May 29



Events

Up to 1900 
 1176 - Battle of Legnano: The Lombard League defeats Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor.
 1328 – Philip VI of France is crowned King.
 1453 - Fall of Constantinople: Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih captures Constantinople after a 53-day siege, ending the Byzantine Empire.
 1613 - Heavy flooding in Thuringia kills 2,261 people.
 1660 – Charles II becomes King of England, Scotland and Ireland as the monarchy is restored.
 1677 - The Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the Virginia colonists and the local Native Americans.
 1717 - The Spanish colonists create the Viceroyalty of New Granada, consisting of present-day Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela, as well as areas that are now part of Peru and Guyana.
 1727 – Peter II becomes Tsar of Russia.
 1780 - American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of the Waxhaws, the British continue attacking after the Continentals lay down their arms, killing 113.
 1790 – Rhode Island becomes the 13th State of the US.
 1798 - United Irishmen Rebellion: Between 300 and 500 United Irishmen are massacred by the British Army in County Kildare, Ireland.
 1825 - King Charles X of France crowns himself in Reims.
 1848 – Wisconsin becomes the 30th State of the US.
 1852 - Operatic singer Jenny Lind leaves New York City after a two-year tour of the United States.
 1867 – The Austro-Hungarian compromise establishes the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria becomes King of Hungary on June 8.
 1886 – Chemist John Pemberton advertises Coca-Cola in the Atlanta Journal.
 1900 - N'Djamena is founded as Fort Lamy by French commander Emile Gentil.

1901  2000 
 1913 - Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring receives its first performance in Paris, with a riot later occurring.
 1914 – The Ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sinks in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, killing 1,024 people.
 1917 – John F. Kennedy is born in Brookline, Massachusetts.
 1918 - The current Flag of Finland is introduced.
 1918 - Armenia defeats the Ottoman Army in the Battle of Sardarabad.
 1919 - Albert Einstein's theory of General Relativity is tested by Arthur Eddington and Andrew Claude de la Cherois.
 1931 - Michele Schirru, a US citizen, is executed by an Italian military firing squad for intent to kill Benito Mussolini.
 1935 - The Messerschmidt Bf 109 fighter aircraft has its first flight.
 1939 - Albanian Fascist leader Tefik Mborja is appointed as member of the Italian Chamber of Fasces and Corporations.
 1942 - Bing Crosby, the Ken Darby singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra record Irving Berlin's song White Christmas, which later becomes the best-selling Christmas single ever.
 1948 - Creation of the UN peacekeeping force, the UN Truce Supervision Organization.
 1953 – Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary become the first humans to reach the top of Mount Everest.
 1954 - The first of the yearly Bilderberg conferences takes place.
 1964 - The Arab League meets in East Jerusalem to discuss the Palestinian question, leading to the formation of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
 1966 - The Azteca Stadium opens in Mexico City and has a capacity of 105,000. It goes on to host the final of the FIFA World Cup on two occasions, in 1970 and 1986.
 1973 – Tom Bradley is elected the first African American Mayor of Los Angeles.
 1974 - Yitzhak Rabin replaces Golda Meir as Prime Minister of Israel.
 1982 - Falklands War: British forces defeat the Argentines at the Battle of Goose Green.
 1982 – Pope John Paul II visits Canterbury cathedral.
 1985 – One of Europe's worst ever stadium disasters occurs after a riot at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, in which 39 people are killed. As a result, English football teams are banned from European Competition - the ban is removed a few years later.
 1985 - Amputee Steve Fonyo completes a cross-Canada marathon in Victoria, British Columbia, after 14 months.
 1986 - The current 12-star Flag of the European Union is first raised in Brussels.
 1988 - US President Ronald Reagan begins his first official visit to the Soviet Union, to meet with Mikhail Gorbachev.
 1990 - The Russian parliament elects Boris Yeltsin as President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
 1994 – East Germany's former leader Erich Honecker dies in Santiago, Chile, at the age of 81.
 1999 – Olusegun Obasanjo becomes President of Nigeria.
 1999 – The Space Shuttle Discovery completes its first docking with the International Space Station.

