February 24 is the 55th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 310 days remaining until the end of the year (311 in leap years).
By Roman custom, February 24 is the day added to a leap year in the Julian calendar. The Mensis Intercalaris began on this day or the following day in intercalary years in the pre-Julian calendar. This custom still has some effect around the world; for example, with respect to name days in Hungary.
Today is:
- Dragobete (Romania)
- Flag Day (Mexico)
- Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Estonia from Russian Empire in 1918; the Soviet period is considered illegal annexation.
- National Artist Day (Thailand)
Events:
303 – Diocletian, Roman Emperor, publishes his edict that begins the persecution of Christians in his portion of the Empire.
616 – King Ethelbert of Kent was born
1103 – Emperor Toba of Japan (d. 1156) was born
1303 – Battle of Roslin, of the First War of Scottish Independence.
1387 – King Charles III of Naples and Hungary is assassinated at Buda.
1500 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1558) was born
1557 – Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1619 was born
1582 – Pope Gregory XIII announces the Gregorian calendar.
1607 – L’Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi, one of the first works recognized as an opera, receives its première performance.
1711 – The London première of Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage.
1767 – Buddha Loetla Nabhalai, King of Siam (Thailand – King Rama II) (d. 1824) was born
1774 – Prince Adolphus, 1st Duke of Cambridge (d. 1850) was born
1777 – King Joseph I of Portugal (b. 1714) had died
1809 – London’s Drury Lane Theatre burns to the ground, leaving owner Richard Brinsley Sheridan destitute.
1815 – Robert Fulton, American inventor (b. 1765) had died
1831 – The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, the first removal treaty in accordance with the Indian Removal Act, is proclaimed. The Choctaws in Mississippi cede land east of the river in exchange for payment and land in the West.
1848 – King Louis-Philippe of France abdicates the throne.
1863 – Arizona is organized as a United States territory.
1868 – Andrew Johnson becomes the first President of the United States to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives. He is later acquitted in the Senate.
1875 – The SS Gothenburg hits the Great Barrier Reef and sinks off the Australian east coast, killing approximately 100, including a number of high profile civil servants and dignitaries.
1918 – Estonian Declaration of Independence.
1920 – The Nazi Party is founded.
1942 – The Battle of Los Angeles, one of the largest documented UFO sightings in history; the event lasted into the early hours of February 26, 1942.
1945 – Egyptian Premier Ahmed Maher Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree.
1996 – The last occurrence of February 24 as a leap day in the European Union and for the Roman Catholic Church.
1999 – A China Southern Airlines Tupolev TU-154 airliner crashes on approach to Wenzhou airport in eastern the People’s Republic of China, killing 61.
2007 – Japan launches its fourth spy satellite, stepping up its ability to monitor potential threats such as North Korea.
2008 – Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba after nearly fifty years.
2011 – Final Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery (OV-103).
