Today is Saturday, March 16, the 75th day of 2013. There are 290 days left in the year.
1079 ― Iran adopts solar Hijrah calendar
1190 ― Jews of York England commit mass suicide rather than submit to baptism
1345 ― Holy spirit glides above fire; “the miracle of Amsterdam” (legend)
1521 ― Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reaches Philippines
1830 ― New York Stock Exchange slowest day ever (31 shares traded)
1850 ― Nathaniel Hawthorne's “Scarlet Letter” published
1935 ― Hitler orders German rearmament, violating Versailles Treaty
1945 ― U.S. defeats Japan at Iwo Jima
1955 ― President Eisenhower upheld the use of atomic weapons in case of war
1968 ― My Lai massacre occurs (Vietnam War); 450 die