From 2001 
 2004 - The US National World War II Memorial is unveiled in Washington, DC.
 2005 – In a referendum, 54.8% of voters in France reject the proposed new European Constitution. Voters in the Netherlands also reject the Constitution by a majority a few days later.
 2008 - 30 people are injured by a magnitude 6.1 earthquake in Selfoss, Iceland.
 2010 – Tropical storm Agatha kills 180 people in Guatemala. During the storm, a large sinkhole opens up in the middle of Guatemala City.
 2010 – Lena Meyer-Landrut of Germany wins the 55th Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo, Norway, with the song "Satellite".
 2012 - A magnitude 5.8 earthquake hits Northern Italy near Bologna, killing at least 24 people.
 2012 - Mitt Romney secures the Republican Party nomination for the US presidential election, in which he is defeated by incumbent Barack Obama on November 6.
 2013 - The first same-sex marriage in France takes place.
 2015 - Muhammadu Buhari takes office as President of Nigeria.
 2015 - Sepp Blatter is controversially re-elected President of FIFA in a week of scandal at football's world governing body. He announces his resignation four days later.
 2018 - 2018 Liège attack: A gunman kills 3 people (including two female police officers) in the Belgian city of Liège before being killed by police.
 2018 - Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko is initially reported to have been shot dead, but appears alive at a press conference the following day; the Ukrainian secret services say they had faked his murder to prevent an attempt on his life.
 2018 - US TV network ABC cancels the recently returned show Roseanne after a row erupts over its main star Roseanne Barr's Twitter comments.

Births

Up to 1900 
 1265 – Dante Alighieri, Italian poet (d. 1321)
 1439 - Pope Pius III (d. 1503)
 1594 - Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim, Bavarian field marshal (d. 1632)
 1627 - Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier, French aristocrat (d. 1693)
 1630 – Charles II, King of England, Ireland and Scotland (d. 1685)
 1675 - Humphry Ditton, English mathematician (d. 1715)
 1716 - Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton, French botanist (d. 1800)
 1736 – Patrick Henry, 1st Governor of Virginia (d. 1799)
 1773 – Princess Sophia of Gloucester (d. 1844)
 1780 - Henri Braconnot, French chemist and pharmacist (d. 1855)
 1794 - Johann Heinrich von Madler, German astronomer (d. 1874)
 1823 - John H. Balsley, American carpenter and inventor (d. 1895)
 1830 - Louise Michel, French writer and anarchist (d. 1905)
 1860 – Isaac Albéniz, Spanish composer (d. 1909)
 1868 - Abdülmecid II, last Caliph of the Ottoman Dynasty (d. 1944)
 1871 - Clark Greenwood Voorhees, American painter (d. 1933)
 1873 - Rudolf Tobias, Estonian composer (d. 1918)
 1874 – G. K. Chesterton, English novelist (d. 1936)
 1880 – Oswald Spengler, German philosopher (d. 1936)
 1892 - Alfonsina Storni, Swiss-Argentine poet (d. 1938)
 1893 - Max Brand, American writer (d. 1944)
 1894 - Beatrice Lillie, Canadian actress (d. 1989)
 1894 - Josef von Sternberg, Austrian-American director, producer and screenwriter (d. 1969)
 1897 - Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Austrian composer (d. 1957)
 1899 - Douglas Abbott, Canadian politician (d. 1987)

1901  1950 
 1903 – Bob Hope, British-born American comedian and actor (d. 2003)
 1904 – Gregg Toland, American cameraman (d. 1948)
 1905 – Sebastian Shaw, English actor, director and playwright (d. 1994)
 1906 – T. H. White, English writer (d. 1964)
 1911 – Armida, Mexican-American actress, singer and dancer (d. 1989)
 1914 – Stacy Keach, Sr., American actor (d. 2003)
 1914 – Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese mountain guide, reached the top of Mount Everest with Edmund Hillary (d. 1986)
 1917 – John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (d. 1963)
 1919 – Jacques Genest, Canadian physician
 1920 – John Harsanyi, Hungarian-born economist (d. 2000)
 1923 – Bernard Clavel, French writer (d. 2010)
 1924 – Lars Bo, Danish writer and artist (d. 1999)
 1924 – Behjat Sadr, Iranian painter (d. 2009)
 1926 – Katie Boyle, British actress and television presenter (d. 2018)
 1926 – Charles Denner, French actor (d. 1995)
 1926 – Abdoulaye Wade, former President of Senegal
 1928 – Jacques Taminiaux, Belgian philosopher
 1929 – Peter Higgs, British physicist (Higgs boson) and Nobel Prize in Physics winner
 1929 – Harry Frankfurt, American philosopher
 1932 – Richie Guerin, American basketball player
 1932 – Paul R. Ehrlich, American biologist and writer
 1933 – Helmuth Rilling, German choral conductor and teacher
 1934 – Bill Vander Zalm, Dutch-Canadian politician, 28th Premier of British Columbia
 1935 – André Brink, South African writer (d. 2015)
 1937 – Jasper Griffin, English classical philologist
 1937 – Hibari Misora, Japanese actress (d. 1989)
 1937 – Alwin Schockemöhle, German showjumper
 1938 – Christopher Bland, British businessman and politician (d. 2017)
 1939 – Al Unser, American racing driver
 1940 – Farooq Leghari, President of Pakistan (d. 2010)
 1940 – Taiho Koki, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 2013)
 1941 – Doug Scott, English mountaineer
 1941 – Bob Simon, American television correspondent (d. 2015)
 1942 – Pierre Bourque, Canadian politician, 40th Mayor of Montreal
 1942 – Kevin Conway, American actor
 1944 – Bob Benmosche, American businessman (d. 2015)
 1944 – Maurice Bishop, Prime Minister of Grenada (d. 1983)
 1944 – Quentin Davies, Baron Davies of Stamford, English politician
 1945 – Gary Brooker, English singer-songwriter and pianist
 1945 – Peter Fraser, Baron Fraser of Carmyllie, Scottish politician (d. 2013)
 1945 – Catherine Lara, French singer-songwriter and violinist
 1947 – Anthony Geary, American actor
 1947 – Joey Levine, American singer-songwriter and producer
 1947 – Gene Robinson, American bishop
 1947 – Constantino Romero, Spanish radio host and actor (d. 2013)
 1948 – Nick Mancuso, Italian-Canadian actor
 1949 – Robert Axelrod, American actor
 1949 – Francis Rossi, English musician (Status Quo)
 1950 – Rebbie Jackson, American singer

