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February 29, also known as leap day or leap year day, is a date added to leap years. A leap day is added in various solar calendars (calendars based on the Earth's revolution around the Sun), including the Gregorian calendar standard in most of the world. Lunisolar calendars (whose months are based on the phases of the Moon) instead add a leap or intercalary month. It is the 60th day of a leap year in the Gregorian calendar, and 306 days remain until the end of the leap year. It is also the last day of February on leap years.

Events

Pre-1600

• 1504 – Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Jamaican natives to provide him with supplies.

1601 – 1900

• 1644 – Abel Tasman's second Pacific voyage begins.
• 1704 – Queen Anne's War: French forces and Native Americans stage a raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony, killing 56 villagers and taking more than 100 captive.
• 1712 – February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Julian calendar.
• 1720 – Ulrika Eleonora, Queen of Sweden abdicates in favour of her husband, who becomes King Frederick I on March 24.
• 1752 – King Alaungpaya founds Konbaung Dynasty, the last dynasty of Burmese monarchy.
• 1768 – Polish nobles form the Bar Confederation.
• 1796 – The Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain comes into force, facilitating ten years of peaceful trade between the two nations.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Kilpatrick–Dahlgren Raid fails: Plans to free 15,000 Union soldiers being held near Richmond, Virginia are thwarted.
• 1892 – St. Petersburg, Florida is incorporated.

1901 – present

• 1912 – The Piedra Movediza (Moving Stone) of Tandil falls and breaks.
• 1916 – Tokelau is annexed by the United Kingdom.
• 1916 – Child labor: In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill, and mine workers is raised from 12 to 14 years old.
• 1920 – The Czechoslovak National Assembly adopts the Constitution.
• 1936 – The February 26 Incident in Tokyo ends.
• 1940 – 12th Academy Awards: For her performance as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award.
• 1940 – Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations.
• 1940 – In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from Sweden's consul general in San Francisco.
• 1944 – World War II: The Admiralty Islands are invaded in Operation Brewer, led by American general Douglas MacArthur.
• 1960 – The 5.7 M_w  Agadir earthquake shakes coastal Morocco with a maximum perceived intensity of X (Extreme), destroying Agadir and leaving 12,000 dead and another 12,000 injured.
• 1972 – Vietnam War: Vietnamization: South Korea withdraws 11,000 of its 48,000 troops from Vietnam.
• 1980 – Gordie Howe of the Hartford Whalers makes NHL history as he scores his 800th goal.
• 1984 – Pierre Trudeau announces his retirement as Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister of Canada.
• 1988 – South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 other clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town.
• 1988 – Svend Robinson becomes the first member of the House of Commons of Canada to come out as gay.
• 1992 – First day of Bosnia and Herzegovina independence referendum.
• 1996 – Faucett Flight 251 crashes in the Andes; all 123 passengers and crew are killed.
• 1996 – The Siege of Sarajevo officially ends.
• 2000 – Second Chechen War: Eighty-four Russian paratroopers are killed in a rebel attack on a guard post near Ulus Kert.
• 2004 – Jean-Bertrand Aristide is removed as president of Haiti following a coup.
• 2008 – The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence withdraws Prince Harry from a tour of Afghanistan after news of his deployment is leaked to foreign media.
• 2008 – Misha Defonseca admits to fabricating her memoir, Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years, in which she claims to have lived with a pack of wolves in the woods during the Holocaust.
• 2020 – 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries: Joe Biden wins the South Carolina primary election.
• 2020 – COVID-19 pandemic: South Korea reports a total of 3,150 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Births

Pre-1600

• 1468 – Pope Paul III (d. 1549)
• 1528 – Albert V, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1579)
• 1528 – Domingo Báñez, Spanish theologian (d. 1604)
• 1572 – Edward Cecil, 1st Viscount Wimbledon (d. 1638)
• 1576 – Antonio Neri, Florentine priest and glassmaker (d. 1614)

