Independence
day
Eritrea
Ecuador
Events
of the day
1218 – The Fifth Crusade
leaves Acre for Egypt.
1276 – Magnus Ladulås is crowned King of
Sweden in Uppsala Cathedral.
1487 – The ten-year-old Lambert Simnel is
crowned in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin,
Ireland with the name of Edward VI in a
bid to threaten King Henry VII's reign.
1595 – Nomenclator of Leiden University
Library appears, the first printed catalog
of an institutional library.
1621 – The Protestant Union is formally
dissolved.
1626 – Peter Minuit buys Manhattan.
1667 – The French Royal Army crosses the
border into the Spanish Netherlands, starting
the War of Devolution opposing France to
the Spanish Empire and the Triple Alliance.
1689 – The English Parliament passes the
Act of Toleration protecting Protestants.
Roman Catholics are intentionally excluded.
1738 – John Wesley is converted, essentially
launching the Methodist movement; the day
is celebrated annually by Methodists as
Aldersgate Day and a church service is generally
held on the preceding Sunday.
1798 – The Irish Rebellion of 1798 led by
the United Irishmen against British rule
begins.
1822 – Battle of Pichincha: Antonio José
de Sucre secures the independence of the
Presidency of Quito.
1830 – Mary Had a Little Lamb by Sarah Josepha
Hale is published.
1830 – The first revenue trains in the United
States begin service on the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad between Baltimore, Maryland
and Ellicott's Mills, Maryland.
1832 – The First Kingdom of Greece is declared
in the London Conference.
1844 – Samuel Morse sends the message "What
hath God wrought" (a biblical quotation,
Numbers 23:23) from the Old Supreme Court
Chamber in the United States Capitol to
his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore,
Maryland to inaugurate the first telegraph
line.
1846 – Mexican-American War: General Zachary
Taylor captures Monterrey.
1856 – John Brown and his men kill five
slavery supporters at Pottawatomie Creek,
Kansas.
1861 – American Civil War: Union troops
occupy Alexandria, Virginia.
1883 – The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City
is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction.
1895 – Henry Irving becomes the first person
from the theatre to be knighted.
1900 – Second Boer War: The United Kingdom
annexes the Orange Free State.
1901 – Seventy-eight miners die in the Caerphilly
pit disaster in South Wales.
1915 – World War I: Italy declares war on
Austria-Hungary.
1921 – The trial of Sacco and Vanzetti opens.
1930 – Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Northern
Territory, becoming the first woman to fly
solo from England to Australia (she left
on May 5 for the 11,000 mile flight).
1935 – The first night game in Major League
Baseball history is played in Cincinnati,
Ohio, with the Cincinnati Reds beating the
Philadelphia Phillies 2-1 at Crosley Field.
1940 – Igor Sikorsky performs the first
successful single-rotor helicopter flight.
1941 – World War II: In the Battle of the
Atlantic, the German Battleship Bismarck
sinks the then pride of the Royal Navy,
HMS Hood, killing all but three crewmen.
1943 – Holocaust: Josef Mengele becomes
chief medical officer of the Auschwitz concentration
camp.
1948 – Arab–Israeli War: Egypt captures
the Israeli kibbutz of Yad Mordechai, but
the five-day effort gives Israeli forces
time to prepare enough to stop the Egyptian
advance a week later.
1956 – Conclusion of the Sixth Buddhist
Council on Vesak Day, marking the 2,500
year anniversary after the Lord Buddha's
Parinibbāna.
1956 – The first Eurovision Song Contest
is held in Lugano, Switzerland
1958 – United Press International is formed
through a merger of the United Press and
the International News Service.
1960 – Following the 1960 Valdivia earthquake,
the largest ever recorded earthquake, Cordón
Caulle begins to erupt.
1961 – American civil rights movement: Freedom
Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi
for "disturbing the peace" after
disembarking from their bus.
1961 – Cyprus joins the Council of Europe.
1962 – Project Mercury: American astronaut
Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth three times
in the Aurora 7 space capsule.
1967 – Egypt imposes a blockade and siege
of the Red Sea coast of Israel.
1968 – FLQ separatists bomb the U.S. consulate
in Quebec City.
1970 – The drilling of the Kola Superdeep
Borehole begins in the Soviet Union.
1976 – The London to Washington, D.C. Concorde
service begins.
1976 – The Judgement of Paris takes place
in France, launching California as a worldwide
force in the production of quality wine.
1981 – Ecuadorian president Jaime Roldós
Aguilera, his wife and his presidential
committee died in an aircraft accident while
travelling from Quito to Zapotillo minutes
after the president famous speech regarding
the 24 de mayo anniversary of the Battle
of Pichincha.
1982 – Liberation of Khorramshahr: Iranians
recapture of the port city of Khorramshahr
from the Iraqis during the Iran–Iraq War.
1988 – Section 28 of the United Kingdom's
Local Government Act 1988, a controversial
amendment stating that a local authority
cannot intentionally promote homosexuality,
is enacted.
1991 – Eritrea gains its independence from
Ethiopia.
1991 – Israel conducts Operation Solomon,
evacuating Ethiopian Jews to Israel.
1992 – The last Thai dictator, General Suchinda
Kraprayoon, resigns following pro-democracy
protests.
1994 – Four men convicted of bombing the
World Trade Center in New York in 1993 are
each sentenced to 240 years in prison.
2000 – Israeli troops withdraw from southern
Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.
2001 – Mountain climbing: 15-year-old Sherpa
Temba Tsheri becomes the youngest person
to climb to the top of Mount Everest.
2001 – The Versailles wedding hall disaster
in Jerusalem, Israel, kills 23 and injures
over 200
2002 – Russia and the United States sign
the Moscow Treaty.
Holidays
and observances
Aldersgate
Day (Methodism)
Battle of Pichincha Day (Ecuador)
Bermuda Day (Bermuda)
Christian Feast Day:
Sarah (celebrated by the Romani people of
Camargue)
Vincent of Lérins
May 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
David I of Scotland (never formally canonised
but venerated in the Roman Catholic Church)
Commonwealth Day (Belize)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence
of Eritrea from Ethiopia in 1993.
Lubiri Memorial Day (Buganda)
Saints Cyril and Methodius Day (Eastern
Orthodox Church) and its related observance:
Bulgarian Education and Culture and Slavonic
Literature Day (Bulgaria)
Saints Cyril and Methodius, Slavonic Enlighteners'
Day (Republic of Macedonia)
Victoria Day; celebrated on Monday on or
before May 24. (Canada)
National Patriots Day or Journée nationale
des patriotes. (Quebec)
For details, contact Datacentre
