To report an error when this list is currently on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Before making a suggestion, please read the selected anniversaries guidelines. Please remember that this list usually defers to supporting pages when there is disagreement, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
To discuss improvements to the corresponding March 28 article, see Talk:March 28 instead.
Frequently asked questions
Q1: Why is [Insert event here], an event that is "more important and significant" than all the others that are currently listed, not posted?
A1: Relative article quality along with the mix of topics already listed are often deciding factors in what gets posted. Any given day of the year can have a great many important or significant historical events. The problem is that there is generally only room on the Main Page to list about 5 events at a time, so not everything can be posted.
As stated on Wikipedia:FAQ/Main Page, the items and events posted on the Main Page are chosen based more on how well they are written, not based on how much important or significant their subjects are. It is easier for admins to select a well-written, cited, verifiable article over a poor one versus trying to determine objectively how much a subject is important or significant.
Keep in mind that the quality requirements only apply to the selected bolded article, not the other links. Thus, an event may qualify for multiple dates in a year if there is an article written in a summary style and an article providing detailed content; if one of those pages have cleanup issues, the other page can be bolded as an alternate.
Another criterion is to maintain some variety of topics, and not exhibit, just for example, tech-centrism, or the belief that the world stops at the edge of the English-speaking world. Many days have a large pool of potential articles, so they will rotate in and out every year to give each one some Main Page exposure. In addition, an event is not posted if it is also the subject of this year's scheduled featured article or featured picture.
Q2: There are way too many 20th-century events listed. Why aren't there more events from the 19th century and before?
Q3: This page seems to be biased toward events based in [Insert country or region here]. What can be done about it?
A3: This again is attributed to the systemic bias of Wikipedia. Many users are generally more interested in working on good, well-written articles pertaining to their home country. Since this is the English Wikipedia, there will be more English-speaking users, and thus more articles pertaining to English-speaking countries. And if there are more users who are from the United States, there will probably be more well-written articles about events based in the United States. Again, if you would like to further help mitigate the systemic bias in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias.
Q4: Why is the birthday/death anniversary of [Insert name here] not listed?
A4: There are only four slots available for birth and death anniversaries. As with the events, article quality and diversity in time period, geography, and reason for notability are all contributing factors in whether an article gets selected for inclusion.
Q5: Are the holidays/observances listed in any particular order?
A5: Yes, there is a specified order: International observances first, then alphabetically by where observed.
Q6: Some of the holidays/observances that are listed have dates in parentheses beside them. What do they mean?
A6: There are two reasons that some holidays/observances have dates next to them:
Non-Gregorian-based holidays/observances are marked with the current year as a reminder to others that their dates do in fact vary from year to year.
National Days, Independence Days, and other holidays celebrating the nationhood of a country are generally marked by the year of the significant historic date being observed.
Image:Terualsiege.jpg is a "scene during the Siege of Teruel, Spain, April 1 1938". It really has no business being on a March 28 selected anniversary. Not only is the date inaccurate, but the March 28 event took place in Madrid, not Teruel. It is wrong to show images that are "close enough" but not fully accurate. So I am removing Image:Terualsiege.jpg completely from the metapage. Use it for April 1.
Also, I am replacing it with the 3-mile island image. Kingturtle 09:58, 28 Mar 2004 (UTC)
The item about the "renaming" of Istanbul really ought never to have appeared here. The summary is blatantly misleading (there was no changing of the name of the city in 1930 or indeed at any other time; it had been called Istanbul since time immemorial; the only thing that may have happened in 1930 was that Turkish authorities asked people to start using the Turkish name in foreign languages). Also, there is only extremely slim evidence that any of this happened on this specific day in 1930, and no sourcing whatsoever about what exactly supposedly happened on that day. Of the two sources cited for the relevant sentence in the Names of Istanbul article, one doesn't mention this date at all, and the other is a blatantly unreliable junk piece from National Geographic (with factual howlers about all sorts of other issues, like "Ancient Greeks … called it Lygos", or, even worse: "… after the Greeks and Romans were forced out by the indigenous Ottoman Turks in about 1299". Fut.Perf.☼11:48, 29 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Repeats: 2 Pallas (2nd consecutive appearance, 9 total); Names of Istanbul (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total, then subsequently deleted as per above)
It's the 500th anniversary of Magellan reaching the Philippines. I know you guys have Marcos fetishes, but hear me out. On March 28 was Magellan's first encounter in what would become Filipinos. Article looks great, but has 5 citation needed tags, but not about this specific event. Howard the Duck (talk) 21:32, 18 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@Howard the Duck: The article says he reached the Philippines on 16 March. We should have featured it that day. Other good options would be 1 November, when he sailed through the Strait or 20 September when they left Spain. —howcheng {chat}06:58, 26 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@Howcheng: It reached the Philippines on March 16, but haven't encountered natives by March 28. This was the first contact between the cultures... unless you consider sand and some trees as culture. Howard the Duck (talk) 12:50, 26 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@Howard the Duck: I get that, but opinions are going to vary about which is the more significant date, and one the rules is that the date that the article gets featured on should be one of the most important ones to the subject. That's why I think the departure date or the date when they traversed the Strait (since that's named after him now) are better. —howcheng {chat}16:06, 26 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@Howcheng: Surely the 500th anniversary of the first encounter of what would later become Filipinos is more significant than a routine presidential inauguration, isn't it?
I feel like the 16th is more significant because that's when they became the first known people to sail across the Pacific. Anyway, both of those articles would be fantastic additions. —howcheng {chat}06:08, 27 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]
@Howcheng: Again, we missed the boat (literally) on this one. Very disappointing! Any of these three are 500x more significant than an inconsequential inauguration that was posted more than once. Howard the Duck (talk) 13:58, 29 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]