On this day: February 29

Events on February 29

• 888 Odo, count of Paris, is crowned king of West Francia (France) by Archbishop Walter of Sens at Compiègne. Wikipedia
• 1504 Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Jamaican natives to provide him with supplies. Wikipedia
• 1644 Abel Tasman's second Pacific voyage begins as he leaves Batavia in command of three ships. Wikipedia
• 1712 February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Julian calendar. Wikipedia
• 1916 In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill and mine workers is raised from 12 to 14 years old. Wikipedia
• 1916 Tokelau is annexed by the United Kingdom. Wikipedia
• 1940 In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from Sweden's consul general in San Francisco. Wikipedia
• 1940 At the 12th Academy Awards, Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to be awarded an Oscar, winning Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind. Wikipedia
• 1940 For her performance as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: The Admiralty Islands campaign began when American forces assaulted Los Negros Island, the third largest of the Admiralty Islands. Wikipedia
• 1944 The Admiralty Islands are invaded in Operation Brewer, led by American general Douglas MacArthur, in World War II. Wikipedia
• 1960 The 5.7 Mw Agadir earthquake shakes coastal Morocco with a maximum perceived intensity of X (Extreme), destroying Agadir and leaving 12,000 dead and another 12,000 injured. Wikipedia
• 1960 The deadliest earthquake in Moroccan history (damaged building pictured) struck the city of Agadir, killing at least 12,000 people. Wikipedia
• 1968 Aeroflot Flight 15 crashes Irkutsk Oblast, Soviet Union, due to a loss of control. Eighty-three of the 84 occupants onboard die. The exact cause of the accident is unknown. Wikipedia
• 1972 South Korea withdraws 11,000 of its 48,000 troops from South Vietnam as part of Nixon's Vietnamization policy in the Vietnam War. Wikipedia
• 1988 South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 other clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town. Wikipedia
• 1996 Faucett Perú Flight 251 crashes in the Andes; all 123 passengers and crew are killed. Wikipedia
• 2004 Jean-Bertrand Aristide is removed as president of Haiti following a coup. Wikipedia
• 2004 Angelina Jolie wears a White Marc Bouwer dress to the 76th Academy Awards, which has since been placed on numerous lists for best red carpet fashion. Wikipedia
• 2004 Angelina Jolie wears a White Marc Bouwer dress to the 76th Academy Awards, which has since been placed on numerous lists for best Oscars fashion. Wikipedia
• 2008 Misha Defonseca admits to fabricating her memoir, Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years, in which she claims to have lived with a pack of wolves in the woods during the Holocaust. Wikipedia
• 2012 North Korea agrees to suspend uranium enrichment and nuclear and long-range missile tests in return for US food aid. Wikipedia
• 2016 In the Miqdadiyah bombing: at least 40 people are killed and 58 others wounded following a suicide bombing by ISIL at a Shi'ite funeral in the city of Miqdadiyah, Diyala, Iraq. Wikipedia
• 2020 The United States and the Taliban sign the Doha Agreement for bringing peace to Afghanistan. Wikipedia
• 2020 Luxembourg becomes the first country in the world to render public transport free nationwide. Wikipedia
• 2024 The Flour Massacre took place in the Gaza Strip: Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians waiting for aid amidst the Gaza war, killing over 100 and wounding 750. Wikipedia

Born on February 29

• 1468 Pope Paul III (died 1549) Wikipedia
• 1792 Gioachino Rossini, Italian composer (died 1868) Wikipedia
• 1840 Theodor Leber, German ophthalmologist (died 1917) Wikipedia
• 1860 Herman Hollerith, American statistician and businessman, co-founder of the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (died 1929) Wikipedia
• 1896 Morarji Desai, Indian civil servant and politician, fourth Prime Minister of India (died 1995) Wikipedia
• 1896 William A. Wellman, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter (died 1975) Wikipedia
• 1908 Balthus, French-Swiss painter and illustrator (died 2001) Wikipedia
• 1920 Michèle Morgan, French-American actress and singer (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1928 Seymour Papert, South African mathematician and computer scientist, co-creator of the Logo programming language (died 2016) Wikipedia
• 1940 Bartholomew I, current Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Wikipedia
• 1944 Dennis Farina, American police officer and actor (died 2013) Wikipedia
• 1956 Aileen Wuornos, American serial killer (died 2002) Wikipedia
• 1960 Tony Robbins, American author and motivational activist Wikipedia
• 1960 Khaled, Algerian singer-songwriter Wikipedia
• 1960 Richard Ramirez, American serial killer and sex offender (died 2013) Wikipedia
• 1972 Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain Wikipedia
• 1976 Ja Rule, American rapper and actor Wikipedia
• 1980 Peter Scanavino, American actor (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) Wikipedia
• 1988 Benedikt Höwedes, German footballer Wikipedia
• 2000 Ferran Torres, Spanish footballer Wikipedia
• 2000 Tyrese Haliburton, American basketball player Wikipedia
• 2004 Abdukodir Khusanov, Uzbek footballer Wikipedia

Died on February 29

• 468 Pope Hilarius Wikipedia
• 1460 Albert III, Duke of Bavaria-Munich (born 1401) Wikipedia
• 1744 John Theophilus Desaguliers, French-English physicist and philosopher (born 1683) Wikipedia
• 1856 Auguste Chapdelaine, French Christian missionary (born 1814) Wikipedia
• 1868 Ludwig I of Bavaria (born 1786) Wikipedia
• 1908 John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, Scottish-Australian politician, 1st Governor-General of Australia (born 1860) Wikipedia
• 1944 Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, Finnish lawyer, judge and politician, 3rd President of Finland (born 1861) Wikipedia
• 1956 Elpidio Quirino, Filipino lawyer and politician, 6th President of the Philippines (born 1890) Wikipedia
• 1960 Melvin Purvis, American police officer and FBI agent (born 1903) Wikipedia
• 1980 Yigal Allon, Israeli general and politician, Prime Minister of Israel (born 1918) Wikipedia
• 2012 Davy Jones, English singer, guitarist and actor (born 1945) Wikipedia
• 2020 Éva Székely, Hungarian Hall of Fame swimmer and 1952 Olympic champion (born 1927) Wikipedia
• 2024 Brian Mulroney, 18th Prime Minister of Canada (born 1939) Wikipedia
• 2024 Ali Hassan Mwinyi, 2nd President of Tanzania and 3rd President of Zanzibar (born 1925) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• As a Christian feast day: Saint John Cassian Wikipedia
• As a Christian feast day: February 29 in the Orthodox church Wikipedia
• Rare Disease Day (in leap years; usually celebrated in common years on February 28) Wikipedia
• Bachelor's Day (Ireland and United Kingdom) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “February 29” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.