Events Pre-1600 418 – A synod in Carthage condemns Pelagianism. 1169 – Norman mercenaries land at Bannow Bay in Leinster, marking the beginning of the Norman invasion of Ireland. 1328 – Wars of Scottish Independence end: By the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton, England recognises Scotland as an independent state. 1455 – Scottish Royal forces loyal to King James II defeat a rebel army of the Black Douglases in the battle of Arkinholm. 1492 – The Edict of Expulsion is officially proclaimed in Castile, requiring all Jewish residents to leave within three months.
1601–1900 1669 – Henry Morgan's raid on Lake Maracaibo: the Spanish Armada de Barlovento is defeated by an English Privateer fleet led by Captain Henry Morgan. 1707 – The Act of Union joining England and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain takes effect. 1753 – Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature. 1807 – The Slave Trade Act 1807 takes effect, abolishing the slave trade within the British Empire. 1820 – Execution of the Cato Street Conspirators, who plotted to kill the British Cabinet and Prime Minister Lord Liverpool. 1851 – Queen Victoria opens The Great Exhibition at The Crystal Palace in London. 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville between Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac under Joseph Hooker begins. 1863 – American Civil War: During the Vicksburg campaign, Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant win the Battle of Port Gibson and establish a firm presence on the east side of the Mississippi River. 1865 – The Empire of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay sign the Treaty of the Triple Alliance. 1866 – The Memphis Race Riots begin. Over three days, 46 blacks and two whites were killed. Reports of the atrocities influenced passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. 1886 – Rallies are held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour work day, culminating in the Haymarket affair in Chicago, in commemoration of which May 1 is celebrated as International Workers' Day in many countries. 1891 – The 1891 New Orleans Lynchings: 11 Italian immigrants are lynched by a mob in Louisiana, USA after the acquittal of several defendants in a murder case, the largest mass lynching in U.S. history. 1891 – On Labor Day in Catania, Sicily, workers establish the first successful Fascio Siciliano, launching a movement of peasants and laborers protesting poverty, landlordism, taxation, and economic hardship across Sicily. 1894 – Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, arrives in Washington, D.C. 1896 – While on a pilgrimage of Shah Abdol-Azim Shrine in Ray, Tehran, Naser al-Din Shah of Qajar Persia, was assassinated by Mirza Reza Kermani. 1898 – Spanish–American War: Battle of Manila Bay: The Asiatic Squadron of the United States Navy destroys the Pacific Squadron of the Spanish Navy after a seven-hour battle. Spain loses all seven of its ships, and 381 Spanish sailors die. There are no American vessel losses or combat deaths. 1900 – The Scofield Mine disaster kills over 200 men in Scofield, Utah in what is to date the fifth-worst mining accident in United States history.
1901–present 1921 – The Jaffa riots begin. 1929 – The 7.2 Kopet Dag earthquake shakes the Iran–Turkmenistan border region with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing up to 3,800 and injuring 1,121. 1945 – World War II: German radio broadcasts news of Adolf Hitler's death, falsely stating that he has "fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany". The Soviet flag is raised over the Reich Chancellery, by order of Stalin. Up to 2,500 people die in a mass suicide in Demmin following the advance of the Red Army. 1946 – Start of three-year Pilbara strike of Indigenous Australians. 1947 – Portella della Ginestra massacre against May Day celebrations in Sicily by the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano where 11 persons are killed and 33 wounded. 1957 – A Vickers VC.1 Viking crashes while attempting to return to Blackbushe Airport in Yateley, killing 34. 1960 – Cold War: U-2 incident: Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Sverdlovsk Oblast, Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis.Khrushchev, Sergei (September 2000) "The Day We Shot Down the U-2: Nikita Khrushchev's son remembers a great turning point of the Cold War, as seen from behind the Iron Curtain". American Heritage magazine. Volume 51, Issue 5. 1970 – Vietnam War: A student anti-war strike erupts in response to U.S. and South Vietnamese forces attacking Vietnamese communists in a Cambodian Campaign. 1982 – Operation Black Buck: The Royal Air Force attacks the Argentine Air Force during the Falklands War. 1991 – Angolan Civil War: The MPLA and UNITA agree to the Bicesse Accords, which are formally signed on May 31 in Lisbon. 1993 – Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa is assassinated in Colombo in a suicide bombing carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. 1994 – Three-time Formula One champion Ayrton Senna is killed in an accident during the San Marino Grand Prix. 1997 – The Labour Party wins the 1997 General Election and Tony Blair is elected as Prime Minister. 2003 – Invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, on board the (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended". 2004 – Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin. 2009 – Same-sex marriage in Sweden is legalized. 2010 – Faisal Shahzad attempts to detonate a car bomb in Times Square, but the bomb fails to go off. 2011 – Pope John Paul II is beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI. 2018 – Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) resumes the Deir ez-Zor campaign in order to clear the remnants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the Iraq–Syria border. 2019 – Naxalite attack in Gadchiroli district of India: Sixteen army soldiers, including a driver, killed in an IED blast. Naxals targeted an anti-Naxal operations team. 2019 – Naruhito ascends to the throne of Japan succeeding his father Akihito, beginning the Reiwa period. 2024 – The 2024 Loblaw boycott, a Canadian boycott against retail corporation and grocer Loblaw Companies, begins. 2026 – After a ransomware attack by the group ShinyHunters, the education platform Canvas operated by private company Instructure, goes offline, affecting thousands of educational institutions.