1601 – 1900

• 1640 – Benjamin Keach, Particular Baptist preacher and author whose name was given to Keach's Catechism (d. 1704)
• 1692 – John Byrom, English poet and educator (d. 1763)
• 1724 – Eva Marie Veigel, Austrian-English dancer (d. 1822)
• 1736 – Ann Lee, English-American religious leader, founded the Shakers (d. 1784)
• 1792 – Gioachino Rossini, Italian composer (d. 1868)
• 1812 – James Milne Wilson, Scottish-Australian soldier and politician, eighth Premier of Tasmania (d. February 29, 1880)
• 1828 – Emmeline B. Wells, American journalist, poet, and activist (d. 1921)
• 1836 – Dickey Pearce, American baseball player and manager (d. 1908)
• 1852 – Frank Gavan Duffy, Irish-Australian lawyer and judge, fourth Chief Justice of Australia (d. 1936)
• 1860 – Herman Hollerith, American statistician and businessman, co-founded the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (d. 1929)
• 1876 – William Stewart, Scottish footballer
• 1884 – Richard S. Aldrich, American lawyer and politician (d. 1941)
• 1892 – Augusta Savage, American sculptor (d. 1962)
• 1896 – Morarji Desai, Indian civil servant and politician, fourth Prime Minister of India (d. 1995)
• 1896 – William A. Wellman, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1975)

