Title: May 5 Content: == Events == === Up to 1900 === * 553 – The Second Council of Constantinople begins. * 1215 - Rebel barons renounce (withdraw) their allegiance to King John of England, as part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta. * 1260 – Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire. * 1494 – Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Jamaica and claims it for Spain. * 1640 – King Charles I of England dissolves the Short Parliament. * 1668 - Portuguese galley Santissimo Sacramento strikes a reef off the coast of Salvador, Northeast Brazil, and sinks. Out of the over 1,000 people on board, only 70 survive the disaster. * 1762 – Russia and Prussia sign the Treaty of St. Petersburg. * 1789 – In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time in 150 years. * 1809 – Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S. patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread. * 1809 – The Swiss canton of Aargau denies citizenship to Jews. * 1821 - Napoleon Bonaparte dies aged 51 on the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena. It takes several weeks for the news to reach Europe, due to the remoteness of the island. * 1821 - The first edition of the British daily newspaper The Guardian is published. * 1835 – In Belgium, the first railway in continental Europe opens between Brussels and Mechelen. * 1842 – The Great Fire of Hamburg starts. It is brought under control on May 8. * 1860 - Giuseppe Garibaldi sets sail from Genoa, leading the expedition of the Thousand to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, eventually leading to the creating of the Kingdom of Italy. * 1862 – Cinco de Mayo in Mexico: Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla. * 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. * 1865 – In North Bend, Ohio (a suburb of Cincinnati), the first train robbery in the United States takes place. * 1866 - First Memorial Day commemoration in Waterloo, New York. * 1877 – Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles. * 1885 – George Eastman is granted a US patent for rolling film. * 1886 – The Bay View Tragedy occurs, militia fire upon a crowd of protesters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin killing seven. * 1891 – The Music Hall in New York (now known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor. === 1901 2000 === * 1902 – Commonwealth Public Service Act creates the Australian Public Service. * 1904 – Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans threw the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball. * 1905 - The trial in the Stratton brothers case begins in London. It is the first time that fingerprint evidence is used to get a conviction for murder. * 1916 – American marines invade the Dominican Republic. * 1920 - Sacco and Vanzetti case: US authorities arrest Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for alleged robbery and murder. * 1925 – Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes is served an arrest warrant for teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act. * 1925 – Afrikaans established as an official language in South Africa. * 1936 – Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. * 1940 – World War II: In London, a Norwegian government-in-exile is formed. * 1941 – Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; this date has been since commemorated as Liberation Day, or Patriots' Victory Day. * 1944 - World War II: German troops execute 216 civilians in the village of Kleinoura, Greece. * 1945 – World War II: German troops in the Netherlands and Denmark capitulate to Canadian and British forces, liberating these countries from Nazi occupation. * 1945 – World War II: Prague uprising against the Nazis. * 1945 – World War II: Mauthausen concentration camp is liberated. * 1945 – World War II: Admiral Karl Dönitz, leader of Germany after Hitler's death, orders all U-boats to cease offensive operations and return to their bases. * 1946 - The International Military Tribunal for the Far East begins in Tokyo, with 28 Japanese military and government officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. * 1949 – The Council of Europe in Strasbourg is founded through the Treaty of London as the first European institution working for European integration. Since 1964, May 5 has been designated Europe Day by the Council of Europe and is celebrated since then to commemorate its founding on 5 May 1949. * 1950 – Bhumibol Adulyadej is crowned as King Rama IX of Thailand. * 1955 – West Germany gains full sovereignty. * 1961 – Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 3 – Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into space, making a sub-orbital flight of 15 minutes. * 1964 – 5 May is declared Europe Day on the 25th anniversary of the Council of Europe. * 1967 – The first all-British space satellite, Ariel 3 is launched from the United States. * 1972 - Alitalia Flight 112 crashes into Mount Longa near Palermo, Sicily, killing all 115 people on board. * 1973 - Secretariat wins the Kentucky Derby in record time. * 1977 - The first interview between David Frost and Richard Nixon is broadcast. * 1980 – Operation Nimrod: The Special Air Service storm the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege. * 1980 – Constantine Karamanlis is elected for the first time as President of Greece. * 1984 - In Luxembourg, the Herreys win the Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden with the song Diggi-Loo, Diggi Ley. * 1987 – Iran-Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings. * 1991 – A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, DC after a Salvadoran man is shot by police. * 1992 – The 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified. * 1994 - The Signing of the Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan effectively freezes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. * 1999 - Indonesia and Portugal reach an agreement on ending the war in East Timor. They also agree to give East Timor a referendum on independence later in the year. === From 2001 === * 2002 – Jacques Chirac is elected to a second term as President of France, defeating far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen in the second round of the Presidential Election. * 2004 - Pablo Picasso's painting Boy With a Pipe is sold at auction for 104.2 million US Dollars. * 2005 – The United Kingdom general election takes place, in which Tony Blair's Labour Party is re-elected for a third, consecutive term. * 2006 – The government of Sudan signed an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA). * 2007 – Kenya Airways Flight KQ 507 crashes in Cameroon. * 2010 – In Greece, widespread protests occur in the wake of the debt crisis. * 2010 – Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua dies after a long illness. Caretaker President Goodluck Jonathan succeeds him. * 2011 – The election to the Scottish Parliament takes place, with the Scottish National Party, under Alex Salmond, getting an overall majority, taking 69 of the 129 seats. * 2018 - NASA launches its InSight probe to Mars. * 2019 - Presidential elections: Stevo Pendarovski is elected President of North Macedonia, while Laurentino Cortizo is elected President of Panama. * 2019 - Brunei abandons its policy of making gay sex punishable by death. * 2019 - Aeroflot Flight 1492 bursts into flames on its return to Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport, killing 41 out of the 78 people on board. * 2019 - A tanker explosion near Niamey, Niger, kills 58 people. == Births == === Up to 1900 === * 867 – Emperor Uda of Japan (d. 931) * 1210 – King Afonso III of Portugal (d. 1279) * 1352 – Rupert I, King of Germany (d. 1410) * 1479 – Guru Amar Das, 3rd Sikh Guru (d. 1574) * 1546 – Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, English