On This Day — 22 March

2000s

2026

Air Canada Express Flight 8646, a Bombardier CRJ-900 operated by Jazz Aviation, collided with a fire truck while landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Two fatalities were reported, both being the captain and the co-pilot. This marked the first fatal accident involving a CRJ-900.

Air Canada Express Flight 8646

2024

At least 145 people are killed and 551 injured in a bombing and mass shooting at the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, Russia.

Crocus City Hall attack

2021

Ten people are killed in a mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado.

2021 Boulder shooting

2020

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces the country's largest ever self-imposed curfew, in an effort to fight the spread of COVID-19.

Narendra Modi

2020

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announces a national lockdown and the country's first ever self-imposed curfew, in an effort to fight the spread of COVID-19.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis

2019

The Special Counsel investigation on the 2016 United States presidential election concludes when Robert Mueller submits his report to the United States Attorney General.

Mueller special counsel investigation

2019

Two buses crash in Kitampo, a town north of Ghana's capital Accra, killing at least 50 people.

Ghana

2017

A terrorist attack in London near the Houses of Parliament leaves four people dead and at least 20 injured.

2017 Westminster attack

2017

Syrian civil war: Five hundred members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are airlifted south of the Euphrates by United States Air Force helicopters, beginning the Battle of Tabqa.

Syrian civil war

2016

Three suicide bombers kill 32 people and injure 316 in the 2016 Brussels bombings at the airport and at the Maelbeek/Maalbeek metro station.

2016 Brussels bombings

📅

2013

At least 37 people are killed and 200 are injured after a fire destroys a camp containing Burmese refugees near Ban Mae, Thailand.

2013 Thailand refugee camp fire

2006

Three Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) hostages are freed by British forces in Baghdad after 118 days of captivity and the murder of their colleague from the U.S., Tom Fox.

Community Peacemaker Teams

2004

Ahmed Yassin, co-founder and leader of the Palestinian Sunni Islamist group Hamas, two bodyguards, and nine civilian bystanders are killed in the Gaza Strip when hit by Israeli Air Force Hellfire missiles.

Ahmed Yassin

1900s

1997

Tara Lipinski, aged 14 years and nine months, becomes the youngest women's World Figure Skating Champion.

Tara Lipinski

1997

Comet Hale–Bopp reaches its closest approach to Earth at 1.315 AU.

Comet Hale–Bopp

1996

NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on its 16th mission, STS-76.

Space Shuttle Atlantis

1995

Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returns to earth after setting a record of 438 days in space.

Astronaut

1993

The Intel Corporation ships the first Pentium chips (80586), featuring a 60 MHz clock speed, 100+ MIPS, and a 64 bit data path.

Intel

1992

USAir Flight 405 crashes shortly after takeoff from New York City's LaGuardia Airport, leading to a number of studies into the effect that ice has on aircraft.

USAir Flight 405

1992

Fall of communism in Albania: The Democratic Party of Albania wins a decisive majority in the parliamentary election.

Fall of communism in Albania

1988

The United States Congress votes to override President Ronald Reagan's veto of the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987.

United States Congress

1982

NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia is launched from the Kennedy Space Center on its third mission, STS-3.

NASA

1978

Karl Wallenda of The Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope suspended between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Karl Wallenda

1975

A fire at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Decatur, Alabama, causes a dangerous reduction in cooling water levels.

Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant

1972

The United States Congress sends the Equal Rights Amendment to the states for ratification.

Equal Rights Amendment

📅

1972

In Eisenstadt v. Baird, the United States Supreme Court decides that unmarried persons have the right to possess contraceptives.

Eisenstadt v. Baird

1963

The Beatles release their debut album Please Please Me.

The Beatles

1960

Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser.

Arthur Leonard Schawlow

1957

A United States Air Force aircraft disappears with all 67 people on board somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.

United States Air Force

1955

A United States Navy Douglas R6D-1 Liftmaster crashes into Hawaii's Waiʻanae Range, killing 66.

