February 29

Historic Events

2024

The Flour Massacre took place in the Gaza Strip: Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians waiting for aid amidst the Gaza war, killing over 100 and wounding 750. ›

2020

During a demonstration, pro-government colectivos shoot at disputed President and Speaker of the National Assembly Juan Guaidó and his supporters in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, leaving five injured. ›

2020

The United States and the Taliban sign the Doha Agreement for bringing peace to Afghanistan. ›

2020

Muhyiddin Yassin is appointed as the 8th Prime Minister of Malaysia, amid the 2020 Malaysian political crisis. ›

2020

Luxembourg becomes the first country in the world to render public transport free nationwide. ›

2016

In the Miqdadiyah bombing: at least 40 people are killed and 58 others wounded following a suicide bombing by ISIL at a Shi'ite funeral in the city of Miqdadiyah, Diyala, Iraq. ›

2012

North Korea agrees to suspend uranium enrichment and nuclear and long-range missile tests in return for US food aid. ›

2008

The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence withdraws Prince Harry from a tour of Afghanistan after news of his deployment is leaked to foreign media. ›

2008

Misha Defonseca admits to fabricating her memoir, Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years, in which she claims to have lived with a pack of wolves in the woods during the Holocaust. ›

2004

Jean-Bertrand Aristide is removed as president of Haiti following a coup. ›

2004

Angelina Jolie wears a White Marc Bouwer dress to the 76th Academy Awards, which has since been placed on numerous lists for best Oscars fashion. ›

2000

Chechens attack a guard post near Ulus Kert, eventually killing 84 Russian paratroopers during the Second Chechen War. ›

1996

Faucett Perú Flight 251 crashes in the Andes; all 123 passengers and crew are killed. ›

1996

The Siege of Sarajevo officially ends. ›

1992

A referendum is begun in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the determination of Bosnian independence. ›

1988

South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 other clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town. ›

1988

Svend Robinson becomes the first member of the House of Commons of Canada to come out as gay. ›

1984

Pierre Trudeau announces his retirement as Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister of Canada. ›

1980

Gordie Howe of the Hartford Whalers makes NHL history as he scores his 800th goal. ›

1972

South Korea withdraws 11,000 of its 48,000 troops from South Vietnam as part of Nixon's Vietnamization policy in the Vietnam War. ›

1968

Aeroflot Flight 15 crashes Irkutsk Oblast, Soviet Union, due to a loss of control. Eighty-three of the 84 occupants onboard die. The exact cause of the accident is unknown. ›

1964

British Eagle International Airlines Flight 802/6 crashes into the Glungezer mountain in the Tux Alps of Austria, killing all 75 people aboard. ›

1960

The 5.7 Mw Agadir earthquake shakes coastal Morocco with a maximum perceived intensity of X (Extreme), destroying Agadir and leaving 12,000 dead and another 12,000 injured. ›

1944

The Admiralty Islands are invaded in Operation Brewer, led by American general Douglas MacArthur, in World War II. ›

1940

For her performance as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award. ›

1940

Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations. ›

1940

In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from Sweden's consul general in San Francisco. ›

1936

The February 26 Incident in Tokyo ends. ›

1924

The Victorian Football League created the Brownlow Medal to honour deceased administrator Charles Brownlow, now awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League. ›

1920

The Czechoslovak National Assembly adopts the Constitution. ›

1916

Tokelau is annexed by the United Kingdom. ›

1916

In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill and mine workers is raised from 12 to 14 years old. ›

1912

The Piedra Movediza (Moving Stone) of Tandil falls and breaks. ›

1908

James Madison University is founded at Harrisonburg, Virginia, United States as The State Normal and Industrial School for Women by the Virginia General Assembly. ›

1892

St. Petersburg, Florida is incorporated. ›

1796

The Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain comes into force, facilitating ten years of peaceful trade between the two nations. ›

1768

Polish nobles form the Bar Confederation. ›

1720

Ulrika Eleonora, Queen of Sweden abdicates in favour of her husband, who becomes King Frederick I on March 24. ›

1712

February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Julian calendar. ›

1704

In Queen Anne's War, French forces and Native Americans stage a raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony, killing 56 villagers and taking more than 100 captive. ›

1644

Abel Tasman's second Pacific voyage begins as he leaves Batavia in command of three ships. ›

1504

Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Jamaican natives to provide him with supplies. ›

888

Odo, count of Paris, is crowned king of West Francia (France) by Archbishop Walter of Sens at Compiègne. ›