Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/May
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| << | Selected anniversaries for May | >> | ||||
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| An archive of historical anniversaries that appeared on the Main Page 2006 day arrangement |
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May 1: Beltane in Ireland and Scotland, May Day in various countries.
- 1840 - The Penny Black (pictured), the first official adhesive postage stamp, was issued in the United Kingdom.
- 1931 - The Empire State Building, at the time the tallest building in the world, opened in New York City.
- 1941 - Citizen Kane, a widely acclaimed film by Orson Welles, premiered.
- 1956 - A doctor in Japan reported an "epidemic of an unknown disease of the central nervous system", marking the official discovery of Minamata disease.
- 1960 - Bombay State, India was partitioned into Gujarat and Maharashtra along linguistic lines.
Recent days: April 30 – April 29 – April 28
May 2: Yom Hazikaron in Israel (2006); Teachers' Day in Iran, Flag Day in Poland.
- 1670 - A Royal Charter granted the Hudson's Bay Company a monopoly in the fur trade in Rupert's Land.
- 1933 - The first modern sighting of the Loch Ness Monster was reported.
- 1945 - World War II: General Helmuth Weidling (pictured), defence commandant of Berlin, surrendered the city to Soviet forces led by General Georgy Zhukov, ending the Battle of Berlin.
- 1982 - HMS Conqueror launched three torpedoes and sank ARA General Belgrano during the Falklands War.
- 1986 - Henri Toivonen died while leading the Tour de Corse rally, resulting in FISA banning the powerful and popular Group B rally cars for the next season.
- 1999 - Mireya Moscoso became the first woman to be elected President of Panama.
Recent days: May 1 – April 30 – April 29
May 3: Yom Ha'atzma'ut in Israel (2006), Constitution Day in Poland and Japan, World Press Freedom Day.
- 1791 - The Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791, one of the earliest codified national constitutions in the world, was adopted by the Sejm.
- 1808 - The Swedish fortress Sveaborg was lost to Russia during the Finnish War.
- 1937 - Gone with the Wind, a novel by Margaret Mitchell, won the Pulitzer Prize.
- 1945 - World War II: German ocean liner SS Cap Arcona, left to float defenselessly in the Baltic Sea with thousands of prisoners from various concentration camps on board, was attacked and sunk by RAF Typhoons.
- 1947 - A new Constitution of Japan (pictured) went into effect.
Recent days: May 2 – May 1 – April 30
May 4: Remembrance of the Dead in the Netherlands .
- 1471 - Wars of the Roses: Yorkist Edward IV defeated a Lancastrian army in the Battle of Tewkesbury (pictured).
- 1855 - William Walker and a group of mercenaries sailed from San Francisco to conquer Nicaragua.
- 1886 - A bomb exploded near the police line, turning a peaceful labor rally in Chicago into the Haymarket Riot.
- 1919 - The May Fourth Movement began in China with large-scale student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, Peking against the Paris Peace Conference and Japan's Twenty-One Demands.
- 1953 - Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.
Recent days: May 3 – May 2 – May 1
May 5: Buddha's Birthday in Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea (2006); Liberation Day in Denmark, Ethiopia, and the Netherlands; Children's Day in Japan and South Korea.
- 1789 - French Revolution: The Estates-General convened in Versailles to discuss a financial crisis in France.
- 1862 - Cinco de Mayo in Mexico: Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halted a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla.
- 1904 - Cy Young (pictured) of the Boston Americans pitched the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.
- 1949 - The Council of Europe was formed.
- 1950 - Prince Bhumibol Adulyadej was crowned in Bangkok as King Rama IX of Thailand, currently the world's longest-serving head of state.
Recent days: May 4 – May 3 – May 2
May 6: St George's Day in Bulgaria
- 1682 - King Louis XIV of France took up residence in the Château de Versailles.
- 1542 - Christian missionary Francis Xavier reached Goa, the capital of Portuguese India at the time.
- 1937 - The German zeppelin Hindenburg caught fire (pictured) and was destroyed at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey, killing 36.
- 1954 - Roger Bannister became the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.