1901 – present

• 1904 – Jimmy Dorsey, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1957)
• 1904 – Pepper Martin, American baseball player and manager (d. 1965)
• 1908 – Balthus, French-Swiss painter and illustrator (d. 2001)
• 1908 – Dee Brown, American historian and author (d. 2002)
• 1908 – Alf Gover, English cricketer and coach (d. 2001)
• 1908 – Louie Myfanwy Thomas, Welsh writer (d. 1968)
• 1916 – Dinah Shore, American singer and actress (d. 1994)
• 1916 – James B. Donovan, American lawyer (d. 1970)
• 1916 – Leonard Shoen, founder of U-Haul Corp. (d. 1999)
• 1920 – Fyodor Abramov, Russian author and critic (d. 1983)
• 1920 – Arthur Franz, American actor (d. 2006)
• 1920 – James Mitchell, American actor and dancer (d. 2010)
• 1920 – Michèle Morgan, French-American actress and singer (d. 2016)
• 1920 – Howard Nemerov, American poet and academic (d. 1991)
• 1920 – Rolland W. Redlin, American lawyer and politician (d. 2011)
• 1924 – David Beattie, New Zealand judge and politician, 14th Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 2001)
• 1924 – Carlos Humberto Romero, Salvadoran politician, President of El Salvador (d. 2017)
• 1924 – Al Rosen, American baseball player and manager (d. 2015)
• 1928 – Joss Ackland, English actor
• 1928 – Jean Adamson, British writer and illustrator
• 1928 – Vance Haynes, American archaeologist, geologist, and author
• 1928 – Seymour Papert, South African mathematician and computer scientist, co-created the Logo programming language (d. 2016)
• 1932 – Gene H. Golub, American mathematician and academic (d. 2007)
• 1932 – Masten Gregory, American race car driver (d. 1985)
• 1932 – Reri Grist, American soprano and actress
• 1932 – Jaguar, Brazilian cartoonist
• 1932 – Gavin Stevens, Australian cricketer
• 1936 – Jack Lousma, American colonel, astronaut, and politician
• 1936 – Henri Richard, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2020)
• 1936 – Alex Rocco, American actor (d. 2015)
• 1936 – Nh. Dini, Indonesian writer (d. 2018)
• 1940 – Sonja Barend, Dutch talk show host
• 1940 – Bartholomew I of Constantinople
• 1940 – William H. Turner, Jr., American horse trainer
• 1944 – Ene Ergma, Estonian physicist and politician
• 1944 – Dennis Farina, American police officer and actor (d. 2013)
• 1944 – Nicholas Frayling, English priest and academic
• 1944 – Phyllis Frelich, American actress (d. 2014)
• 1944 – Steve Mingori, American baseball player (d. 2008)
• 1944 – Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri, Italian author and illustrator
• 1944 – Lennart Svedberg, Swedish ice hockey player (d. 1972).
• 1948 – Hermione Lee, English author, critic, and academic
• 1948 – Manoel Maria, Brazilian footballer
• 1948 – Patricia A. McKillip, American author
• 1948 – Henry Small, American-born Canadian singer
• 1952 – Sharon Dahlonega Raiford Bush, American journalist and producer
• 1952 – Tim Powers, American author and educator
• 1952 – Raisa Smetanina, Russian cross-country skier
• 1952 – Bart Stupak, American police officer and politician
• 1956 – Jonathan Coleman, English-Australian radio and television host
• 1956 – Bob Speller, Canadian businessman and politician, 30th Canadian Minister of Agriculture
• 1956 – Aileen Wuornos, American serial killer (d. 2002)
• 1960 – Lucian Grainge, English businessman
• 1960 – Khaled, Algerian singer-songwriter
• 1960 – Richard Ramirez, American serial killer (d. 2013)
• 1964 – Dave Brailsford, English cyclist and coach
• 1964 – Lyndon Byers, Canadian ice hockey player and radio host
• 1964 – Mervyn Warren, American tenor, composer, and producer
• 1968 – Chucky Brown, American basketball player and coach
• 1968 – Gareth Farr, New Zealand composer and percussionist
• 1968 – Pete Fenson, American curler and sportscaster
• 1968 – Naoko Iijima, Japanese actress and model
• 1968 – Bryce Paup, American football player and coach
• 1968 – Howard Tayler, American author and illustrator
• 1968 – Eugene Volokh, Ukrainian-American lawyer and educator
• 1968 – Frank Woodley, Australian actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1972 – Mike Pollitt, English footballer and coach
• 1972 – Sylvie Lubamba, Italian showgirl
• 1972 – Antonio Sabàto Jr., Italian-American model and actor
• 1972 – Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain
• 1972 – Dave Williams, American singer (d. 2002)
• 1972 – Saul Williams, American singer-songwriter
• 1972 – Pedro Zamora, Cuban-American activist and educator (d. 1994)
• 1976 – Vonteego Cummings, American basketball player
• 1976 – Gehad Grisha, Egyptian soccer referee
• 1976 – Katalin Kovács, Hungarian sprint kayaker
• 1976 – Terrence Long, American baseball player
• 1976 – Ja Rule, American rapper and actor
• 1980 – Çağdaş Atan, Turkish footballer and coach
• 1980 – Chris Conley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1980 – Patrick Côté, Canadian mixed martial artist
• 1980 – Simon Gagné, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1980 – Rubén Plaza, Spanish cyclist
• 1980 – Peter Scanavino, American actor
• 1980 – Clinton Toopi, New Zealand rugby league player
• 1980 – Taylor Twellman, American soccer player and sportscaster
• 1984 – Rica Imai, Japanese model and actress
• 1984 – Cullen Jones, American swimmer
• 1984 – Nuria Martínez, Spanish basketball player
• 1984 – Lena Raine, American video game composer and producer
• 1984 – Adam Sinclair, Indian field hockey player
• 1984 – Rakhee Thakrar, English actress
• 1984 – Dennis Walger, German rugby player
• 1984 – Cam Ward, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1984 – Mark Foster, American singer, songwriter and musician
• 1988 – Lena Gercke, German model and television host
• 1988 – Benedikt Höwedes, German footballer
• 1988 – Brent Macaffer, Australian Rules footballer
• 1988 – Bobby Sanguinetti, American ice hockey player
• 1988 – Milan Melindo, Filipino boxer
• 1992 – Sean Abbott, Australian cricketer
• 1992 – Ben Hampton, Australian rugby league player
• 1992 – Eric Kendricks, American football player
• 1992 – Caitlin EJ Meyer, American actress
• 1996 – Nelson Asofa-Solomona, New Zealand rugby league player
• 1996 – Reece Prescod, British sprinter
• 1996 – Claudia Williams, New Zealand tennis player
• 2000 – Tyrese Haliburton, American basketball player
• 2000 – Ferran Torres, Spanish footballer

