Events
of the day
Anguilla
Day; the beginning of the Anguillian Revolution
in 1967
70
– Siege of Jerusalem: Titus and his Roman
legions breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem.
The Jewish defenders retreat to the First
Wall. The Romans build a circumvallation,
cutting down all trees within fifteen kilometers.
1416 – The Council of Constance, called
by the Emperor Sigismund, a supporter of
Antipope John XXIII, burns Jerome of Prague
following a trial for heresy.
1431 – Hundred Years' War: in Rouen, France,
19-year-old Joan of Arc is burned at the
stake by an English-dominated tribunal.
Because of this the Catholic Church remember
this day as the celebration of Saint Joan
of Arc.
1434 – Hussite Wars (Bohemian Wars): Battle
of Lipany – effectively ending the war,
Utraquist forces led by DiviÅ¡ BoÅ™ek of MiletÃnek
defeat and almost annihilate Taborite forces
led by Prokop the Great.
1536 – King Henry VIII of England marries
Jane Seymour, a lady-in-waiting to his first
two wives.
1539 – In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands
at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the
goal of finding gold.
1574 – Henry III becomes King of France.
1588 – The last ship of the Spanish Armada
sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English
Channel.
1631 – Publication of La Gazette, first
French newspaper.
1635 – Thirty Years' War: the Peace of Prague
(1635) is signed.
1642 – From this date all honors granted
by Charles I are retrospectively annulled
by Parliament.
1806 – Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson
in a duel after Dickinson had accused Jackson's
wife of bigamy.
1814 – Napoleonic Wars: War of the Sixth
Coalition – the Treaty of Paris (1814) is
signed returning French borders to their
1792 extent. Napoleon Bonaparte is exiled
to Elba.
1815 – The East Indiaman ship Arniston is
wrecked during a storm at Waenhuiskrans,
near Cape Agulhas, present-day South Africa,
with the loss of 372 lives.
1832 – End of the Hambach Festival in Rhineland-Palatinate,
Germany.
1832 – The Rideau Canal in eastern Ontario
is opened.
1834 – Joaquim António de Aguiar issue a
law extinguishing "all convents, monasteries,
colleges, hospices and any other houses
of the regular religious orders", earning
him the nickname of "The Friar-Killer".
1842 – John Francis attempts to murder Queen
Victoria as she drives down Constitution
Hill, London with Prince Albert.
1854 – The Kansas-Nebraska Act becomes law
establishing the US territories of Nebraska
and Kansas.
1859 – Westminster's Big Ben rang for the
first time in London.
1868 – Decoration Day (the predecessor of
the modern "Memorial Day") is
observed in the United States for the first
time (By "Commander-in-chief of the
Grand Army of the Republic" John A.
Logan's proclamation on May 5).
1871 – The Paris Commune falls.
1876 – Ottoman sultan Abd-ul-Aziz is deposed
and succeeded by his nephew Murat V.
1879 – New York, New York's Gilmores Garden
is renamed Madison Square Garden by William
Henry Vanderbilt and is opened to the public
at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
1883 – In New York City, a rumor that the
Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse causes
a stampede that crushes twelve people.
1899 – Female Old West outlaw Pearl Hart
robs a stage coach 30 miles southeast of
Globe, Arizona.
1911 – At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,
the first Indianapolis 500 ends with Ray
Harroun in his Marmon Wasp becoming the
first winner of the 500-mile auto race.
1913 – First Balkan War: the Treaty of London,
1913 is signed ending the war. Albania becomes
an independent nation.
1914 – The new and then largest Cunard ocean
liner RMS Aquitania, 45,647 tons, sets sails
on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England
to New York City.
1917 – Alexander I becomes king of Greece.
1922 – In Washington, D.C. the Lincoln Memorial
is dedicated.
1925 – May 30 Movement: Shanghai Municipal
Police Force shot 13 protesting workers
to death.
1941 – World War II: Manolis Glezos and
Apostolos Santas climb on the Athenian Acropolis,
tear down the Nazi swastika.
1942 – World War II: 1000 British bombers
launch a 90-minute attack on Cologne, Germany.
1948 – A dike along the flooding Columbia
River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon
within minutes. Fifteen people die and tens
of thousands are left homeless.
1958 – Memorial Day: the remains of two
unidentified American servicemen, killed
in action during World War II and the Korean
War respectively, are buried at the Tomb
of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National
Cemetery.
1959 – The Auckland Harbour Bridge, crossing
the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand,
is officially opened by Governor-General
Lord Cobham.
1961 – Long time Dominican dictator Rafael
Trujillo is assassinated in Santo Domingo,
Dominican Republic.
1963 – A protest against pro-Catholic discrimination
during the Buddhist crisis is held outside
South Vietnam's National Assembly, the first
open demonstration during the eight-year
rule of Ngo Dinh Diem.
1966 – Former Congolese Prime Minister Evariste
Kimba and several other politicians are
publicly executed in Kinshasa on the orders
of President Joseph Mobutu.
1966 – Launch of Surveyor 1 the first US
spacecraft to achieve landing on an extraterrestrial
body.
1967 – The Nigerian Eastern Region declares
independence as the Republic of Biafra,
sparking a civil war.
1968 – Charles de Gaulle reappears publicly
after his flight to Baden-Baden, Germany,
and dissolves the French National Assembly
by a radio appeal. Immediately after, less
than one million of his supporters march
on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. This is
the turning point of May 1968 in France.
1971 – Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched
to map 70% of the surface, and to study
temporal changes in the atmosphere and surface,
of Mars.
1972 – The Angry Brigade goes on trial over
a series of 25 bombings throughout the United
Kingdom.
1972 – In Tel Aviv, Israel members of the
Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport
Massacre, killing 24 people and injuring
78 others.
1989 – Tiananmen Square protests of 1989:
the 33-foot high "Goddess of Democracy"
statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by
student demonstrators.
1998 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits northern
Afghanistan, killing up to 5,000.
1998 –Nuclear Testing: Pakistan conducts
an underground test in the Kharan Desert.
It is reported to be a plutonium device
with yield of 20kt.
2003 – Depayin massacre: at least 70 people
associated with the National League for
Democracy are killed by government-sponsored
mob in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi fled the
scene, but is arrested soon afterwards.
Holidays
and observances
Anguilla
Day, commemorates the beginning of the Anguillian
Revolution in 1967. (Anguilla)
Canary Islands Day (Canary Islands)
Christian Feast Day:
Earliest day on which Feast of the Immaculate
Heart of Mary can fall, while July 3 is
the latest; celebrated 20 days after Pentecost.
(Roman Catholic church)
Ferdinand III of Castile
Isaac of Dalmatia
Joan of Arc (celebrated in France)
May 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Indian Arrival Day (Trinidad and Tobago)
Lod Massacre Remembrance Day (Puerto Rico)
Mother's Day (Nicaragua)
Parliament Day (Croatia)
The first day of the Kaamatan harvest festival
(Labuan, Sabah)
For details, contact Datacentre