- 1994 - The Channel Tunnel, a 50-km long rail tunnel beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover, was officially opened.
Recent days: May 5 – May 4 – May 3
May 7: Radio Day in Russia and Bulgaria
- 1763 - Indian Wars: Chief Pontiac led an attempt to seize Fort Detroit and drive out the British settlers, beginning Pontiac's Rebellion.
- 1824 - Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor premiered in Vienna.
- 1915 - World War I: The ocean liner RMS Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine Unterseeboot 20, killing 1,198 on board.
- 1945 - End of World War II in Europe: On behalf of Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz, General Alfred Jodl (pictured) signed and submitted the capitulation documents to the Allies in Reims, France.
- 1992 - The Space Shuttle Endeavour was launched for its first mission.
Recent days: May 6 – May 5 – May 4
May 8: Victory in Europe Day; World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day.
- 1429 - Siege of Orléans: French troops led by Joan of Arc lifted the English siege and turned the tide of the Hundred Years' War.
- 1541 - The expedition led by Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto (pictured) reached the Mississippi River.
- 1794 - French chemist and economist Antoine Lavoisier, a former royal tax collector with the Ferme Générale, was tried, convicted, and guillotined on the same day during the Reign of Terror.
- 1902 - The volcanic eruption of Mount Pelée destroyed the town of St. Pierre, Martinique, killing over 30,000 people.
- 1945 - Most armed forces under German control ceased active operations by 23:01 hours CET at the end of World War II in Europe, in accordance with the capitulation documents signed the day before.
Recent days: May 7 – May 6 – May 5
May 9: Victory Day in various Eastern European countries, Europe Day in the European Union.
- 1092 - Lincoln Cathedral in Lincolnshire, England was consecrated.
- 1901 - The first Parliament of Australia opened in the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne.
- 1945 - End of World War II in Europe: The signing of a second German Instrument of Surrender, specifying the capitulation of the Wehrmacht to the Soviet Red Army, was announced.
- 1946 - King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicated.
- 1950 - Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology and Dianetics, was first published.
Recent days: May 8 – May 7 – May 6
May 10: Mother's Day in various countries, Constitution Day in the Federated States of Micronesia.
- 1503 - Christopher Columbus and his crew became the first Europeans to visit the Cayman Islands.
- 1857 - The Sepoy Rebellion broke out in colonial India, threatening the rule of the British East India Company.
- 1869 - The First Transcontinental Railroad of North America was completed with a golden spike ceremony.
- 1924 - J. Edgar Hoover became director of the U.S. Bureau of Investigation.
- 1940 - Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of the United Kingdom resigned and formally recommended Winston Churchill (pictured) as his successor.
Recent days: May 9 – May 8 – May 7
- 330 - Byzantium became the new capital of the Roman Empire under Emperor Constantine I, and was referred to as Constantinople.
- 1792 - Explorer Robert Gray first sighted the Columbia River, the largest river flowing into the Pacific Ocean from North America.
- 1812 - British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval (pictured) was assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons.
- 1949 - Siam was officially renamed Thailand.
- 1960 - Mossad agents captured Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi leader and fugitive war criminal hiding in Argentina.
Recent days: May 10 – May 9 – May 8
May 12: Buddha's Birthday in Thailand and Vietnam (2006), International Nurses Day
- 1551 - National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in South America, was founded in Lima, Peru.
- 1881 - Tunisia became a French protectorate.
- 1885 - North-West Rebellion: Louis Riel (pictured) and the Métis rebels were decisively defeated in the Battle of Batoche by Canadian forces under Major-General Frederick Middleton.
- 1926 - A general strike by the trade unions in the United Kingdom ended after nine days.
- 1958 - A formal agreement on the North American Air Defense Command was signed.
Recent days: May 11 – May 10 – May 9
May 13: World Fair Trade Day (2006), Rotuma Day in Fiji.
- 1848 - Maamme, the national anthem of Finland, was performed for the first time.
- 1888 - Isabel the Redeemer (pictured) signed the Lei Áurea into law, formally abolishing slavery in Brazil.
