Events
17
– Germanicus returns to Rome as a conquering
hero; he celebrates a triumph for his victories
over the Cherusci, Chatti and other German
tribes west of the Elbe.
451 – Battle of Avarayr between Armenian
rebels and the Sassanid Empire takes place.
The Empire defeats the Armenians militarily
but guarantees them freedom to openly practice
Christianity.
1135 – Alfonso VII of León and Castile is
crowned in the Cathedral of Leon as Imperator
totius Hispaniae, "Emperor of all of
Spain".
1293 – An earthquake strikes Kamakura, Kanagawa,
Japan, killing about 30,000.
1328 – William of Ockham, Franciscan Minister-General
Michael of Cesena and two other Franciscan
leaders secretly leave Avignon, fearing
a death sentence from Pope John XXII.
1538 – Geneva expels John Calvin and his
followers from the city. Calvin lives in
exile in Strasbourg for the next three years.
1637 – Pequot War: A combined Protestant
and Mohegan force under English Captain
John Mason attacks a Pequot village in Connecticut,
massacring approximately 500 Native Americans.
1647 – Alse Young, hanged in Hartford, Connecticut,
becomes the first person executed as a witch
in the British American colonies.
1736 – Battle of Ackia: British and Chickasaw
soldiers repel a French and Choctaw attack
on the Chickasaw village of Ackia, near
present-day Tupelo, Mississippi. The French,
under Louisiana governor Jean Baptiste Le
Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, had sought to
link Louisiana with Acadia and the other
northern colonies of New France.
1770 – The Orlov Revolt, an attempt to revolt
against the Ottoman Empire before the Greek
War of Independence, ends in disaster for
the Greeks.
1783 – A Great Jubilee Day held at North
Stratford, Connecticut celebrated end of
fighting in American Revolution.
1805 – Napoléon Bonaparte assumes the title
of King of Italy and is crowned with the
Iron Crown of Lombardy in the Duomo di Milano,
the gothic cathedral in Milan.
1822 – 116 people die in the Grue Church
fire, the biggest fire disaster in Norway's
history.
1828 – Feral child Kaspar Hauser is discovered
wandering the streets of Nuremberg.
1830 – The Indian Removal Act is passed
by the U.S. Congress; it is signed into
law by President Andrew Jackson two days
later.
1857 – Dred Scott is emancipated by the
Blow family, his original owners.
1864 – Montana is organized as a United
States territory.
1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General
Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Confederate
Trans-Mississippi division, is the last
general of the Confederate Army to surrender,
at Galveston, Texas.
1868 – The impeachment trial of U.S. President
Andrew Johnson ends with Johnson being found
not guilty by one vote.
1869 – Boston University is chartered by
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
1879 – Russia and the United Kingdom sign
the Treaty of Gandamak establishing an Afghan
state.
1896 – Nicholas II becomes Tsar of Russia.
1896 – Charles Dow publishes the first edition
of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
1897 – Dracula, a novel by Irish author
Bram Stoker is published.
1906 – Vauxhall Bridge is opened in London.
1908 – At Masjed Soleyman (مسجد سليمان)
in southwest Persia, the first major commercial
oil strike in the Middle East is made. The
rights to the resource are quickly acquired
by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.
1917 – Several powerful tornadoes rip through
Illinois, including the city of Mattoon,
killing 101 people and injuring 689.
1918 – The Democratic Republic of Georgia
is established.
1936 – In the House of Commons of Northern
Ireland, Tommy Henderson begins speaking
on the Appropriation Bill. By the time he
sits down in the early hours of the following
morning, he had spoken for 10 hours.
1938 – In the United States, the House Un-American
Activities Committee begins its first session.
1940 – World War II: Battle of Dunkirk –
In France, Allied forces begin a massive
evacuation from Dunkirk, France.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Bir Hakeim
takes place.
1948 – The U.S. Congress passes Public Law
557, which permanently establishes the Civil
Air Patrol as an auxiliary of the United
States Air Force.
1966 – British Guiana gains independence,
becoming Guyana.
1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 10 returns
to Earth after a successful eight-day test
of all the components needed for the forthcoming
first manned moon landing.
1970 – The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes
the first commercial transport to exceed
Mach 2.
1972 – Willandra National Park is established
in Australia.
1972 – The United States and the Soviet
Union sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
1977 – George Willig climbs the South Tower
of New York City's World Trade Center.
1981 – Prime Minister of Italy Arnaldo Forlani
and his coalition cabinet resign following
a scandal over membership of the pseudo-masonic
lodge P2 (Propaganda Due).
1983 – A strong 7.7 magnitude earthquake
strikes Japan, triggering a tsunami that
kills at least 104 people and injures thousands.
Many people go missing and thousands of
buildings are destroyed.
1986 – The European Community adopts the
European flag.
1991 – Zviad Gamsakhurdia becomes the first
elected President of the Republic of Georgia
in the post-Soviet era.
1991 – Lauda Air Flight 004 crashes in rural
Thailand, killing 223.
1992 – The blockade of Dubrovnik is broken.
Following this, the siege of Dubrovnik ends
in the next months.
1998 – The Supreme Court of the United States
rules that Ellis Island, the historic gateway
for millions of immigrants, is mainly in
the state of New Jersey, not New York.
2004 – The United States Army veteran Terry
Nichols is found guilty of 161 state murder
charges for helping carry out the Oklahoma
City bombing.
2008 – Severe flooding begins in eastern
and southern China that will ultimately
cause 148 deaths and force the evacuation
of 1.3 million.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Augustine of Canterbury (Anglican Communion
and Eastern Orthodox)
Lambert of Vence
Philip Neri
Quadratus of Athens
Zachary, Bishop of Vienne
May 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Crown Prince's Birthday (Denmark)
Independence Day, commemorates the day of
the First Republic in 1918. (Georgia)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence
of Guyana from the United Kingdom in 1966.
Mother's Day (Poland)
National Day of Healing (Australia)
For details, contact Datacentre
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