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