1. 141 BC - Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne of the Han Dynasty in China and rules for 54 years.

2. 590 - Bahram Chobin is crowned as King Barham VI of Persia.

3. 1009 - First known written mention of Lithuania, in the Annals of Quedlinburg.

4. 1230 - Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen II defeats Theodore of Epirus near the village of Klokotnitsa.

5. 1276 - Augsburg becomes an imperial free city.

6. 1496 - Jews are expelled from Carinthia, Austria.

7. 1497 - Nicolaus Copernicus' 1st recorded astronomical observation.

8. 1500 - Pedro Álvares Cabral departs Lisbon, Portugal at the head of a 13 - ship expedition to India that will also claim Brazil for Portugal.

9. 1522 - Martin Luther begins preaching his "Invocavit sermons" in the German city of Wittenberg, reminding citizens to trust God's word rather than violence and thus helping bring to a close the revolutionary stage of the Reformation.

10. 1551 - Emperor Karel appoints son Philip as heir to the throne.

11. 1562 - Kissing in public banned in Naples (punishable by death).

12. 1566 - David Rizzio, the private secretary to Mary I of Scotland, is murdered in the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland.

13. 1617 - Sweden & Russia sign Peace of Stolbowa.

14. 1640 - Pierre Corneille's play "Horace" premieres in Paris.

15. 1642 - English Queen Henriette Maria arrives in Hellevoetsluis, Netherlands.

16. 1689 - Thomas Shadwell appointed second English poet laureate by William and Mary after John Dryden refuses to swear oaths of allegiance to the new monarchs.

17. 1701 - France, Cologne & Bavaria sign alliance.

18. 1721 - British Chancellor Exchequer John Aislabie confined in London Tower.

19. 1741 - British fleet under Admiral Ogle begins assault on Cartagena.

20. 1745 - Bells for 1st American carillon shipped from England to Boston.

21. 1765 - After a public campaign by the writer Voltaire, judges in Paris posthumously exonerate Jean Calas of murdering his son. Calas had been tortured and executed in 1762 on the charge, though his son had actually committed suicide.

22. 1776 - Adam Smith publishes the influential economics book "The Wealth of Nations".

23. 1798 - Dr George Balfour becomes 1st naval surgeon in the US Navy.

24. 1804 - Georges Cadoudal, Breton royalist who plotted to overthrow Napoleon in the Pichegru conspiracy, arrested.

25. 1809 - A group of conspirators break into Gripsholm Castle and imprison King Gustav IV Adolf and appoint Charles XIII in his place as regent of Sweden.

26. 1820 - Philippines chases out foreigners; about 125 die.

27. 1822 - Charles Graham of NY granted first US patent for artificial teeth.

28. 1834 - French Foreign Legion is founded.

29. 1839 - Prussian government limits work week for children to 51 hours.

30. 1841 - US Supreme Court rules the kidnapped slaves from the Spanish schooner the Amistad are free.

31. 1842 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Nabucco" premieres in Milan.

32. 1844 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Hernani" premieres in Venice.

33. 1849 - Carl Nicolai's opera "Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor" premieres.

34. 1856 - Sigma Alpha Epsilon is founded in the Johnston Mansion House on the University of Alabama.

35. 1858 - Albert Potts of Philadelphia patents the street mailbox.

36. 1860 - 1st Japanese ambassador arrives in San Francisco en route to Washington.

37. 1861 - US Confederate currency authorized - $50, $100, $500, $1,000.

38. 1862 - USS Monitor and CSS Merrimack battle in Hampton Roads.

39. 1864 - Ulysses S. Grant is named commanding general of the U.S. (Union) army.

40. 1868 - The opera "Hamlet" by Ambroise Thomas premieres in Paris.

41. 1870 - 32nd Grand National: George Stevens wins consecutive GNs aboard 7/2 favourite The Colonel; his 5th and final GN victory.

42. 1889 - Battle at Gallabat (Metema): Mahdi's forces beat Abyssinian Emperor John IV.

43. 1889 - Kansas passes 1st general antitrust law in US.

44. 1891 - Great blizzard of 1891 begins in England and lasts until March 13; kills 200 people and 6,000 animals.

45. 1895 - Stanley Cup, Victoria Rink, Montreal, Quebec: Montreal Victorias clinches trophy as Montreal HC beats Queens University (Kingston, Ontario), 5 - 1.

46. 1897 - Cleveland Indians fans start calling the team "Indians" (in 1915 becomes official).

47. 1897 - Premiere of (parts of) Gustav Mahler's 3rd symphony, in Berlin, Germany.

48. 1898 - Peter of Tarantaise (Pope Innocent V) beatified as a saint in the Catholic church by Pope Leo XIII.

49. 1904 - Brandon's Lester Patrick becomes 1st hockey defenseman to score a goal.

50. 1907 - 1st involuntary sterilization law enacted, Indiana.