- 1917 - Our Lady of Fatima: Lúcia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto witnessed their first Marian apparition near Fátima, Portugal.
- 1969 - The May 13 Incident: Chinese-Malay race riots left at least 184 people dead in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- 1981 - Mehmet Ali Ağca shot and critically wounded Pope John Paul II in Saint Peter's Square, Vatican City.
- 1717 - Maria Theresia borned on this day
Recent days: May 12 – May 11 – May 10
- 1264 - King Henry III was captured in the Battle of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort the de facto ruler of England.
- 1796 - Edward Jenner began testing cowpox as a vaccine for protection against smallpox.
- 1804 - William Clark and Meriwether Lewis left Camp Dubois and began traveling up the Missouri River.
- 1948 - Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion publicly read the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel in Tel Aviv.
- 1973 - The NASA space station Skylab (pictured) was launched from Cape Canaveral.
Recent days: May 13 – May 12 – May 11
May 15: Independence Day in Paraguay (1811), Teachers' Day in Mexico and South Korea, Nakba Day in Palestinian communities.
- 1252 - Pope Innocent IV issued the papal bull ad exstirpanda, authorizing the use of torture on heretics during the Inquisition.
- 1756 - Seven Years' War: Britain declared war on France, two years after fighting began at the Battle of Jumonville Glen in the Ohio Country.
- 1928 - Cartoon characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse made their movie debut in Plane Crazy.
- 1934 - Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis dissolved the Saeima and established an authoritarian rule in Latvia.
- 1990 - Vincent van Gogh's Portrait of Dr. Gachet (pictured) was sold for US$82.5 million, at the time the world's most-expensive painting.
Recent days: May 14 – May 13 – May 12
May 16: Lag Ba'omer in Judaism (2006)
- 1204 - Fourth Crusade: Count Baldwin IX of Flanders was crowned the first Latin Emperor in Constantinople.
- 1527 - The Medici were driven from Florence and a republic was re-established.
- 1866 - Root beer was first prepared commercially.
- 1929 - The first Academy Awards were handed out at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles.
- 1943 - World War II: SS-Brigadeführer Jürgen Stroop (pictured) put an end to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the first mass uprising in Poland against the Nazi occupation during the Holocaust.
Recent days: May 15 – May 14 – May 13
May 17: Constitution Day in Norway (1814), Galician Literature Day in Galicia, Spain.
- 1792 - The New York Stock Exchange was formed.
- 1900 - Second Boer War: The Siege of Mafeking was lifted after 217 days.
- 1902 - The Antikythera mechanism, the oldest known surviving geared mechanism, was discovered in a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera.
- 1943 - World War II: RAF Dam Busters successfully deployed bouncing bombs on German dams in Operation Chastise.
- 1995 - After 18 years as Mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac (pictured) was inaugurated as President of the French Republic.
Recent days: May 16 – May 15 – May 14
- 1268 - Baibars and his Mamluk forces captured Antioch, capital of the crusader state, the Principality of Antioch.
- 1896 - "Separate but equal": The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case Plessy v. Ferguson, upholding the legality of racial segregation in public transportation.
- 1944 - World War II: Polish forces under Lieutenant General Władysław Anders captured Monte Cassino and broke the Winter Line, a German defensive line in Italy.
- 1958 - The F-104 Starfighter, a supersonic interceptor aircraft, set a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph.
- 1980 - Mount St. Helens erupted (pictured), killing 57 people in southern Washington State and causing over a billion U.S. dollars in damages.
Recent days: May 17 – May 16 – May 15
May 19: Youth and Sports Day in Turkey.
- 1536 - Anne Boleyn (pictured), the second wife and queen consort of Henry VIII of England, was beheaded for adultery at the Tower of London.
- 1643 - "The Great Condé" scored a decisive victory at the Battle of Rocroi in the Thirty Years' War.
- 1649 - The Rump Parliament passed an act to formally establish the Commonwealth of England.
- 1802 - The Légion d'honneur was first instituted by Napoléon Bonaparte, First Consul of the French Republic.
