Events Pre-1600 585 BC – A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by the Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of the Eclipse, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated. It is also the earliest event of which the precise date is known. 621 – Battle of Hulao: Li Shimin, the son of the Chinese emperor Gaozu, defeats the numerically superior forces of Dou Jiande near the Hulao Pass (Henan). This victory decides the outcome of the civil war that followed the Sui dynasty's collapse in favour of the Tang dynasty. 934 – English king Æthelstan begins his invasion of Scotland. 1242 – Avignonet massacre: A group of Cathars, with the probable connivance of Count Raymond VII of Toulouse, murder the inquisitor William Arnaud and eleven of his companions.. 1347 – Marriage of Byzantine Emperor John V Palaiologos and Helena Kantakouzene. 1533 – The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declares the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn valid. 1588 – The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, heading for the English Channel. (It will take until May 30 for all ships to leave port.)
1601–1900 1644 – English Civil War: Bolton Massacre by Royalist troops under the command of James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby. 1754 – French and Indian War: In the first engagement of the war, Virginia militia under the 22-year-old Lieutenant colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania. 1802 – In Guadeloupe, 400 rebellious slaves, led by Louis Delgrès, blow themselves up rather than submit to Napoleon's troops. 1830 – U.S. President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act which denies Native Americans their land rights and forcibly relocates them. 1871 – The Paris Commune falls after two months. 1892 – In San Francisco, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club.
1901–present 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō and the Imperial Japanese Navy. 1907 – The first Isle of Man TT race is held. 1918 – The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the First Republic of Armenia declare their independence. 1926 – The 28 May 1926 coup d'état: Ditadura Nacional is established in Portugal to suppress the unrest of the First Republic. 1932 – In the Netherlands, construction of the Afsluitdijk is completed and the Zuiderzee bay is converted to the freshwater IJsselmeer. 1934 – Near Callander, Ontario, Canada, the Dionne quintuplets are born to Oliva and Elzire Dionne; they will be the first quintuplets to survive infancy. 1936 – Alan Turing submits On Computable Numbers for publication. 1937 – Volkswagen, the German automobile manufacturer, is founded. 1940 – World War II: Belgium surrenders to Nazi Germany to end the Battle of Belgium. 1940 – World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik in Norway. This is the first Allied infantry victory of the War. 1948 – Daniel François Malan is elected as Prime Minister of South Africa. He later goes on to implement Apartheid. 1958 – Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement, heavily reinforced by Frank Pais Militia, overwhelm an army post in El Uvero. 1961 – Peter Benenson's article The Forgotten Prisoners is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International. 1962 – The Soviet Kosmos 5 satellite is launched. 1964 – The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is founded, with Yasser Arafat elected as its first leader. 1968 – Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892 crashes near Nala Sopara in India, killing 30. 1974 – Northern Ireland's power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapses following a general strike by loyalists. 1975 – Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States. 1975 – At Brampton Centennial Secondary School, student Michael Slobodian kills two people and injures 13 others before committing suicide. 1977 – The Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky, is engulfed by fire, killing 165 people inside.; 1979 – Konstantinos Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community. 1987 – An 18-year-old West German pilot, Mathias Rust, evades Soviet Union air defences and lands a private plane in Red Square in Moscow, Russia. 1991 – The capital city of Addis Ababa falls to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War. 1995 – The 7.0 Neftegorsk earthquake shakes the former Russian settlement of Neftegorsk with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Total damage was $64.1–300 million, with 1,989 deaths and 750 injured. The settlement was not rebuilt. 1996 – U.S. President Bill Clinton's former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, Jim McDougal and Susan McDougal, and the Governor of Arkansas, Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud. 1998 – Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of nuclear tests by India with five of its own codenamed Chagai-I, prompting the United States, Japan, and other nations to impose economic sanctions. Pakistan celebrates Youm-e-Takbir annually. 1999 – In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece The Last Supper is put back on display. 2002 – The last steel girder is removed from the original World Trade Center site. Cleanup duties officially end with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan, New York City. 2003 – Peter Hollingworth resigns as Governor-General of Australia following criticism of his handling of child sexual abuse allegations during his tenure as Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane. 2004 – The Iraqi Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, as prime minister of Iraq's interim government. 2008 – The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty. 2010 – In West Bengal, India, the Jnaneswari Express train derailment and subsequent collision kills 148 passengers. 2011 – Malta votes on the introduction of divorce; the proposal was approved by 53% of voters, resulting in a law allowing divorce under certain conditions being enacted later in the year. 2012 – The Arkankergen massacre in Kazakhstan's Alakol District kills 15 people. 2013 – Start of the Gezi Park protests in Turkey. 2016 – Harambe, a gorilla, is shot to death after grabbing a three-year-old boy in his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, resulting in widespread criticism and sparking various internet memes. 2017 – Former Formula One driver Takuma Sato wins his first Indianapolis 500, the first Japanese and Asian driver to do so. Double world champion Fernando Alonso retires from the race with an engine issue in his first entry of the event.