United States Navy

1946

The United Kingdom grants full independence to Transjordan.

Jordan

1945

World War II: The city of Hildesheim, Germany, is heavily damaged in a British air raid, though it had little military significance and Germany was on the verge of final defeat.

Hildesheim

1945

The Arab League is founded when a charter is adopted in Cairo, Egypt.

Arab League

1943

World War II: The entire village of Khatyn (in present-day Republic of Belarus) is burnt alive by Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118.

Khatyn massacre

1942

World War II: In the Mediterranean Sea, the Royal Navy confronts Italy's Regia Marina in the Second Battle of Sirte.

World War II

1939

Germany takes Memel from Lithuania.

1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania

1934

The first Masters Tournament is held at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.

1934 Masters Tournament

1933

Cullen–Harrison Act: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an amendment to the Volstead Act, legalizing the manufacture and sale of "3.2 beer" (3.2% alcohol by weight, approximately 4% alcohol by volume) and light wines.

Cullen–Harrison Act

1933

Nazi Germany opens its first concentration camp, Dachau.

Nazi Germany

1920

Azeri and Turkish army soldiers with participation of Kurdish gangs attack the Armenian inhabitants of Shushi (Nagorno Karabakh).

Azerbaijan Democratic Republic

1916

Yuan Shikai abdicates as Emperor of China, restoring the Republic and returning to the Presidency.

Yuan Shikai

1913

Mystic Phan Xích Long, the self-proclaimed Emperor of Vietnam, is arrested for organising a revolt against the colonial rule of French Indochina, which was nevertheless carried out by his supporters the following day.

Phan Xích Long

1906

The first England vs France rugby union match is played at Parc des Princes in Paris.

England national rugby union team

1800s

1896

Charilaos Vasilakos wins the first modern Olympic marathon race with a time of three hours and 18 minutes.

Charilaos Vasilakos

1895

Before the Société pour L'Encouragement à l'Industrie, brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière demonstrate movie film technology publicly for the first time.

Lumière brothers

1894

The Stanley Cup ice hockey competition is held for the first time, in Montreal, Canada.

Stanley Cup

1873

The Spanish National Assembly abolishes slavery in Puerto Rico.

Cortes Generales

1871

In North Carolina, William Woods Holden becomes the first governor of a U.S. state to be removed from office by impeachment.

North Carolina

1849

The Austrians defeat the Piedmontese at the Battle of Novara.

Austrian Empire

📅

1829

In the London Protocol, the three protecting powers (United Kingdom, France and Russia) establish the borders of Greece.

London Protocol (1829)

Before 1800

1794

The Slave Trade Act of 1794 bans the export of slaves from the United States, and prohibits American citizens from outfitting a ship for the purpose of importing slaves.

Slave Trade Act of 1794

1792

Battle of Croix-des-Bouquets: Black slave insurgents gain a victory in the first major battle of the Haitian Revolution.

Battle of Croix-des-Bouquets

1784

The Emerald Buddha is moved with great ceremony to its current location in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand.

Emerald Buddha

1765

The British Parliament passes the Stamp Act that introduces a tax to be levied directly on its American colonies.

Parliament of Great Britain

1739

Nader Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne.

Nader Shah

1668

Notable Privateer Henry Morgan lands in Cuba to raid and plunder the inland town of Puerto del Príncipe during the latter stages of the Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660).

Privateer

1638

Anne Hutchinson is expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious dissent.

Anne Hutchinson

1631

The Massachusetts Bay Colony outlaws the possession of cards, dice, and gaming tables.

Massachusetts Bay Colony

1622

Jamestown massacre: Algonquians kill 347 English settlers around Jamestown, Virginia, a third of the colony's population, during the Second Anglo-Powhatan War.

Indian massacre of 1622

1621

The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony, led by governor John Carver, sign a peace treaty with Massasoit, sachem of the Wampanoags; Squanto serves as an interpreter between the two sides.

Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony)