Events

Up to 1900 
 238 - Year of the Six Emperors: The Roman Senate outlaws Emperor Maximus Thrax for his bloodthirsty proscriptions in Rome and nominates two of its members, Pupienus and Balbinus, to the throne.
 1500 – Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral becomes the first European to sight Brazil.
 1509 – Henry VIII ascends the throne of England after the death of his father.
 1519 - Hernan Cortes establishes a settlement in Veracruz, Mexico.
 1529 – The Treaty of Zaragoza divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal along a line 297.5 leagues or 17° east of the Moluccas.
 1836 – Texas Revolution: A day after the Battle of San Jacinto forces under Texas General Sam Houston capture Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
 1863 – American Civil War: Grierson's Raid begins – troops under Union Colonel Benjamin Grierson attack central Mississippi.
 1864 – The United States Congress passes the Coinage Act which mandates that the inscription "In God We Trust" be placed on all coins minted as United States currency.
 1876 - The first-ever National League baseball game is played.
 1889 – Oklahoma land rush: President of the United States Benjamin Harrison opens the Unassigned Lands in what is now central Oklahoma to white settlement.
 1898 – Spanish-American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports and the USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship.

1901  2000 
 1906 - Start of the 1906 Summer Olympics in Athens. They are not officially counted as part of the modern Olympic Games.
 1906 - End of the Mount Vesuvius eruption that started on April 4. In total, 1,000 people are estimated to have died as a result of the effects from the eruption.
 1911 - Tsinghua University, one of China's top universities, is founded.
 1912 - Pravda begins publication in Saint Petersburg, known as the "voice" of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
 1914 – Babe Ruth, age 19, pitches his first professional game for the minor league Baltimore Orioles.
 1915 – The use of poison gas in World War I escalates when chlorine gas is released as a chemical weapon in the Second Battle of Ypres.
 1930 – The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding.
 1943 – Albert Hofmann writes his first report about the hallucinogenic properties of LSD.
 1944 – World War II: Operation Persecution initiated – Allied forces land in the Hollandia area of New Guinea.
 1945 – World War II: After learning that Soviet forces have taken Eberswalde without a fight, Adolf Hitler admits defeat in his underground bunker and states that suicide is his only recourse.
 1946 – The first installment of the popular Japanese comic strip, Sazae-san, is published in the Fukunichi Shimbun.
 1948 - 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Haifa is captured from Arab forces.
 1954 – Red Scare: Army-McCarthy Hearings begin.
 1964 – The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair opens for its first season.
 1969 - British yachtsman Robin Knox-Johnston completes the first solo round-the-world journey.
 1970 – The first Earth Day is celebrated.
 1971 – John Kerry, dressed in combat fatigues, testifies on his views of the Vietnam War before the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
 1972 – Vietnam War: Increased American bombing in Vietnam prompts antiwar protests in New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
 1974 - A PanAm Boeing 707 crashes into a mountain on Bali, as it approaches to land. All 107 people on board are killed.
 1975 – Barbara Walters signs a five-year $5 million contract with the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), becoming the highest paid television newsperson.
 1978 – The Blues Brothers make their first appearance on Saturday Night Live.
 1979 – Brent Mydland performs his first show with the Grateful Dead at Spartan Stadium, San Jose, California.
 1980 - Filipino ferry Don Juan sinks after a collision with a tanker.
 1991 - A magnitude 7.5 earthquake in Costa Rica kills 47 people.
 1992 – Several explosions in underground canals in Guadalajara, Mexico, kill 200 people.
 1993 – In Washington, DC, the Holocaust Memorial Museum is dedicated.
 1993 – The web browser Mosaic version 1.0 is released.
 1993 - The racially motivated murder of 18-year-old Stephen Lawrence is committed in Southeast London.
 1996 – Cisco Systems acquires StrataCom for $4B
 1997 – Haouch Khemisti massacre in Algeria; 93 villagers killed.
 1997 – A 126-day hostage crisis at the residence of the Japanese ambassador in Lima, Peru ends after government commandos storm and capture the building, rescuing 71 hostages. One hostage dies of a heart attack, two soldiers are killed from rebel fire, and all 14 rebels are slain.
 1998 - Disney's Animal Kingdom opens in Florida.
 2000 – In a predawn raid, federal agents seize six-year-old Elián González from his relatives' home in Miami, Florida.
 2000 – The Big Number Change takes place in the United Kingdom.

From 2001 
 2001 - Hasim Rahman defeats the highly favored Lennox Lewis to win the boxing heavyweight title.
 2004 – Two fuel trains collide in Ryongchon, North Korea, killing up to 150 people.
 2005 – Mordechai Vanunu is installed as Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow.
 2010 – Deepwater Horizon oil spill: After an explosion two days earlier, and a subsequent fire, the BP and Transocean operated drilling rig Deepwater Horizon sinks. 11 people are killed, and the worst oil spill in US history is caused.
 2012 – French Presidential Election: Incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy goes through to the second round on May 6, along with François Hollande, who finishes ahead of him. Hollande defeats Sarkozy in the run-off on May 6.
 2018 - A bomb attack on a voter registration centre in Kabul, Afghanistan, kills at least 57 people.

Births

Up to 1800 
 596 – Empress Kotoku of Japan (d. 654)
 1444 - Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk (d. 1503)
 1451 – Isabella I of Castile (d. 1504)
 1610 – Pope Alexander VIII (d. 1691)
 1658 - Giuseppe Torelli, Italian composer (d. 1709)
 1690 - John Garteret, 2nd Earl Granville, English statesman (d. 1763)
 1707 – Henry Fielding, English writer (d. 1754)
 1724 – Immanuel Kant, Prussian philosopher (d. 1804)
 1744 – James Sullivan, 7th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1808)
 1757 - Alessandro Rolla, Italian composer and music teacher (d. 1841)
 1766 – Madame de Staël, French writer (d. 1817)

1801  1900 
 1812 – Solomon Caesar Malan, orientalist (d. 1894)
 1812 - James Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie, Scottish Governor-General of India (d. 1860)
 1832 - Julius Sterling Morton, American politician (d. 1902)
 1840 – Odilon Redon, French painter (d. 1916)
 1844 – Lewis Powell, American attempted assassin (d. 1865)
 1852 – Guillaume IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (d. 1912)
 1854 – Henri La Fontaine, Belgian lawyer (d. 1943)
 1866 - Hans von Seeckt, German military officer and politician (d. 1936)
 1868 – Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria (d. 1924)
 1870 (N.S.) - Vladimir Lenin, Soviet-Russian Communist revolutionary and political leader (d. 1924)
 1872 - Princess Margaret of Prussia (d. 1954)
 1873 – Ellen Glasgow, American writer (d. 1945)
 1873 – Luigi Lucheni, Italian anarchist (d. 1910)
 1876 – Róbert Bárány, Austrian Nobel Prize winner in medicine (d. 1936)
 1881 – Alexander Kerensky, Russian politician (d. 1970)
 1884 - Otto Rank, Austrian psychologist (d. 1939)
 1891 – Harold Jeffreys, English astronomer (d. 1989)
 1891 – Nicola Sacco, anarchist (d. 1927)
 1899 – Vladimir Nabokov, Russian writer (d. 1977)

1901  1925 
 1902 - Megan Lloyd George, Welsh politician (d. 1966)
 1903 - Daphne Akhurst, Australian tennis player (d. 1930)
 1904 – J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist (d. 1967)
 1906 – Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Vasterbotten, Swedish royal, father of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden (d. 1947)
 1906 – Snorri Hjartarson, Icelandic writer (d. 1986)
 1906 – Eddie Albert, American actor (d. 2005)
 1908 - Ivan Yefremov, Russian paleontologist and science fiction writer (d. 1972)
 1909 – Rita Levi-Montalcini, Italian neurologist, Nobel Prize winner (d. 2012)
 1909 - Indro Montanelli, Italian journalist, writer and historian (d. 2001)
 1910 – Norman Steenrod, American mathematician (d. 1971)
 1912 - Kaneto Shindo, Japanese director (d. 2012)
 1912 – Kathleen Ferrier, English contralto (d. 1953)
 1914 – Jan de Hartog, Dutch writer (d. 2002)
 1916 – Yehudi Menuhin, American-born violinist (d. 1999)
 1917 – Sidney Nolan, Australian painter (d. 1992)
 1917 - Yvette Chauviré, French actress and ballerina (d. 2016)
 1918 - William Jay Smith, American poet (d. 2015)
 1919 - Antonio Nirta, Italian criminal (d. 2015)
 1919 – Donald J. Cram, American chemist (d. 2001)
 1922 – Charles Mingus, American jazz musician (d. 1979)
 1922 – Wolf V. Vishniac, American microbiologist (d. 1973)
 1923 – Bettie Page, American pin-up model (d. 2008)
 1923 – Aaron Spelling, American television producer, writer (d. 2006)
 1923 - Paula Fox, American writer (d. 2017)
 1924 - Nam Duck-woo, 12th Prime Minister of South Korea (d. 2013)
 1925 - George Cole, English actor (d. 2015)

