Historical Events on Thursday, 1st May

01/05/2024

The 2024 Loblaw boycott, a Canadian boycott against retail corporation and grocer Loblaw Companies, begins.

Loblaw Companies Limited is a Canadian retailer encompassing corporate and franchise supermarkets operating under 22 regional and market-segment banners, as well as pharmacies, banking and apparel. Loblaw operates a private label program that includes grocery and household items, clothing, baby products, pharmaceuticals, cellular phones, general merchandise and financial services. Loblaw is the largest Canadian food retailer, and its brands include President's Choice, No Name and Joe Fresh. It is controlled by George Weston Limited, a holding company controlled by the Weston family; Galen G. Weston is the chair of the Loblaw board of directors, as well as chair of the board of directors and CEO of Canada-based holding company George Weston.

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01/05/2019

Naxalite attack in Gadchiroli district of India: Sixteen army soldiers, including a driver, killed in an IED blast. Naxals targeted an anti-Naxal operations team.

Naxalism is the communist ideology of the Naxalites or Naxals, a grouping of political and insurgent groups from India. It is influenced by Maoist political sentiment and ideology.

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Naruhito ascends to the throne of Japan succeeding his father Akihito, beginning the Reiwa period.

Naruhito is Emperor of Japan since 1 May 2019. He is the 126th monarch, according to the traditional order of succession.

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01/05/2018

Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) resumes the Deir ez-Zor campaign in order to clear the remnants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the Iraq–Syria border.

The Syrian civil war was an armed conflict that began with the Syrian revolution in March 2011, when popular discontent with the Ba'athist regime ruled by Bashar al-Assad triggered large-scale protests and pro-democracy rallies across Syria, as part of the wider Arab Spring. The Assad regime responded to the protests with lethal force, which led to a series of defections, the emergence of armed opposition groups, and the civilian uprising descending into a civil war. The war lasted almost 14 years and culminated in the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024. Many sources regard this as the end of the civil war. Post-war clashes and disputes have continued into 2026.

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01/05/2011

Pope John Paul II is beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.

Pope John Paul II was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death in 2005. He was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in the 16th century, as well as the third-longest-serving pope in history, after St. Peter and Pius IX.

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01/05/2010

Faisal Shahzad attempts to detonate a car bomb in Times Square, but the bomb fails to go off.

Faisal Shahzad is a Pakistani-American man who was arrested for the attempted May 1, 2010, Times Square car bombing. On June 21, 2010, in Federal District Court in Manhattan, he confessed to 10 counts arising from the bombing attempt. Throughout his court appearance, Shahzad was unrepentant. The United States Attorney indicated there was no plea deal, so Shahzad faced the maximum sentence, a mandatory life term.

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01/05/2009

Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden.

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Sweden since 1 May 2009 following the adoption of a gender-neutral marriage law by the Riksdag on 1 April 2009. Polling indicates that an overwhelming majority of Swedes support the legal recognition of same-sex marriage. Sweden was the second Scandinavian country, the fifth in Europe and the seventh in the world to open marriage to same-sex couples nationwide. Existing registered partnerships remain in force and can be converted to marriages if the partners so desire, either through a written application or through a formal ceremony. New registered partnerships are no longer able to be entered into and marriage is now the only legally recognized form of union for couples regardless of sex.

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01/05/2004

Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin.

Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, located off the coast of the Levant in West Asia. Its capital and largest city is Nicosia. The northeast portion of the island is occupied by Turkey, and the United Nations Buffer Zone separates it from the area controlled by the Republic of Cyprus. In the south of the island are the British sovereign military bases of Akrotiri and Dhekelia. Cyprus is the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean, after Sicily and Sardinia.

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01/05/2003

Invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended".

The 2003 invasion of Iraq was the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion began on 20 March 2003 and lasted just over one month, including 26 days of major combat operations. The invasion was conducted by a United States-led coalition of mainly American, British, Australian, and Polish troops.

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01/05/1999

The body of British climber George Mallory is found on Mount Everest, 75 years after his disappearance in 1924.

George Herbert Leigh-Mallory was an English mountaineer who participated in the first three British Mount Everest expeditions from the early to mid-1920s. He and his climbing partner Andrew "Sandy" Irvine were reported to be last seen ascending near Everest's summit during the 1924 expedition, sparking debate as to whether they reached it before they died.

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01/05/1997

Labour Party wins the 1997 General Election and Tony Blair is elected as Prime Minister

A general election was held in the United Kingdom on Thursday, 1 May 1997. The governing Conservative Party led by Prime Minister John Major was defeated in a landslide by the opposition Labour Party led by Tony Blair, which achieved a 179-seat majority and a total of 418 seats.

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01/05/1994

Three-time Formula One champion Ayrton Senna is killed in an accident during the San Marino Grand Prix.

Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel, single-seater formula racing cars run by Formula One Group and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one of the world's premier forms of motorsport since its inaugural running in 1950 and is often considered to be the pinnacle of motorsport. The word formula in the name refers to the set of rules all participant cars must follow. A Formula One season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix. Grands Prix take place in multiple countries and continents on either purpose-built circuits or closed roads.

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01/05/1993

Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa is assassinated in Colombo in a suicide bombing carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The president of Sri Lanka is the head of state and head of government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The president is the chief executive of the union government and the commander-in-chief of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. The powers, functions and duties of prior presidential offices, in addition to their relation with the Prime minister and Government of Sri Lanka, have over time differed with the various constitutional documents since the creation of the office. The president appoints the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka who can command the confidence of the Parliament of Sri Lanka.

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01/05/1991

Angolan Civil War: The MPLA and UNITA agree to the Bicesse Accords, which are formally signed on May 31 in Lisbon.

The Angolan Civil War was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. It was a power struggle between two former anti-colonial guerrilla movements, the communist People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the anti-communist National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

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01/05/1982

Operation Black Buck: The Royal Air Force attacks the Argentine Air Force during Falklands War.

Operations Black Buck 1 to Black Buck 7 were seven extremely long-range airstrikes conducted during the 1982 Falklands War by Royal Air Force (RAF) Vulcan bombers of the RAF Waddington Wing, comprising aircraft from Nos. 44, 50 and 101 Squadrons, against Argentine positions in the Falkland Islands. Five of the missions completed attacks. The objective of the missions was to attack Port Stanley Airport and its associated defences. The raids, at almost 6,600 nautical miles and 16 hours for the round trip, were the longest-ranged bombing raids in history at that time.

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01/05/1978

Japan's Naomi Uemura, travelling by dog sled, becomes the first person to reach the North Pole alone.

Naomi Uemura was a Japanese adventurer who was known particularly for his solo exploits. For example, he was the first person to reach the North Pole solo, the first person to raft the Amazon River solo, and the first person to climb Denali solo.

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01/05/1975

The Särkänniemi Amusement Park opens in Tampere, Finland.

Särkänniemi is an amusement park in Tampere, Finland, located in the district by the same name. The park features an aquarium, a planetarium, Doghill Fairytale Farm, an art museum and an observation tower Näsinneula. Särkänniemi is the second most popular amusement park in Finland with Linnanmäki in Helsinki being the most popular one. Särkänniemi has four rollercoasters: the inverted coaster Tornado, the family motorcycle launch coaster MotoGee and Hype, a launched steel Sky Rocket II coaster, and family coaster Vauhtimato. The half-pipe coaster called Half Pipe was recently removed due to multiple reasons. Särkänniemi is owned by the city of Tampere and attracts over 600 000 visitors annually.

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01/05/1971

Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) takes over operation of U.S. passenger rail service.

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak, is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in every contiguous U.S. state except for Wyoming and South Dakota as well as in three Canadian provinces. Amtrak is a portmanteau of the words America and track.

