/year

May 20 in history

217 sourced entries recorded on May 20, from 325 CE to 2024 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 325First Council of Nicaea: Constantine summons an ecumenical council of bishops in Nicaea (Turkey). The Nicene Creed, adopted on June 19, declares that the members of the Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) are equal. The council decides that Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Arius is exiled to Illyria; his works are confiscated and consigned to the flames.source
  • 453Liu Shao is overthrown by another brother, Liu Jun who becomes Emperor Xiaowu of Song.source
  • 491Anastasius I marries Ariadne shortly after his accession. His reign is disturbed by religious distractions and a civil war started by Longinus, brother of late emperor Zeno.source
  • 685Battle of Dun Nechtain: The Picts under King Bridei III revolt against their Northumbrian overlords. Cuthbert, bishop of Lindisfarne, advises King Ecgfrith of Northumbria (Bridei's cousin) not to invade Pictland (modern Scotland). Undeterred, Ecgfrith marches his army north to engage the enemy near Dunnichen. The Picts, possibly with Scottish and Strathclyde Briton help, defeat the Saxon guard, killing Ecgfrith, who has reigned for 15 years, routing his army and forcing the Anglo-Saxons to withdraw south of the River Forth.source
  • 794King Æthelberht II of East Anglia visits the royal Mercian court at Sutton Walls (Herefordshire), with a view to marrying Princess Ælfthryth. He is taken captive and beheaded, on the orders of King Offa.source
  • 839Thirteen months before his death, Louis the Pious, successor to his father Charlemagne, consents to the division of Charlemagne's empire among his sons in a declaration at Worms. Upon Louis I's death in 840, Lothair (age 45) is devised Middle Francia that includes Switzerland and northern Italy; Louis the German (Louis II), age 36, receives Eastern Francia that includes much of Germany; and Charles the Bald (17) gets West Francia that incorporates most of France.source
  • 1096May 18–26 – The Worms massacre: Members of the People's Crusade under Emicho besiege Worms in the Rhineland before killing at least 800 Jews, despite the intervention of Bishop Adalbert II. He tries to hide some of them in the bishop's palace, others chose to remain outside its walls. One of the victims is Minna of Worms, an influential Jew among the Christian nobility.source
  • 1099The Fatimid governor of Sidon refuses to cooperate and his garrison attacks the Crusader host while they are looting local villages. The Fatimids are repulsed, the towns further south generally follow the example of Beirut. The Crusaders move on to Tyre – Raymond IV decides to wait for two days to allow a force under Baldwin of Le Bourg (supported by knights from Antioch) to catch up with him.source
  • 1184Diet of Pentecost: Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, organises a conference in Mainz. During the diet Frederick negotiates with Henry the Lion about an anti-French alliance with England.source
  • 1202An earthquake shakes the Levant from Egypt to northern Iraq, causing severe damage in Palestine, Lebanon and western Syria, including the fortifications of the Crusader cities of Acre, Jaffa and Tyre.source
  • 1217Battle of Lincoln: Henry III's forces led by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke defeat the French army of Prince Louis and the rebel barons who are besieging Lincoln Castle. During the battle, Thomas, Comte du Perche is killed and Louis is expelled from his base in the southeast of England. The looting that takes place afterward is known as the "Lincoln Fair". The citizens of Lincoln are loyal to Louis so Henry's forces sack the city. To the south, inhabitants of towns between Lincoln and London ambush and kill many of the French soldiers.source
  • 1217Second Battle of Lincoln: English relief forces under the command of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke defeat French troops at Lincoln Castle, during the First Barons' War. Thomas, Count of Perche, commanding the French troops, was killed and Louis VIII of France was expelled from his base in the southeast of England.source
  • 1293King Sancho IV of Castile creates a Studium General in Alcalá de Henares, forerunner to the modern Complutense University of Madrid.source
  • 1303Treaty of Paris: King Philip the Fair of France signs a peace treaty with Edward Longshanks, King of England. According to the terms of the treaty, Gascony is restored to England – as well as the cities of Bordeaux and Bayonne. In return, Edward swears allegiance to Philip as his vassal and agrees that Philipp's daughter, Isabella of France, be married to his son Edward of Caernarfon, until she is old enough.source