1926  1950 
 1926 – James Stirling, British architect (d. 1992)
 1926 - Ted Hibberd, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2017)
 1926 – Charlotte Rae, American actress (d. 2018)
 1929 - Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Cuban writer (d. 2005)
 1930 - Enno Penno, Estonian politician (d. 2016)
 1931 - John Buchanan, Canadian politician, 20th Premier of Nova Scotia
 1932 - Isao Tomita, Japanese musician and composer (d. 2016)
 1933 - Mark Damon, American movie actor and producer
 1933 - Anthony Llewellyn, Welsh-American astronaut (d. 2013)
 1935 - Mario Machado, Chinese-American journalist and actor (d. 2013)
 1936 – Glen Campbell, American musician and singer (d. 2017)
 1937 – Jack Nicholson, American actor
 1937 – Jack Nitzsche, American composer, arranger (d. 2000)
 1939 – Theo Waigel, German politician
 1939 - John Chilcot, English civil servant
 1939 – Jason Miller, American playwright (d. 2001)
 1939 - Mel Carter, American singer and actor
 1942 - Giorgio Agamben, Italian philosopher
 1943 – Louise Glück, American poet
 1944 - Doug Jarrett, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2014)
 1944 – Steve Fossett, American millionaire and adventurer (d. 2007)
 1945 - Demetrio Stratos, Italian musician (d. 1979)
 1945 - Gopal Krishna Gandhi, Indian politician, 22nd Governor of West Bengal
 1946 – John Waters, American movie maker
 1947 - Barry Guy, British composer and musician
 1947 - Neil Horan, Irish priest
 1950 – Peter Frampton, English musician

1951  1975 
 1951 – Robin Bartlett, American actress
 1952 – Marilyn Chambers, American erotic actress (d. 2009)
 1953 - Valeri Bondarenko, Estonian footballer and coach
 1954 – Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago
 1957 – Donald Tusk, President of the European Council and former Prime Minister of Poland
 1959 – Ryan Stiles, Canadian-American actor, comedian
 1959 - Catherine Mary Stewart, Canadian actress
 1959 - Terry Francona, American baseball player, coach and manager
 1960 – Mart Laar, former Prime Minister of Estonia
 1960 - Gary Rhodes, English chef
 1961 - Ann McKechin, Scottish politician
 1963 - Sean Lock, English comedian and actor
 1964 - James Langevin, American politician
 1964 - Massimo Carrera, Italian footballer
 1967 - Sherri Shepherd, American comedienne, actress and talk show host
 1967 – Sheryl Lee, American actress
 1969 – Dion Dublin, English footballer
 1969 - Billy McKinlay, Scottish footballer
 1969 - Vanessa Goodwin, Australian politician (d. 2018)
 1970 - Regine Velasquez, Filipino singer, actress and producer
 1971 – Eric Mabius, American actor
 1971 – Anwar al-Awlaki, American-born Yemeni terrorist (d. 2011)
 1972 - Anna Falchi, Finnish-Italian actress
 1973 - Brian Marshall, American musician
 1974 – Shavo Odadjian, Armenian-born bassist for System of a Down

From 1976 
 1977 – Mark van Bommel, Dutch footballer
 1977 - Ambra Angiolini, Italian actress
 1979 – Zoltán Gera, Hungarian footballer
 1981 - Jonathan Trott, South African-English cricketer
 1982 – Kaka, Brazilian footballer
 1982 - Cassidy Freeman, American actress, singer and musician
 1983 - Jos Hooiveld, Dutch footballer
 1983 - Daniel Sjolund, Finnish footballer
 1983 - Francis Capra, American actor
 1984 – Amelle Berrabah, English singer (Sugababes)
 1984 – Michelle Ryan, English actress
 1986 – Amber Heard, American actress
 1986 - Kim Noorda, Dutch model
 1987 – David Luiz, Brazilian footballer
 1987 – Mikel John Obi, Nigerian footballer
 1989 - Louis Smith, English gymnast
 1989 - Thomas James Longley, English actor and model
 1989 - Jasper Cillessen, Dutch footballer
 1990 - Victor Dubuisson, French cyclist
 1990 - Machine Gun Kelly, American rapper
 1990 – Eve Muirhead, Scottish curler
 1992 - Rolene Strauss, South African model
 1996 - Wendy Sulca, Peruvian singer

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 296 – Pope Caius
 536 – Pope Agapetus I
 1592 – Bartolomeo Ammanati, Italian architect and sculptor (b. 1511)
 1672 – Georg Stiernhielm, Swedish poet (b. 1598)
 1699 – Hans Erasmus Aßmann, Freiherr von Abschatz, German statesman and poet (b. 1646)
 1758 – Antoine de Jussieu, French naturalist (b. 1686)
 1778 - James Hargreaves, English inventor (b. 1720)
 1806 – Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, French admiral (stabbed) (b. 1763)
 1827 – Thomas Rowlandson, English painter and caricaturist (b. 1756)
 1833 – Richard Trevithick, English inventor (b. 1771)
 1854 - Nicolas Bravo, 11th President of Mexico (b. 1786)
 1884 - Marie Taglioni, Swedish ballerina (b. 1804)
 1892 – Edouard Lalo, French composer (b. 1823)
 1893 – Chaim Aronson, Lithuanian inventor and academic (b. 1825)
 1896 – Thomas Meik, British civil engineer (b. 1812)

