Historical Events on Friday, 2nd May

02/05/2014

Two mudslides in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, leave up to 2,500 people missing.

On 2 May 2014, a pair of mudslides occurred in Argo District, Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan. The death toll is uncertain, the number of deaths is believed to be at least 350 and no more than 2,700. Around 300 houses were buried and over 14,000 were affected. Rescuers responding to the initial mudslide were struck by a second mudslide, which further hampered rescue efforts.

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02/05/2012

A pastel version of The Scream, by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sells for $120 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world record for a work of art at auction.

A pastel is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those used to produce some other colored visual arts media, such as oil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and low saturation. The color effect of pastels is closer to the natural dry pigments than that of any other process.

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02/05/2011

Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI's most wanted man, is killed by the United States Navy SEALs in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Osama bin Laden was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. A pan-Islamist and Islamic extremist, bin Laden organized and funded numerous jihadist or anti-Western militants and terrorist attacks worldwide. Al-Qaeda's September 11 attacks in 2001 against the United States directly killed 2,977 victims, and began America's global war on terror.

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An E. coli outbreak strikes Europe, mostly in Germany, leaving more than 30 people dead and many others are taken ill.

A novel strain of Escherichia coli O104:H4 bacteria caused a serious outbreak of foodborne illness focused in northern Germany in May through June 2011. The illness was characterized by bloody diarrhea, with a high frequency of serious complications, including hemolytic–uremic syndrome (HUS), a condition that requires urgent treatment. The outbreak was originally thought to have been caused by an enterohemorrhagic (EHEC) strain of E. coli, but it was later shown to have been caused by an enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) strain that had acquired the genes to produce Shiga toxins, present in organic fenugreek sprouts.

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02/05/2008

Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Burma killing over 138,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless.

Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Nargis was an extremely deadly and catastrophic tropical cyclone that caused the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Myanmar during early May 2008. The cyclone made landfall in Myanmar on 2 May 2008, sending a storm surge 40 kilometres up the densely populated Irrawaddy delta, causing catastrophic destruction and at least 138,373 fatalities. The Labutta Township alone was reported to have 80,000 dead, with about 10,000 more deaths in Bogale. There were around 55,000 people missing and many other deaths were found in other towns and areas, although the Myanmar government's official death toll may have been under-reported, and there have been allegations that government officials stopped updating the death toll after 138,000 to minimise political fallout. The feared 'second wave' of fatalities from disease and lack of relief efforts never materialised. Damage was at 13 trillion kyat (US$15.3 billion), making Nargis the costliest tropical cyclone on record in the North Indian Ocean at the time, before that record was broken by Amphan in 2020.

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Chaitén Volcano begins erupting in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people.

Chaitén is a volcanic caldera 3 kilometres (2 mi) in diameter, 17 kilometres (11 mi) west of the elongated ice-capped Michinmahuida volcano and 10 kilometres (6 mi) northeast of the town of Chaitén, near the Gulf of Corcovado in southern Chile. The most recent eruptive phase of the volcano erupted on 2008. Originally, radiocarbon dating of older tephra from the volcano suggested that its last previous eruption was in 7420 BC ± 75 years. However, recent studies have found that the volcano is more active than thought. According to the Global Volcanism Program, its last eruption was in 2011.

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02/05/2004

The Yelwa massacre concludes. It began on 4 February 2004 when armed Muslims killed 78 Christians at Yelwa, Nigeria. In response, about 630 Muslims were killed by Christians on May 2.

The Yelwa massacre was a series of related incidents of religious violence between Muslims and Christians which took place in Yelwa, Nigeria between February and May 2004. These incidents killed over 700 people. it occurred on 4 February 2004 when armed Men attacked the Christians of Yelwa, killing more than 78 Christians, including at least 48 who were worshipping inside a church compound. Then on May 2 and 3, large numbers of well-armed Christians surrounded the town of Yelwa and killed around seven hundred Muslims.Yelwa and many surrounding villages suffered massive destruction, and tens of thousands of people were displaced.

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02/05/2000

President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.

William Jefferson Clinton is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the attorney general of Arkansas from 1977 to 1979 and as the governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981, and again from 1983 to 1992. His centrist "Third Way" political philosophy became known as Clintonism, which dominated his presidency and the succeeding decades of Democratic Party history.

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02/05/1999

Panamanian general election: Mireya Moscoso becomes the first woman to be elected President of Panama.

General elections were held in Panama on 2 May 1999, electing both a new President of the Republic and a new Legislative Assembly.

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02/05/1998

The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the European Union's monetary policy.

The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important central banks, heading a system with a combined balance sheet of close to €7 trillion.

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02/05/1995

During the Croatian War of Independence, the Army of the Republic of Serb Krajina fires cluster bombs at Zagreb, killing seven and wounding over 175 civilians.

The Croatian War of Independence was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY)—and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and local Serb forces, with the JNA ending its combat operations by 1992.

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02/05/1989

Cold War: Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect.

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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02/05/1986

Chernobyl disaster: The City of Chernobyl is evacuated six days after the disaster.

On 26 April 1986, reactor no.‍4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, exploded. With dozens of direct casualties and thousands of health complications stemming from the disaster, it is one of only two nuclear energy accidents rated at the maximum severity on the International Nuclear Event Scale, the other being the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident. The response involved more than 500,000 personnel and cost an estimated 18 billion rubles. It remains the worst nuclear disaster and the most expensive disaster in history, with an estimated cost of US$700 billion.

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02/05/1982

Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.

The Falklands War was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial dependency, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The conflict began on 2 April 1982, when Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands, followed by the invasion of South Georgia the next day. On 5 April the British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force before making an amphibious assault on the islands. The conflict lasted 74 days and ended with an Argentine surrender on 14 June, returning the islands to British control. In total, 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel and three Falkland Islanders were killed during the hostilities.

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02/05/1972

In the early morning hours a fire breaks out at the Sunshine Mine located between Kellogg and Wallace, Idaho, killing 91 workers.

The Sunshine Mine is located between the cities of Kellogg and Wallace in northern Idaho. It has been one of the world's largest and most profitable silver mines, having produced over 360 million ounces of silver by 2001.

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02/05/1970

ALM Flight 980 ditches in the Caribbean Sea near Saint Croix, killing 23.

ALM Flight 980 was a regularly scheduled international passenger flight that originated in John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, to Princess Juliana International Airport in St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles, on May 2, 1970. After several unsuccessful landing attempts, the aircraft's fuel was exhausted, and it made a forced water landing in the Caribbean Sea 48 km off St. Croix, with 23 fatalities and 40 survivors.

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02/05/1969

The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.

Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) is a retired British ocean liner. Built by John Brown & Company on the River Clyde in Scotland for the Cunard Line, the ship was operated as a transatlantic liner and cruise ship from 1969 to 2008. She was laid up until converted into a floating hotel in Dubai.

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02/05/1964

Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the American aircraft carrier USNS Card while it is docked at Saigon. Two Viet Cong combat swimmers had placed explosives on the ship's hull. She is raised and returned to service less than seven months later.

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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First ascent of Shishapangma, the fourteenth highest mountain in the world and the lowest of the Eight-thousanders.

In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent, is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain peak or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers and climbers were mainly focused on reaching the tops of notable mountain peaks and the tops of iconic climbing routes by whatever means possible, and often using considerable amounts of aid climbing and/or with large expedition style support teams allowing them to "lay siege" to the climb.

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02/05/1963

Berthold Seliger launches a rocket with three stages and a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres (62 mi) near Cuxhaven. It is the only sounding rocket developed in Germany.

The Berthold Seliger Forschungs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (BSFEGmbH) was a company founded by West German rocket technical designer Berthold Seliger in 1961. Seliger was a former assistant theoretician professor Dr. Eugen Sänger. The company developed and built prototypes of sounding rockets and launched them near Cuxhaven. The BSFEGmbH cooperated strongly with the Hermann-Oberth-Gesellschaft, of which Berthold Seliger was a member. The first rocket developed by the BSFEGmbH was an improved version of the Kumulus, which was first launched on 19 November 1962 and reached a height of 50 kilometres. On 7 February 1963 the BSFEGmbH launched a two-stage rocket with a maximum height of 80 kilometres and, on 2 May 1963, they launched a three-stage rocket with a maximum flight height of more than 100 kilometres. The latter rocket may have attained the highest flight altitude of all rockets built in post-war Germany. The signals from all these rockets were also received at the observatory in Bochum. After May 1963 the BSFEGmbH worked on the improvement of the steering system of their rockets and thought also on military usable rockets.

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02/05/1952

A De Havilland Comet makes the first jetliner flight with fare-paying passengers, from London to Johannesburg.

The de Havilland DH.106 Comet is a four-engine narrow body aircraft developed and manufactured by de Havilland in the United Kingdom. The world's first commercial jet airliner, the Comet 1 prototype first flew in 1949. It features an aerodynamically clean design with four de Havilland Ghost turbojet engines located in the wing roots, a pressurised cabin, and large windows. For the era, it offered a relatively quiet, comfortable passenger cabin and was commercially promising at its debut in 1952.

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02/05/1945

World War II: The Soviet Union announces the fall of Berlin.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), also known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until its dissolution in 1991. It was the world's third-most populous country, largest by area, and bordered twelve countries. A diverse multinational state, it was organized as a federal union of national republics, the largest and most populous being the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. In practice, its government and economy were highly centralized. As a one-party state governed by the Communist Party, it was the flagship communist state. Its capital and largest city was Moscow.

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World War II: The surrender of Caserta comes into effect, by which German troops in Italy cease fighting.

The Surrender at Caserta of 29 April 1945 was the written agreement that formalized the surrender of German and Italian Fascist forces in Italy, ending the Italian Campaign of World War II.

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World War II: The US 82nd Airborne Division liberates Wöbbelin concentration camp finding 1,000 dead prisoners, most of whom starved to death.

Wöbbelin was a subcamp of the Neuengamme concentration camp near the city of Ludwigslust. The SS had established Wöbbelin to house concentration camp prisoners whom the SS had evacuated from other camps to prevent their liberation by the Allies. At its height, Wöbbelin held some 5,000 inmates, most of whom were suffering from starvation and disease. The camp was freed on May 2, 1945.

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World War II: A death march from Dachau to the Austrian border is halted by the segregated, all-Nisei 522nd Field Artillery Battalion of the U.S. Army in southern Bavaria, saving several hundred prisoners.

During the Holocaust, death marches were massive forced transfers of prisoners from one Nazi camp to other locations, which involved walking long distances resulting in numerous deaths of weakened people. Most death marches took place toward the end of World War II, mostly after the summer/autumn of 1944. Hundreds of thousands of prisoners, mostly Jews, from Nazi camps near the Eastern Front were moved to camps inside Germany away from the Allied forces. Their purpose was to continue the use of prisoners' slave labour, to remove evidence of crimes against humanity, and to keep the prisoners to bargain with the Allies.

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02/05/1941

World War II: Following the coup d'état against Iraq Crown Prince 'Abd al-Ilah earlier that year, the United Kingdom launches the Anglo-Iraqi War to restore him to power.

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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02/05/1933

Germany's independent labor unions are replaced by the German Labour Front.

The German Labour Front was the national labour organization of the Nazi Party, which replaced the various independent trade unions in Germany during the process of Gleichschaltung or Nazification.

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02/05/1920

The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis.

The first Negro National League was one of the several Negro leagues that were established during the period in the United States when organized baseball was segregated. The league was formed in 1920 with former player Rube Foster as its president.

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02/05/1906

Closing ceremony of the Intercalated Games in Athens, Greece.

The 1906 Intercalated Games or 1906 Olympic Games, held from 22 April 1906 to 2 May 1906, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated in Athens, Greece. It was at the time considered to be an Olympic Games, and was referred to as the "Second International Olympic Games in Athens" by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). However, the medals that were distributed to the participants during these Games were later not officially recognised by the IOC and are not displayed with the collection of Olympic medals at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.

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02/05/1889

Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signs the Treaty of Wuchale, giving Italy control over Eritrea.

Menelik II, baptised as Sahle Maryam, was king of Shewa from 1866 to 1889 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 to his death in 1913. A member of the Solomonic dynasty, Menelik expanded the Ethiopian Empire to its greatest historical extent and defeated Italian colonial forces at the Battle of Adwa in 1896. He is widely regarded as the founder of the modern Ethiopian state.

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02/05/1885

Cree and Assiniboine warriors win the Battle of Cut Knife, their largest victory over Canadian forces during the North-West Rebellion.

The Cree are a North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations macro-communities. There are numerous Cree peoples and several nations closely related to the Cree, these being the Plains Cree, Woodland Cree, Rocky Cree, Swampy Cree, Moose Cree, and East Cree with the Atikamekw, Innu, and Naskapi being closely related. Also closely related to the Cree are the Oji-Cree and Métis, both nations of mixed heritage, the former with Ojibweg (Chippewa) and the latter with European fur traders. Cree homelands account for a majority of eastern and central Canada, from Eeyou Istchee in the east in what is now Quebec to northern Ontario, much of the Canadian Prairies, and up into British Columbia and the Northwest Territories. Although a majority of Cree live in Canada, there are small communities in the United States, living mostly in Montana where they share Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation with the Ojibwe people.

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02/05/1876

The April Uprising breaks out in Ottoman Bulgaria.

The April Uprising was an insurrection organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire from April to May 1876. The rebellion was suppressed by irregular Ottoman bashi-bazouk units that engaged in indiscriminate slaughter of both rebels and non-combatants.

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02/05/1867

Albert Günther publishes the first study to recognise that the New Zealand tuatara is not a lizard.

Albert Karl Ludwig Gotthilf Günther, also Albert Charles Lewis Gotthilf Günther, was a German-born British zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. Günther is ranked the second-most productive reptile taxonomist with more than 340 reptile species described and the third-most productive fish taxonomist with about 1600 fish species described.

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02/05/1866

Peruvian defenders fight off the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Callao.

Peruvians are the citizens of Peru. What is now Peru has been inhabited for several millennia by cultures such as the Caral before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. Peruvian population decreased from an estimated 5–9 million in the 1520s to around 600,000 in 1620 mainly because of infectious diseases carried by the Spanish. Spaniards and Africans arrived in large numbers in 1532 under colonial rule, mixing widely with each other and with Native Peruvians. During the Republic, there has been a gradual immigration of European people. Chinese and Japanese arrived in large numbers at the end of the 19th century.

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02/05/1863

American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson is wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitering during the Battle of Chancellorsville. He succumbs to pneumonia eight days later.

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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02/05/1829

After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of HMS Challenger, declares the Swan River Colony in Australia.

Admiral Sir Charles Howe Fremantle GCB was a British Royal Navy officer. The city of Fremantle, Western Australia, is named after him.

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02/05/1812

The Siege of Cuautla during the Mexican War of Independence ends with both sides claiming victory.

The siege of Cuautla was a battle of the War of Mexican Independence that occurred from 19 February through 2 May 1812 at Cuautla, Morelos. The Spanish royalist forces loyal to the Spanish, commanded by Félix María Calleja, besieged the town of Cuautla and its Mexican rebel defenders fighting for independence from the Spanish Empire. The rebels were commanded by José María Morelos y Pavón, Hermenegildo Galeana, and Mariano Matamoros. The battle results are disputed, but it is generally agreed that the battle resulted more favorably for the Spanish whose siege was ultimately successful with the Mexican withdrawal on 2 May 1812.

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02/05/1808

Outbreak of the Peninsular War: The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation. Francisco de Goya later memorializes this event in his painting The Second of May 1808.

The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by the Iberian nations Spain and Portugal, along with the United Kingdom, against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain, it is considered to overlap with the Spanish War of Independence. It overlapped with the War of the Fifth Coalition (1809) and the War of the Sixth Coalition (1812–1814).

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02/05/1670

King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson's Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America.

Charles II was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651 and King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685.

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02/05/1625

Afonso Mendes, appointed by Pope Gregory XV as Latin Patriarch of Ethiopia, arrives at Beilul from Goa.

Father Afonso Mendes was a Portuguese Jesuit theologian, and Patriarch of Ethiopia from 1622 to 1634. While E. A. Wallis Budge has expressed the commonly accepted opinion of this man, as being "rigid, uncompromising, narrow-minded, and intolerant", there are some who disagree with it. The writings of Mendes include Expeditionis Aethiopicae, which describes the customs and conditions of Ethiopia.

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02/05/1611

The King James Version of the Bible is published for the first time in London, England, by printer Robert Barker.

The King James Version (KJV), also known as the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of King James VI and I. The 80 books of the KJV include 39 books of the Old Testament, 14 books of Apocrypha, and the 27 books of the New Testament.

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02/05/1568

Mary, Queen of Scots, escapes from Lochleven Castle.

Mary, Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication on 24 July 1567.

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02/05/1559

John Knox returns from exile to Scotland to become the leader of the nascent Scottish Reformation.

John Knox was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the reformer of the Church of Scotland.

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02/05/1536

Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft.

Anne Boleyn was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading for treason, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked the start of the English Reformation.

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02/05/1230

William de Braose is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great.

William de Braose was the son of Reginald de Braose by his first wife, Grecia Briwere. He was an ill-fated member of the House of Braose, a powerful and long-lived dynasty of Marcher Lords.

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02/05/1194

King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first royal charter.

Richard I, known as Richard the Lionheart or Richard Cœur de Lion because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior, was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine, and Gascony; Lord of Cyprus; Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes; and was overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period. He was the third of five sons of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and was therefore not expected to become king, but his two elder brothers predeceased their father.

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