  • 1325Led by Michael of Cesena, the Michaelites, a French branch of the Spiritual Franciscans who have been accused of heresy within the Roman Catholic Church in a disagreement over the issue of a vow of poverty, assemble at Lyon in France and agree to make peace with the Church and to make no further disrespectful references to Pope John XXII.source
  • 1347Cola di Rienzo, a Roman commoner, declares himself Emperor of Rome, in response to years of baronial power struggles.source
  • 1367John of Ashwell becomes the new Attorney General for England and Wales upon the departure of Thomas of Shardelow. The Chronological Historian:Volume 1. p. 59.source
  • 1374Edward the Black Prince, eldest son and heir apparent to England's King Edward III, presides over a council of bishops and nobles at Westminster on Whitsunday to review a demand by Pope Gregory XI for a subsidy from England to help the Papal States in the war against the Republic of Florence. In his letter, the Pope asserts his right as Lord Spiritual and refers to himself as "Lord of all". The English nobles conclude, and the bishops agree, that the Kingdom of England will not be subject to the Pope's authority.source
  • 1449Battle of Alfarrobeira: King Afonso V of Portugal defeats the forces of Peter, Duke of Coimbra.source
  • 1452China's Emperor Daizhong, brother of the former emperor Yingzong, designates his son as the new heir to the throne, demoting Daizhong's son Zhu Jianshen and placing his own son, Zhu Janji, as next in line for the throne.source
  • 1495Charles VIII and his army depart from Naples and head back to France, leaving the count de Montpensier, Gilbert of Bourbon, in charge.source
  • 1497Italian-born explorer John Cabot sets sail from Bristol in England, on the ship Matthew (principally owned by Richard Amerike), looking for new lands to the west (some sources give a May 2 date).source
  • 1503May 20 (Feast of the Ascension) – Ascension Island is first definitively sighted, by Portuguese admiral Afonso de Albuquerque.source
  • 1515"Ulysses", the first known rhinoceros in Europe, arrives at Lisbon in Portugal after being brought by ship from India.source
  • 1521At the Battle of Pampeluna in Spain, and alliance of forces from French and the Kingdom of Navarre forces defeat those of Spain.source
  • 1523Andrea Gritti is elected as the new Doge of the Republic of Venice, 13 days after the death of Antonio Grimani.source
  • 1535William Tyndale is arrested in Antwerp for heresy, in relation to his Bible translation, and imprisoned in Vilvoorde.source
  • 1545In Vietnam, warlord Nguyễn Kim of the Lê dynasty leads troops toward an attack on Ninh Binh when he is invited by Dương Chấp Nhất of the Mạc dynasty to dinner. General Kim is treated to a watermelon by Duong and dies the next day.source
  • 1550The Spanish Catalan city of Cullera is plundered by the Ottoman Empire General Dragut Reis, and most of its inhabitants are sold into slavery in Algeria.source
  • 1552Learning of the rapid approach of the Elector Maurice, the Emperor Charles V flees from Innsbruck ahead of being captured.source
  • 1570Abraham Ortelius publishes the first modern atlas, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, in Antwerp.source
  • 1592August 19 – Battle of Flores (Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)), a series of naval engagements in the Azores in which the English are victorious, taking the great Portuguese carrack Madre de Deus on or about August 3.source
  • 1604Five conspirators in England, led by Robert Catesby, who has invited Thomas Wintour, John Wright, Thomas Percy and Guy Fawkes, meet at the Duck and Drake Inn in London to make a plan for the assassination of King James.source
  • 1604Peace discussions between England and Spain begin at Somerset House in London to end the Anglo-Spanish War after 19 years of fighting.source
  • 1609London publisher Thomas Thorpe issues Shake-speares Sonnets, with a dedication to "Mr. W.H.", and the poem A Lover's Complaint appended; it is uncertain whether this publication has Shakespeare's authority.source
  • 1622Ottoman Sultan Osman II is strangled by rebelling Janissaries, who revolted when they heard rumours that Osman II was planning to move against them.source
  • 1629May 14–28 – Huguenot rebellions: After a 15-day siege, Louis XIII of France captures Privas.source
  • 1630The Swedish National Heritage Board (Riksantikvarieämbetet) is created, with Johannes Bureus as its first director. The Board is still in existence almost 400 years later.source
