On This Day (March 21)

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• 1556 – Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, one of the founders of Anglicanism, was burnt at the stake in Oxford, England for heresy.
• 1617 - Pocahontas, Native American, daughter of Powhatan died. (b. c. 1595)
• 1685 - Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer born. (d. 1750) (Over 1000 known works; Brandenburg Concerto #3, first movement – Listen)
  
  
  Johann Sebastian Bach
  
  
• 1768 - Joseph Fourier, French mathematician born. (d. 1830) (A French mathematician and physicist who is best known for initiating the investigation of Fourier series and their application to problems of heat flow. The Fourier transform is also named in his honor.)
• 1800 – Pius VII was crowned Pope in Venice with a temporary papal tiara made of papier-mâché.
• 1804 – The Napoleonic code, the French civil code established under Napoleon, entered into force.
• 1839 - Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky, Russian composer born. (d. 1881) (Night on Bald Mountain – Listen)
• 1869 - Florenz Ziegfeld, theater producer born. (d. 1932) (An American Broadway impresario. He is best known for his series of theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies (1907-1931), inspired by the Folies Bergères of Paris.)
• 1960 – Police in Sharpeville, South Africa opened fire on a group of unarmed black demonstrators who were protesting pass laws, killing almost 70 people and wounding about 180 others.
• 1980 – The United States announced the boycott of the Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan.
• 1990 – Formerly known as South West Africa, Namibia gained independence from South Africa, with Sam Nujoma as its first President.