February 29: Unbelievable Historical Events

See what incredible events have occurred on February 29 throughout history, from royal decrees to leap year proposals! Learn about this unique date and its impact on the world #February29 #ThisDateInHistory

February "29 February" appears increasingly often in legal documents – although the records of the proceedings of the House of Commons of England continued to use the old system until the middle of the sixteenth century. It was not until passage of the Calendar Act of 1750 that 29 February was formally recognised in British law.

1504 Christopher Columbus uses a lunar eclipse to frighten hostile Jamaican Indians
1692 First people are accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts - Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba, a West Indian slave
1704 French & Indians attack Deerfield, Massachusetts, kill 50, abduct 100
1796 Jay's Treaty proclaimed, settles some differences with England
1892 St. Petersburg, Florida is incorporated
1904 Theodore Roosevelt, appoints 7-man Panama Canal Commission to proceed with completing a canal at the Isthmus
1936 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs 2nd Neutrality Act
1940 Hattie McDaniel becomes 1st African American woman to win an Oscar for "Gone With The Wind”
1956 Islamic Republic forms in Pakistan
1956 US President Eisenhower announces he will seek a 2nd term
1960 1st Playboy Club, featuring bunnies, opens in Chicago
1964 LBJ reveals the US has secretly developed the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, an advanced, long‐range high-speed and high-altitude reconnaissance airplane
1988 NYC Mayor Koch calls Reagan a "WIMP" in the war on drugs
2020 US and Taliban sign deal to end 18-year war in Afghanistan in Doha, Qatar. US and NATO allies will withdraw their troops after 14 months if deal kept.