February 29: What Happened on This Day in History (High_school Level)?

(Page last edited 10/12/2017)

1. 1504 - Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies.
2. 1712 - February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Old style.
3. 1796 - The Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain comes into force, facilitating ten years of peaceful trade between the two nations.
4. 1892 - St. Petersburg, Florida is incorporated.
5. 1916 - Child labor: In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill, and mine workers is raised from twelve to fourteen years old.
6. 1940 - For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award.
7. 1940 - In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, because of the war, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from Sweden's Consul General in San Francisco.
8. 1964 - In Sydney, Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets a new world record in the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition (58.9 seconds).
9. 1988 - South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town.
10. 2012 - Tokyo Skytree construction completed. Now it is the tallest tower in the world, 634 meters high, and second tallest (man-made) structure on Earth, next to Burj Khalifa.
11. Famous Birthdays: Pope Paul III, Ann Lee (American religious leader, founded the Shakers), John Philip Holland (Irish engineer, designed the HMS Holland 1 ), Augusta Savage (American sculptor), Balthus (French-Polish painter)

For famous birthdays and other daily events in history, visit our Daily Dose Activities.

Click Here for Yesterday in History: February 28

Click Here for Tomorrow in History: March 2

For more history resources on Internet 4 Classrooms, visit our Social Studies and History index. For Pre K-8th Grade Level History and Social Studies Resources, visit our Grade Level Index.