On This Day — 29 February
2000s
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.
Flour Massacre
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.
Colectivo (Venezuela)
2020
The United States and the Taliban sign the Doha Agreement for bringing peace to Afghanistan.
United States
2020
Muhyiddin Yassin is appointed as the 8th Prime Minister of Malaysia, amid the 2020 Malaysian political crisis.
Muhyiddin Yassin
2020
Luxembourg becomes the first country in the world to render public transport free nationwide.
Luxembourg
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.
2016 Miqdadiyah bombing
2012
North Korea agrees to suspend uranium enrichment and nuclear and long-range missile tests in return for US food aid.
North Korea
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.
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
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.
Misha Defonseca
2004
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is removed as president of Haiti following a coup.
Jean-Bertrand Aristide
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.
Angelina Jolie
2000
Chechens attack a guard post near Ulus Kert, eventually killing 84 Russian paratroopers during the Second Chechen War.
Second Chechen War
1900s
1996
Faucett Perú Flight 251 crashes in the Andes; all 123 passengers and crew are killed.
Faucett Perú Flight 251
1996
The Siege of Sarajevo officially ends.
Siege of Sarajevo
1992
A referendum is begun in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the determination of Bosnian independence.
Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
1988
South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 other clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town.
Desmond Tutu
1988
Svend Robinson becomes the first member of the House of Commons of Canada to come out as gay.
Svend Robinson
1984
Pierre Trudeau announces his retirement as Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister of Canada.
Pierre Trudeau
1980
Gordie Howe of the Hartford Whalers makes NHL history as he scores his 800th goal.
Gordie Howe
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.
South Vietnam
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.
Aeroflot Flight 15
1964
British Eagle International Airlines Flight 802/6 crashes into the Glungezer mountain in the Tux Alps of Austria, killing all 75 people aboard.
British Eagle International Airlines Flight 802/6
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.
1960 Agadir earthquake
1944
The Admiralty Islands are invaded in Operation Brewer, led by American general Douglas MacArthur, in World War II.
Admiralty Islands
1940
For her performance as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award.
Gone with the Wind (film)
1940
Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations.
Winter War
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.
Berkeley, California
1936
The February 26 Incident in Tokyo ends.
February 26 incident
1920
The Czechoslovak National Assembly adopts the Constitution.
First Czechoslovak Republic
1916
Tokelau is annexed by the United Kingdom.
Tokelau
1916
In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill and mine workers is raised from 12 to 14 years old.
South Carolina
1912
The Piedra Movediza (Moving Stone) of Tandil falls and breaks.
Piedra Movediza
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.
James Madison University
1800s
1892
St. Petersburg, Florida is incorporated.
St. Petersburg, Florida
Before 1800
1796
The Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain comes into force, facilitating ten years of peaceful trade between the two nations.
Jay Treaty
1768
Polish nobles form the Bar Confederation.
Bar Confederation
1720
Ulrika Eleonora, Queen of Sweden abdicates in favour of her husband, who becomes King Frederick I on March 24.
Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden
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.
List of non-standard dates
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.
Queen Anne's War
1644
Abel Tasman's second Pacific voyage begins as he leaves Batavia in command of three ships.
Abel Tasman
1504
Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Jamaican natives to provide him with supplies.
Christopher Columbus
888
Odo, count of Paris, is crowned king of West Francia (France) by Archbishop Walter of Sens at Compiègne.
AD 888