This Day in History on 21st March

The historical events hold a lot of value for aspirants who are sitting for UPSC competitive exams including the IAS Exam. 

On this page, we will list all historical events that occurred on 21st March. The students can refer to them while preparing for all competitive exams and banking exams.

Important Days

  • International Day of Forests
  • World Poetry Day: This day was declared by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in 1999. The purpose of the day is to promote the reading, writing, publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world.
  • Australia’s Harmony Day
  • Mother’s Day (Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan)
  • Namibia’s Independence Day
  • Human Rights Day (South Africa)
  • International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Important Events

1556: Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was burned alive as a punishment for preaching Christianity.

1858: Sir Hugh Rose besieged Zanzibar.

1871: Otto von Bismarck became Chancellor of Germany.

1935: Shah Raza Pahlavi called for Persia to be renamed Iran.

1960: Police in the South African city of Sharpeville shot down 69 people by firing a group of blacks peacefully protesting against apartheid.

1977: End of the National Emergency in India.

1990: Namibia became independent after 75 years of South African rule.

2006: Social media site Twitter launched.

2010: The Indian Navy successfully test-fired a vertical launch version of the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile from the Indian Army warship Ranveer in the Bay of Bengal off Odisha coast.

Equinox: An equinox is a moment in which the plane of Earth’s equator passes through the centre of the Sun, which occurs twice each year, around 20 March and 23 September.  On an equinox, day and night are of approximately equal duration all over the planet.

Birthday / Anniversary

Ustad Bismillah Khan

1768: Joseph Fourier, a French mathematician, and physicist.

1887: M. N. Roy, an Indian revolutionary, radical activist, and political theorist.

1916: Ustad Bismillah Khan, an Indian musician credited with popularizing the Shehnai.

1923: Nirmala Srivastava, the Indian religious leader, founded Sahaja Yoga (d. 2011)

1944: Iftikhar Arif, a Pakistani Urdu poet.

1970: Shobana, an Indian film actress and Bharatanatyam dancer.

1978: Rani Mukerji, an Indian film actress.

Death / Death Anniversary

1556: Thomas Cranmer, a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop.

1985: Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave, an English stage and film actor.

2001: Chung Ju-Yung, a South Korean entrepreneur, businessman, and the founder of Hyundai Groups of South Korea.

2003: Shivani, Indian author (b. 1923)

Further Reading

Month-wise This Day in History

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *