|
- 0325 The First Council of Nicaea the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church is held.
- 0526 An earthquake kills about 300,000 people in Syria and Antiochia.
- 0526 Earthquake kills 250,000 in Antioch, Syria
- 0685 The Battle of Dunnichen or Nechtansmere is fought between a Pictish army under King Bridei III and the invading Northumbrians under King Ecgfrith, who are decisively defeated.
- 1217 The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke.
- 1293 Earthquake strikes Kamakura Japan, 30,000 killed
- 1293 King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Study of General Schools of Alcal.
- 1303 Treaty of Paris restores Gascony to British in Hundred Years War
- 1310 Shoes were made for both right & left feet (and we thank you)
- 1347 Rienzo calls Rome for people's tribunal
- 1497 John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a 2 May date).
- 1498 Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrives at Calcutta India
- 1501 Joao da Nova Castell discovers Ascension Islands
- 1521 Battle of Pampeluna: Ignatius Loyola seriously wounded in the battle.
- 1521 Ignatius Loyola seriously wounded by a cannon ball
- 1524 Duke of Albany leaves Scotland
- 1570 Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues the first modern atlas.
- 1570 Egidius Coppens publishes Abraham Ortelius' "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum"
- 1571 Venice, Spain & Pope Pius form anti-Turkish Saint League
- 1591 Spanish troops in Zutphen surrenders to Willem Louis/Mauritius
- 1631 German army under earl Johann Tilly conquerors Maagdenburg
- 1631 The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years' War.
- 1639 Dorchester MA, forms first school funded by local taxes
- 1639 Dorchester, Massachusetts funds the first school in the US from local taxes
- 1690 England passes Act of Grace, forgiving followers of James II
- 1690 England passes the Act of Grace, forgiving followers of Roman Catholic James II.
- 1704 Elias Neau forms school for slaves in New York
- 1734 The first Jockey Club forms in South Carolina
- 1774 Britain gives Québec, Labrador & territory north of the Ohio
- 1775 Citizens of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina declare independence of Britain
- 1813 Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia. The battle ends the next day with a French victory.
- 1825 Charles X becomes King of France
- 1830 The first railroad timetable published in newspaper (Baltimore American)
- 1835 Otto is named the first modern king of Greece.
- 1845 HMS Erebus and HMS Terror with 134 men under John Franklin sail from the River Thames in England, beginning a disastrous expedition to find the Northwest Passage. All hands are lost.
- 1845 The first legislative assembly convenes in Hawaii
- 1861 Cornerstone of University of Washington laid in Seattle
- 1862 Homestead Act provides cheap land for settlement of the West
- 1864 Battle at Ware Bottom Church VA, 1,400 killed or injured
- 1864 Spotsylvania-campaign ends after 10,920 killed/injured person
- 1867 British parliament rejects John Stuart Mills law on women suffrage
- 1867 Royal Albert Hall foundation laid by Queen Victoria
- 1870 Second Chamber abolishes capital punishment
- 1873 Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
- 1874 Levi Strauss markets blue jeans with copper rivets, price $13.50 doz
- 1875 International Bureau of Weights & Measures established by treaty
- 1879 The Department of Railways and Canals comes into effect with a Minister having jurisdiction over all railways pertaining to the Dominion Government. Previously this function had been covered by the Department of Public Works.
- 1882 St Gotthard-railroad tunnel between Switzerland & Italy opens
- 1882 The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy is formed.
- 1883 The eruption of Krakatoa begins, leading ultimately to the volcano's destruction three months later.
- 1891 History of cinema: First public display of Thomas Alva Edison's prototype kinetoscope (shown at Edison's Laboratory for a convention of the National Federation of Women's Clubs).
- 1892 George Sampson patents clothes dryer
- 1892 Triple Alliance between Germany, Italy & Austria-Hungary forms
- 1895 The first commercial movie performance (153 Broadway, NYC)
- 1896 The six ton chandelier of the Palais Garnier falls on the crowd resulting in the death of one and the injury of many others.
- 1900 2nd modern Olympic games opens in Paris France (lasted 5 months)
- 1902 Cuba gains independence from Spain and establishes a republic
- 1902 US military occupation of Cuba (since Jan 1, 1899) ends
- 1908 Visitor posting - Eloise Staudinger born
- 1910 Funeral for Britain's King Edward VII
- 1910 Krazy Kat and Ignatz first appear in 'The Dingbat Family' comic strip
- 1911 Edwin Boaler Alletson hits 189 in 90 minutes Notts vs Sussex
- 1915 Bataafsche Petroleum begins oil extraction of Maracaibo
- 1916 Codell KS hit by tornado (also on same date in 1917 & 1918)
- 1916 Saturday Evening Post cover features Norman Rockwell painting
- 1916 The Saturday Evening Post publishes its first cover with a Norman Rockwell painting ("Boy with Baby Carriage").
