Events

• 1291 – Scottish nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England.
• 1497 – Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cádiz for his first voyage to the New World.
• 1503 – Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands and names them Las Tortugas after the numerous turtles there.
• 1534 – Jacques Cartier visits Newfoundland.
• 1655 – England, with troops under the command of Admiral William Penn and General Robert Venables, annexes Jamaica from Spain.
• 1768 – John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing an article for The North Briton severely criticizing King George III. This action provokes rioting in London.
• 1774 – Louis XVI becomes King of France.
• 1775 – American Revolutionary War: Fort Ticonderoga is captured by a small Colonial militia led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold.
• 1775 – American Revolutionary War: Representatives from the 13 colonies begin the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
• 1796 – First Coalition: Napoleon I of France wins a decisive victory against Austrian forces at Lodi bridge over the Adda River in Italy. The Austrians lose some 2,000 men.
• 1801 – First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America.
• 1824 – The National Gallery in London opens to the public.
• 1837 – Panic of 1837: New York City banks fail, and unemployment reaches record levels.
• 1857 – Indian Mutiny: In India, the first war of Independence begins. Sepoys revolt against their commanding officers at Meerut.
• 1863 – Confederate General Stonewall Jackson dies eight days after he is accidentally shot by his own troops during the American Civil War.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Colonel Emory Upton leads a 10-regiment "Attack-in-depth" assault against the Confederate works at The Battle of Spotsylvania, which, though ultimately unsuccessful, would provide the idea for the massive assault against the Bloody Angle on May 12. Upton is wounded slightly but immediately is promoted to Brigadier general.
• 1865 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is captured by Union troops near Irwinville, Georgia.
• 1865 – American Civil War: In Kentucky, Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate raider William Quantrill, who lingers until his death on June 6.
• 1869 – The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah (not Promontory Point, Utah) with the golden spike.
• 1872 – Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.
• 1877 – Romania declares itself independent from Turkey, following the Senate adoption of Mihail Kogălniceanu's Declaration of Independence. This act is recognized on March 26, 1881 after the end of the Romanian War of Independence.
• 1893 – The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Nix v. Hedden that a tomato is a vegetable, not a fruit, under the Tariff Act of 1883.
• 1908 – Mother's Day is observed for the first time in the United States, in Grafton, West Virginia.
• 1922 – The United States annexes the Kingman Reef.
• 1924 – J. Edgar Hoover is appointed the Director of the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation, and remains so until his death in 1972.
• 1933 – Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.
• 1940 – World War II: The first German bombs of the war fall on England at Chilham and Petham, in Kent.
• 1940 – World War II: Germany invades Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
• 1940 – World War II: Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• 1940 – World War II: Invasion of Iceland by the United Kingdom.
• 1941 – World War II: The House of Commons in London is damaged by the Luftwaffe in an air raid.
• 1941 – World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland in order to try and negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Germany.
• 1942 – World War II: The Thai Phayap Army invades the Shan States during the Burma Campaign.
• 1946 – First successful launch of a V-2 rocket at White Sands Proving Ground.
• 1954 – Bill Haley & His Comets release "Rock Around the Clock", the first rock and roll record to reach number one on the Billboard charts.
• 1960 – The nuclear submarine USS Triton completes the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth.
• 1969 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Dong Ap Bia begins with an assault on Hill 937. It will ultimately become known as Hamburger Hill.
• 1979 – The Federated States of Micronesia becomes self-governing.
• 1981 – François Mitterrand wins the presidential election and becomes the first Socialist President of France in the French 5th republic.
• 1993 – In Thailand, a fire at the Kader Toy Factory kills 188 workers.
• 1994 – Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president.
• 1996 – Excel Communications, Inc. becomes the youngest company ever to join the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), trading under the symbol (ECI).
• 1996 – A "rogue storm" near the summit of Mount Everest kills eight climbers, making this the deadliest day in the mountain's history. Among the dead are experienced climbers Rob Hall and Scott Fischer, both of whom were leading paid expeditions to the summit.