  • 1631Thirty Years' War: After a two-month siege, the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Emperor, under the command of Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly sacks the Protestant German city of Magdeburg, and massacres over 20,000 inhabitants. Shocked by the massacre, many Protestant states in the Holy Roman Empire decide to ally with Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, and support his ongoing invasion.source
  • 1635Battle of Les Avins: French forces defeat a detachment of the Army of Flanders commanded by Thomas of Savoy, sent to prevent them linking up with the Dutch.source
  • 1639Regulations for the management of the goods and income of the city of Brussels publishedsource
  • 1643Dutch expedition to Valdivia: The Dutch fleet (led by Hendrik Brouwer) is spotted off Carelmapu in Chile, soon afterwards landing nearby and plundering the fort and village.source
  • 1645May 20–30 - Yangzhou massacre, one of the most destructive massacres in historysource
  • 1690England passes the Act of Grace, forgiving followers of the deposed James II.source
  • 1690The Act of Grace passed, forgiving followers of the deposed James II.source
  • 1704May 19–23 – Vigorous Strombolian activity from Mount Vesuvius, Italy is recorded.source
  • 1714Johann Sebastian Bach leads the first performance of his cantata for Pentecost, Erschallet, ihr Lieder, BWV 172, at the chapel of Schloss Weimar.source
  • 1716John Law founds the Banque Générale Privée in Paris.source
  • 1720The Treaty of The Hague, signed between Spain and the Quadruple Alliance (Britain, France, the Netherlands and Austria) on February 17, goes into effect. Spain renounces its claims to the Italian possessions of the French throne, and Austria and the Duchy of Savoy trade Sicily for Sardinia.source
  • 1739The roof of St Mary's Church, Swansea, collapses into the nave just before a Sunday morning service; the congregation is waiting outside for the officiating priest, who is running late.source
  • 1756Seven Years' War: Battle of Minorca – The British fleet under John Byng is defeated by the French under Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière.source
  • 1756Battle of Minorca: The French fleet under Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière defeats the British under John Byng.source
  • 1770A stampede at a celebration of the newly wedded Marie Antoinette and Louis-Auguste in Paris kills more than a hundred people.source
  • 1770A stampede at a celebration of the newly wedded Marie Antoinette and Louis-Auguste in Paris kills more than a hundred peoplesource
  • 1776May 15–26 – American Revolution: Battle of the Cedars – British forces skirmish with the American Continental Army around Les Cèdres, Quebec.source
  • 1784A treaty is signed in Paris between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Dutch Republic, formally ending the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War.source
  • 1784a treaty is signed in Paris with the Dutch Republic formally ending the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War.source
  • 1785The Land Ordinance of 1785, setting the rules for dividing the U.S. Northwest Territory (later Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan) into townships of 36 square miles apiece, is passed by the Confederation Congress. The survey system will later be applied to the continent west of the Mississippi River.source
  • 1788Marylebone Cricket Club publishes revised Laws of Cricket, establishing its position as the final arbiter of the rules of the game.source
  • 1796The last mock Garrat Elections are held in Surrey, England.source
  • 1802By the Law of 20 May 1802, Napoleon reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution.source
  • 1810May 18–25 – May Revolution: Armed citizens of Buenos Aires expel the Viceroy and establish a provincial government for Argentina (the Primera Junta). Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros is removed.source
  • 1814The convict transport ship Three Bees catches fire and blows up in Sydney Harbour.source
  • 1820At age 14, John Stuart Mill sets out on his formative trip to the south of France, staying with Samuel Bentham.source
  • 1827Zarafa, the first giraffe to be seen in Europe for over three centuries, arrives in Marseille as a gift from the Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt, Mehmet Ali Pasha, to King Charles X of France. The giraffe then begins a 50-day journey to Paris, walking with its handlers toward Paris where it will arrive on July 9.source
  • 1840York Minster's nave roof is destroyed in an accidental fire.source
  • 1845The last fatal duel between Englishmen on English soil takes place near Gosport. James Alexander Seton is shot and dies twelve days later from his wound. His opponent, Royal Marine Lieutenant Charles Lawes Pym, is tried for murder a year later, but acquitted.source
  • 1856David Livingstone arrives at Quelimane on the Indian Ocean, having completed a 2-year transcontinental journey across Africa from Luanda.source
  • 1859Austro-Sardinian War: Battle of Montebello – The Austrian army led by Karl von Urban faces the French-Sardinian combined forces.source
  • 1861Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which lasts until September 3, when Confederate forces enter the state.source
  • 1861North Carolina secedes from the Union.source
  • 1862U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law.source
  • 1862Macdonald-Cartier government falls. Free interprovincial trade granted by the Crown.source
  • 1864Australian bushranger Ben Hall and his gang escape from a shootout with police, after attempting to rob the Bang Bang Hotel in Koorawatha, New South Wales.source
  • 1864Bushranger Ben Hall and his gang escape from a shootout with police after attempting to rob the Bang Bang Hotel in Koorawatha, New South Wales.source
  • 1867Alexandra is proclaimed a borough.source
  • 1870Charles Craufurd Hay becomes acting Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa.source
  • 1873In Chipping Norton, England, rioters attempt to free the Ascott Martyrs –16 women sentenced to imprisonment, for attempting to dissuade strikebreakers in an agricultural labor dispute.source
  • 1873Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive United States patent 139121, for using copper rivets to strengthen the pockets of denim work pants. Levi Strauss & Co. begins manufacturing the famous Levi's brand of jeans, using fabric from the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester, New Hampshire.source
  • 1875The Metre Convention is signed in Paris, France.source
  • 1880foundation stone laid for Truro Cathedral in Cornwall, the first to be built on a new site since the 13th century.source
  • 1882The Triple Alliance is formed between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.source
  • 18831883 eruption of Krakatoa, Indonesiasource
  • 1885The first public train departs Swanage railway station, on the newly built Swanage Railway in England.source
  • 1885The sixth International Sanitary Conference opened in Rome convened by the Italian government as a result of the outbreak of cholera in the country in 1884.source
  • 1890Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh moves to Auvers-sur-Oise on the edge of Paris, in the care of Paul Gachet, where he will produce around seventy paintings in as many days.source
  • 1891Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope is first displayed at Edison's Laboratory, for a convention of the National Federation of Women's Clubs.source
  • 1892The last broad gauge train runs from Paddington on the Great Western Railway of England.source
  • 1892The last broad gauge train runs on the Great Western Railway main line out of London Paddington station. Over the following two days, 177 route miles (285 km) of its line are converted to standard gauge.source
  • 1899The American Physical Society is founded at a meeting at Columbia University.source
  • 1902Cuba gains independence from the United States.source
  • 1910Kōtoku Incident: police searching the room of Miyashita Takichi, discover a socialist-anarchist plot to assassinate the Japanese Emperor Meiji, leading to mass arrests.source
  • 1910Oscar Wergeland, painter (born 1844).source
  • 1912Cape – Wolseley to Ceres, 10 mi 29 ch.source
  • 1915May 15–21 – The Far Eastern Championship Games take place in Shanghai.source
  • 1918The small town of Codell, Kansas is hit for the third year in a row, on the same date, by a tornado.source
  • 1922P&O liner SS Egypt sinks in the English Channel off Ushant after a collision with 44 passengers, 294 crew and £1 million in bullion and coin on board; 86 die.source
  • 1923British Prime Minister Bonar Law resigns, due to ill health.source
  • 1925The Murrumbidgee River floods for eight days killing four people, as up to 500 mm falls in its upper catchment.source
  • 1926The United States Congress passes the Air Commerce Act, licensing pilots and planes.source
  • 1927By the Treaty of Jeddah, the United Kingdom recognizes the sovereignty of Ibn Saud over the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd, the future Saudi Arabia.source
  • 1927May 20–21 – Charles Lindbergh makes the first solo, nonstop transatlantic airplane flight, from New York City to Paris, France, in his single-engined aircraft, the Spirit of St. Louis.source
  • 1929The Wickersham Commission begins its investigation of alcohol prohibition in the United States.source
  • 1932May 20–21 – Amelia Earhart flies from the United States to County Londonderry, Northern Ireland in 14 hours 54 minutes.source
  • 1932Federación Obrera de la Industria de la Carne initiates a major strike in the Argentinian meat-packing industry.source
  • 1938May 20 Romanian prime minister, Patriarch Miron Cristea, comes to Poland. A transport of bears from the Soviet Union comes to Białowieża Forest. Some of Josephine Baker's possessions are stolen during her stay in Lwów,source
  • 1938Atatürk's last national tour (to Mersin), he stressed on the Hatay questionsource
  • 1939Pan American Airways begins transatlantic mail service with the inaugural flight of its Boeing 314 flying boat Yankee Clipper from Port Washington, New York, to Marseille.source
  • 1940The Holocaust: The Nazi concentration camp and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest of the German concentration camps, opens in occupied Poland, near the town of Oświęcim. From now on until January 1945, around 1.1 million people will be killed here.source
  • 1941WWII: The Battle of Crete begins, as Germany launches an airborne invasion of Crete, the first mainly airborne invasion in military history.source
  • 1942The first African-American seamen are taken into the United States Navy.source
  • 1944Aircraft carrier HMS Warrior is launched at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast to British Admiralty order.source
  • 1949The AFSA (predecessor of the NSA) is established.source
  • 1949The Kuomintang regime declares martial law in Taiwan, which lasts until 1987.source
  • 1953May 20–21 – A tornado outbreak tears through Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario, leaving eight people dead and 123 people injured.source
  • 1954Chiang Kai-shek is re-elected as the president of the Republic of China, by the National Assembly.source
  • 1954Elections are held to the Chamber of Deputies. The Christian Social People's Party gains 5 seats, while the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party and Democratic Party lose two each.source
  • 1956Ingvar Ambjørnsen, writer (died 2025)source
  • 1958The Cuban government of Fulgencio Batista launches a counteroffensive against Castro's rebels.source
  • 1964Philippine Airlines Flight 26/25 crashed en route to Zamboanga Airport, Zamboanga killing all 11 people.source
  • 1969United States National Guard helicopters spray skin-stinging powder on anti-war protesters in California.source
  • 1976Ramón Hernández — baseball player.source
  • 1976May 20–24 – Flooding in the wake of a typhoon kills 215 persons and left 60,000 homeless in Luzon Island.source
  • 1978May 19–20 – French Foreign Legion paratroopers land in Kolwezi, Zaire, to rescue Europeans in the middle of a civil war.source
  • 1978Mavis Hutchinson, 53, becomes the first woman to run across the U.S.; her trek took 69 days.source
  • 19801980 Quebec referendum: Voters in Quebec reject, by a vote of 60%, a proposal to seek independence from Canada.source
  • 1980Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo order the National Assembly of Korea to be dissolved, using troops to enforce the order.source
  • 1980May 18–27 – Gwangju Uprising: Students in Gwangju, South Korea, begin demonstrations, calling for democratic reforms.source
  • 1980Guangming Huaqiao Electronic Industry, as predecessor of Konka Group was founded.source
  • 1983Church Street bombing: A car bombing in Pretoria, South Africa, kills 19 people. The bomb has been planted by members of Umkhonto we Sizwe, a military wing of the African National Congress.source
  • 1983Two separate research groups led by Robert Gallo and Luc Montagnier independently declare that a novel retrovirus may have been infecting people with HIV/AIDS, and publish their findings in the same issue of the journal Science.source
  • 1986The designing of Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant sarcophagus starts.source
  • 19891989 Tiananmen Square protests: The Chinese government declares martial law in Beijing.source
  • 1989Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: The Chinese government declares martial law in Beijing.source
  • 1989May 12–25 – San Bernardino train disaster: Southern Pacific freight locomotive SP 7551 East derails in a residential area of San Bernardino, California, killing four and destroying seven houses. On May 25, as a direct result of the derailment, the Calnev Pipeline explodes, killing an additional two people and destroying eleven more houses and 21 cars.source
  • 1990Cold War: The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.source
  • 1990Ami Popper, a former dishonorably-discharged Israeli soldier, kills seven Palestinian workers from the Gaza Strip in the Israeli town of Rishon Lezion. Popper committed the murder with a rifle that he stole from his soldier brother.source
  • 1994The section of the A1 motorway between Croix de Gasperich and Irrgarten opens.source
  • 1994After a funeral in Cluny Parish Church, Edinburgh attended by 900 people and after which 3,000 people line the streets, UK Labour Party leader John Smith is buried in a private family funeral on the island of Iona, at the sacred burial ground of Reilig Odhráin, which contains the graves of several Scottish kings as well as monarchs of Ireland, Norway and France.source
  • 1995English football team Everton win the FA Cup, beating reigning champions Manchester United with a score of 1 – 0. A goal at 30 minutes by Paul Rideout secured the win for Everton their first major trophy in 8 years and also constituted their last title ever since.source
  • 1999massive hurricane strikes Sindh.source
  • 2002Timor-Leste independence: East Timor regains its independence as the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste after 2.5 years of United Nations administration and 26 years of Indonesian occupation since 1975.source
  • 2002Timor-Leste restores its Republic as proclaimed back in 1975, thus confirming its independence from Portugal in 2002.source
  • 2005May 19–21 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 takes place in Kyiv, Ukraine, and is won by Greek entrant Helena Paparizou with the song "My Number One".source
  • 2006May 18–20 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 takes place in Athens, Greece, and is won by Finnish band entrant Lordi with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah".source
  • 2006Lordi wins the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens, Greece.source
  • 2007Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai makes the largest single charitable donation in modern history, committing €7.41 billion to an educational foundation in the Middle East.source
  • 2008May 20–24 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 takes place in Belgrade, Serbia, and is won by Russian entrant Dima Bilan with the song "Believe".source
  • 2009May 11–24 – Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched to refurbish the Hubble Space Telescope on May 11, landing at Edwards Air Force Base May 24.source
  • 2010Scientists announced that they have created a functional synthetic genome.source
  • 2010Five paintings worth €100 million are stolen from the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.source
  • 2012May 20 Presidential elections were held in the Dominican Republic, Danilo Medina result as president-elect.source
  • 2012An annular solar eclipse visible from Asia and North America is the 58th solar eclipse from 73 solar eclipses of Solar Saros 128.source
  • 2013An EF5 tornado in the US state of Oklahoma hits Moore and several other surrounding areas near Oklahoma City, resulting in 24 deaths and many injuries.source
  • 20142014 Jos bombings: Terrorists in Nigeria detonate bombs at Jos, killing 118 people.source
  • 2015May 19–23 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2015 is held in Vienna, Austria, and is won by Swedish entrant Måns Zelmerlöw with the song "Heroes".source
  • 2016Tsai Ing-wen is sworn in as the first female President of the Republic of China (Taiwan).source
  • 2018The 2018 Venezuelan presidential election was held with incumbent President Nicolás Maduro reelected with 67.8% of the vote and the lowest turnout in Venezuela's modern democratic history since the 1958 coup d'état. The elections were denounced as a "sham" by several Latin American countries, the United States, Canada, the Organization of American States and the European Union.source
  • 2019The revision of the SI system of measurement adopted by the majority of countries in the world takes effect.source
  • 2020Moeketsi Majoro replaces Thomas Thabane as Prime Minister of Lesotho.source
  • 2021May 18–May 22 – The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 is held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, after the cancellation of the 2020 contest due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The contest is won by Italian entrants Måneskin with the song "Zitti e buoni".source