Births Pre-1600 1140 – Xin Qiji, Chinese poet, general, and politician (died 1207) 1371 – John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy (died 1419) 1588 – Pierre Séguier, French politician, Lord Chancellor of France (died 1672) 1589 – Robert Arnauld d'Andilly, French writer (died 1674)
1601–1900 1663 – António Manoel de Vilhena, Grand Master of the Order of Saint John (died 1736) 1676 – Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician and academic (died 1754) 1692 – Geminiano Giacomelli, Italian composer (died 1740) 1738 – Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, French physician (died 1814) 1759 – William Pitt the Younger, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1806) 1763 – Manuel Alberti, Argentinian priest and journalist (died 1811) 1764 – Edward Livingston, American jurist and politician, 11th United States Secretary of State (died 1836) 1779 – Thomas Moore, Irish poet and composer (died 1852) 1807 – Louis Agassiz, Swiss-American paleontologist and geologist (died 1873) 1818 – P. G. T. Beauregard, American general (died 1893) 1828 – Ratmalane Sri Dharmaloka Thera, Buddhist monk and scholar, founder of Vidyalankara Pirivena (died 1885) 1836 – Friedrich Baumfelder, German pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1916) 1836 – Alexander Mitscherlich, German chemist and academic (died 1918) 1837 – George Ashlin, Irish architect, co-designed St Colman's Cathedral (died 1921) 1837 – Tony Pastor, American impresario, variety performer and theatre owner (died 1908) 1841 – Sakaigawa Namiemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 14th Yokozuna (died 1887) 1853 – Carl Larsson, Swedish painter and author (died 1919) 1858 – Carl Richard Nyberg, Swedish inventor and businessman, developed the blow torch (died 1939) 1872 – Marian Smoluchowski, Polish physicist and mountaineer (died 1917) 1878 – Paul Pelliot, French sinologist and explorer (died 1945) 1879 – Milutin Milanković, Serbian mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist (died 1958) 1883 – Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian poet and politician (died 1966) 1883 – Clough Williams-Ellis, English-Welsh architect, designed the Portmeirion Village (died 1978) 1884 – Edvard Beneš, Czech academic and politician, 2nd and 4th President of Czechoslovakia (died 1948) 1886 – Santo Trafficante Sr., Italian-American mobster (died 1954) 1888 – Kaarel Eenpalu, Estonian journalist and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Estonia (died 1942) 1888 – Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot, English author and educator (died 1947) 1888 – Jim Thorpe, American decathlete, football player, and coach (died 1953) 1889 – Richard Réti, Slovak-Czech chess player and author (died 1929) 1892 – Minna Gombell, American actress (died 1973) 1900 – Tommy Ladnier, American trumpet player (died 1939)
1901–present 1903 – S. L. Kirloskar, Indian businessman, founded Kirloskar Group (died 1994) 1906 – Henry Thambiah, Sri Lankan lawyer, judge, and diplomat, Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Canada (died 1997) 1908 – Léo Cadieux, Canadian journalist and politician, 17th Canadian Minister of National Defence (died 2005) 1908 – Ian Fleming, English journalist and author, created James Bond (died 1964) 1909 – Red Horner, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2005) 1910 – Georg Gaßmann, German politician, Mayor of Marburg (died 1987) 1910 – Rachel Kempson, English actress (died 2003) 1910 – T-Bone Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1975) 1911 – Bob Crisp, South African cricketer (died 1994) 1911 – Thora Hird, English actress (died 2003) 1911 – Fritz Hochwälder, Austrian playwright (died 1986) 1912 – Herman Johannes, Indonesian scientist, academic, and politician (died 1992) 1912 – Ruby Payne-Scott, Australian physicist and astronomer (died 1981) 1912 – Patrick White, Australian novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1990) 1914 – W. G. G. Duncan Smith, English captain and pilot (died 1996) 1915 – Joseph Greenberg, American linguist and academic (died 2001) 1916 – Walker Percy, American novelist and essayist (died 1990) 1917 – Barry Commoner, American biologist, academic, and politician (died 2012) 1917 – Papa John Creach, American violinist (died 1994) 1918 – Johnny Wayne, Canadian comedian (died 1990) 1921 – D. V. Paluskar, Indian Hindustani classical musician (died 1955) 1921 – Heinz G. Konsalik, German journalist and author (died 1999) 1921 – Tom Uren, Australian soldier, boxer, and politician (died 2015) 1922 – Lou Duva, American boxer, trainer, and manager (died 2017) 1922 – Roger Fisher, American author and academic (died 2012) 1922 – Tuomas Gerdt, Finnish soldier (died 2020) 1923 – György Ligeti, Hungarian-Austrian composer and educator (died 2006) 1923 – N. T. Rama Rao, Indian actor, director, producer, and politician, 10th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (died 1996)