• 2001 – In Ghana, a stampede at a football game kills over 120 spectators.
• 2002 – F.B.I. agent Robert Hanssen is given a life sentence without the possibility of parole for selling United States secrets to Moscow for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
• 2003 – The May 2003 tornado outbreak sequence takes place.
• 2005 – A hand grenade which is thrown by Vladimir Arutinian lands about 65 feet (20 metres) from U.S. President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but it malfunctions and does not detonate.

Births

• 213 – Claudius Gothicus, Roman emperor (d. 270)
• 1265 – Emperor Fushimi of Japan (d. 1317)
• 1604 – Jean Mairet, French dramatist (d. 1686)
• 1641 – Dudley North, English economist (d. 1691)
• 1727 – Anne Robert Turgot, French statesman (d. 1781)
• 1746 – Gaspard Monge, French mathematician (d. 1818)
• 1760 – Johann Peter Hebel, German poet (d. 1826)
• 1760 – Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, French composer (La Marseillaise) (d. 1836)
• 1770 – Louis Nicolas Davout, French marshal (d. 1823)
• 1775 – Antoine Charles Louis Lasalle, French cavalry general (d. 1809)
• 1775 – Robert Gray, Sea Captain (d. 1806)
• 1788 – Augustin-Jean Fresnel, French physicist (d. 1827)
• 1788 – Catherine Pavlovna of Russia, German queen (d. 1819)
• 1810 – Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, British lexicographer (d. 1897)
• 1813 – Montgomery Blair, American politician (d. 1883)
• 1838 – John Wilkes Booth, American actor and assassin of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1865)
• 1840 – Hadzhi Dimitar, Bulgarian revolutionist (d. 1868)
• 1841 – James Gordon Bennett Jr., American publisher (d. 1918)
• 1843 – Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish novelist (d. 1920)
• 1847 – Wilhelm Killing, German mathematician (d. 1923)
• 1863 – Upendrakishore Ray, Indian writer, painter and composer (d. 1915)
• 1866 – Léon Bakst, Russian artist (d. 1924)
• 1868 – Ed Barrow, American baseball manager (d. 1953)
• 1872 – Marcel Mauss, French sociologist (d. 1950)
• 1874 – Moses Schorr, Polish rabbi, senator, historian and orientalist (d. 1941)
• 1876 – Ivan Cankar, Slovenian writer (d. 1918)
• 1878 – Gustav Stresemann, Chancellor of Germany, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1929)
• 1879 – Symon Petlura, Ukrainian statesman (d. 1926)
• 1886 – Karl Barth, Swiss Protestant theologian (d. 1968)
• 1886 – Olaf Stapledon, British author and philosopher (d. 1950)
• 1886 – Felix Manalo, Founder and 1st Executive Minister of the Iglesia ni Cristo (d. 1963)
• 1888 – Max Steiner, Austrian composer (d. 1971)
• 1889 – Mae Murray, American actress (d. 1965)
• 1890 – Alfred Jodl, German general (d. 1946)
• 1895 – Kama Chinen, Japanese super centenarian
• 1897 – Einar Gerhardsen, Prime minister of Norway (d. 1987)
• 1898 – Ariel Durant, American historian (d. 1981)
• 1899 – Fred Astaire, American dancer and actor (d. 1987)
• 1899 – Dimitri Tiomkin, Ukrainian-born composer (d. 1979)
• 1901 – J.D. Bernal, British crystallographer (d. 1971)
• 1902 – Anatole Litvak, Ukrainian-born film director (d. 1974)
• 1902 – David O. Selznick, American film producer (d. 1965)
• 1903 – Otto Bradfisch, Nazi leader (d. 1994)
• 1905 – Markos Vamvakaris, Greek rebetiko musician and songwriter (d. 1972)
• 1907 – Freddie Spencer Chapman, British army officer (d. 1971)
