• 1218 - The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt.
• 1276 - Magnus Ladulås is crowned King of Sweden in Uppsala Cathedral.
• 1487 - Lambert Simnel is crowned as "King Edward VI" at Dublin, Ireland.
• 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.
• 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.
• 1798 - 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 Rail Road between Baltimore, Maryland and Ellicott's Mills, Maryland.
• 1832 - The First Kingdom of Greece is declared in the London Conference.
• 1844 - Samuel F. B. Morse sends the message "What hath God wrought" (a Bible quotation, Numbers 23:23) from the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the United States Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, Maryland.
• 1846 - Mexican-American War: General Zachary Taylor captures Monterrey.
• 1856 - John Brown and his men murder five slavery supporters at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas.
• 1861 - American Civil War: Union troops occupy Alexandria, Virginia.
• 1881 - Turkey cedes Thessaly and Arta back to Greece.
• 1883 - The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction.
• 1895 - Henry Irving becomes the first personage 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.
• 1911 - The New York Public Library is opened.
• 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 from England to Australia (she left on May 5 for the 11,000 mile flight).
• 1940 - Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight.
• 1941 - World War II: In the North Atlantic, the German Battleship Bismarck sinks the HMS Hood killing all but three crewmen on what was the pride of the Royal Navy.
• 1943 - Holocaust: Josef Mengele becomes chief medical officer of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
• 1949 - The Soviet Union ends the 11-month Berlin Blockade.
• 1956 - Conclusion of the Sixth Buddhist Council on Vesak Day, marking the 2,500 year anniversary after the Lord Buddha's Parinibbāna.
• 1958 - United Press International is formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.
• 1961 - American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi for "disturbing the peace" after disembarking from their bus.
• 1961 - Cyprus enters the Council of Europe.
• 1962 - Project Mercury: American astronaut Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth three times in the Aurora 7 space capsule.
• 1968 - FLQ separatists bomb the U.S. consulate in Quebec City.
• 1970 - The drilling of the Kola Superdeep Borehole begins in the Soviet Union.
• 1973 - Earl Jellicoe resigns as Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the Lords.
• 1976 - The London to Washington, D.C. Concorde service begins.
• 1980 - The International Court of Justice calls for the release of United States embassy hostages in Tehran, Iran. The hostages wouldn't be freed until the following January.
• 1981 - First International Women's Day for Disarmament.
• 1982 - Liberation of Khorramshahr, Iranians recapture of the port city of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis during the Iran-Iraq War.
• 1988 - Section 28 is passed as law by Parliament in the United Kingdom.
• 1989 - Sonia Sutcliffe, wife of the Yorkshire Ripper, is awarded a six-figure sum in damages after winning a libel action against Private Eye.
• 1990 - A car carrying American Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney explodes in Oakland, California, critically injuring both.
• 1991 - Israel conducts Operation Solomon, evacuating Ethiopian Jews to Israel.
• 1992 - The last Thai dictator, General Suchinda Kraprayoon, resigns following pro-democracy protests.
• 1993 - Eritrea gains its independence from Ethiopia.
• 1994 - Four men convicted of bombing the World Trade Center in 1993 are each sentenced to 240 years in prison.
• 1999 - Venezuela enters the Antarctic Treaty System.
• 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 in Israel's worst-ever civil disaster.
• 2001 - The Democrats gain control of the U.S. Senate for the first time since 1994 when Senator James Jeffords of Vermont abandons the Republican Party and declares himself an independent.
• 2002 - Russia and the United States sign the Moscow Treaty.
• 2004 - Communications in North Korea: North Korea bans mobile phones.
• 2008 - Bengaluru International Airport: was inaugurated & became operational,First take off - an Air India flight (IC 957) took off to Singapore at 12:05 am. .
• 2008 - Emperor's Cup of Sumo - First European to win it - Kaloyan Mahlyanov
• 2008 - Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade, Serbia. The winners are Russia, who gain 272 points for their song Believe, sung by Dima Bilan. The United Kingdom's entry, Even If by Andy Abraham, comes joint last place with Poland and Germany on 14 points.

Births