May 4

### Up to 1900

- 1415 – Religious reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus are condemned as heretics at the Council of Constance.
- 1436 – Assassination of Swedish rebel (later national hero) Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson.
- 1471 – Wars of the Roses: Battle of Tewkesbury – Edward IV of England defeats the Lancastrian Army under Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, who is killed in the battle.
- 1493 – Pope Alexander VI divides the "New World" between Spain and Portugal along the Line of Demarcation.
- 1626 – Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrives at the island that is now known as Manhattan.
- 1675 – Charles II of England orders the construction of the Greenwich Royal Observatory.
- 1776 – Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to withdraw its allegiance to King George III of Great Britain.
- 1780 – The first derby in horse racing is held at Epsom, England.
- 1799 – Fourth Anglo-Mysore War: Battle of Seringapatam – Siege of Seringatapatam ends with the city being invaded and Tipu Sultan being killed by the besieging British army under command of George Harris.
- 1814 – Napoleon I begins his exile on the Italian island of Elba.
- 1814 – Ferdinand VII returns Spain to absolute rule.
- 1859 – The Cornwall Railway opens across the Royal Albert Bridge, linking the counties of Devon and Cornwall in the Southwest of England.
- 1869 – The naval Battle of Hakodate is fought in Japan.
- 1886 – Haymarket Square Riot: A bomb is thrown at policemen trying to break up a labor rally in Chicago, killing 8 people and injuring 60. The police fire into the crowd.

### 1901 – 2000

- 1902 – Eight fishermen die in the Galway Bay drowning tragedy.
- 1904 – The construction of the Panama Canal begins.
- 1904 – German football club FC Schalke 04 is founded.
- 1910 – The Royal Canadian Navy is created.
- 1912 – Italy occupies the island of Rhodes.
- 1919 – May Fourth Movement: Student demonstrations take place in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, against the Treaty of Versailles, which would transfer Chinese territory to Japan.
- 1924 – The 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris begin.
- 1932 – Gangster Al Capone begins an eleven–year prison sentence for tax evasion.
- 1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea begins with an attack by aircraft from the US aircraft carrier USS _Yorktown_ on Japanese naval forces at Tulagi island in the Solomon Islands, which Japanese forces had invaded a day before.
- 1945 – World War II: British forces liberate Neuengamme Concentration camp near Hamburg.
- 1945 – World War II: At Lüneburg Heath, the North German army surrenders to British field marshal Bernard Montgomery.
- 1945 – World War II: Denmark is liberated.
- 1946 – United States Marines stop a two–day riot at Alcatraz, in which five people were killed.
- 1949 – In Italy, almost the whole entire Torino football team is killed in a plane crash.
- 1953 – Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.
- 1959 – The first Grammy Awards are given.
- 1961 – Civil rights: The "Freedom Riders" begin a bus trip through the Southern United States.
- 1970 – Kent State shootings: The Ohio National Guard opens fire on student anti–war demonstrators at Kent State University. Four students are killed, and nine students are injured.
- 1974 – An all–female Japanese team reaches the summit of Manaslu in the Himalayas. This is the first time that women have reached the top of a peak over 8000 metres high.
- 1979 – Margaret Thatcher becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- 1980 – Yugoslavia's President Josip Broz Tito dies in Ljubljana, at the age of 87.
- 1982 – Argentine bombers destroy the HMS Sheffield in the Falklands War, as 20 sailors are killed.
- 1988 – The PEPCON disaster rocks Henderson, Nevada, as tons of space shuttle fuel detonate during a fire.
- 1989 – Iran-Contra Affair: Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and acquitted of nine other charges. The convictions are later overturned.
- 1990 – Latvia declares independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1993 – A new democratic constitution takes effect in Andorra, ending its feudal system, which had lasted since 1278. It becomes a co–principality with the elected President of France and the Catalan Bishop of Urgel as joint heads of state, with an elected Prime Minister as Head of Government.
- 1994 – Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat sign a peace accord regarding Palestinian autonomy granting self–rule to Jericho and the Gaza Strip.
- 1998 – "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski is given four life sentences in prison.
- 2000 – Ken Livingstone becomes Mayor of London.