1951  1975 
 1951 - Peter Chernin, President of News Corporation
 1952 - Zeituni Onyango, Kenyan-American computer programmer (d. 2014)
 1953 - Aleksandr Abdulov, Russian actor and director (d. 2008)
 1953 – Danny Elfman, American singer, composer, musician ("Oingo Boingo")
 1955 - Carme Forcadell, Catalan politician
 1955 - Gordon Rintoul, Director of the National Museums of Scotland
 1955 - Mike Porcaro, American musician (Toto) (d. 2015)
 1955 – John Hinckley, Jr., American attempted assassin
 1956 – La Toya Jackson, American singer
 1956 - Mark Lyall Grant, English diplomat, UK Ambassador to the United Nations
 1956 - Bjarni Fridriksson, Icelandic judoka
 1957 - Ted Levine, American actor
 1958 - Karen Maruyama, Japanese-American actress
 1958 - Mike Stenhouse, American baseball player
 1958 - Wayne Duvall, American actor
 1958 – Annette Bening, American actress
 1959 – Rupert Everett, English actor
 1959 - Steve Hanley, Irish-English bass player and songwriter
 1961 - Melissa Etheridge, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and activist
 1962 - Fandi Ahmad, Singaporean footballer, coach and manager
 1962 - Carol Kirkwood, Scottish weather presenter
 1962 - Semino Rossi, Argentine-Italian singer
 1963 - Blaze Bayley, English singer-songwriter (Iron Maiden)
 1967 – Noel Gallagher, English musician (Oasis)
 1970 - Roberto Di Matteo, Italian footballer and manager
 1971 - Rob Womack, British paralympic athlete
 1972 - Stanislas, French singer-songwriter
 1972 - Bill Curley, American basketball player
 1972 - Simon Jones, British singer and bass player
 1975 – Melanie Brown, English singer (Spice Girls)
 1975 - Sarah Millican, English comedienne

From 1976 
 1976 - Yegor Titov, Russian footballer
 1977 – Massimo Ambrosini, Italian footballer
 1977 – Marco Cassetti, Italian footballer
 1977 - Antonio Lebo Lebo, Angolan footballer
 1978 - Pelle Almqvist, Swedish singer-songwriter and bass player (The Hives)
 1978 – Sébastien Grosjean, French tennis player
 1978 - Lorenzo Odone, Italian Adrenoleukodystrophy patient (d. 2008)
 1978 - Adam Rickitt, English singer and actor
 1979 – Arne Friedrich, German footballer
 1979 - Brian Kendrick, American professional wrestler
 1979 - Fonseca, Colombian singer
 1981 – Andrei Arshavin, Russian footballer
 1982 - Ana Beatriz Barros, Brazilian model
 1982 - Joanne Borgella, American singer and model (d. 2014)
 1982 – Anita Briem, Icelandic actress
 1982 - Bjarte Myrhol, Norwegian handball player
 1983 - Jean Makoun, Cameroonian footballer
 1984 – Carmelo Anthony, American NBA basketball player
 1985 - Hernanes, Brazilian footballer
 1986 - Hornswoggle, American professional wrestler
 1987 - Alessandra Torresani, American actress
 1988 - Cheng Fei, Chinese gymnast
 1988 - Steve Mason, Canadian ice hockey goaltender
 1988 - Muath Al-Kasasbeh, Jordanian air force pilot (d. 2015)
 1989 - Riley Keough, American model and actress
 1989 - Brandon Mychal Smith, American actor, singer and dancer
 1992 - Gregg Sulkin, British actor
 1998 - Lucia Gil, Spanish singer and actress