politician (d. 1623) * 1747 – Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1792) * 1810 - Lorenzo Salvi, Italian tenor (d. 1879) * 1813 – Soren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher (d. 1855) * 1818 – Karl Marx, German Communist philosopher (d. 1883) * 1819 - Stanislaw Moniuszko, Polish composer, conductor and teacher (d. 1872) * 1826 – Eugenie de Montijo, Empress of France (d. 1920) * 1828 - Robert von Puttkamer, Prussian statesman (d. 1900) * 1830 - John Patterson Stetson, American hat manufacturer (d. 1906) * 1833 - Ferdinand von Richthofen, German geographer (d. 1905) * 1834 - Viktor Hartmann, Russian architect and painter (d. 1873) * 1846 – Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish writer (d. 1917) * 1846 - Lars Magnus Ericsson, Swedish inventor (d. 1926) * 1864 – Nellie Bly, American journalist (d. 1922) * 1869 - Hans Pfilzner, German composer (d. 1949) * 1877 – Georgi Sedov, Russian naval officer and polar explorer (d. 1914) * 1882 – Douglas Mawson, Australian Antarctic explorer (d. 1958) * 1882 – Sylvia Pankhurst, British activist (d. 1960) * 1883 – Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, British field marshal and Viceroy of India (d. 1950) * 1883 - Agustin Barrios, Paraguayan guitarist and composer (d. 1944) * 1883 - Rudolf Spielmann, Austrian chess player (d. 1932) * 1887 – Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1972) * 1887 - Marvyn S. Bennion, American captain (d. 1941) * 1890 - Christopher Morley, American writer (d. 1957) * 1894 – August Dvorak, American inventor (d. 1975) * 1899 - Freeman Fisher Gosden, American comedian and actor (d. 1982) === 1901 1950 === * 1901 – Blind Willie McTell, American singer (d. 1959) * 1907 - Iryna Vilde, Ukrainian writer (d. 1982) * 1908 - Kurt Böhme, German bass (d. 1989) * 1911 – Andor Lilienthal, Hungarian chess player (d. 2010) * 1911 - Gilles Grangier, French director and screenwriter (d. 1996) * 1914 – Tyrone Power, American actor (d. 1958) * 1915 – Alice Faye, American actress and singer (d. 1998) * 1916 - Zail Singh, 7th President of India (d. 1994) * 1917 - Pío Leyva, Cuban singer (d. 2006) * 1917 - Lennie Merullo, American baseball player (d. 2015) * 1919 – Georgios Papadopoulos, Greek military leader (d. 1999) * 1921 – Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist (d. 1999) * 1922 - Monica Lewis, American actress (d. 2015) * 1923 - Sergey Akhromeyev, Marshal of the Soviet Union (d. 1991) * 1925 - Leo Ryan, American politician (d. 1978) * 1927 - Charles Rosen, American pianist and music writer (d. 2012) * 1928 - Richard Schaal, American actor (d. 2014) * 1930 – Ezzatollah Sahabi, Iranian politician (d. 2011) * 1931 - Greg, Belgian cartoonist (d. 1999) * 1932 - Stan Goldberg, American comic author (d. 2014) * 1933 - Igor Kashkarov, Soviet high jumper * 1934 - Ace Cannon, American saxophonist * 1934 - Henri Konan Bédié, former President of Ivory Coast * 1935 - Shih Chi-yang, Taiwanese politician (d. 2019) * 1937 – Tran Duc Luong, former President of Vietnam * 1937 – Delia Derbyshire, English composer (d. 2001) * 1939 - Ray Gosling, English broadcaster, journalist and activist (d. 2013) * 1940 – Lance Henriksen, American actor and painter * 1941 – Alexander Ragulin, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2004) * 1942 - Marc Alaimo, American actor * 1942 – Tammy Wynette, American musician (d. 1998) * 1943 – Michael Palin, British actor, comedian, writer and TV presenter * 1943 - Ignacio Ramonet, Spanish journalist and writer * 1944 – Bo Larsson, Swedish footballer * 1944 – John Rhys-Davies, British actor * 1944 – Roger Rees, British actor (d. 2015) * 1945 - Kurt Loder, American journalist, critic, writer and columnist * 1946 - Beth Carvalho, Brazilian samba singer (d. 2019) * 1947 – Malam Bacai Sanhá, President of Guinea-Bissau (d. 2012) * 1948 – Bill Ward, British musician * 1950 – Morton Rhue, American writer === 1951 1975 === * 