### From 2001

- 2001 – Guido Westerwelle becomes leader of Germany's Free Democratic Party.
- 2002 – A plane crash in a suburb of Kano, Nigeria kills more than 148 people.
- 2002 – NASA launches the satellite _Aqua_ to explore the role of water in Earth's ecosystem.
- 2007 – Greensburg, Kansas, is destroyed by a tornado.
- 2010 – The painting _Nude, Green Leaves and Bust_ by Pablo Picasso is sold at auction, at a record price for a work of art.
- 2018 – It is announced that the awarding of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature will be delayed until October 2019 because of a sexual harassment and corruption scandal at the Swedish Academy.
- 2019 – The first of three days of coronation ceremonies takes place for King Vajiralongkorn of Thailand.

### Up to 1900

- 1008 – King Henry I of France (d. 1060)
- 1649 – Chhatrasal, Indian warrior (d. 1731)
- 1654 – Kangxi Emperor of China (d. 1722)
- 1655 – Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian instrument maker (d. 1731)
- 1733 – Jean-Charles de Borda, French mathematician and physicist (d. 1799)
- 1752 – John Brooks, 11th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1825)
- 1767 – Tyagaraja, Indian composer (d. 1847)
- 1772 – Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus, German publisher (d. 1823)
- 1777 – Louis Jacques Thenard, French chemist (d. 1857)
- 1796 – Horace Mann, American educator (d. 1859)
- 1810 – Count Alexandre Joseph Colonna-Walewski, son of Napoleon Bonaparte (d. 1868)
- 1820 – Julia Gardiner Tyler, First Lady of the United States (d. 1889)
- 1822 – Charles Boucher de Boucherville, 3rd Premier of Quebec (d. 1915)
- 1825 – Thomas Henry Huxley, British biologist and educator (d. 1895)
- 1825 – Augustus Le Plongeon, British–American photographer and antiquarian (d. 1908)
- 1826 – Frederic Edwin Church, American painter (d. 1900)
- 1827 – John Hanning Speke, British explorer (d. 1864)
- 1845 – William Kingdon Clifford, British philosopher and mathematician (d. 1879)
- 1852 – Alice Pleasance Liddell, inspiration for Alice in Wonderland (d. 1934)
- 1864 – Marie Booth, English daughter of William Booth and Catherine Booth (d. 1937)
- 1870 – Alexandre Benois, Russian artist (d. 1960)
- 1872 – A. Mitchell Palmer, United States Attorney General (d. 1936)
- 1873 – Joe De Grasse, Canadian–American actor and director (d. 1940)
- 1875 – John J. Blaine, 24th Governor of Wisconsin (d. 1934)
- 1881 – Alexander Kerensky, Russian political figure (d. 1970)
- 1883 – Wang Jingwei, Chinese politician (d. 1944)
- 1887 – Andrew Dasburg, American painter (d. 1979)
- 1889 – Francis Spellman, American archbishop (d. 1967)
- 1890 – Franklin Carmichael, Canadian artist (d. 1945)
- 1895 – Cornelius Van Til, Dutch theologian (d. 1987)
- 1899 – Fritz von Opel, German industrialist, rocket pioneer and racing driver (d. 1971)