Deaths

Up to 1950 
 1259 – King Christopher I of Denmark (b. 1219)
 1379 - Henry II of Castile (b. 1334)
 1425 – Hongxi Emperor of China (b. 1378)
 1453 - Constantine XI Palaiologus, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1404)
 1500 - Bartolomeu Dias, Portuguese explorer (b. 1451)
 1546 - David Beaton, Scottish cardinal and politician (b. 1494)
 1814 – Josephine de Beauharnais, Empress of France (b. 1763)
 1829 – Humphrey Davy, British chemist (b. 1778)
 1866 – Winfield Scott, American general (b. 1786)
 1868 – Michael Obrenovich III of Serbia (b. 1823)
 1883 - Princess Marianne of the Netherlands (b. 1810)
 1892 – Baha'u'llah, founder of the Baha'i religion (b. 1817)
 1903 - Bruce Price, American architect (b. 1845)
 1910 - Mily Balakirev, Russian pianist, composer and conductor (b. 1837)
 1911 - W. S. Gilbert, English playwright and poet (b. 1836)
 1919 – Robert Bacon, 39th United States Secretary of State (b. 1860)
 1931 - Michele Schirru, US citizen executed by an Italian military firing squad
 1935 - Josef Suk, Czech violinist and composer (b. 1874)
 1939 - Ursula Ledochowska, Austrian-Polish nun and saint (b. 1865)
 1942 - John Barrymore, American actor (b. 1882)
 1948 - May Whitty, English actress (b. 1865)

1951  2010 
 1951 – Fanny Brice, American singer and comedienne (b. 1891)
 1958 – Juan Ramon Jimenez, Spanish writer (b. 1881)
 1972 - Prithviraj Kapoor, Indian actor (b. 1901)
 1973 - P. Ramlee, Malaysian actor, director, producer and composer (b. 1929)
 1973 - George Harriman, English rugby player and managing director (b. 1908)
 1977 - Ba Maw, Prime Minister of Burma (b. 1893)
 1979 – Mary Pickford, Canadian-born actress (b. 1892)
 1982 – Romy Schneider, Austrian-French actress (b. 1938)
 1987 - Charan Singh, 5th Prime Minister of India (b. 1902)
 1988 - Siaka Stevens, President of Sierra Leone (b. 1905)
 1989 - John Cipollina, American guitarist (b. 1943)
 1994 – Erich Honecker, East German political leader (b. 1913)
 1996 - Tamara Toumanova, Russian-American ballerina and actress (b. 1919)
 1997 – Jeff Buckley, American musician (b. 1966)
 1998 – Barry Goldwater, United States Senator (b. 1909)
 2004 - Archibald Cox, American lawyer and politician (b. 1912)
 2008 – Luc Bourdon, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1987)
 2009 – Karine Ruby, French snowboarder (b. 1978)
 2010 – Dennis Hopper, American actor (b. 1936)

From 2011 
 2011 – Sergei Bagapsh, President of Abkhazia (b. 1949)
 2011 – Ferenc Madl, President of Hungary (b. 1931)
 2011 - Bill Clements, 42nd Governor of Texas (b. 1917)
 2012 - Kaneto Shindo, Japanese director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1912)
 2012 - Doc Watson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1923)
 2013 - Mulgrew Miller, American pianist (b. 1955)
 2013 - Franca Rame, Italian actress (b. 1929)
 2014 - Karlheinz Böhm, Austrian-German actor (b. 1928)
 2014 - Walter Jakob Gehring, Swiss developmental biologist (b. 1939)
 2014 - Christine Charbonneau, Canadian singer and songwriter (b. 1943)
 2015 - Bruno Pesaola, Italian footballer (b. 1925)
 2015 - Ed Gilligan, American financial executive, President of American Express (b. 1960)
 2015 - Doris Hart, American tennis player (b. 1925)
 2015 - Betsy Palmer, American actress (b. 1926)
 2016 - Ralph Ketner, American businessman (b. 1920)
 2016 - T. Marshall Hahn, American academic administrator (b. 1926)
 2016 - Don McNay, American financial writer and columnist (b. 1959)
 2017 - Konstantinos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1918)
 2017 - Manuel Noriega, Panamanian military leader (b. 1934)
 2017 - Mordechai Tzipori, Israeli general and politician (b. 1924)
 2017 - Michael A'Hearn, American astronomer (b. 1940)
 2018 - Yoseph Imry, Israeli physicist (b. 1939)

Observances 
 Democracy Day (Nigeria)
 International UN Peacekeepers Day
 Oak Apple Day (England)
 Statehood Day (Rhode Island and Wisconsin)

Days of the year