- 1922 - The Young Pioneer Organization of the Soviet Union was founded.
Recent days: May 18 – May 17 – May 16
May 20: Armed Forces Day in the United States (2006); National Day in Cameroon (1972), Independence Day in East Timor (2002)
- 325 - The First Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church, was formally opened in present-day Iznik, Turkey.
- 1498 - Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama (pictured) arrived at Calicut, India.
- 1570 - Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issued the first modern atlas.
- 1862 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law.
- 1927 - By the Treaty of Jedda, the United Kingdom recognized the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud in the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, which later merged to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Recent days: May 19 – May 18 – May 17
- 1674 - Jan III Sobieski, elected by the szlachta, became the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
- 1879 - War of the Pacific: Two Peruvian ironclads attempted to lift the blockade of Iquique by Chilean battleships in the Battle of Iquique.
- 1894 - The Manchester Ship Canal was officially opened, linking the city of Manchester to the Irish Sea.
- 1927 - Aboard the Spirit of St. Louis, Charles Lindbergh (pictured) completed the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight.
- 1991 - Former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a female suicide bomber.
Recent days: May 20 – May 19 – May 18
May 22: Victoria Day in Canada (2006), World Biodiversity Day.
- 1455 - Forces led by Richard, Duke of York and Richard, Earl of Warwick captured Lancastrian King Henry VI of England, beginning the Wars of the Roses with a Yorkist victory in the First Battle of St Albans.
- 1807 - Former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr (pictured) was indicted for treason by a grand jury.
- 1915 - Four trains collided near Gretna Green, Scotland, killing 227 people and injuring 246 in the Quintinshill rail crash.
- 1960 - Valdivia, Chile was devastated as the epicenter of the 9.5-magnitude Great Chilean Earthquake, with destructive tsunamis reaching Hilo, Hawaii the following day.
- 1990 - The Yemen Arab Republic and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen merged to become the Republic of Yemen.
Recent days: May 21 – May 20 – May 19
May 23: 100th anniversary of the death of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen
- 1430 - Hundred Years' War: Joan of Arc was captured at the Siege of Compiègne.
- 1533 - The marriage of Henry VIII of England and his first wife Catherine of Aragon (pictured) was annulled.
- 1568 - The Eighty Years' War broke out when Dutch rebels led by Louis of Nassau invaded Friesland in the Battle of Heiligerlee.
- 1934 - American bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed by police and killed in Black Lake, Louisiana.
- 1945 - End of World War II in Europe: Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz was captured and his Flensburg government was dissolved.
- 2002 - The "55 parties" clause of the Kyoto Protocol was reached after its ratification by Iceland.
Recent days: May 22 – May 21 – May 20
May 24: Independence Day in Eritrea (1993), Saints Cyril and Methodius Day in Bulgaria and Macedonia
- 1487 - Impostor Lambert Simnel was crowned in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland as "King Edward VI".
- 1626 - Peter Minuit bought Manhattan in exchange for trade goods valued at 60 guilders.
- 1822 - Ecuadorian War of Independence: Troops led by Antonio José de Sucre (pictured) secured the independence of Quito from Spain in the Battle of Pichincha.
- 1883 - The Brooklyn Bridge, at the time the longest suspension bridge in the world, was opened.
- 1941 - World War II: The German battleship Bismarck sank the British battlecruiser HMS Hood in the Battle of the Denmark Strait.
- 1983 - World War III / Shubhra's B'day
Recent days: May 23 – May 22 – May 21
May 25: Ascension Thursday in Western Christianity (2006); Independence Day in Jordan (1946), African Liberation Day in various African countries.
- 1085 - King Alfonso VI of León-Castile conquered the taifa kingdom of Toledo, a milestone in the Reconquista.
- 1521 - Martin Luther was declared an outlaw and a heretic by the Diet of Worms.
- 1810 - May Revolution: The Primera Junta, the first independent government in Argentina, was established in Buenos Aires.
- 1946 - Abdullah bin Husayn (pictured), Emir of the Emirate of Transjordan, was proclaimed King of the renamed "Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan".
