical music concerts were shown on TV in the United States. This happened on CBS and NBC.
• 1951 – Fujiyoshida, a city in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, was officially founded.
• 1952 – The US Senate approved the Security Treaty Between the United States and Japan. This was an important agreement between the two countries.
• 1956 – Tunisia became an independent country, gaining freedom from France.
• 1964 – The ESRO (European Space Research Organisation) was created. This group was a first step towards today's European Space Agency.
• 1972 – During The Troubles, the first car bomb by the Provisional IRA in Belfast killed seven people and hurt many others.
• 1985 – Libby Riddles made history by becoming the first woman to win the long Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
• 1985 – Canadian athlete Rick Hansen began his amazing journey around the world in a wheelchair. He did this to raise money for spinal cord injury research.
• 1987 – The Food and Drug Administration approved AZT, a medicine to help people with AIDS.
• 1988 – During the Eritrean War of Independence, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front won a big battle and entered the town of Afabet.
• 1990 – Imelda Marcos, the widow of Ferdinand Marcos, went on trial for serious financial crimes.
• 1993 – Another bomb by the Provisional IRA, this time in Warrington, England, sadly killed two children. This led to many protests.
• 1999 – Legoland California, the first Legoland park outside of Europe, opened in Carlsbad, California, US.
• 2003 – The Iraq War began, with forces from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland invading Iraq.
• 2006 – Over 150 Chadian soldiers were killed in eastern Chad by rebel fighters.
• 2010 – The volcano Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland started erupting. These eruptions lasted for three months and caused a lot of problems for air travel in Europe.
• 2015 – A rare event happened: a solar eclipse, the equinox, and a supermoon all occurred on the same day.
• 2015 – In the Syrian civil war, the Siege of Kobanî was ended by the People's Protection Units (YPG) and Free Syrian Army (FSA). This was a big moment in the conflict.
• 2019 – Kassym-Jomart Tokayev became the acting president of Kazakhstan, after the long-time president Nursultan Nazarbayev resigned.

Famous Births on March 20

Born Before 1600

• 43 BC – Ovid, a famous Roman poet.
• 1253 – Wareru, who founded the Ramanya Kingdom.
• 1469 – Cecily of York, an English princess.
• 1477 – Jerome Emser, a German theologian and scholar.
• 1479 – Ippolito d'Este, an Italian cardinal.
• 1532 – Juan de Ribera, a Roman Catholic archbishop.

Born Between 1601 and 1900

• 1612 – Anne Bradstreet, an important early American poet.
• 1615 – Dara Shikoh, an Indian prince.
• 1639 – Ivan Mazepa, a Ukrainian diplomat and leader.
• 1680 – Emanuele d'Astorga, an Italian composer.
• 1725 – Abdul Hamid I, an Ottoman sultan.
• 1737 – Rama I, a Thai king.
• 1796 – Edward Gibbon Wakefield, an English politician.
• 1799 – Karl August Nicander, a Swedish poet.
• 1800 – Braulio Carrillo Colina, a lawyer and President of Costa Rica.
• 1811 – Napoleon II, a French emperor.
• 1811 – George Caleb Bingham, an American painter and politician.
• 1821 – Ned Buntline, an American journalist and author.
• 1828 – Henrik Ibsen, a famous Norwegian poet and playwright.
• 1831 – Patrick Jennings, an Australian politician.
• 1834 – Charles William Eliot, an American mathematician.
• 1836 – Edward Poynter, an English painter.
• 1851 – Ismail Gasprinski, a Crimean Tatar educator.
• 1856 – John Lavery, an Irish painter.
• 1856 – Frederick Winslow Taylor, an American engineer.
• 1870 – Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, a German general.
• 1879 – Maud Menten, a Canadian physician and biochemist.
• 1882 – René Coty, a French lawyer and President of France.
• 1884 – Philipp Frank, an Austrian-American physicist.
• 1888 – Amanda Clement, an American baseball umpire.
• 1890 – Lauritz Melchior, a Danish-American singer and actor.
• 1895 – Fredric Wertham, a German-American psychologist.
• 1898 – Eduard Wiiralt, an Estonian artist.
• 1900 – Amelia Chopitea Villa, Bolivia's first female doctor.

Born from 1901 to Today

• 1903 – Edgar Buchanan, an American actor.
• 1904 – B. F. Skinner, an American psychologist.
• 1906 – Ozzie Nelson, an American actor and bandleader.
• 1908 – Michael Redgrave, an English actor.
• 1911 – Alfonso García Robles, a Mexican diplomat and Nobel Prize winner.
• 1915 – Sviatoslav Richter, a Ukrainian pianist.
• 1915 – Sister Rosetta Tharpe, an American singer and guitarist.
• 1917 – Vera Lynn, a beloved English singer.
• 1918 – Marian McPartland, an English-American pianist.
• 1922 – Carl Reiner, an American actor, director, and writer.
• 1925 – John Ehrlichman, an American lawyer.
• 1928 – Fred Rogers, the kind American television host of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
• 1934 – Willie Brown, an American politician and Mayor of San Francisco.
• 1936 – Lee "Scratch" Perry, a Jamaican music producer and inventor.
• 1937 – Lois Lowry, an American author, known for The Giver.
• 1939 – Brian Mulroney, a Canadian lawyer and Prime Minister of Canada.
• 1943 – Douglas Tompkins, an American businessman who co-founded The North Face.
• 1948 – John de Lancie, an American actor.
• 1957 – Spike Lee, an American actor, director, and producer.
• 1957 – Chris Wedge, an American animator and voice actor.
• 1959 – Sting, an American wrestler.
• 1965 – William Dalrymple, a Scottish historian and author.
• 1968 – Paul Merson, an English footballer.
• 1969 – Yvette Cooper, an English politician.
• 1972 – Alex Kapranos, a Scottish singer and guitarist from the band Franz Ferdinand.
• 1976 – Chester Bennington, an American singer from the band Linkin Park.
• 1979 – Freema Agyeman, an English actress.
• 1979 – Daniel Cormier, an American mixed martial artist.
• 1984 – Fernando Torres, a Spanish footballer.
• 1989 – Xavier Dolan, a Canadian actor and director.
• 1995 – Kei, a South Korean singer.

Notable Deaths on March 20

Passed Away Before 1600

• 687 – Cuthbert, an English monk and saint.
• 842 – Alfonso II, a king of Asturias in Spain.
• 1181 – Taira no Kiyomori, a Japanese general.
• 1191 – Pope Clement III.
• 1413 – Henry IV of England, an English king.
• 1549 – Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, an English general.
• 1568 – Albert, Duke of Prussia.

Passed Away Between 1601 and 1900

• 1619 – Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1673 – Augustyn Kordecki, a Polish monk.
• 1730 – Adrienne Lecouvreur, a French actress.
• 1746 – Nicolas de Largillière, a French painter.
• 1793 – William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, a Scottish judge.
• 1835 – Louis Léopold Robert, a French painter.
• 1849 – James Justinian Morier, an English author.
• 1855 – Joseph Aspdin, an English businessman.
• 1874 – Hans Christian Lumbye, a Danish composer.
• 1878 – Julius Robert von Mayer, a German physicist.
• 1894 – Lajos Kossuth, a Hungarian politician.
• 1897 – Apollon Maykov, a Russian poet.

Passed Away from 1901 to Today

• 1909 – Friedrich Amelung, an Estonian historian.
• 1918 – Lewis A. Grant, an American general.
• 1925 – George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, an English politician.
• 1929 – Ferdinand Foch, a French field marshal.
• 1931 – Hermann Müller, a German politician and Chancellor of Germany.
• 1945 – Dorothy Campbell, a Scottish-American golfer.
• 1964 – Brendan Behan, an Irish writer.
• 1968 – Carl Theodor Dreyer, a Danish director.
• 1972 – Marilyn Maxwell, an American actress.
• 1974 – Chet Huntley, an American journalist.
• 1977 – Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham, a New Zealand Governor-General.
• 1983 – Ivan Matveyevich Vinogradov, a Russian mathematician.
• 1990 – Lev Yashin, a famous Russian footballer.
• 1993 – Polykarp Kusch, a German-American physicist and Nobel Prize winner.
• 1994 – Lewis Grizzard, an American writer and humorist.
• 1997 – V. S. Pritchett, an English writer.
• 2004 – Juliana of the Netherlands, a former Queen of the Netherlands.
• 2007 – Taha Yassin Ramadan, an Iraqi politician.
• 2010 – Girija Prasad Koirala, a Nepalese politician and Prime Minister of Nepal.
• 2012 – Lincoln Hall, an Australian mountaineer.
• 2013 – James Herbert, an English author.
• 2014 – Khushwant Singh, an Indian journalist and author.
• 2015 – Malcolm Fraser, an Australian politician and Prime Minister of Australia.
• 2016 – Anker Jørgensen, a Danish politician and Prime Minister of Denmark.
• 2017 – David Rockefeller, an American billionaire and philanthropist.
• 2020 – Kenny Rogers, a famous American singer.

Holidays and Observances on March 20

• Christian feast day:
  • Alexandra
  • Blessed John of Parma
  • Clement of Ireland
  • Cuthbert of Lindisfarne
  • Herbert of Derwentwater
  • John of Nepomuk
  • Józef Bilczewski
  • María Josefa Sancho de Guerra
  • Martin of Braga
  • Michele Carcano
  • Wulfram
  • March 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Great American Meatout (United States)
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Tunisia from France in 1956.
• International Day of Happiness (United Nations)
• International Francophonie Day (Organisation internationale de la Francophonie), and its related observances:
  • UN French Language Day (United Nations)
• National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (United States)
• World Sparrow Day

See also

In Spanish: 20 de marzo para niños