Deaths

Pre-1600

• 468 – Pope Hilarius
• 992 – Oswald of Worcester, Anglo-Saxon archbishop and saint (b. 925)
• 1212 – Hōnen, Japanese monk, founded Jōdo-shū (b. 1133)
• 1460 – Albert III, Duke of Bavaria-Munich (b. 1401)
• 1528 – Patrick Hamilton, Scottish Protestant reformer and martyr (b. 1504)
• 1592 – Alessandro Striggio, Italian composer and diplomat (b. 1540)
• 1600 – Caspar Hennenberger, German pastor, historian and cartographer (b. 1529)

1601 – 1900

• 1604 – John Whitgift, English archbishop and academic (b. 1530)
• 1740 – Pietro Ottoboni, Italian cardinal (b. 1667)
• 1744 – John Theophilus Desaguliers, French-English physicist and philosopher (b. 1683)
• 1792 – Johann Andreas Stein, German piano builder (b. 1728)
• 1820 – Johann Joachim Eschenburg, German historian and critic (b. 1743)
• 1848 – Louis-François Lejeune, French general, painter and lithographer (b. 1775)
• 1852 – Matsudaira Katataka, Japanese daimyō (b. 1806)
• 1868 – Ludwig I of Bavaria (b. 1786)
• 1880 – James Milne Wilson, Scottish-Australian soldier and politician, 8th Premier of Tasmania (b. February 29, 1812)

1901 – present

• 1908 – Pat Garrett, American sheriff (b. 1850)
• 1908 – John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, Scottish-Australian politician, 1st Governor-General of Australia (b. 1860)
• 1920 – Ernie Courtney, American baseball player (b. 1875)
• 1928 – Adolphe Appia, Swiss architect and theorist (b. 1862)
• 1928 – Ina Coolbrith, American poet and librarian (b. 1841)
• 1940 – E. F. Benson, English archaeologist and author (b. 1867)
• 1944 – Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, Finnish lawyer, judge and politician, 3rd President of Finland (b. 1861)
• 1948 – Robert Barrington-Ward, English lawyer and journalist (b. 1891)
• 1948 – Rebel Oakes, American baseball player and manager (b. 1883)
• 1952 – Quo Tai-chi, Chinese politician and diplomat, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations (b. 1888)
• 1956 – Elpidio Quirino, Filipino lawyer and politician, 6th President of the Philippines (b. 1890)
• 1960 – Melvin Purvis, American police officer and FBI agent (b. 1903)
• 1960 – Walter Yust, American journalist and author (b. 1894)
• 1964 – Frank Albertson, American actor and singer (b. 1909)
• 1968 – Lena Blackburne, American baseball player, coach and manager (b. 1886)
• 1968 – Tore Ørjasæter, Norwegian poet and educator (b. 1886)
• 1972 – Tom Davies, American football player and coach (b. 1896)
• 1976 – Florence P. Dwyer, American politician (b. 1902)
• 1980 – Yigal Allon, Israeli general and politician, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1918)
• 1980 – Gil Elvgren, American painter and illustrator (b. 1914)
• 1984 – Ludwik Starski, Polish screenwriter and songwriter (b. 1903)
• 1988 – Sidney Harmon, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1907)
• 1992 – Ruth Pitter, English poet and author (b. 1897)
• 1996 – Wes Farrell, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1939)
• 1996 – Ralph Rowe, American baseball player, coach and manager (b. 1924)
• 2000 – Dennis Danell, American guitarist (b. 1961)
• 2004 – Kagamisato Kiyoji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 42nd Yokozuna (b. 1923)
• 2004 – Jerome Lawrence, American playwright and author (b. 1915)
• 2004 – Harold Bernard St. John, Barbadian lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Barbados (b. 1931)
• 2004 – Lorrie Wilmot, South African cricketer (b. 1943)
• 2008 – Janet Kagan, American author (b. 1946)
• 2008 – Erik Ortvad, Danish painter and illustrator (b. 1917)
• 2008 – Akira Yamada, Japanese scholar and philosopher (b. 1922)
• 2012 – Roland Bautista, American guitarist (b. 1951)
• 2012 – Davy Jones, English singer, guitarist and actor (b. 1945)
• 2012 – Sheldon Moldoff, American illustrator (b. 1920)
• 2012 – P. K. Narayana Panicker, Indian social leader (b. 1930)
• 2016 – Wenn V. Deramas, Filipino director and screenwriter (b. 1966)
• 2016 – Gil Hill, American police officer, actor and politician (b. 1931)
• 2016 – Josefin Nilsson, Swedish singer (b. 1969)
• 2016 – Louise Rennison, English author (b. 1951)
• 2016 – Mumtaz Qadri, Pakistani assassin (b. 1985)
• 2020 – Dieter Laser, German actor (Lexx, The Ogre, The Human Centipede) (b. 1942)
• 2020 – Éva Székely, Hungarian Hall of Fame swimmer, Olympic champion (1952) (b. 1927)

