On this day: 4 March

Nero, later to become Roman emperor, is given the title princeps iuventutis (head of the youth).

Yang Jian declares himself Emperor Wen of Sui, ending the Northern Zhou and beginning the Sui dynasty.

Trpimir I, the founder of the Trpimirović dynasty of Croatia, issued a document that contains the first known use of the name Croats.

Frederick I Barbarossa is elected King of Germany.

Alexios II Komnenos is crowned Byzantine co-emperor to his father Manuel I Komnenos.

The Battle of the Sit River begins two centuries of Mongol horde domination of Rus.

Ramathibodi becomes King of Siam.

Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania, was crowned King of Poland as Władysław II Jagiełło (pictured), beginning the Jagiellonian dynasty.

Explorer Christopher Columbus arrives back in Lisbon, Portugal, aboard his ship Niña from his voyage to what are now The Bahamas and other islands in the Caribbean.

Hernán Cortés arrives in Mexico in search of the Aztec civilization and its wealth.

After being unofficially established as a settlement in 1678, the Dominican mission of Ilagan is founded in the Philippines.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart departed Italy after the last of his three journeys there.

In New York City, the first Congress of the United States meets, putting the United States Constitution into effect.

France is divided into 83 départements, cutting across the former provinces in an attempt to dislodge regional loyalties based on ownership of land by the nobility.

Vermont is admitted to the United States as the fourteenth state.

The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is passed by the U.S. Congress.

John Adams is inaugurated as the 2nd President of the United States of America, becoming the first President to begin his presidency on March 4.

Cyril VI of Constantinople is elected Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

Chicago was incorporated as a city.

Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the United States of America and Millard Fillmore, 12th Vice President, did not take their respective oaths of office (they did so the following day), leading to the erroneous theory that outgoing President pro tempore of the United States Senate David Rice Atchison had assumed the role of acting president for one day.

The first national flag of the Confederate States of America (the "Stars and Bars") is adopted.

U.S. politician Andrew Johnson makes his drunk vice-presidential inaugural address in Washington, D.C.

The third and final national flag of the Confederate States of America is adopted by the Confederate Congress.

William McKinley is inaugurated President of the United States for the second time; Theodore Roosevelt is vice president.

U.S. President William Howard Taft uses what became known as a Saxbe fix, a mechanism to avoid the restriction of the U.S. Constitution's Ineligibility Clause, to appoint Philander C. Knox as U.S. Secretary of State.

First Balkan War: The Greek army engages the Turks at Bizani, resulting in victory two days later.

The United States Department of Labor is formed.

Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first female member of the United States House of Representatives.

A case of influenza was recorded at Camp Funston, Kansas, United States, conventionally marking the beginning of the Spanish flu pandemic.

Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 32nd President of the United States.

Frances Perkins was appointed United States Secretary of Labor, making her the first female member of the Cabinet.

The Parliament of Austria is suspended because of a quibble over procedure – Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss initiates an authoritarian rule by decree.

World War II: The Battle of the Bismarck Sea in the south-west Pacific comes to an end.

World War II: The Battle of Fardykambos, one of the first major battles between the Greek Resistance and the occupying Royal Italian Army, begins. It ends on 6 March with the surrender of an entire Italian battalion and the liberation of the town of Grevena.

The sixth President of Finland, Gustaf Mannerheim, submits his resignation for health reasons.

An order to protect the endangered Saimaa ringed seal (Pusa hispida saimensis) is legalized.

The S&P 500 stock market index is introduced, replacing the S&P 90.

French submarine Eurydice explodes underwater, resulting in the loss of the entire 57-man crew.

The space probe Voyager 1 discovered the rings of Jupiter, the third ring system to be discovered in the Solar System, after those of Saturn and Uranus.

Nationalist leader Robert Mugabe wins a sweeping election victory to become Zimbabwe's first black prime minister.

The Soviet Vega 1 begins returning images of Halley's Comet and the first images of its nucleus.

U.S. president Ronald Reagan made a nationally televised address in which he accepted full responsibility for illegal actions in the Iran–Contra affair.

Space Shuttle program: The Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-62.

A derailed train in Weyauwega, Wisconsin (USA) causes the emergency evacuation of 2,300 people for 16 days.

Playstation 2 was released in Japan.

Construction began on a 69-metre (226 ft) statue of the Buddha at Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen in Bangkok.

Nik Wallenda becomes the first person to walk over the Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua.