1492 – Queen Isabella of Castille issued the Alhambra decree on the 31st March 1492, ordering her 150,000 Jewish and muslim subjects to convert to Christianity or face expulsion.
1732 – Joseph Haydn the Austrian composer was born on the 31st March 1732 (died 1809).
1889 – The Eiffel Tower was officially opened on the 31st March 1889.
1921 – The Royal Australian Air Force was formed on the 31st March 1921.
1930 – The Motion Pictures Production Code was instituted on the 31st March 1930, imposing strict guidelines on the treatment of sex, crime, religion and violence in film, in the U.S., for the next 38 years.
1934 – Richard Chamberlain the American actor and singer was born on the 31st March 1934.
1934 – Shirley Jones the American actress and singer was born on the 31st March 1934.
1935 – Herb Alpert the American singer-songwriter and trumpet player was born on the 31st March 1935.
1938 – Sheila Dikshit the Indian politician and 6th Chief Minister of Delhi was born on the 31st March 1938.
1948 – Al Gore the American politician, 45th Vice President of the United States and Nobel Prize laureate was born on the 31st March 1948.
1955 – Angus Young the Scottish-Australian guitarist from AC/DC was born on the 31st March 1955.
1959 – The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, crossed the border into India on the 31st March 1959, and was granted political asylum.
1963 – Paul Mercurio the Australian actor and dancer was born on the 31st March 1963.
1966 – The Soviet Union launched Luna 10 on the 31st of March 1966, which later became the 1st space probe to enter orbit around the Moon.
1970 – Explorer 1 re-entered the Earth‘s atmosphere on the 31st March 1970, after 12 years in orbit.
1971 – Ewan McGregor the Scottish-American actor was born on the 31st March 1971.
1972 – Evan Williams the American businessman and co-founder of Twitter and Pyra Labs was born on the 31st March 1972.
1986 – A Mexicana Boeing 727 en route to Puerto Vallarta erupted in flames and crashed in the mountains northwest of Mexico City on the 31st March 1986, killing 167 people.
1994 – The journal Nature reported the finding in Ethiopia of the 1st complete Australopithecus afarensis skull on the 31st March 1994.
1995 – TAROM Flight 371 crashed on the 31st March 1995, killing all of the 10 crew and 50 passengers on board.