Holidays and observances

• As a Christian feast day:
  • Auguste Chapdelaine (one of the Martyr Saints of China)
  • Oswald of Worcester (in leap year only)
  • Saint John Cassian
  • February 29 in the Orthodox church
• The fourth day of Ayyám-i-Há (Baháʼí Faith) (observed on this date only if Baháʼí Naw-Rúz falls on March 21)
• Rare Disease Day (in leap years; celebrated in common years on February 28)
• Bachelor's Day (Ireland, United Kingdom)

References

1. Lerner, Ed. K. Lee; Lerner, Brenda W. (2004). "Calendar". The Gale Encyclopedia of Science. Detroit, MI: Gale. pp. 679–82.
2. "South Carolina Democratic Primary Results". USA Today. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
3. Hoffmann E (February 29, 2020). "South Korea reports a record jump in coronavirus cases". SeekingAlpha.com. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
4. "Jean Adamson". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
5. Thomas Kingdahl (October 5, 2018). "Lennart "Lill-Strimma" Svedberg" (in Swedish). Expressen. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
6. "Saul Williams". Academy of American Poets. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
7. "Katalin Kovács". International Canoe Federation. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
8. "Taylor Twellman". Major League Soccer. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
9. "Cullen Jones". Olympic.org. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
10. "heya it's my birthday (observed)! fun facts: - it's actually on the 29th but yknow - I don't get twitter balloons this year - I celebrate in feb cos march isn't my birth month - I've celebrated 8.5 real birthdays now - 🎉🎈". twitter.com. February 28, 2018.
11. "Brent Macaffer". Collingwood Football Club. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
12. "Eric Kendricks". NFL.com. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
13. "Reece Prescod". World Athletics. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
14. "Tyrese Haliburton Stats". Basketball-Reference.com. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
15. Ardagh, Philip (March 4, 2016). "My hero: Louise Rennison (1951-2016)". The Guardian. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
16. "Worryingly, a liberal's killer is honoured in Pakistan". The Economist. March 2, 2016. Retrieved December 28, 2019.

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• Historical Events on February 29
• Today in Canadian History
• Leap year (Calendar) at the Encyclopædia Britannica
• Leap Day, February 29 Amy McKenna, Encyclopædia Britannica

• Days of the year
• February
• Discordian holidays
• Old Style leap years