Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/March 20
This is a list of selected March 20 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
March 20: Equinox (11:44 UTC, 2009); Equinox Earth Day (2009); Nowruz in Iran, Central Asia, and Zoroastrianism (2009); Independence Day in Tunisia
- 1815 – After escaping from his exile in Elba, Napoleon Bonaparte entered Paris, officially beginning his "Hundred Days" rule.
- 1852 – American author Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (illustration pictured) was first published, profoundly affecting attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the United States, and further intensifying the sectional conflict leading to the American Civil War.
- 1883 – Eleven countries signed the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, one of the first intellectual property treaties.
- 1987 – The antiretroviral drug zidovudine (AZT) became the first antiviral medication approved for use against HIV and AIDS.
- 1995 – The Aum Shinrikyo sect carried out a poison gas attack on the Tokyo Subway, killing 12 people and injuring thousands of others with sarin.