Timeline March 5 to 9

March 5
1496   King Henry VII of England issued letters patent to John Cabot and his sons, authorising them to explore unknown lands.
1512   Gerardus Mercator, Flemish cartographer, was born.
1616   Nicolaus Copernicus's book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium was banned by the Catholic Church
1770  The Boston Massacre took place as British soldiers, taunted by a crowd of colonists, opened fire, killing five people.
1967  Georges Vanier, Canadian politician and Governor General of Canada, died.
1980  Jay Silverheels, Canadian actor, died.

March 6
1475  Michelangelo, Italian sculptor, painter and architect, was born.
1619  Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac, French dramatist and satirist, was born.
1834  The city of Toronto (formerly York) was incorporated.
1836  The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, fell to Mexican forces after a 13-day siege.
1899  Bayer registered "Aspirin" as a trademark.
1981  After 19 years of presenting the CBS Evening News, Walter Cronkite signed off for the last time.

March 7
1788  Antoine César Becquerel, French physicist, was born.
1792  Sir John Herschel, English astronomer, was born.
1876  Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for the telephone.
1913  Emily Pauline Johnson, Native Canadian poet died,
1926  The first successful trans-Atlantic radio-telephone conversation took place, between New York City and London.

March 8
1702  England's Queen Anne ascended the throne upon the death of King William III.
1872  Cornelius Krieghoff, Canadian painter, died.
1917  Russia's February Revolution (so called because of the Old Style calendar used by Russians at the time) began with rioting and strikes in St. Petersburg.

March 9
1627  John Bowne, English-born American Quaker, was born. [My 8th great-grandfather.]
1796  Napoleon Bonaparte, the future emperor of France, married Josephine de Beauharnais.
1934  Yuri Gagarin, Russian cosmonaut, first space traveler, was born.
1996  Comedian George Burns died at age 100.