Passport Picks

Important Dates in the Worlds History

March,1, 1565
The city of Rio de Janeiro is founded
The shore reached by the Portuguese sailors in 1502 was named the River of January. 63 years later a town was constructed and soon the city became the center of the world transit and even was the first European capital outside Europe when Napoleon having conquered Portugal moved all his family there.

March 3 1861
The abrogation of the Serfdom Law of Russia
The peasants’ emancipation decree was read aloud in all the churches all over Russia on Forgiving Sunday two days after it was signed by Alexander II. Twenty years later this Emperor Liberator would be assassinated with a terrorist’s bomb. In 1926 the assassins would be given pensions by the Soviet government.

March, 4, 1519 Hernan Cortes arrives in Mexico in search of the Aztec civilization and their wealth The Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes goes from Cuba to Mexico to declare the Spanish power on behalf of the Emperor Charles V. The invader mastered with cruelty both the intrigues of his compatriots and the resistance of the native people and eventually destroyed the Aztecs’ Empire and became the governor of the New Spain.

March, 4, 1945 Princess Elizabeth, later to become Queen Elizabeth II, joins the British Army as a driver Elizabeth Windsor, junior officer convinced her father to let her join the army of the allies and became driver of a military lorry. The education turned so favorable to Elizabeth, that when mother she sent her own children to school instead of home studies.

March, 6, 1869
Dmitry Mendeleev presents the first periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society
Many scientists before Mendeleev beginning with Aristotle had tried to systemize the chemical elements. Mendeleev is credited as being the creator of the first version of the periodic table of elements. Unlike other contributors to the table, Mendeleev predicted the properties of elements yet to be discovered. Mendeleev made a formal presentation to the Russian Chemical Society, which described elements according to both weight and valence.

March 12, 1899
The first international hockey match in Russia
The match took place on the ice of the Neva River near the Tuchkov Bridge in St. Petersburg. The Russian team named “SPORT” competed against team of Englishmen living in St. Petersburg. The game ended in a draw: 4:4.

March, 15, 44 BC Julius Caesar is stabbed to death The plot against Caesar initiated by several senators including his close friend was the result of the Civil War started by Caesar. It had led to his power becoming more absolute and transformation of the republic to empire. But the assassins did not fully reach their aim – his own son succeeded to Caesar who was later formally deified by the Senate as Divus Iulius, “Son of a god”.

March, 15, 1972 The film version of Mario Puzo’s The Godfather novel of the same name is released in theatres All the production difficulties did not stop Coppola from creating a deep psychological saga about the life of mafia and turn the 10 years of the Corleone family into most frequently cited chef-d’euvre of cinema.

March, 15, 1985
The first internet domain name is registered
The work on the computer network which began in several countries of the world in the 50-s of the 20th century resulted in the 1985’s first registration of a domain name. Tt was symbolics.com. It belongs to a Massachusetts company that produces computers.

March 16, 1915
The artists’ club “Stray Dog” is closed
Due to a fight and according to the order of the St. Petersburg police the club, Stray Dog that was a favorite place for Russian bohemians was closed down. When it opened poets like Gumilev, Akhmatova, Mayakovsky and Mandelshtam had frequented it, but it became too popular with throngs of people which eventually brought it down.

March, 17, 1901 A showing of 71 Vincent van Gogh paintings in Paris, 11 years after his death, creates a sensation Those few exhibitions of Van Gogh’s works that took place during his life were not of interest to either audience or critics. He began to gain fame in France and Belgium during the last year of his life which already meant almost nothing to the depressed artist.	March 19, 1922 The Shukhov TV tower is constructed When the 160 meter tower was constructed it caused much excitement. The first experimental broadcasting of TV began in Moscow in the 1930’s. For many years the tower was the symbol of Soviet television. Now the tower is considered a masterwork of Russian architectural avant-garde and an object of the world cultural heritage.

March, 22, 1895
First display (a private screening) of motion pictures by Lumiere Brothers
The first motion picture the Lumiere brothers shot was “The exit from the Lumière factories in Lyon”. The first cinema show took place 10 months later in the Paris Grand Café. this date is considered as the beginning of the commercial cinematograph in the world. The brothers however stated that “the cinema is an invention without any future” and turned to studies of the color photography.

March, 25, 1969
John Lennon and Yoko Ono hold their 1st Bed-In for Peace
John and Yoko understood it well that their marriage was to attract much attention from all over the world and used the occasion to popularize their protest against the war in Vietnam. During one week of their honeymoon they sat in bed and spoke about peace to journalists invited to their room in the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel.

March, 28 1776
The Bolshoi Theater is founded
Prince Peter Urussov received permission from Empress Catherine to construct a theater for opera, ballet and drama performances. The theater was located on Petrovka Street and named Petrovsky. This first theater burned down before the opening.

March, 29, 1848
The Niagara Falls briefly stopped flowing due to an icejam on Lake Erie
Beside a single occasion when the Niagara river was turned round artificially – with the purpose of constructing a dumb, it also once blocked naturally when there happened a huge ice jam on the Airy lake – the fourth among the Great Lakes that stopped all the water system of the Niagara falls.

March, 30 1970 Vladimir Motyl’s “White Sun of the Desert” film opens The story about the return of a Red Army Soldier to his home. The Russian cosmonauts have a habit of watching the film before launches into space. The Russian Customs Committee ordered a monument to honor one of the characters, the customs officer Vereschagin to be constructed in Moscow. The actor Luspekaev played the starring role having lost two legs.

March, 30, 1867 Alaska is purchased Russia suffering from a difficult financial situation it found itself in and fearing to lose the territory for nothing, agrees to complete a deal and sell Alaska at 7,2 million US dollars. in the modern Alaska they celebrate the date as ‘Seward’s Day’ on every last Monday of March in honor of the Secretary of State who signed the agreement.