1901  2000 
 1908 – Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1836)
 1925 – André Caplet, French composer (b. 1878)
 1930 – Jeppe Aakjaer, Danish poet and novelist (b. 1866)
 1933 – Henry Royce, British automobile manufacturer (b. 1863)
 1945 – Käthe Kollwitz, German artist (b. 1867)
 1946 – Harlan F. Stone, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (b. 1872)
 1951 – Horace Donisthorpe, British entomologist (b. 1870)
 1968 – Stephen H. Sholes, American recording executive (b. 1911)
 1978 – Will Geer, American actor and activist (b. 1902)
 1980 – Fritz Strassmann, German physicist (b. 1902)
 1980 - Jane Froman, American actress (b. 1907)
 1983 – Earl "Fatha" Hines, American jazz pianist (b. 1903)
 1984 – Ansel Adams, American photographer (b. 1902)
 1986 – Mircea Eliade, Romanian writer and philosopher (b. 1907)
 1989 - Emilio G. Segre, Italian-American physicist (b. 1905)
 1990 - Albert Salmi, American actor (b. 1928)
 1993 - Stephen Lawrence, English student (b. 1974)
 1994 – Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States (b. 1913)
 1995 – Maggie Kuhn, American activist (b. 1905)
 1996 – Erma Bombeck, American humorist and writer (b. 1927)
 1999 - Apostolos Nikolaidis, Greek singer (b. 1938)

From 2001 
 2002 – Linda Lovelace, American actress (b. 1949)
 2003 – Martha Griffiths, U.S. Congresswoman (b. 1912)
 2003 – Michael Larrabee, American athlete (b. 1933)
 2004 – Pat Tillman, American football player and U.S. Army Ranger (killed in action) (b. 1976)
 2005 – Philip Morrison, American physicist (b. 1915)
 2005 – Eduardo Paolozzi, Scottish artist and sculptor (b. 1924)
 2006 - Alida Valli, Italian actress (b. 1921)
 2009 – Jack Cardiff, English director (b. 1914)
 2009 – Ken Annakin, English director (b. 1914)
 2013 - Richie Havens, American folk singer and guitarist (b. 1941)
 2013 - Vivi Bach, Danish actress (b. 1939)
 2014 - Oswaldo Vigas, Venezuelan painter (b. 1924)
 2015 - Lois Lilienstein, Canadian singer and musician (Sharon, Lois & Bram) (b. 1936)
 2015 - Dick Balharry, Scottish conservationist, writer and wildlife photographer (b. 1937)
 2015 - Gennadi Vengerov, Belarussian-born actor (b. 1959)
 2015 - Dorothy Custer, American comedienne (b. 1911)
 2016 - Jory Prum, American audio engineer and video game developer (b. 1975)
 2016 - Peter Sellers, New Zealand broadcaster (b. 1921)
 2017 - Hubert Dreyfus, American philosopher (b. 1929)
 2017 - William Hjortsberg, American writer and screenwriter (b. 1941)
 2017 - Jess Kersey, American basketball official (b. 1941)
 2017 - Erin Moran, American actress (b. 1960)
 2017 - Attilio Nicora, Italian cardinal (b. 1937)
 2017 - Witold Pyrkosz, Polish actor (b. 1926)
 2017 - Gustavo Rojo, Uruguayan actor (b. 1923)
 2017 - Michele Scarponi, Italian racing cyclist (b. 1979)
 2018 - Demeter Bitenc, Slovenian actor (b. 1922)
 2018 - Nino Khurtsidze, Georgian chess player (b. 1975)
 2018 - Dave Nelson, American baseball player (b. 1944)
 2019 - Krasimir Bezinski, Bulgarian footballer (b. 1961)
 2019 - Robert L. Butler, American politician (b. 1927)
 2019 - Heather Harper, Northern Irish soprano (b. 1930)
 2019 - Ventseslav Konstantinov, Bulgarian writer and translator (b. 1940)
 2019 - Le Duc Anh, former President of Vietnam (b. 1920)
 2019 - Billy McNeill, Scottish footballer (b. 1940)
 2019 - Oiva Toikka, Finnish glass designer (b. 1931)
 2019 - Julio César Toresani, Argentine footballer (b. 1967)

Observances 
 Arbor Day in parts of the United States
 Earth Day
 Discovery Day (Brazil)
 Stephen Lawrence Day (United Kingdom), to be observed from 2019

Days of the year