Births Pre-1600 1218 – John I, Count of Hainaut, Flemish nobleman (died 1257) 1218 – Rudolf I of Germany, King of Germany 1273–1291 (died 1291) 1285 – Edmund FitzAlan, 2nd Earl of Arundel, English nobleman (died 1326) 1527 – Johannes Stadius, German astronomer, astrologer, mathematician (died 1579) 1545 – Franciscus Junius, French theologian (died 1602) 1579 – Wolphert Gerretse, Dutch-American farmer, co-founded New Netherland (died 1662) 1582 – Marco da Gagliano, Italian composer (died 1643) 1585 – Sophia Olelkovich Radziwill, Belarusian saint (died 1612) 1591 – Johann Adam Schall von Bell, German missionary and astronomer (died 1666) 1594 – John Haynes, English-American politician, 1st Governor of the Colony of Connecticut (died 1653)
1601–1900 1602 – William Lilly, English astrologer (died 1681) 1672 – Joseph Addison, English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician (died 1719) 1735 – Jan Hendrik van Kinsbergen, Dutch admiral and philanthropist (died 1819) 1751 – Judith Sargent Murray, American poet and playwright (died 1820) 1764 – Benjamin Henry Latrobe, English-American architect, designed the United States Capitol (died 1820) 1769 – Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Irish-English field marshal and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1852) 1780 – Tabitha Moffatt Brown, officially designated as the “Mother of Oregon” (died 1858) 1783 – Phoebe Hinsdale Brown, American hymnwriter (died 1861) 1803 – James Clarence Mangan, Irish poet and author (died 1849) 1811 – Andreas Laskaratos, Greek satirical poet and writer (died 1901) 1821 – Henry Ayers, English-Australian politician, 8th Premier of South Australia (died 1897) 1824 – Alexander William Williamson, English chemist and academic (died 1904) 1825 – Johann Jakob Balmer, Swiss mathematician and physicist (died 1898) 1825 – George Inness, American painter and educator (died 1894) 1827 – Jules Breton, French painter (died 1906) 1829 – José de Alencar, Brazilian author and playwright (died 1877) 1829 – Frederick Sandys, English painter and illustrator (died 1904) 1830 – Guido Gezelle, Belgian priest and poet (died 1899) 1831 – Emily Stowe, Canadian physician and activist (died 1903) 1846 – James C. Corrigan, Canadian-American businessman (died 1908) 1847 – Henry Demarest Lloyd, American journalist and politician (died 1903) 1848 – Adelsteen Normann, Norwegian painter (died 1919) 1850 – Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (died 1942) 1852 – Calamity Jane, American frontierswoman and professional scout (died 1903) 1852 – Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Spanish neuroscientist and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1934) 1853 – Jacob Mikhailovich Gordin, Ukrainian-American journalist, actor, and playwright (died 1909) 1855 – Cecilia Beaux, American painter and academic (died 1942) 1857 – Theo van Gogh, Dutch art dealer (died 1891) 1859 – Jacqueline Comerre-Paton, French painter and sculptor (died 1955) 1862 – Marcel Prévost, French novelist and playwright (died 1941) 1864 – Anna Jarvis, American founder of Mother's Day (died 1948) 1871 – Seakle Greijdanus, Dutch theologian and scholar (died 1948) 1872 – Hugo Alfvén, Swedish composer, conductor, violinist, and painter (died 1960) 1872 – Sidónio Pais, Portuguese soldier and politician, 4th President of Portugal (died 1918) 1874 – Romaine Brooks, American-French painter and illustrator (died 1970) 1874 – Paul Van Asbroeck, Belgian sport shooter (died 1959) 1875 – Dave Hall, American runner, coach, and professor (died 1972) 1881 – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French priest, palaeontologist, and philosopher (died 1955) 1884 – Francis Curzon, 5th Earl Howe, English race car driver and politician (died 1964) 1885 – Clément Pansaers, Belgian poet (died 1922) 1887 – Alan Cunningham, Anglo-Irish general and diplomat, High Commissioners for Palestine and Transjordan (died 1983) 1890 – Clelia Lollini, Italian physician (died 1963 or 1964) 1891 – Lillian Estelle Fisher, American historian of Spanish America (died 1988) 1895 – May Hollinworth, Australian theatre producer and director (died 1968) 1895 – Nikolai Yezhov, Soviet secret police official, head of the NKVD (died 1940) 1896 – Herbert Backe, German agronomist and politician (died 1947) 1896 – Mark W. Clark, American general (died 1984) 1896 – J. Lawton Collins, American general (died 1987) 1898 – Alfred Schmidt, Estonian weightlifter (died 1972) 1900 – Ignazio Silone, Italian journalist and politician (died 1978) 1900 – Aleksander Wat, Polish poet and writer (died 1967)
1901–present 1901 – Sterling Allen Brown, American poet, academic, and critic (died 1989) 1901 – Antal Szerb, Hungarian scholar and author (died 1945) 1905 – Henry Koster, German-American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1988) 1907 – Kate Smith, American singer and actress (died 1986) 1908 – Giovannino Guareschi, Italian journalist and author (died 1968) 1908 – Morris Kline, American mathematician and academic (died 1992) 1909 – Yiannis Ritsos, Greek poet and playwright (died 1990) 1910 – Raya Dunayevskaya, Ukrainian-American philosopher and activist (died 1987)