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01/05/1970

Vietnam War: Protests erupt in response to U.S. and South Vietnamese forces attacking Vietnamese communists in a Cambodian Campaign.

The Vietnam War was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. The conflict was the second of the Indochina wars and a proxy war of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and US. The Vietnam War was one of the postcolonial wars of national liberation, a theater in the Cold War, and a civil war, with civil warfare a defining feature from the outset. Direct US military involvement escalated from 1965 until US forces were withdrawn in 1973. The fighting spilled into the Laotian and Cambodian Civil Wars, which ended with all three countries becoming communist in 1975.

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01/05/1961

The Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro, proclaims Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections.

The prime minister of Cuba is the head of government of Cuba and the chair of the Council of Ministers (cabinet). The prime minister is the third-highest office in Cuba, after the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba and the president of Cuba, and the second-highest state office. The position was officially known as the president of the Council of Ministers between 1976 and 2019.

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01/05/1960

Cold War: U-2 incident: Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Sverdlovsk Oblast, Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis.

The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc. It began in the aftermath of the Second World War and ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term cold war is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers, though each supported opposing sides in regional conflicts known as proxy wars. In addition to the struggle for ideological and economic influence and an arms race in both conventional and nuclear weapons, the Cold War was expressed through technological rivalries such as the Space Race, espionage, propaganda campaigns, embargoes, and sports diplomacy.

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01/05/1957

A Vickers VC.1 Viking crashes while attempting to return to Blackbushe Airport in Yateley, killing 34.

The Vickers VC.1 Viking is a British twin-engine short-range airliner derived from the Vickers Wellington bomber and built by Vickers-Armstrongs Limited at Brooklands near Weybridge in Surrey. After the Second World War, the Viking was an important airliner with British airlines, pending the development of turboprop aircraft like the Viscount. An experimental airframe was fitted with Rolls-Royce Nene turbojets and first flown in 1948 as the world's first pure jet transport aircraft. Military developments were the Vickers Valetta and the Vickers Varsity.

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01/05/1956

The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.

Polio vaccine is a vaccine used to prevent poliomyelitis (polio). Two types are used: an inactivated poliovirus given by injection (IPV) and a weakened poliovirus given by mouth (OPV). The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends all children be fully vaccinated against polio. The two vaccines have eliminated polio from most of the world, and reduced the number of cases reported each year from an estimated 350,000 in 1988 to 33 in 2018.

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01/05/1947

Portella della Ginestra massacre against May Day celebrations in Sicily by the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano where 11 persons are killed and 33 wounded.

The Portella della Ginestra massacre refers to the killing of 11 people and wounding of 27 others during May Day celebrations in Sicily on 1 May 1947, in the municipality of Piana degli Albanesi. Those held responsible were the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano and his gang, although their motives and intentions are still a matter of controversy.

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01/05/1946

Start of three-year Pilbara strike of Indigenous Australians.

The Pilbara strike was a landmark strike by Indigenous Australian pastoral workers in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The strike lasted between 1946 and 1949, and was the longest industrial action in Australian history.

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01/05/1945

World War II: German radio broadcasts news of Adolf Hitler's death, falsely stating that he has "fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany". The Soviet flag is raised over the Reich Chancellery, by order of Stalin.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

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World War II: Up to 2,500 people die in a mass suicide in Demmin following the advance of the Red Army.

On 1 May 1945, hundreds of people killed themselves in the town of Demmin, in the Province of Pomerania, Germany. Although death toll estimates vary, it is acknowledged to be the largest mass suicide ever recorded in Germany. The suicide was part of a mass suicide wave amongst the population of Nazi Germany.

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01/05/1931

The Empire State Building is dedicated in New York City.

The Empire State Building is a 102-story, supertall skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building was designed in the Art Deco style by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and constructed between 1930 and 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of New York state. The building has a roof height of 1,250 feet (380 m) and stands a total of 1,454 feet (443.2 m) tall including its antenna. The Empire State Building was the world's tallest building until the North Tower of the World Trade Center was topped out in 1970; following the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Empire State Building was once more New York City's tallest building until it was surpassed in 2012 by One World Trade Center. As of 2025, the building is the eighth-tallest building in New York City, the tenth-tallest completed skyscraper in the United States, and the 59th-tallest completed skyscraper in the world.

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01/05/1930

"Pluto" is officially proposed for the name of the newly discovered dwarf planet by Vesto Slipher in the Lowell Observatory Observation Circular. The name quickly catches on.

Pluto is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest known trans-Neptunian object by volume by a small margin, but is less massive than Eris. Like other Kuiper belt objects, Pluto is made primarily of ice and rock and is much smaller than the inner planets. Pluto has roughly one-sixth the mass of the Moon and one-third of its volume. Originally considered a planet, its status was changed when astronomers adopted a new definition of the word with new criteria.

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01/05/1929

The 7.2 Mw  Kopet Dag earthquake shakes the Iran–Turkmenistan border region with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing up to 3,800 and injuring 1,121.

The 1929 Kopet Dag earthquake took place at 15:37 UTC on 1 May with a moment magnitude of 7.2 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). It occurred in the Kopet Dag area of Iran and caused up to 3,800 casualties along the Iran-Turkmenistan border. More than 1,100 were injured.

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01/05/1925

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is officially founded. Today it is the largest trade union in the world, with 134 million members.

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) is the national trade union center and people's organization of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest trade union in the world with 302 million members in 1,713,000 primary trade union organizations. The ACFTU is divided into 31 regional federations and 10 national industrial unions. The ACFTU is the country's sole legally mandated trade union, with which all enterprise-level trade unions must be affiliated. There has been dispute over whether ACFTU is an independent trade union or a trade union at all. The federation owns a higher education institution—the China University of Labor Relations.

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01/05/1921

The Jaffa riots commence.

The Jaffa riots were a series of violent riots in Mandatory Palestine on May 1–7, 1921, which began as a confrontation between two Jewish groups but developed into an attack by Arabs on Jews and then reprisal attacks by Jews on Arabs. The rioting began in Jaffa and spread to other parts of the country. The riot resulted in the deaths of 47 Jews and 48 Arabs, with 146 Jews and 73 Arabs wounded.

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01/05/1919

German troops enter Munich to suppress the Bavarian Soviet Republic.

Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is not a state of its own, and it ranks as the 11th-largest city in the European Union (EU). The metropolitan area has around 3 million inhabitants, and the broader Munich Metropolitan Region is home to about 6.2 million people. It is the third largest metropolitan region by GDP in the EU. Munich is located on the river Isar north of the Alps. It is the seat of the Upper Bavarian administrative region. With 4,500 people per km2, Munich is Germany's most densely populated municipality. It is also the second-largest city in the Bavarian dialect area after Vienna.

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01/05/1915

RMS Lusitania departs from New York City on her 202nd, and final, crossing of the North Atlantic. Six days later, the ship is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland with the loss of 1,198 lives.

RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner launched by the Cunard Line in 1906 as a Royal Mail Ship. She was the world's largest passenger ship until the completion of her running mate Mauretania three months later. In 1907, she gained the Blue Riband appellation for the fastest Atlantic crossing, which had been held by German ships for a decade.

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01/05/1900

The Scofield Mine disaster kills over 200 men in Scofield, Utah in what is to date the fifth-worst mining accident in United States history.

The Scofield Mine disaster was a mining explosion that occurred at the Winter Quarters coal mine on May 1, 1900. The mine was located at 39°42′57″N 111°11′17″W near the town of Scofield, Utah. In terms of life lost, it was the worst mining accident at that point in American history. The explosion is also a key element in the plot of the Carla Kelly novel My Loving Vigil Keeping.

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01/05/1898

Spanish–American War: Battle of Manila Bay: The Asiatic Squadron of the United States Navy destroys the Pacific Squadron of the Spanish Navy after a seven-hour battle. Spain loses all seven of its ships, and 381 Spanish sailors die. There are no American vessel losses or combat deaths.

The Spanish–American War was fought between Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the U.S. acquiring sovereignty over Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, and establishing a protectorate over Cuba. It represented U.S. intervention in the Cuban War of Independence and Philippine Revolution, with the latter later leading to the Philippine–American War. The Spanish–American War brought an end to almost four centuries of Spanish presence in the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific; the United States meanwhile not only became a major world power, but also gained several island possessions spanning the globe, which provoked rancorous debate over the wisdom of expansionism.

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01/05/1896

Naser al-Din, Shah of Iran, is assassinated in Shah Abdol-Azim Shrine by Mirza Reza Kermani, a follower of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani.

Naser al-Din Shah Qajar was the fourth Shah of Qajar Iran from 5 September 1848 to 1 May 1896 when he was assassinated. Initially seeking to modernise Iran, his style of governance became more dictatorial over the course of his reign. His reign saw the Second Herat War (1856), the subsequent Anglo-Persian War (1857) and internal unrest, Tobacco Protest (1890-1891).

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01/05/1894

Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, arrives in Washington, D.C.

Coxey's Army was a protest march by unemployed workers from the United States, led by Ohio businessman Jacob Coxey. They marched on Washington, D.C., in 1894, the second year of a four-year economic depression that was the worst in United States history at the time. Officially named the Army of the Commonwealth in Christ, its nickname came from its leader and was more enduring. It was the first significant popular protest march on Washington, and the expression "Enough food to feed Coxey's Army" originates from this march.

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01/05/1886

Rallies are held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour work day, culminating in the Haymarket affair in Chicago, in commemoration of which May 1 is celebrated as International Workers' Day in many countries.

The Haymarket affair, also known as the Haymarket massacre, the Haymarket riot, the Haymarket Square riot, or the Haymarket Incident, was the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on May 4, 1886 at Haymarket Square in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The rally began peacefully in support of workers striking for an eight-hour work day; it was held the day after a May 3 rally at a McCormick Harvesting Machine Company plant on the West Side of Chicago, during which two demonstrators had been killed and many demonstrators and police had been injured. At the Haymarket Square rally on May 4, an unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at the police as they acted to disperse the meeting, and the bomb blast and ensuing retaliatory gunfire by the police caused the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians; dozens of others were wounded.

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01/05/1885

The original Chicago Board of Trade Building opens for business.

The Chicago Board of Trade Building is a 44-story, 604-foot (184 m) Art Deco skyscraper located in the Chicago Loop, standing at the foot of the LaSalle Street "canyon". Built in 1930 for the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), it has served as the primary trading venue of the CBOT and later the CME Group, formed in 2007 by the merger of the CBOT and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. In 2012, the CME Group sold the CBOT Building to a consortium of real estate investors, including GlenStar Properties LLC and USAA Real Estate Company.

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01/05/1866

The Memphis Race Riots begin. Over three days, 46 blacks and two whites were killed. Reports of the atrocities influenced passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The Memphis massacre of 1866 was a rebellion with a series of violent events that occurred from May 1 to 3, 1866, in Memphis, Tennessee. The racial violence was ignited by political and social racism following the American Civil War, in the early stages of Reconstruction. After a shooting altercation between white policemen and black veterans recently mustered out of the Union Army, mobs of white residents and policemen rampaged through black neighborhoods and the houses of freedmen, attacking and killing black soldiers and civilians and committing many acts of robbery and arson.

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01/05/1865

The Empire of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay sign the Treaty of the Triple Alliance.

The Empire of Brazil was a 19th-century state that broadly comprised the territories which form modern Brazil and Uruguay until the latter achieved independence in 1828. The empire's government was a representative parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the rule of Emperors Pedro I and his son Pedro II. A colony of the Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil became the seat of the Portuguese Empire in 1808, when the Portuguese Prince regent, later King Dom John VI, fled from Napoleon's invasion of Portugal and established himself and his government in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. John VI later returned to Portugal, leaving his eldest son and heir-apparent, Pedro, to rule the Kingdom of Brazil as regent. On 7 September 1822, Pedro declared the independence of Brazil and, after waging a successful war against his father's kingdom, was acclaimed on 12 October as Pedro I, the first Emperor of Brazil. The new country was huge, sparsely populated, and ethnically diverse.

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01/05/1863

American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville between Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac under Joseph Hooker begins.

The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union to preserve slavery in the United States, which they saw as threatened because of the election of Abraham Lincoln and the growing abolitionist movement in the North. The war lasted a little over four years, ending with Union victory, the dissolution of the Confederacy and the abolition of slavery, freeing four million African Americans.

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American Civil War: During the Vicksburg campaign, Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant win the Battle of Port Gibson and establish a firm presence on the east side of the Mississippi River.

The Vicksburg campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in the Western Theater of the American Civil War directed against Vicksburg, Mississippi, a fortress city that dominated the last Confederate-controlled section of the Mississippi River. The Union Army of the Tennessee under Major General Ulysses S. Grant gained control of the river by capturing this stronghold and defeating Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton's forces stationed there.

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01/05/1851

Queen Victoria opens The Great Exhibition at The Crystal Palace in London.

Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days, which was longer than those of any of her predecessors, constituted the Victorian era, a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. In 1876, the British parliament voted to grant her the additional title of Empress of India.

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01/05/1846

The few remaining Mormons left in Nauvoo, Illinois, formally dedicate the Nauvoo Temple.

Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the Second Great Awakening. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several groups following different leaders; the majority followed Brigham Young, while smaller groups followed Sidney Rigdon and James Strang. Many who did not follow Young eventually merged into the Community of Christ, led by Smith’s son, Joseph Smith III. The term Mormon typically refers to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the largest branch, which followed Brigham Young. People who identify as Mormons may also be independently religious, secular, and non-practicing or belong to other denominations.

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01/05/1844

Hong Kong Police Force, the world's second modern police force and Asia's first, is established.

The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest disciplined service under the Security Bureau of Hong Kong.

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01/05/1840

The Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, is issued in the United Kingdom.

The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was first issued in the United Kingdom on 1 May 1840 but was not valid for use until 6 May. The stamp features a profile of 21 years old Queen Victoria.

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01/05/1820

Execution of the Cato Street Conspirators, who plotted to kill the British Cabinet and Prime Minister Lord Liverpool.

The Cato Street Conspiracy was a plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister Lord Liverpool in 1820. The name comes from the meeting place near Edgware Road in London. The police had an informer; the plotters fell into a police trap. Thirteen were arrested, while one policeman, Richard Smithers, was killed. Five conspirators were executed, and five others were transported to Australia.

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01/05/1807

The Slave Trade Act 1807 takes effect, abolishing the slave trade within the British Empire.

The Slave Trade Act 1807, or the Abolition of Slave Trade Act 1807, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom prohibiting the Atlantic slave trade in the British Empire. Although it did not automatically emancipate those enslaved at the time, it encouraged British action to press other nation states to abolish their own slave trades. It took effect on 1 May 1807, after 18 years of trying to pass an abolition bill.

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01/05/1753

Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.

Carl Linnaeus, also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné, was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organisms. He is known as the "father of modern taxonomy". Many of his writings were in Latin; his name is rendered in Latin as Carolus Linnæus and, after his 1761 ennoblement, as Carolus a Linné.

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01/05/1707

The Act of Union joining England and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain takes effect.

The Acts of Union refer to two acts of Parliament, one by the Parliament of Scotland in March 1707, followed shortly thereafter by an equivalent act of the Parliament of England. They put into effect the international Treaty of Union agreed on 22 July 1706, which politically joined the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland into a single "political state" named Great Britain, with Queen Anne as its sovereign. The English and Scottish acts of ratification took effect on 1 May 1707, creating the new kingdom, with its parliament based in the Palace of Westminster.

