Osun Defender History Corner: March 14 In Focus

Today, on the history corner, we take a trip in the realm of flashbacks and recall some events that marked this day.

March 14, 1489

Catherine Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus, sells her kingdom to Venice.

March 14, 1590

Battle of Ivry: Henry IV of France defeats the Catholic League during the French Wars of Religion.

March 14, 1794

Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin, revolutionizing the cotton industry.

March 14, 1885

The Mikado, a comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan, premieres at the Savoy Theatre in London.

March 14, 1900

The Gold Standard Act is ratified, establishing gold as the only standard for redeeming paper money in the United States.

March 14, 1923

President Warren G. Harding becomes the first president to file an income tax report.

March 14, 1939

Slovakia declares independence under German pressure.

March 14, 1943

World War II: The Kraków Ghetto is “liquidated.”

March 14, 1964

A jury in Dallas, Texas, finds Jack Ruby guilty of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy.

March 14, 1979

The Census Bureau begins using a computerized system to process data for the first time.

March 14, 1980

Poland’s Solidarity union movement is born with an agreement signed in Gdansk that allows for legal organization of the workers.

March 14, 1990

Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first President of the Soviet Union.

March 14, 2004

A series of bombings in Madrid, Spain, kills 191 people and injures over 2,000.

March 14, 2011

A 9.0 magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of Japan, triggering a devastating tsunami and nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

March 14, 2018

Stephen Hawking, the renowned theoretical physicist, dies at the age of 76.

March 14, 2020

The World Health Organization declares COVID-19 a pandemic as the virus spreads globally.

March 14, 2020

The Dow Jones Industrial Average drops 2,997.10 points, the largest point drop in its history, due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.

Please note that these are just a few historical events that happened on March 14. History is full of numerous other significant events on this day, ranging from politics and warfare to cultural and scientific milestones.