Recent days: May 24 – May 23 – May 22
May 26: Jerusalem Day in Israel (2006); Independence Day in Guyana (1966) and Georgia (1918); Mother's Day in Poland; National Sorry Day in Australia.
- 1805 - Napoléon Bonaparte was crowned King of Italy at the Duomo di Milano with the Iron Crown of Lombardy.
- 1896 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average was first published by Charles Dow as a stock market index.
- 1918 - The Democratic Republic of Georgia was proclaimed.
- 1972 – Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in Moscow, concluding SALT I.
- 1986 – The European Community adopted the European flag (pictured).
Recent days: May 25 – May 24 – May 23
May 27: Children's Day in Nigeria
- 1328 - Philip VI of France was crowned at Notre-Dame de Reims, beginning the Valois Dynasty.
- 1860 - Italian unification: Giuseppe Garibaldi and his Redshirts launched their attack on Palermo, capital of the Two Sicilies.
- 1919 - The flying boat NC-4 arrived in Lisbon, Portugal, becoming the first aircraft to complete a transatlantic flight.
- 1937 - The Golden Gate Bridge (pictured), a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate in California, was opened.
- 1942 - Operation Anthropoid: Czech resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied Prague ambushed and mortally wounded Reinhard Heydrich, the chief of Reich Security Main Office and the Protector of Bohemia and Moravia.
Recent days: May 26 – May 25 – May 24
May 28: Republic Day in Armenia and Azerbaijan
- 585 BC - According to Herodotus, a solar eclipse abruptly ended the Battle of Halys between the Lydians and the Medes.
- 1905 - Japanese forces led by Admiral Togo Heihachiro (pictured) destroyed the Russian Baltic Fleet in the Battle of Tsushima, the decisive naval battle in the Russo-Japanese War.
- 1918 - The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, one of the first democratic republics in the Muslim world, was proclaimed in Ganja.
- 1961 - An article by Peter Benenson was published in newspapers, starting a letter-writing campaign that grew and became Amnesty International.
- 1975 - Sixteen West African countries signed the Treaty of Lagos, establishing the Economic Community of West African States.
Recent days: May 27 – May 26 – May 25
May 29: Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna Day in Fiji, Memorial Day in the United States (2006).
- 1453 - Constantinople fell to an Ottoman army led by Sultan Mehmed II, ending the Byzantine Empire.
- 1660 - English Restoration: The monarchy in England was restored under King Charles II (pictured) on Oak Apple Day.
- 1919 - Observations made by Arthur Eddington during a solar eclipse confirmed part of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity.
- 1953 - Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest.
- 1999 - Olusegun Obasanjo took office as President of Nigeria, the first elected and civilian head of state in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule.
Recent days: May 28 – May 27 – May 26
- 1434 - Taborite forces led by Prokop the Great were decisively defeated in the Battle of Lipany, effectively ending the Hussite Wars in Bohemia.
- 1536 - Henry VIII of England married Jane Seymour (pictured), a lady-in-waiting to his first two queens consort.
- 1911 - The first Indianapolis 500 open-wheel automobile race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana.
- 1967 - Chief Emeka Ojukwu took office as the first President of Biafra, a secessionist state in southeastern Nigeria.
- 1989 - Goddess of Democracy, a statue made mostly of polystyrene foam and papier-mâché, was erected by student protestors in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.
Recent days: May 29 – May 28 – May 27
May 31: Independence Day in South Africa (1910), World No Tobacco Day.
- 1669 - Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys (pictured) recorded the last entry in his diary.
- 1678 - The Godiva procession in Coventry, England began.
- 1889 - The South Fork Dam on Lake Conemaugh in Pennsylvania, USA failed, killing over 2,200 people in the Johnstown Flood.
- 1916 - The German Kaiserliche Marine and British Royal Navy clashed in the Battle of Jutland, the largest naval battle during World War I.
- 1970 - The Ancash earthquake devastated various coastal towns in Peru and resulted in a massive avalanche on the north side of Nevado Huascarán, burying the town of Yungay.
Recent days: May 30 – May 29 – May 28
