History of the Day for:
March 12
- 1496: Jews were expelled from Syria.
- 1609: Bermuda became an English colony.
- 1664: The first naturalization act was passed in the American colonies.
- 1664: New Jersey became a British colony.
- 1755: The first steam engine in America was installed to pump water from a mine.
- 1789: The U.S. Post Office was established.
- 1848: In France the second republic was established.
- 1850: The first U.S. $20 gold piece was issued.
- 1857: Verdi's opera, "Simon Boccanegra" was first performed in Venice, Italy.
- 1868: Britain annexed Basutoland in Africa.
- 1868: Congress abolished the manufacturer's tax.
- 1884: Mississippi established the first U.S. state college for women.
- 1904: Andrew Carnegie established the Carnegie Hero Fund.
- 1912: Capt. Albert Berry performed the first parachute jump from an airplane.
- 1912: The Girl Guides, later renamed the Girl Scouts, were founded in Savannah, Ga., by Juliette Gordon Low.
- 1913: The foundation stone of the Australian capital in Canberra was laid.
- 1933: Franklin Delano Roosevelt conducted his first "fireside chat."
- 1935: England established a 30 mph speed limit for towns and villages.
- 1938: Nazi Germany invaded Austria.
- 1940: Finland surrendered to Russia during World War II.
- 1945: New York became the first state to prohibit discrimination by race and creed in employment.
- 1947: The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
- 1959: The U.S. House joined the Senate and approved Hawaii statehood.
- 1964: Malcolm X resigned from the Nation of Islam.
- 1968: Mauritius gained independence from Britain.
- 1970: The U.S. lowered the voting age to 18 from 21.
- 1977: Egypt's Anwar Sadat pledged to regain Arab territory from Israel.
- 1980: A jury found John Wayne Gacy guilty of murdering 33 people in Chicago.
- 1981: Soyuz T-4 carried two cosmonauts to the Salyut 6 space station.
- 1981: Walter Witschey installed the world's largest sundial in Richmond, Va.
- 1984: The British ice dancing team Torvill & Dean become the first skaters to receive nine perfect 6.0's in world championships.
- 1985: Larry Bird scored a Boston Celtic record 60 points.
- 1990: The Los Angeles Raiders announced they were returning to Oakland.
- 1992: Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
- 1993: Several bombs explode in Bombay (Mumbai), India, killing about 300 and injuring hundreds more.
- 1993: North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea says that it plans to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and refuses to allow inspectors access to its nuclear sites.
- 1993: The Blizzard of 1993 – Snow would begin to fall across the eastern portion of the US with tornadoes, thunder snow storms, high winds and record low temperatures. The storm would last another 30 hours before it left the US.
- 1994: The Church of England ordains its first female priests.
- 1999: Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO.
- 2003: Zoran Đindic, Prime Minister of Serbia, is assassinated in Belgrade.
- 2004: A President of South Korea, Roh Moo-hyun, is impeached by its national assembly for the first time in the nation's history.
- 2005: Tung Chee Hwa, the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong, steps down from his post after his resignation is approved by the Chinese central government.