  • 20222022 monkeypox outbreak: The World Health Organization (WHO) holds an emergency meeting to discuss the spread of monkeypox in nearly a dozen countries, as the number of reported cases reaches 100.source
  • 2024The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court seeks arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar over alleged war crimes.source

Births

  • 1315Bonne of Luxembourg, queen consort of France (died 1349)source
  • 1470Pietro Bembo, Italian cardinal (died 1547)source
  • 1505Levinus Lemnius, Dutch writer (died 1568)source
  • 1531Viceroy Thado Minsaw of Ava (died 1584)source
  • 1537Hieronymus Fabricius, Italian anatomist (died 1619)source
  • 1575Robert Heath, English judge and politician (died 1649)source
  • 1663William Bradford, English-born printer in North America (died 1752)source
  • 1743Toussaint Louverture, Haitian rebel (died 1803)source
  • 1750Stephen Girard, French-American banker, fourth richest American of all time (died 1831)source
  • 1759William Thornton, American architect (died 1828)source
  • 1772William Congreve, British rocket pioneer (died 1828)source
  • 1799Honoré de Balzac, French author (died 1850)source
  • 1806John Stuart Mill, British philosopher (died 1873)source
  • 181120 May (in England): Alfred Domett, 4th premier of New Zealandsource
  • 1822Frédéric Passy, French economist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (died 1912)source
  • 1851Emile Berliner, German-born American telephone and recording pioneer (died 1929)source
  • 1881Władysław Sikorski, Polish general, politician (died 1943)source
  • 1885Alexander Löhr, General Commander in the South East of the Wehrmacht in World War II (died 1947).source
  • 1908James Stewart, American actor (died 1997)source
  • 1915Moshe Dayan, Israeli military leader and politician (died 1981)source
  • 1971Tony Stewart, American stock car racing driver and team ownersource

Deaths

  • 571Saint Yared, Axumite composer (born 505)source
  • 685Ecgfrith, king of Northumbriasource
  • 794Æthelberht II, king of East Angliasource
  • 965Gero (the Great), Frankish noblemansource
  • 1062Bao Zheng, Chinese politician (born 999)source
  • 1217Thomas of Perche, French nobleman (born 1195)source
  • 1257Maurice FitzGerald, 2nd Lord of Offaly, Norman Irish nobleman and knight, killed in combatsource
  • 1272Guy de Bourgogne, French abbot and cardinalsource
  • 1277John XXI, pope of the Catholic Churchsource
  • 1277John XXI dies after an 8-month pontificate at Viterbo. He is succeeded by Nicholas III as the 188th pope of the Catholic Church (until 1280).source
  • 1310John de Moels, English nobleman and knightsource
  • 1366Maria of Calabria, Empress of Constantinople (born 1329)source
  • 1444Saint Bernardino of Siena, Italian Franciscan missionary (born 1380)source
  • 1449Álvaro Vaz de Almada, 1st Count of Avranches — at the Battle of Alfarrobeirasource
  • 1449Peter, Duke of Coimbra (born 1392) — at the Battle of Alfarrobeirasource
  • 1475Alice Chaucer, Duchess of Suffolk (born c.1404)source
  • 1501Columba of Rieti, Italian Dominican tertiary Religious Sister and blessed (born 1467)source
  • 1503William Borthwick, 3rd Lord Borthwicksource
  • 1506Christopher Columbus, Italian explorer (born c.1451)source
  • 1545Sher Shah Suri, King of the Sur Empire in northern India, is fatally injured by an explosion from one of his own cannons while leading the siege of the Kalinjar Fort and dies two days later.source
  • 1579Isabella Markham, English courtier (born 1527)source
  • 1622Osman II, Ottoman Sultan (born 1604)source
  • 1648Wladyslaw IV Vasa, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, dies after a reign of 15 years. The throne remains vacant for six months until Wladyslaw's younger half-brother, John II Casimir Vasa, is elected by Poland's Parliament.source
  • 1648King Władysław IV Vasa of Poland (born 1595)source
  • 1677George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, English statesman (born 1612)source
  • 1732Thomas Boston, Scottish church leader (born 1676)source
  • 1751Domènec Terradellas, Spanish opera composer (born 1713)source
  • 1766Malhar Rao Holkar, Indian nobleman (born 1693)source
  • 1787Jean Des Roches (born 1740), scholarsource
  • 1834Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, French nobleman, soldier (born 1757)source
  • 1864John Clare, Northamptonshire peasant poet (born 1793)source
  • 1896Clara Schumann, German composer, pianist (born 1819)source
  • 1980May 18–27 - Gwangju massacre: Up to 165 people are killed when a popular uprising in the city of Gwangju is crushed by the South Korean army.source