Browse Historical Events by Day: What Happened on March 29th?

The founding of the Qin Dynasty in China marks the beginning of Imperial China.

Baldwin I of Jerusalem is crowned as the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Emperor Antoku of Japan abdicates the throne and is succeeded by his mother, Taira no Tokuko.

Edward III of England is declared King of France, initiating the Hundred Years' War.

The Order of the Garter is founded by King Edward III of England.

Geoffrey Chaucer tells The Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II.

The first settlers arrive in Maryland, landing at St. Clements Island in today's St. Mary’s County. On this island, the first Roman Catholic Mass in the English-speaking colonies was celebrated. The colony of Maryland was founded so that the English Catholics could have a place to live where they could escape the intolerance of the English monarchy. Officially the colony is said to be named in honor of Queen Henrietta Maria, the wife of King Charles I although some Catholic scholars believe that George Calvert, who was a publicly declared Catholic named the province after Mary, the mother of Jesus. The name in the charter was phrased Terra Mariae, anglice, Maryland. Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore never travelled to Maryland. More

English Civil War: The Battle of Cheriton ends in Parliamentarian victory.

Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, is established by Charles II.

Charles IV of Spain abdicates in favor of his son Ferdinand VII.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (née Greenglass) are convicted of spying and passing secret information about the atomic bomb and other military information to the Soviet Union during and after World War II, The husband and wife were later sentenced to death and were executed in 1953 at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York. President Eisenhower had declined to grant executive clemency to the Rosenbergs, stating: "The nature of the crime for which they have been found guilty and sentenced far exceeds that of the taking of the life of another citizen; it involves the deliberate betrayal of the entire nation and could very well result in the death of many, many thousands of innocent citizens…" More

Lt. William Calley is convicted of murder in the My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War.