What is March 8?
{{calendar}} {{day}} == Events == === Up to 1900 === * [[1010]] &ndash; [[Persian people|Persian]] poet [[Ferdowsi]] completes his epic poem [[Shahnameh]]. * [[1576]] &ndash; Spanish explorer Diego Garcia de Palacio sights the [[ruin]]s of the ancient [[Maya civilization|Mayan]] city of Copan. * [[1618]] &ndash; [[Johannes Kepler]] discovers the [[Kepler's laws of planetary motion|third law of planetary motion]] (he soon rejects the idea after some initial calculations were made but later on [[May 15]] confirms the discovery). * [[1655]] &ndash; [[John Casor]] becomes the first legally-recognized [[slave]] in [[North America]]. * [[1658]] &ndash; [[Sweden]] reaches its greatest extent after the [[Peace]] of [[Roskilde]]. * [[1669]] &ndash; [[Mount Etna]] on [[Sicily]] erupts until [[July 11]], destroying several towns. * [[1702]] &ndash; Very unexpectedly, [[Anne of Great Britain|Anne Stuart]], the sister of the childless [[Mary II of England|Mary II]], becomes Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland after the death of [[William III of Orange]] from injuries he suffered in a fall from his horse. * [[1736]] &ndash; [[Nader Shah]] of the Afsharid Dynasty becomes the [[Shah]] (ruler) of [[Iran|Persia]]. * [[1775]] &ndash; An anonymous letter, thought by some to have been written by [[Thomas Paine]], calls for the end of [[slavery]] in the North American colonies. * [[1782]] &ndash; [[Gnadenhutten massacre|Gnadenhütten massacre]]: Almost 100 [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] in [[Gnadenhutten, Ohio|Gnadenhutten]], [[Ohio]] had their [[skull]]s crushed with a [[mallet]] by [[Pennsylvania]]n [[militia]]men in a [[mass murder]]. * [[1817]] &ndash; The [[New York Stock Exchange]] is founded. * [[1844]] &ndash; King [[Oscar I of Sweden|Oscar I]] ascends to the throne of [[Sweden-Norway]] * [[1862]] &ndash; [[American Civil War]]: The iron-clad [[CSS Virginia|CSS ''Virginia'']] (formerly [[USS Merrimack|USS ''Merrimack'']]) is launched at [[Hampton Roads]], [[Virginia]]. * [[1868]] &ndash; Sakai in