• 1909 – Maybelle Carter, American musician (d. 1978)
• 1911 – Bel Kaufman, American author
• 1915 – Denis Thatcher, British businessman and husband of Margaret Thatcher (d. 2003)
• 1916 – Milton Babbitt, American composer
• 1918 – George Welch, American pilot (d. 1954)
• 1922 – Nancy Walker, American actress (d. 1992)
• 1923 – Heydar Aliyev, Ex-President and Leader of Azerbaijan Republic (d. 2003)
• 1923 – Clifford Wilson, Australian archaeologist, educator, academician, author
• 1926 – Hugo Banzer, Bolivian dictator (d. 2002)
• 1927 – Nayantara Sahgal, Indian author
• 1928 – Arnold Rüütel, Estonian president
• 1929 – Antonine Maillet, French Canadian novelist and playwright
• 1930 – Pat Summerall, American football player and broadcaster
• 1930 – Scott Muni, American radio DJ (d. 2004)
• 1931 – Ettore Scola, Italian director and screenwriter
• 1933 – Barbara Taylor Bradford, English writer
• 1934 – Cliff Wilson, Welsh snooker player (d. 1994)
• 1934 – Jeanine Basinger, American film scholar
• 1935 – Larry Williams, American singer and songwriter (d. 1980)
• 1936 – Gary Owens, American actor and announcer
• 1936 – Timothy Birdsall, English cartoonist (d. 1963)
• 1937 – Tamara Press, Soviet athlete
• 1937 – Jim Hickman, American baseball player
• 1938 – Jean Becker, French director, screenwriter and actor
• 1938 – Marina Vlady, French actress
• 1940 – Wayne A. Downing, retired United States Army general
• 1942 – Jim Calhoun, American college basketball coach
• 1942 – Youssouf Sambo Bâ, Burkinabé politician
• 1943 – David Clennon, American actor
• 1943 – Richard Darman, American economist
• 1944 – Jim Abrahams, American film director
• 1944 – Maureen Lipman, English actress
• 1944 – Marie-France Pisier, French actress
• 1946 – Donovan Leitch, Scottish musician
• 1946 – Graham Gouldman, British musician and songwriter (10cc)
• 1946 – Dave Mason, English musician (Traffic)
• 1946 – Diderik Wagenaar, Dutch composer and musical theorist
• 1947 – Caroline Cooney, American author
• 1947 – Jay Ferguson, American musician and composer
• 1947 – Thomas Tessier, American author
• 1952 – Manuel Mora Morales, Spanish director and writer
• 1952 – Kikki Danielsson, Swedish singer
• 1953 – John Diamond, English journalist (d. 2001)
• 1953 – Tito Santana, Mexican-American professional wrestler
• 1954 – F. Charles Brunicardi, American surgeon
• 1955 – Chris Berman, American sportscaster
• 1955 – Mark David Chapman, American murderer of John Lennon
• 1956 – Vladislav Listyev, Russian television anchor and journalist (d. 1995)
• 1957 – Sid Vicious, English bassist (The Sex Pistols) (d. 1979)
• 1958 – Rick Santorum, American politician
• 1958 – Yu Suzuki, Japanese creator of Virtua Fighter series
• 1958 – Gaétan Boucher, Canadian speed skater
• 1959 – Victoria Rowell, American actress
• 1959 – Danny Schayes, American basketball player
• 1960 – Bono, Irish singer (U2)
• 1960 – Merlene Ottey, Jamaican/Slovenian track athlete
• 1961 – Danny Carey, American drummer (Tool, Pigmy Love Circus)
• 1961 – Johanna ter Steege, Dutch actress
• 1962 – Brad Soderberg, American college basketball head coach
• 1963 – Lisa Nowak, American astronaut
• 1965 – Linda Evangelista, Canadian supermodel
• 1965 – Rony Seikaly, Lebanese-American basketball player
• 1966 – Jonathan Edwards, English athlete
