Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/March 20

March 20: Equinox (05:48 UTC, 2008); International Earth Day, Nowruz in Iran, Central Asia, and Zoroastrianism (2008); Mawlid (Sunni Islam, 2008); Fast of Esther begins at dawn (Judaism, 2008); Purim begins at sundown (Judaism, 2008); Maundy Thursday (Western Christianity, 2008); Independence Day in Tunisia.

• 1852 – Uncle Tom's Cabin, a novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe (pictured) about slavery in the United States before the Civil War, was first published.

• 1883 – Eleven countries signed the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, one of the first intellectual property treaties.

• 1987 – The antiretroviral drug zidovudine (AZT) became the first antiviral medication approved for use against HIV and AIDS.

• 1995 – The Aum Shinrikyo sect carried out a poison gas attack on the Tokyo Subway, killing 12 people and injuring thousands of others with sarin.

• 2003 – A U.S.-led coalition force invaded Iraq, beginning the Iraq War.

More anniversaries:

• March 19
• March 20
• March 21