- 1916 The small town of Codell, Kansas is struck by a tornado. Incredibly, the same town was also hit in 1917 and 1918 on the exact same date
- 1917 Turkish Government authorizes Jews to return to Tel Aviv & Jaffa
- 1918 The first electrically propelled warship (the New Mexico)
- 1919 Volcano Keluit on Java, erupts killing 550
- 1920 Montreal Quebec station XWA broadcasts the first regularly scheduled radio programming in North America.
- 1920 The Weimarer Nationalversammlung, the national assembly of Germany's Weimar Republic, is permanently dissolved.
- 1922 "Egypt" sinks off Ushant after colliding with "Seine" killing 90
- 1923 Stanley Baldwin, becomes PM of UK
- 1926 Congress passes Air Commerce Act, licensing of pilots & planes
- 1926 Railway Labor Act became law
- 1926 Thomas Edison says Americans prefer silent movies over talkies
- 1927 At 07:52 Charles Lindbergh takes off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York, on the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, touching down at Le Bourget Field in Paris at 22:22 the next day.
- 1927 At 7:40 AM, Lindbergh takes off from New York to cross Atlantic for Paris
- 1927 By the Treaty of Jedda, the United Kingdom recognizes the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud in the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, which later merged to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
- 1927 Charles Lindbergh takes off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, NY to begin his historic solo flight to Paris
- 1927 Saudi Arabia becomes independent of Great Britain (Treaty of Jedda)
- 1930 The first airplane catapulted from a dirigible, Charles Nicholson, pilot
- 1932 Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin her historic solo flight to Ireland
- 1932 Engelbert Dollfuss becomes chancellor of Austria
- 1939 "3 Little Fishies" by Kay Kyser hits #1
- 1939 Pan Am begins regular transatlantic airmail and passenger service across the North Atlantic
- 1940 Concentration camp is established at Auschwitz.
- 1940 General Guderians tanks reach The Channel
- 1940 Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.
- 1940 Igor Sikorsky unveils his helicopter invention
- 1941 Former Dutch PM Colijn says Netherlands Indies not ready for independence
- 1941 German soldiers invade Crete
- 1941 Sgt. Alfred Clive HULME 23rd NZ Battalionwon the Victoria Cross for valor at various places in Greece
- 1942 US Navy first permitted black recruits to serve
- 1943 French, British & US victory parade in Tunis Tunisia
- 1944 US Communist Party dissolves
- 1945 Keith Miller scores 105 in the first Victory Test Cricket at Lord's
- 1948 The first use of Israeli Air Force & first war victory, defeating Syrian army
- 1949 In the United States of America, the Armed Forces Security Agency (predecessor to the National Security Agency) is established.
- 1949 Kuomintang regime declare Taiwan is under the martial law.
- 1954 Chiang Kai-shek becomes president of Nationalist China
- 1954 Chiang Kai-shek is selected for another term as President of the Republic of China by the National Assembly
- 1955 Argentine parliament accepts separation of church & state
- 1956 Atomic fusion (thermonuclear) bomb dropped from plane-Bikini Atoll
- 1956 Jordan government of Samir resigns
- 1959 Ford wins battle with Chrysler to call its new car "Falcon"
- 1959 Japanese-Americans regain their citizenship
- 1959 Shah of Persia visits Netherlands
- 1959 Visitor posting - Laurie Michelle Anderson born May 20, 1959. Adopted name Lora Elizabeth Noah
- 1960 Visitor posting - Born at Elmendorf AFB Alaska - USA [email protected]
- 1961 Mauritania adopts constitution
- 1961 White mob attacks "Freedom Riders" in Montgomery AL
- 1963 Sukarno appointed President of Indonesia
- 1964 Buster Mathis defeats Joe Frazier to qualify for US Olympic team
- 1965 Number one hit on UK music charts - Jackie Trent - Where Are You Now (My Love)
- 1965 PIA Flight 705, a Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 720 - 040 B crashes while descending to land at Cairo International Airport, killing 119 of the 125 passengers and crew.
- 1965 Pakistani Boeing 720-B crashes at Cairo Egypt, killing 121
- 1965 Yorkshire all out for 23 vs Hampshire at Middlesbrough
- 1967 10,000 demonstrate against war in Vietnam
- 1967 Visitor posting - May 20 1967 Bernie Darin Dye was born
- 1967 BBC bans Beatle's "A Day in the Life" (drug references)
- 1969 The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ends.
