March 31 Historical Events

The following events took place on March 31. The list is arranged in chronological order.

Found 47 events. Showing 31 - 47.

• 1949
  The Dominion of Newfoundland joins the Canadian Confederation and becomes the 10th Province of Canada.
• 1951
  Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau.
• 1957
  Elections to the Territorial Assembly of the French colony Upper Volta are held. After the elections PDU and MDV form a government.
• 1958
  In the Canadian federal election, the Progressive Conservatives, led by John Diefenbaker, win the largest percentage of seats in Canadian history, with 208 seats of 265.
• 1959
  The 14th Dalai Lama, crosses the border into India and is granted political asylum.
• 1964
  A coup d'état in Brazil establishes a military government, under the aegis of general Castelo Branco.
• 1966
  The Soviet Union launches Luna 10 which later becomes the first space probe to enter orbit around the Moon.
• 1970
  Explorer 1 re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere after 12 years in orbit.

• 1979
  The last British soldier leaves the Maltese Islands. Malta declares its Freedom Day (Jum il-Helsien).
• 1980
  The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad operates its final train after being ordered to liquidate its assets because of bankruptcy and debts owed to creditors.
• 1985
  The first WrestleMania, the biggest wrestling event from the WWE (then the WWF), takes place in Madison Square Garden in New York.
• 1986
  Six metropolitan county councils are abolished in England.
• 1990
  Approximately 200,000 protestors take to the streets of London to protest against the newly introduced Poll Tax.
• 1991
  Georgian independence referendum, 1991: Nearly 99 percent of the voters support the country’s independence from the Soviet Union.
• 1992
  The USS Missouri, the last active United States Navy battleship, is decommissioned in Long Beach, California.
• 1994
  The journal Nature reports the finding in Ethiopia of the first complete Australopithecus afarensis skull.
• 2004
  Iraq War in Anbar Province: In Fallujah, Iraq, four American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA, are killed after being ambushed.