March 4 facts for kids

March 4 is the 63rd day of the year (64th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 302 days remain until the end of the year.

March 4th is a special day in history, filled with many important events, births of famous people, and even some holidays! Let's explore what makes this day memorable.

Historic Events on March 4th

Early History: Before the 1600s

• AD 51 – A young man named Nero, who would later become a Roman emperor, was given an important title: princeps iuventutis. This meant he was the "head of the youth."
• 306 – Saint Adrian of Nicomedia became a martyr, meaning he died for his beliefs.
• 581 – Yang Jian declared himself Emperor Wen of Sui. This marked the end of the Northern Zhou period and the start of the Sui dynasty in China.
• 852 – The Croatian leader, Knez Trpimir I, signed a special document. This document is the first known time the name "Croats" was written down in Croatian history.
• 938 – The remains of the martyr Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, who was a prince of the Czech people, were moved to a new place.
• 1152 – Frederick I Barbarossa was chosen to be the King of Germany.
• 1238 – The Battle of the Sit River began. This battle led to the Mongol horde controlling Russia for about 200 years.
• 1351 – Ramathibodi became the King of Siam, which is now Thailand.
• 1386 – Władysław II Jagiełło (also known as Jogaila) was crowned King of Poland.
• 1461 – During the Wars of the Roses in England, Lancastrian King Henry VI was removed from power by his cousin from the House of York, who then became King Edward IV.
• 1493 – The famous explorer Christopher Columbus returned to Lisbon, Portugal. He arrived on his ship Niña after his first trip to what we now call The Bahamas and other islands in the Caribbean.
• 1519 – Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico. He was looking for the Aztec civilization and their riches.

Modern History: 1601 to Today

• 1628 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony was given a special paper called a Royal charter by the King. This allowed them to set up their government.
• 1665 – English King Charles II declared war on the Netherlands. This started the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
• 1675 – John Flamsteed was named the first Astronomer Royal of England. This was a very important job for studying the stars.
• 1681 – King Charles II gave a land grant to William Penn. This land later became the state of Pennsylvania.
• 1769 – The famous composer Mozart finished his last of three tours in Italy and left the country.
• 1776 – During the American Revolutionary War, the Continental Army put cannons on Dorchester Heights. This made the British troops leave the Siege of Boston.
• 1789 – In New York City, the first Congress of the United States met. This officially started the United States Constitution.
• 1790 – France was divided into 83 départements. This was done to break up old loyalties to the noble families who owned large areas of land.
• 1791 – Vermont was added to the United States as the 14th state.
• 1794 – The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was approved by the U.S. Congress. An amendment is a change or addition to the Constitution.
• 1797 – John Adams was sworn in as the 2nd President of the United States of America. He was the first president to start his term on March 4th.
• 1804 – The Castle Hill convict rebellion happened in the Colony of New South Wales. Irish prisoners rebelled against the British government there.
• 1813 – Cyril VI of Constantinople was chosen as the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, a very important religious leader.
• 1814 – In the War of 1812, American forces defeated the British at the Battle of Longwoods in Canada.
• 1837 – The city of Chicago officially became a city.
• 1848 – Carlo Alberto di Savoia signed the Statuto Albertino. This document later became the first constitution for the country of Italy.
• 1861 – The first national flag of the Confederate States of America (called the "Stars and Bars") was officially adopted.
• 1865 – The third and final national flag of the Confederate States of America was adopted by their Congress.
• 1878 – Pope Leo XIII brought back the Catholic Church in Scotland. This meant new bishops were named for the first time since 1603.
• 1882 – Britain's first electric streetcars, called trams, started running in east London.
• 1890 – The Forth Bridge in Scotland, which is the longest bridge in Great Britain (about 2,467 meters long), was opened by the Duke of Rothesay, who later became King Edward VII.
• 1899 – Cyclone Mahina hit north of Cooktown, Australia. It caused a huge wave, about 12 meters high, that went up to 5 kilometers inland, sadly killing over 300 people.
• 1901 – McKinley was sworn in as president for his second term. Theodore Roosevelt became vice president.
• 1908 – The Collinwood school fire in Ohio tragically killed 174 people.
• 1913 – The United States Department of Labor was created.
• 1917 – Jeannette Rankin from Montana became the first woman to be a member of the United States House of Representatives.
• 1933 – Franklin D. Roosevelt became the 32nd President of the United States. He was the last president to be sworn in on March 4th.
• 1933 – Frances Perkins became the United States Secretary of Labor. She was the first woman to be part of the United States Cabinet.
• 1941 – During World War II, the United Kingdom launched Operation Claymore on the Lofoten Islands. This was the first large-scale raid by British Commandos.
• 1943 – World War II: The Battle of the Bismarck Sea in the south-west Pacific ended.
• 1943 – World War II: The Battle of Fardykambos began. This was a major fight between the Greek resistance and the Italian army. It ended with the Italian soldiers surrendering and the town of Grevena being freed.
• 1944 – World War II: After a successful period called "Big Week," the USAAF started a daylight bombing campaign over Berlin.
• 1946 – Field Marshal C. G. E. Mannerheim, the 6th president of Finland, stepped down from his job because of health issues.
• 1955 – A law was passed to protect the endangered Saimaa ringed seal (Pusa hispida saimensis).
• 1957 – The S&P 500 stock market index was introduced. This is a way to measure how well 500 large companies are doing in the stock market.
• 1962 – A Caledonian Airways plane, a Douglas DC-7, crashed shortly after taking off from Cameroon. Sadly, 111 people died.
• 1966 – In an interview, The Beatles' John Lennon famously said that the band was "more popular than Jesus now."
• 1970 – The French submarine Eurydice exploded underwater, and all 57 crew members were lost.
• 1976 – The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention was officially closed. This meant that Northern Ireland was directly governed from London by the British parliament.
• 1977 – The 1977 Vrancea earthquake hit eastern and southern Europe. More than 1,500 people died, mostly in Bucharest, Romania.
• 1980 – Nationalist leader Robert Mugabe won a big election and became Zimbabwe's first black prime minister.
• 1985 – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a blood test for HIV infection. This test has been used ever since to check all blood donations in the United States.
• 1986 – The Soviet spacecraft Vega 1 started sending back pictures of Halley's Comet, including the first images of its center.
• 1990 – American basketball player Hank Gathers sadly died after collapsing during a game.
• 1994 – The Space Shuttle Columbia was launched on mission STS-62.
• 1996 – A train went off its tracks in Weyauwega, Wisconsin. This caused 2,300 people to be moved out of their homes for 16 days for safety.
• 2001 – The BBC Television Centre in London was hit by a large car bomb. One person was seriously hurt, and the attack was blamed on the Real IRA.
• 2009 – The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. He was wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. He was the first sitting head of state to be charged by the ICC.
• 2015 – At least 34 miners died in a suspected gas explosion at the Zasyadko coal mine in Ukraine.
• 2018 – Former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury, England. This caused a big diplomatic argument between many countries.
• 2020 – Nik Wallenda became the first person to walk on a tightrope over the Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua.

Famous People Born on March 4th

Born Before the 1600s

• 895 – Liu Zhiyuan, who started the Later Han Dynasty.
• 1188 – Blanche of Castile, who became the Queen of France.
• 1394 – Henry the Navigator, a famous Portuguese explorer.
• 1492 – Francesco de Layolle, an Italian organist and composer.
• 1519 – Hindal Mirza, a Mughal emperor.

Born Between 1601 and 1900

• 1678 – Antonio Vivaldi, a very famous Italian violinist and composer.
• 1745 – Casimir Pulaski, a Polish-American general.
• 1756 – Henry Raeburn, a Scottish portrait painter.
• 1769 – Muhammad Ali, an Ottoman military leader.
• 1778 – Robert Emmet, an Irish republican.
• 1809 – Nikolai Gogol, a Ukrainian-Russian writer.
• 1826 – Theodore Judah, an American engineer who helped found the Central Pacific Railroad.
• 1863 – R. I. Pocock, an English zoologist.
• 1877 – Garrett Morgan, an African-American inventor.
• 1881 – Richard C. Tolman, an American physicist and chemist.
• 1889 – Pearl White, an American actress.
• 1890 – Norman Bethune, a Canadian doctor and soldier.
• 1898 – Georges Dumézil, a French expert in languages and history.

Born After 1900

• 1904 – George Gamow, a Ukrainian-American physicist and cosmologist.
• 1906 – Avery Fisher, an American violinist and engineer who founded Fisher Electronics.
• 1907 – Maria Branyas, an American-Spanish supercentenarian, currently the oldest living person.
• 1913 – John Garfield, an American actor.
• 1914 – Ward Kimball, an American animator and producer for Disney.
• 1916 – Hans Eysenck, a German-English psychologist.
• 1923 – Patrick Moore, an English astronomer and TV host.
• 1926 – Richard DeVos, an American businessman who co-founded Amway.
• 1928 & Alan Sillitoe, an English novelist.
• 1932 – Miriam Makeba, a famous South African singer and actress.
• 1936 – Jim Clark, a Scottish racing driver.
• 1938 – Paula Prentiss, an American actress.
• 1940 – Adrian Lyne, an English film director.
• 1942 – Catherine O'Hara, a Canadian-American actress and comedian.
• 1944 – Bobby Womack, an American singer-songwriter.
• 1948 – James Ellroy, an American writer.
• 1948 – Chris Squire, an English singer and bass guitarist.
• 1948 – Shakin' Stevens, a British singer.
• 1950 – Rick Perry, an American politician and former Governor of Texas.
• 1951 – Kenny Dalglish, a Scottish footballer and manager.
• 1951 – Chris Rea, an English singer-songwriter.
• 1952 – Ronn Moss, an American actor.
• 1954 – François Fillon, a French politician and former Prime Minister of France.
• 1958 – Patricia Heaton, an American actress.
• 1961 – Ray Mancini, an American boxer.
• 1961 – Steven Weber, an American actor.
• 1963 – Jason Newsted, an American musician.
• 1965 – Paul W. S. Anderson, an English film director.
• 1965 – Khaled Hosseini, an Afghan-American novelist.
• 1966 – Dav Pilkey, an American author and illustrator, known for Captain Underpants.
• 1967 – Evan Dando, an American singer-songwriter.
• 1967 – Sam Taylor-Johnson, an English filmmaker and photographer.
• 1967 – Tim Vine, an English comedian.
• 1968 – Patsy Kensit, an English model and actress.
• 1968 – Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the current Prime Minister of Greece.
• 1969 – Chaz Bono, an American writer and actor.
• 1972 – Ivy Queen, a Puerto Rican singer and rapper.
• 1972 – Jos Verstappen, a Dutch racing driver.
• 1973 – Penny Mordaunt, an English politician.
• 1974 – Ariel Ortega, an Argentinian footballer.
• 1980 – Landon Donovan, a famous American soccer player.
• 1982 – K. Michelle, an American singer.
• 1983 – Drew Houston, an American entrepreneur who co-founded Dropbox.
• 1984 – Josh Bowman, an English actor.
• 1985 – Whitney Port, an American fashion designer.
• 1986 – Mike Krieger, a Brazilian-American computer programmer who co-founded Instagram.
• 1986 – Park Min-young, a South Korean actress.
• 1990 – Draymond Green, an American basketball player.
• 1992 – Erik Lamela, an Argentine footballer.
• 1992 – Bernd Leno, a German footballer.
• 1993 – Jenna Boyd, an American actress.
• 1993 – Bobbi Kristina Brown, an American singer and actress.
• 1999 – Brooklyn Beckham, an English model and socialite.
• 2001 – Freya Anderson, an English swimmer.
• 2007 – Miya Cech, an American actress.

People Who Passed Away on March 4th

Before the 1600s

• 306 – Adrian and Natalia of Nicomedia, Christian martyrs.
• 561 – Pelagius I, a pope of the Catholic Church.
• 934 – Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah, a Fatimid caliph.
• 1172 – Stephen III, the King of Hungary.
• 1193 – Saladin, who founded the Ayyubid Sultanate.
• 1238 – Joan of England, the Queen of Scotland.
• 1238 – Yuri II, a Russian Grand Prince.
• 1303 – Daniel of Moscow, a Russian Grand Duke.
• 1484 – Saint Casimir, a Polish prince.

Between 1601 and 1900

• 1615 – Hans von Aachen, a German painter.
• 1744 – John Anstis, an English historian.
• 1805 – Jean-Baptiste Greuze, a French painter.
• 1832 – Jean-François Champollion, a French expert in languages who helped decode hieroglyphs.
• 1852 – Nikolai Gogol, a Ukrainian-Russian writer.
• 1858 – Matthew C. Perry, an American naval commander.
• 1883 – Alexander H. Stephens, an American lawyer and politician.

After 1900

• 1916 – Franz Marc, a German painter.
• 1941 – Ludwig Quidde, a German activist and politician who won the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1948 – Antonin Artaud, a French actor and director.
• 1952 – Charles Scott Sherrington, an English scientist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
• 1963 – William Carlos Williams, an American poet.
• 1986 – Ding Ling, a Chinese author and feminist.
• 1990 – Hank Gathers, an American basketball player.
• 1994 – John Candy, a Canadian comedian and actor.
• 1996 – Minnie Pearl, an American entertainer.
• 1999 – Harry Blackmun, an American judge.
• 2008 – Gary Gygax, an American game designer who helped create Dungeons & Dragons.
• 2009 – Horton Foote, an American playwright.
• 2010 – Vladislav Ardzinba, the first President of Abkhazia.
• 2011 – Simon van der Meer, a Dutch-Swiss physicist who won a Nobel Prize.
• 2016 – Bud Collins, an American journalist and sportscaster.
• 2016 – Pat Conroy, an American author.
• 2018 – Davide Astori, an Italian soccer player.
• 2019 – Keith Flint, an English singer from the band The Prodigy.
• 2019 – Luke Perry, an American actor.
• 2020 – Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, a Peruvian politician and diplomat.
• 2022 – Rod Marsh, an Australian cricketer.
• 2022 – Shane Warne, a famous Australian cricketer.

Holidays and Observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Adrian of Nicomedia
  • Casimir
  • Felix of Rhuys
  • Giovanni Antonio Farina (Catholic Church)
  • Blessed Humbert III, Count of Savoy (Roman Catholic Church)
  • Paul Cuffee (Episcopal Church)
  • Peter of Pappacarbone
  • Blessed Zoltán Meszlényi
  • March 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• St Casimir's Day (Poland and Lithuania)
• World Obesity Day

See also

In Spanish: 4 de marzo para niños