• 1967 – Scott Brison, Canadian politician
• 1967 – Jon Ronson, British journalist and author
• 1967 – Nobuhiro Takeda, Japanese footballer and sportscaster
• 1967 – Young MC, American rapper
• 1968 – Erik Palladino, American actor
• 1968 – Ed Sanders, British actor and television personality
• 1968 – Al Murray, British comedian
• 1968 – Darren Matthews, English professional wrestler
• 1969 – Dennis Bergkamp, Dutch footballer
• 1969 – John Scalzi, American writer
• 1970 – Perry Blake, Irish singer/songwriter
• 1970 – Gabriela Montero, Venezuelan pianist
• 1970 – Gina Philips, American actress
• 1970 – Dallas Roberts, American actor
• 1970 – David Weir, Scottish footballer
• 1971 – Craig Mack, American rapper
• 1971 – Adriano Giannini, Italian actor
• 1971 – Ådne Søndrål, Norwegian speed skater
• 1971 – Leslie Stefanson, American actress
• 1972 – Radosław Majdan, Polish footballer
• 1973 – Jerome Williams, American basketball player
• 1973 – Ollie le Roux, South African rugby player
• 1973 – Aviv Geffen, Israeli singer/songwriter (Blackfield)
• 1974 – Sylvain Wiltord, French footballer
• 1975 – Torbjørn Brundtland, Norwegian musician (Röyksopp)
• 1975 – Hélio Castroneves, Brazilian race car driver
• 1975 – Adam Deadmarsh, American ice hockey player
• 1975 – Shin Jung-hwan, Korean singer
• 1976 – Stuart Braithwaite, Scottish musician (Mogwai)
• 1976 – Rachel Gordon, Australian actress
• 1976 – Rob Malda, American internet writer/editor (Slashdot)
• 1976 – Udo Mechels, Belgian singer
• 1976 – Aggeliki Tsiolakoudi, Greek javelin thrower
• 1977 – Henri Camara, Senegalese footballer
• 1977 – Nick Heidfeld, German Formula One driver
• 1977 – Denise Ho, Hong Kong singer
• 1977 – Chas Licciardello, Australian comedian
• 1977 – Keith Murray, American singer (We Are Scientists)
• 1978 – Kenan Thompson, American actor
• 1979 – Lee Hyori, South Korean singer
• 1981 – Humberto Suazo, Chilean footballer
• 1980 – Namitha Kapoor, Indian actress
• 1981 – Ciro Ayala, Argentine Film Director
• 1982 – Despina Caldis, Greek-born Australian actress
• 1982 – Jeremy Gable, American playwright
• 1982 – Daniel Harris, Australian rules footballer
• 1983 – Gustav Fridolin, Swedish politician
• 1983 – Natalia Zabala, Spanish beauty pageant contestant
• 1984 – Edward Mujica. Venezuelan baseball player
• 1985 – Ryan Getzlaf, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1985 – Odette Yustman, American actress
• 1987 – Anej Lovrečič, Slovenian football (soccer) player
• 1989 – Lindsey Shaw, American actress
• 1992 – Charice Pempengco, Filipino singer
• 1992 – Zia Marquez, Filipina actress
• 1993 – Mirai Shida, Japanese actress

Deaths

• 1034 – Mieszko II of Poland (b. 990)
• 1290 – Duke Rudolph II of Austria (b. 1271)
• 1424 – Go-Kameyama, Emperor of Japan
• 1482 – Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, Italian mathematician and astronomer (b. 1397)
• 1493 – Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll, Scottish politician
• 1521 – Sebastian Brant, Alsatian humanist (b. 1457)
• 1566 – Leonhart Fuchs, German botanist (b. 1501)
• 1641 – Johan Banér, Swedish soldier (b. 1596)
• 1657 – Gustaf Horn, Swedish soldier and politician (b. 1592)
• 1691 – Colonel John Birch, English soldier (b. 1615)
• 1692 – Sarah Osborne one of the first accused in the Salem witch trials (b. circa 1643)
• 1696 – Jean de La Bruyère, French writer (b. 1645)
