On this day in 1126, upon the death of his mother Urraca, Alfonso VII was proclaimed as the King of Castile and Leon and was officially crowned on the 10th of March. He was at that time already King of Galicia and used the title Emperor of All the Spain’s.

In 1618, Johannes Kepler, a German mathematician, astrologer and astronomer discovered the third law of planetary motion.

John Casor, on this day in 1655 of the Virginia colony became the first legally recognized slave for life in the thirteen colonies.

Upon the death of William III of England and II of Scotland on this day in 1702, Anne the last in line of the Stuarts became Queen Anne of England, Scotland and Ireland.

On this day in 1722 the Persian Safavid Empire was defeated by an army from Afghanistan during the Battle of Gulnabad, the defeat resulted in Persia a once powerful empire falling into anarchy and eventual collapse.

On this day in 1775, a letter written anonymously was published called ‘African Slavery in America.’ It was the first written article within the American colonies referring to the emancipation of slaves and for slavery to be abolished. It was thought by some to have been written by Thomas Paine, although it has never been proved if he was the author or not.

96 Native Americans were killed on this day in 1782 in what became known as the Gnadenhutten Massacre. Those killed had all converted to Christianity and were slain by Pennsylvanian militiamen as retaliation for raids conducted by other Native Americans.

On this day in 1817 the Stock Exchange was founded in New York City.

Oscar I became the King of both Norway and Sweden on this day in 1844 on the death of his father King Charles XIV John.

The Sakai Incident took place on this day in 1868. 11 French sailors were killed in the Japanese port of Sakai, the port at that time was closed to foreign ships and the samurai were policing the port. 20 samurai were later due to be executed for the killings, after the first 11 were beheaded in the traditional way the French pleaded for the killings to stop, the remainder were pardoned.

International Women’s Day was first launched at Copenhagen, Denmark in 1911. Protests in St. Petersburg in Russia during the International Women’s Day event in 1917 led to the start of the February Revolution, it was named this because at the time the Julian Calendar was being used and it was late February in that system.