History of 11 March
- 1990 – Lithuania declared its independence from the Soviet Union. It was the first Soviet republic to break away from Communist control.
- 1990 – In Chile, Patricio Aylwin was sworn in as the first democratically elected president since 1973.
- 1992 – Former U.S. President Nixon said that the Bush administration was not giving enough economic aid to Russia.
- 1993 – Janet Reno was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become the first female attorney general.
- 1993 – North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty refusing to open sites for inspection.
- 1994 – In Chile, Eduardo Frei was sworn in as President. It was the first peaceful transfer of power in Chile since 1970.
- 1997 – An explosion at a nuclear waste reprocessing plant caused 35 workers to be exposed to low levels of radioactivity. The incident was the worst in Japan’s history.
- 1998 – The International Astronomical Union issued an alert that said that a mile-wide asteroid could come very close to, and possibly hit, Earth on Oct. 26, 2028. The next day NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory announced that there was no chance the asteroid would hit Earth.
- 2002 – Two columns of light were pointed skyward from ground zero in New York as a temporary memorial to the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
- 2004 – Madrid train bombings: Simultaneous explosions on rush-hour trains in Madrid, Spain, kill 192 people.
- 2006 – Michelle Bachelet is inaugurated as the first female president of Chile.
- 2007 – Georgia claims Russian helicopters attacked the Kodori Valley in Abkhazia, an accusation that Russia categorically denies later.
- 2009 – Winnenden school shooting: Sixteen are killed and 11 are injured before recent-graduate Tim Kretschmer shoots and kills himself, leading to tightened weapons restrictions in Germany.
- 2010 – Economist and businessman Sebastián Piñera is sworn in as President of Chile, while three earthquakes, the strongest measuring magnitude 6.9 and all centered next to Pichilemu, capital of Cardenal Caro province, hit central Chile during the ceremony.
- 2011 – An earthquake measuring 9.0 in magnitude strikes 130 km (81 mi) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people. This event also triggered the second largest nuclear accident in history, and one of only two events to be classified as a Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.
- 2012 – A U.S. soldier kills 16 civilians in the Panjwayi District of Afghanistan near Kandahar.
- 2016 – At least 21 people are killed by flooding and mudslides in and around São Paulo, Brazil, following heavy rain.
Celebrating Birthday Today
- 1985 – Paul Bissonnette, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1985 – Daniel Vázquez Evuy, Equatoguinean footballer
- 1985 – Cassandra Fairbanks, American journalist and activist
- 1985 – Luis Hernández, Mexican figure skater
- 1985 – Stelios Malezas, Greek footballer
- 1985 – Ajantha Mendis, Sri Lankan cricketer
- 1985 – Derek Schouman, American football player
- 1985 – Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Australian footballer
- 1985 – Hakuhō Shō, Mongolian sumo wrestler, the 69th Yokozuna
- 1986 – Dario Cologna, Swiss skier
- 1986 – Mariko Shinoda, Japanese singer and actress
- 1987 – Marc-André Gragnani, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1987 – Tanel Kangert, Estonian cyclist
- 1987 – Ngonidzashe Makusha, Zimbabwean sprinter and long jumper
- 1987 – Colin Munro, South African-New Zealand cricketer
- 1988 – Fábio Coentrão, Portuguese footballer
- 1988 – Cecil Lolo, South African footballer (d. 2015)
- 1988 – Katsuhiko Nakajima, Japanese wrestler
- 1989 – Anton Yelchin, Russian-born American actor (d. 2016)
- 1990 – Ayumi Morita, Japanese tennis player
- 1991 – Kamohelo Mokotjo, South African footballer
- 1992 – Austin Swift, American actor
- 1992 – KZ Tandingan, Filipina singer and rapper
- 1993 – Jodie Comer, British actress
- 1993 – Anthony Davis, American basketball player
- 1994 – Martin Jurtom, Estonian basketball player
- 1994 – Andrew Robertson, Scottish footballer