1. 27 BC - The title Augustus is bestowed upon Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian by the Roman Senate.

2. 550 - Gothic War (535 - 552): The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.

3. 929 - The Caliphate of Cordoba is established by Emir Abd-al-Rahman III.

4. 1120 - The Council of Nablus is held, establishing the earliest surviving written laws of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.

5. 1219 - Floods in northern Netherlands after storm, thousands killed.

6. 1362 - A great storm tide in the North Sea destroys the German island of Strand and the city of Rungholt.

7. 1412 - The Medici family is appointed official banker of the Papacy.

8. 1492 - The first grammar of a modern language, Spanish, is presented to Queen Isabella.

9. 1493 - Christopher Columbus leaves the New World and sets sail for Spain.

10. 1501 - Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral and 6 ships begin their return voyage to Lisbon.

11. 1531 - English Reformation Parliament's 2nd sitting.

12. 1547 - Ivan IV the Terrible, aged 17, crowns himself the 1st Tsar of Moscow.

13. 1556 - Holy Roman Emperor Charles V abdicates his role as King of Spain and appoints his son Philip II of Spain.

14. 1572 - Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk is tried and convicted of high treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.

15. 1581 - English Parliament passes laws against Catholicism.

16. 1605 - The first edition of "El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha" (Book one of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid.

17. 1707 - The Act of Union is ratified by the Scottish Parliament.

18. 1749 - Hoax article advertising fictitious theatrical performer "The Bottle Conjuror" drew huge crowds to the Haymarket Theatre, London, whose inevitable non-appearance caused a riot. It's alleged the Duke of Montagu perpetrated the fiasco to win a bet.

19. 1756 - Britain & Prussia sign the Treaty of Westminster.

20. 1761 - The British capture Pondicherry, India, from the French.

21. 1765 - French astronomer Charles Messier catalogs M41 (galactic cluster in Canis Major).

22. 1776 - The Continental Congress approves the enlistment of free blacks.

23. 1777 - Vermont declares independence from New York.

24. 1780 - Battle of Cape St Vincent: British fleet under Admiral Sir George Rodney defeats Spanish squadron under Don Juan de Lángara.

25. 1793 - French King Louis XVI is sentenced to death by the National Convention during the French Revolution.

26. 1795 - The French army under Pichegru occupies Utrecht, Netherlands.

27. 1809 - Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of Corunna.

28. 1819 - Godert van der Capellen becomes governor-general of the Dutch East Indies.

29. 1832 - Charles Darwin lands at Porto Prayo in the Cape Verde Islands, the first landing of his HMS Beagle voyage.

30. 1847 - John C. Frémont is appointed governor of the new California territory.

31. 1862 - Hartley Colliery disaster results in 204 deaths.

32. 1865 - General William Sherman issues Field Order #15 (land for blacks).

33. 1865 - A munitions magazine explodes at Fort Fisher, North Carolina, killing or injuring 200 soldiers, and the carelessness of drunken soldiers is blamed.

34. 1865 - The San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle starts.

35. 1868 - The refrigerator car is patented by William Davis, a fish dealer in Detroit.

36. 1870 - Virginia becomes the 8th state readmitted to the US after the Civil War.

37. 1871 - Jefferson Long of Georgia is sworn in as the 2nd black congressman.

38. 1877 - Captain Burago with a squadron of Russian imperial army dragoons liberates Plovdiv from Ottoman rule.

39. 1883 - The Pendleton Act creates the basis of the US civil service system.

40. 1883 - The Quebec Rugby Football Union forms.

41. 1900 - The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German Treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the Samoan islands.

42. 1900 - The US gains control over Tutuila in Samoa and several smaller Pacific islands.

43. 1905 - Baseball outfielder Frank Huelsman completes the eighth transaction in 8 months.

44. 1905 - The Stanley Cup, Dey's Arena, Ottawa: The Ottawa Senators rout Dawson City (Yukon), 23-2 for a 2-0 series sweep; the most lopsided challenge playoff game in history; Frank McGee scores 14 goals.

45. 1908 - Pinnacles National Monument, California is established.

46. 1909 - Antarctic explorers Douglas Mawson, Edgeworth David and Alistair Mackay reach the South Magnetic Pole as part of the Nimrod expedition.

47. 1911 - Pandora becomes the 1st 2-man sailboat to round Cape Horn west to east.

48. 1914 - Writer Maxim Gorky returns to Russia.

49. 1919 - Prohibition is ratified by the states.

50. 1991 - The beginning of the Persian Gulf War. The Persian Gulf War, triggered by Iraq's occupation of Kuwait in August 1990, began on this day in 1991 with a US-led air offensive against Iraq that continued until a cease-fire was declared on February 28.