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01/05/1669

Henry Morgan's raid on Lake Maracaibo, the Spanish Armada de Barlovento is defeated by an English Privateer fleet led by Captain Henry Morgan.

Henry Morgan's raid on Lake Maracaibo, also known as the Sack of Maracaibo and the Battle of Lake Maracaibo, was a military event that took place between 16 March and 21 May 1669 during the latter stage of the Anglo-Spanish War. English privateers commanded by notable Buccaneer Henry Morgan launched an attack with the purpose of raiding Spanish towns along the coastline inside of Lake Maracaibo in the Spanish Province of Venezuela.

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01/05/1492

The Edict of Expulsion is officially proclaimed in Castile, requiring all Jewish residents to leave within three months.

The Alhambra Decree was an edict issued on 31 March 1492 by the joint Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, ordering the expulsion of unconverted Jews from the Crowns of Castile and Aragon and its territories and possessions by 31 July of that year. Its primary purpose was to minimize the influence of the remaining Jews on Spain's large converso New Christian population, converted from Judaism, to minimize the possibility that the latter and their descendants would be able to secretly practice their former faith.

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01/05/1486

Christopher Columbus presents his plans discovering a western route to the Indies to the Spanish Queen Isabella I of Castile.

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed four Spanish-based voyages across the Atlantic Ocean sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas. His expeditions were the first known European contact with the Caribbean and Central and South America.

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01/05/1328

Wars of Scottish Independence end: By the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton, England recognises Scotland as an independent state.

The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns in the late 13th and 14th centuries in order to protect the independence and sovereignty of the Kingdom of Scotland which had been threatened by the Kingdom of England. The wars were part of a great crisis for Scotland, and the period became one of the most defining times in its history. At the end of both extended wars, Scotland retained its status as an independent, sovereign country.

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01/05/1169

Norman mercenaries land at Bannow Bay in Leinster, marking the beginning of the Norman invasion of Ireland.

The Normans were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Francia followed a series of raids on the French northern coast mainly from what is now Denmark, although some also sailed from Norway and Sweden. These settlements were finally legitimized when Rollo, a Scandinavian Viking leader, agreed to swear fealty to King Charles III of West Francia following the siege of Chartres in 911, leading to the formation of the County of Rouen. This new fief, through kinship in the decades to come, would expand into what came to be known as the Duchy of Normandy. The Norse settlers, whom the region as well as its inhabitants were named after, adopted the language, religion, social customs and martial doctrine of the West Franks but their offspring nonetheless retained many of their traits, notably their mercenary tendencies and their fervour for adventures. The intermixing between Norse folk and native West Franks in Normandy produced an ethnic and cultural "Norman" identity in the first half of the 10th century, an identity which continued to evolve over the centuries.

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01/05/0880

The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches.

The Nea Ekklēsia was a church built by Byzantine Emperor Basil I the Macedonian in Constantinople between 876 and 880. It was the first monumental church built in the Byzantine capital after the Hagia Sophia in the 6th century, and marks the beginning of the middle period of Byzantine architecture. It continued in use until the Palaiologan period. Used as a gunpowder magazine by the Ottomans, the building was destroyed in 1490 after being struck by lightning. No traces of it survive, and information about it derives from historical accounts and depictions.

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01/05/0305

Diocletian and Maximian retire from the office of Roman emperor.

Diocletian, nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia. As with other Illyrian soldiers of the period, Diocles rose through the ranks of the military early in his career, serving under Aurelian and Probus, and eventually becoming a cavalry commander for the army of Emperor Carus. After the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on a campaign in Persia, Diocles was proclaimed emperor by the troops, taking the name "Diocletianus". The title was also claimed by Carus's surviving son, Carinus, but Diocletian defeated him in the Battle of the Margus.

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