WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2011

Today is Wednesday, March 2, the 61st day of 2011. There are 304 days left in the year.

1498 ― Vasco da Gama's fleet visits Mozambique Island

1807 ― Congress bans slave trade effective January 1, 1808

1855 ― Aleksandr Romanov becomes tsar of Russia

1903 ― Martha Washington Hotel, catering to women only, opens in New York City

1923 ― Time magazine debuts

1925 ― Japan's House of Representatives recognizes male suffrage

1946 ― Ho Chi Minh elected President of North Vietnam

1949 ― Lucky Lady II (USAF B-50 Superfortress), completes first nonstop round-the-world flight at Fort Worth, Texas, covering 23,452-miles in 94 hours

1958 ― First surface crossing of Antarctic continent is completed in 99 days

1991 ― U.N. votes in favor of U.S. resolutions for cease fire with Iraq