March 6 in History

1521
Death of Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan (born 1480). He crossed the Atlantic without charts and was blown by storms into the strait that carries his name (1520). He crossed the ocean, which he named the Pacific, reaching the Marianas and the Philippines, where he was killed fighting for the king of Cebu. One of his ships arrived back in Spain in 1522, completing the world's first circumnavigation.

1834
The city of York in Upper Canada is incorporated as Toronto.
1853
Verdi's opera La Traviata premieres in Venice, Italy
1903
Birth of Nguyen Cong Hoan, Vietnamese storyteller and novelist (died 1977). He was best known for La Ngoc Canh Vang (Leaves of Jade and Branches of Gold) (1934), Kep Tu Ben (Actor Tu Ben) (1935), Buoc Duong Cung (Impasse) (1938) and Dong Rac Cu (The Dump) (1963).
1928
Birth of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Colombian novelist and short-story writer. His most famous work is the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967). He was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1982.
1946
Preliminary Treaty between the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam and the Republic of France is signed, in which France recognises Viet Nam as a free state within the Indochina Federation and the French Union, having its own government, parliament, army and finances. France also agreed to recognise any results of a planned referendum on the unification of North, Central and Southern Viet Nam.
1957
Two former British colonies, Gold Coast and Togoland, form the independent West African nation of Ghana.
1974
The Government of the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam returns to the US the remains of 12 US servicemen who died in the war. This first repatriation of American military personnel remains took place at Gia Lam Airport in Ha Noi.
1999
The last Khmer Rouge leader still at large, Ta Mok, is arrested close to northern Cambodia's border with Thailand. — AP/REUTERS/VNS