• 1717 – John Hathorne, American magistrate (b. 1641)
• 1726 – Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier (b. 1670)
• 1733 – Barton Booth, English actor (b. 1681)
• 1737 – Nakamikado Emperor of Japan (b. 1702)
• 1774 – King Louis XV of France (b. 1710)
• 1787 – William Watson, English physician and scientist (b. 1715)
• 1792 – John Stevens, American delegate to the Continental Congress
• 1798 – George Vancouver, British navy officer and explorer (b. 1757)
• 1807 – Comte de Rochambeau, French soldier (b. 1725)
• 1818 – Paul Revere, American patriot (b. 1735)
• 1829 – Thomas Young, English physician and linguist (b. 1773)
• 1850 – Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, French chemist and physicist (b. 1778)
• 1863 – Stonewall Jackson, American Confederate general (b. 1824)
• 1868 – Henry Bennett, American politician (b. 1808)
• 1889 – Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian satirist (b. 1826)
• 1897 – Andrés Bonifacio, Filipino revolutionary leader (b. 1863)
• 1904 – Andrei Ryabushkin, Russian painter (b. 1861)
• 1937 – William Tedmarsh, silent movie actor (b. 1876)
• 1945 – Richard Glücks, German SS officer (b. 1889)
• 1945 – Konrad Henlein, pro-Nazi Czechoslovakian politician (b. 1898)
• 1950 – Belle da Costa Greene, librarian, bibliographer, archivist (b. 1883)
• 1955 – Tommy Burns, Canadian boxer (b. 1881)
• 1955 – John Radecki, Australian stained glass artist (b. 1865)
• 1960 – Yury Olesha, Russian novelist (b. 1899)
• 1963 – Gene "Big Daddy" Lipscomb, American football player (b. 1931)
• 1964 – Mikhail Larionov, Russian painter (b. 1881)
• 1967 – Lorenzo Bandini, Italian racing driver, (b. 1935)
• 1968 – Scotty Beckett, American child actor (b. 1929)
• 1974 – Hal Mohr, Cinematographer, Husband of Evelyn Venable (b. 1894)
• 1976 – Elias Aslaksen, Leader of Brunstad Christian Church (b. 1888)
• 1977 – Joan Crawford, American actress (b. 1905)
• 1982 – Peter Weiss, German writer and artist (b. 1916)
• 1988 – Shen Congwen, Chinese writer (b. 1902)
• 1989 – Woody Shaw, American jazz musician (b. 1944)
• 1990 – Walker Percy, American author (b. 1916)
• 1990 – Susan Oliver, American actress (b. 1922)
• 1992 – Sylvia Syms, American jazz singer (b. 1917)
• 1993 – Stephen Ross, English Politician (b. 1926)
• 1994 – John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer (executed) (b. 1942)
• 1997 – Joan Weston, Roller Derby Queen (b. 1935)
• 1999 – Shel Silverstein, American poet and composer (b. 1930)
• 2000 – Dédé Fortin, Quebec singer and songwriter (Les Colocs) (b. 1962)
• 2000 – Jules Deschênes, Quebec superior court judge (b. 1923)
• 2001 – Deborah Walley, American actress (b. 1943)
• 2002 – Kaifi Azmi, Indian poet and songwriter (b. 1919)
• 2002 – Lynda Lyon Block, convicted murderer (b. 1948)
• 2002 – Yves Robert, French actor, screenwriter and director (b. 1920)
• 2003 – Milan Vukcevich, Yugoslavian chemist and chess problem composer (b. 1937)
• 2005 – David Wayne, American singer (Metal Church) (b. 1958)
• 2006 – Raizo Matsuno, Japanese politician (b. 1917)
• 2006 – A. M. Rosenthal, American newspaper editor (b. 1922)
• 2006 – Soraya, Colombian-American singer (b. 1969)
• 2006 – Val Guest, British film director (b. 1911)
• 2008 – Leyla Gencer, Turkish soprano (b. 1928)
• 2008 – Jessie Jacobs, Australian Actress (b. 1990)