1952 - Willem Witteveen, Dutch legal scholar and politician (d. 2014) * 1952 - Ed Lee, American politician, Mayor of San Francisco (d. 2017) * 1953 - Dieter Zetschke, German businessman * 1955 - Lisa Jane Persky, American actress * 1957 – Richard E. Grant, British actor * 1959 – Ian McCulloch, British singer * 1959 – Brian Williams, American news anchor * 1960 - Jorge Quiroga, former President of Bolivia * 1961 - Mike J. Dunleavy, American politician, Governor of Alaska * 1962 - Nicolas Vanier, Senegalese author, explorer and director * 1963 - Simon Rimmer, English chef * 1964 - Heike Henkel, German high jumper * 1964 - Don Payne, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2013) * 1966 - Shawn Drover, Canadian musician * 1966 - Sergei Stanishev, 46th Prime Minister of Bulgaria * 1966 - Josh Weinstein, American writer * 1967 - Takehito Koyasu, Japanese voice actor * 1969 - Olav Sepp, Estonian chess player * 1972 - Zigmund Palffy, Slovakian ice hockey player * 1972 – James Cracknell, British rower * 1972 – Brad Bombadir, Canadian ice hockey player * 1972 - Devin Townsend, Canadian musician * 1975 - Meb Keflezighi, Eritrean-born American runner === From 1976 === * 1976 - Juan Pablo Sorín, Argentine footballer * 1976 - Sage Stallone, American actor (d. 2012) * 1977 - Jessica Schwarz, German actress * 1978 – John Wilshere, Papua New Guinea rugby league player * 1978 – Santiago Cabrera, Chilean actor * 1979 – Vince Grella, Australian footballer * 1980 – Yossi Benayoun, Israeli footballer * 1981 – Danielle Fishel, American actress * 1981 – Craig David, British singer * 1982 – Jay Bothroyd, English footballer * 1982 – Sándor Torghelle, Hungarian footballer * 1983 – Henry Cavill, Jersey actor * 1984 - Wade McNeil, Canadian singer- songwriter and producer * 1985 – Shoko Nakagawa, Japanese actress, illustrator and singer * 1985 - Tsapo Masilela, South African footballer * 1985 - Emanuele Giaccherini, Italian footballer * 1987 - Graham Dorrans, Scottish footballer * 1988 – Adele, British singer and songwriter * 1988 – Brooke Hogan, American singer and television personality * 1988 – Skye Sweetnam, Canadian singer- songwriter and actress * 1989 – Chris Brown, American singer and actor * 1991 - Shubha Phutela, Indian actress (d. 2012) * 1991 - Robin de Kruijf, Dutch volleyball player * 1992 – Yosuke Mikami, Japanese footballer * 1992 – Taisuke Miyazaki, Japanese footballer * 1993 - Francine Niyonsaba, Burundian middle- distance runner * 1998 - Menna Fitzpatrick, British Paralympic skier * 1999 - Nathan Chen, American figure skater == Deaths == === Up to 1900 === * 200 – Sun Ce, Chinese warlord (b. 175) * 311 – Gallerius, Roman Emperor (b. 260) * 984 - Gerberga of Saxony (b. 913) * 1028 – Alfonso V of Castile (b. 994) * 1194 – Casimir II of Poland (b. 1138) * 1219 – Leo II, King of Armenia (b. 1150) * 1257 – Haakon the Young, Junior King of Norway (b. 1232) * 1306 - Constantine Palaiologus, Byzantine prince and general (b. 1261) * 1309 – Charles II of Naples (b. 1254) * 1525 – Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (b. 1463) * 1604 - Claudio Merulo, Italian composer (b. 1533) * 1700 - Angelo Italia, Sicilian Baroque architect (b. 1628) * 1705 – Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1640) * 1731 - Daniel Defoe, English writer (b. 1660) * 1808 - Pierre Jean George Cabanis, French physiologist and philosopher (b. 1757) * 1821 – Napoleon, French general and later Emperor of France (b. 1769) * 1827 - Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (b. 1750) * 1855 - Seabury Ford, 20th Governor of Ohio (b. 1801) * 1859 – Peter Gustav Dirichlet, German mathematician (b. 1805) * 1865 – Ben Hall, Australian bushranger shot dead by the police (b. 1837) * 1881 - Ansel Briggs, 1st Governor of Iowa (b. 1806) * 1883 - Eva Gonzales, French painter (b. 1847) * 1892 – August Wilhelm von Hofmann, German chemist (b. 1818) * 1896 - Silas Adams, American lawyer and politician (b. 1839) * 1900 – Ivan Aivazovsky, Russian painter (b. 1817) === 1901 2000 === * 1916 – John MacBride, Irish Nationalist (b. 1865) * 1921 – Alfred Hermann Fried, Austrian writer and pacifist (b. 1864) * 1925 - Tome Jose de Barros Queiros, Portuguese politician (b. 1872) * 1931 - Glen Kidston, English pilot and racing driver (b. 1899) * 1941 - Natalie of Serbia (b. 1859) * 1944 – Bertha Benz, German automobile pioneer (b. 1849) * 1945 – Peter Van Pels, Dutch-Jewish refugee (b. 1926) * 1959 – Carlos Saavedra Lamas, Argentine politician (b. 1878) * 1962 - Ernest Tyldesley, English cricketer (b. 1889) * 1977 – Ludwig Erhard, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1897) * 1981 – Bobby Sands, Northern Irish activist and hunger striker (b. 1954) * 1992 – Jean-Claude Pascal, French comedian and singer (b. 1927) * 1995 – Mikhail Botvinnik, Russian chess player (b. 1911) * 1999 - Candy Candido, American radio performer, bass player, singer, animator and voice actor (b. 1913) === From 2001 === * 2002 – Hugo Banzer, President of Bolivia (b. 1926) * 2003 – Walter Sisulu, South African activist (b. 1912) * 2004 – Ritsuko Okazaki, Japanese singer-songwriter (b. 1959) * 2005 – Edgar Ponce, Mexican actor and dancer (b. 1974) * 2007 – Theodore Maiman, American physicist (b. 1927) * 2008 – Irv Robbins, Canadian-American entrepreneur (b. 1917) * 2010 – Giulietta Simionato, Italian mezzo-soprano (b. 1910) * 2010 – Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, President of Nigeria (b. 1951) * 2011 – Claude Choules, English-Australian World War I veteran (b. 1901) * 2011 – Arthur Laurents, American playwright (b. 1917) * 2012 - Count Carl Johan Bernadotte of Wisborg, Swedish royal, uncle of Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and Margrethe II of Denmark (b. 1916) * 2013 - Sarah Kirsch, German poet (b. 1935) * 2014 - Eduardo Mac Entyre, Argentine artist (b. 1929) * 2014 - Billy Frank, Jr., American activist (b. 1931) * 2014 - Butler Derrick, American politician (b. 1936) * 2015 - Hans Jansen, Dutch politician (b. 1942) * 2015 - Oscar Holderer, German rocket scientist (b. 1919) * 2015 - Craig Gruber, American musician (b. 1951) * 2015 - Brian Sedgemore, British politician (b. 1937) * 2015 - Jon Castañares, Spanish economist and politician (b. 1925) * 2016 - Sylvia Kauders, American actress (b. 1921) * 2016 - Siné, French cartoonist (b. 1928) * 2016 - Isao Tomita, Japanese musician and composer (b. 1932) * 2017 - Buhe, Chinese politician (b. 1926) * 2017 - Benny Elon, Israeli politician (b. 1954) * 2017 - Corinne Erhel, French politician (b. 1967) * 2017 - Amancio Escapa Aparicio, Spanish-Dominican prelate (b. 1938) * 2017 - Almir Guineto, Brazilian singer- songwriter (b. 1946) * 2017 - Adolph Kiefer, American swimmer (b. 1918) * 2017 - Leila Seth, Indian judge (b. 1930) * 2017 - Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, President of Mauritania (b. 1953) * 2018 - Michele Castoro, Italian Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1952) * 2018 - Wilson Frost, American politician (b. 1925) * 2018 - Ermanno Olmi, Italian film director and screenwriter (b. 1931) * 2018 - Klaus Dede, German writer and journalist (b. 1935) * 2018 - Stanley Falkow, American microbiologist (b. 1934) * 2018 - José María Iñigo, Spanish journalist and commentator (b. 1942) * 2018 - Boyan Petrov, Bulgarian zoologist and mountaineer (b. 1973) * 2019 - Barbara Perry, American actress (b. 1921) * 2019 - Shih Chi-yang, Taiwanese politician (b. 1935) * 2019 - Norma Miller, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1919) == Observances == * Cinco de Mayo (Mexico and United States) * Liberation Day (Denmark and Netherlands) * Children's Day (Japan) * Children's Day (South Korea) * Coronation Day (Thailand) * Patriots' Victory Day (Ethiopia) * Martyrs' Day (Albania) * Constitution Day (Kyrgyzstan) * Lusophone Culture Day in Portuguese-speaking countries * Europe Day May 05