March 10 in History ●

241BC — Battle of the Aegates: The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet, bringing the First Punic War to an end. Carthage surrenders Sicily to Rome and pays substantial reparations. Rome increasingly becomes the leading military power in the Mediterranean.

298AD — Roman Emperor Maximian makes a triumphal entry into Carthage after his successful campaign in North Africa against the Berbers, who had come from their homelands in the Atlas Mountains to harass settlements in Mauretania. 947 — The Later Han is founded by Liu Zhiyuan, who declares himself Emperor Gaozu. He dies exactly a year later, aged 53. The dynasty, one of the shortest-lived of all Chinese regimes, is overthrown in January 951.

1762 — French Huguenot merchant Jean Calas, who had been wrongly convicted of killing his son, dies after being tortured by authorities. The event inspires Voltaire to begin a campaign for religious tolerance and legal reform. On March 9 1765, Calas and his family are officially acquitted and the death of the son is ruled a suicide.

1861 — In a drive to expand the Toucouleur Empire (of the Toucouleur people of Senegal, 1852-1893), El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Ségou, thereby destroying the Bamana Empire of Mali. One of the largest states of West Africa in the 18th century, Bamana was one of the most important successors of the Songhai Empire.

1876 — The first successful test of a telephone is made by Alexander Graham Bell. “Mr Watson, come here, I want to see you,” he says into the liquid transmitter. His assistant Thomas Watson, listening at the receiving end in an adjoining room, hears the words clearly.

1990 — Haitian president Lt Gen Prosper Avril, in office since the September 1988 coup, resigns during an uprising against his military regime.

1997 —“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, featuring Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy, premieres on The WB. The supernatural drama series, created by writer and director Joss Whedon, runs for seven seasons (144 episodes) until May 20 2003.

2004 — Ringed by gun-wielding security forces, India’s cricketers arrive in Lahore for their first full tour of Pakistan in 14 years, determined to win but also hoping the historic visit will help bring peace between South Asia’s nuclear-armed rivals.

2006 — The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched from Cape Canaveral on August 12 2005, arrives at Mars.