- 1969 US troop capture Hill 937/Hamburger Hill Vietnam
- 1970 100,000 march in New York supporting US policies in Vietnam
- 1970 The Beatles' "Let it Be" movie premieres in UK
- 1971 Pentagon reports blacks constitute 11% of US soldiers in SE Asia
- 1972 "Different Times" closes at ANTA Theater NYC after 24 performances
- 1972 "Hard Job Being God" closes at Edison Theater NYC after 6 performances
- 1972 Cameroon becomes a republic as their constitution is ratified
- 1972 Number one hit on UK music charts - T Rex - Metal Guru
- 1972 Republic of Cameroon declared as constitution is ratified
- 1973 25th Emmy Awards: Waltons, All in the Family & Mary Tyler Moore win
- 1974 Soyuz 14 returns to Earth
- 1978 3 PFLP members kill a cop near El Al airlines in Orly Airport, Paris France
- 1978 US launches Pioneer Venus 1; produces first global radar map of Venus
- 1980 710 families in Love Canal area (Niagara Falls NY) are evacuated
- 1980 Drummer Peter Criss quits Kiss
- 1980 Fire in nursing home in Kingston Jamaica, kills 157
- 1980 In a Referendum in Quebec, the population rejects by a 60% vote the proposal from its government to move towards independence from Canada.
- 1980 In a referendum, 59.5% of Québec voters reject separatism
- 1980 Peter Criss quits as drummer for the rock band Kiss
- 1983 First publications of the discovery of the virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by Luc Montagnier and Robert Gallo individually.
- 1983 Larry Holmes beats Tim Witherspoon in 12 for heavyweight boxing title
- 1983 Michael Dokes & Mike Weaver fight to a draw in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
- 1983 Visitor posting - Agnita Kumar was born at Gaya, INDIA
- 1984 The first line of the Miami Metrorail in Miami, Florida opens.
- 1985 Dow Jones industrial average closes above 1300 for first time
- 1985 FBI arrests John A Walker Jr, convicted of spying for USSR
- 1985 Israel exchanges 1150 Lebanese/Palestinian prisoners for 3 Israeli soldiers
- 1985 Larry Holmes beats Carl Williams in 15 for heavyweight boxing title
- 1985 Radio Mart, part of the Voice of America service, begins broadcasting to Cuba.
- 1985 US began broadcasts to Cuba on Radio Marti
- 1986 Christy Fichtner, 23, (Texas), crowned 35th Miss USA
- 1986 Flintstones 25th Anniversary Celebration airs on CBS-tv
- 1987 Götenborg wins 16th UEFA Cup at Dundee
- 1987 Wrestler Jerry Lawler sues WWF & Harley Race for trademark name "king"
- 1989 China declares martial law in Beijing
- 1989 Number one hit on UK music charts - Gerry Marsden, Paul McCartney, Holly Johnson & Christians - Ferry 'Cross The Mersey
- 1989 The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre.
- 1989 Toonces The Cat takes the wheel on Saturday Night Live
- 1989 Walter McConnel, 57, is oldest to reach 27,000' Mount Everest top
- 1990 The Hubble Space Telescope sends its first photographs back to Earth
- 1990 The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.
- 1990 Visitor posting - Cory Hutton was born. - USA
- 1991 Chicago Bull Michael Jordan, named NBA's MVP
- 1991 Soviet parliament approves law allowing citizens to travel abroad
- 1992 FC Barcelona wins 373 Europe Cup 1 at London
- 1992 India launches its first satellite independently
- 1992 Rap singer raps 597 syllables in 55.12 seconds
- 1993 10 meter meteor comes within 150,000 km of Earth (1993KA)
- 1993 274th & final "Cheers" on NBC
- 1993 Ukraine Premier Leonid Koetsjma resigns
- 1994 Bobcat Goldthwait charged with misdemeanors for fire on Tonight Show
- 1995 CBS News fires co-anchor Connie Chung
- 1995 In a second Referendum in Quebec, the population rejects by a slight majority the proposal from its government to move towards independence from Canada.
- 1995 Visitor posting - 1995 Brennen Patrick O'Ryan is born - USA
- 1996 Gay rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of gays and lesbians.
- 1996 Visitor posting - Leigh Ann Nichols was born. - USA
- 1996 Visitor posting - David Stookey was born - USA
- 1997 Visitor posting - Jordan Alexander Kyle was born in the USA
- 1999 TJ Solomon injures 6 people in Heritage High School shooting.
- 2002 The independence of East Timor is recognized by Portugal, formally ending 23 years of Indonesian rule and 3 years of provisional UN administration (Portugal itself was the former colonizer of East Timor until 1976).
- 2002 Visitor posting - Hannah Noel Wright was born in Manassas, Va, USA
- 2009 Visitor posting - May 20, 2009. event: Brenna Lynn Bucklewzer was born :)
- 2009 Visitor posting - Gage Christian Erhardt was born - USA
- 2010 Visitor posting - My first Grandson, Gavin alexander Tierney was born into this world today at 2:51 pm. This special gift of life weighed 6lbs. 11ozs. and was 19 inches long.... - USA
- 2010 Visitor posting - Ethan James Long born at 17:50 on this day weighing 8lb12oz - United Kingdom
More historical events added daily - keep checking back