### 1901 – 1950

- 1903 – Luther Adler, American actor (d. 1984)
- 1904 – Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer (d. 1975) (official birthdate)
- 1907 – Walter Walsh, American FBI agent and Olympic shooter (d. 2014)
- 1907 – Lincoln Kirstein, American writer and impresario (d. 1996)
- 1913 – Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark (d. 2007)
- 1914 – Maedayama Eigoro, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1971)
- 1916 – Jane Jacobs, American–Canadian journalist, writer and activist (d. 2006)
- 1918 – Kakuei Tanaka, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1993)
- 1919 – Basil Yamey, South African economist
- 1921 – Harry K. Daghlian, Jr., American physicist (d. 1945)
- 1922 – Eugenie Clark, American icthyologist (d. 2015)
- 1922 – King Fleming, American jazz pianist (d. 2014)
- 1922 – John Paul Hammerschmidt, American politician (d. 2015)
- 1922 – Paul-Emile Charbonneau, Canadian bishop (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Eric Sykes, British comedian (d. 2012)
- 1925 – Luis Herrera Campins, former President of Venezuela (d. 2007)
- 1925 – Jeno Buzansky, Hungarian footballer (d. 2015)
- 1927 – Terry Scott, English actor (d. 1994)
- 1928 – Hosni Mubarak, former President of Egypt (d. 2020)
- 1928 – Maynard Ferguson, Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader (d. 2006)
- 1928 – Wolfgang von Trips, German racecar driver (d. 1961)
- 1929 – Sydney Lamb, American linguist and academic
- 1929 – Audrey Hepburn, Belgian–born British actress (d. 1993)
- 1929 – Manuel Contreras, Chilean general, convicted of crimes against humanity (d. 2015)
- 1930 – Katherine Jackson, mother of Jackson musical family
- 1930 – Roberta Peters, American soprano
- 1931 – Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Russian conductor
- 1934 – Tatiana Samoilova, Russian actress (d. 2014)
- 1935 – Don Friedman, American jazz pianist (d. 2016)
- 1937 – Ron Carter, American jazz musician
- 1938 – Carlos Monsiváis, Mexican writer and journalist (d. 2010)
- 1939 – Paul Gleason, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1940 – Robin Cook, American physician and writer
- 1940 – Sean Barrett, British voice actor
- 1943 – Georgi Asparuhov, Bulgarian footballer (d. 1971)
- 1943 – Mihail Chemyakin, Russian painter and sculptor
- 1944 – Russi Taylor, American voice actress
- 1944 – Monica Bleibtreu, Austrian actress (d. 2009)
- 1945 – Jan Mulder, Dutch footballer
- 1947 – Trivimi Velliste, Estonian politician
- 1947 – Richard Jenkins, American actor
- 1948 – George Tupou V, King of Tonga (d. 2012)
- 1949 – Stella Parton, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1950 – Darryl Hunt, musician

### 1951 – 1975

- 1951 – Jackie Jackson, American singer, member of the Jackson musical family
- 1951 – Gérard Jugnot, French actor and director
- 1951 – Mick Mars, American musician (Mötley Crüe)
- 1951 – Colleen Hanabusa, American politician
- 1953 – Oleta Adams, American singer and pianist
- 1954 – Pia Zadora, American actress and singer
- 1956 – Charlotte Green, English radio and television presenter
- 1956 – Michael L. Gernhardt, American engineer and astronaut
- 1956 – David Guterson, American novelist
- 1956 – Ulrike Meyfarth, German athlete
- 1958 – Keith Haring, American artist (d. 1990)
- 1958 – Caroline Spelman, British politician
- 1959 – Inger Nilsson, Swedish actress
- 1959 – Maurizio Cheli, Italian astronaut and air force officer
- 1959 – Randy Travis, American singer-songwriter, musician and actor
- 1960 – Werner Faymann, Chancellor of Austria
- 1961 – Jay Aston, English singer-songwriter and dancer
- 1961 – Chris Packham, English wildlife expert and television presenter
- 1961 – Luis Herrera, Colombian cyclist
- 1963 – Vange Leonel, Brazilian singer-songwriter, journalist, novelist, playwright and activist (d. 2014)
- 1964 – Monica Bardem, Spanish actress
- 1964 – Rocco Siffredi, Italian pornographic actor and director
- 1967 – Ana Gasteyer, American actress
- 1968 – Francesca Bortolozzi, Italian fencer
- 1970 – Paul Wiseman, New Zealand cricketer
- 1970 – Will Arnett, Canadian actor
- 1972 – Mike Dirnt, American musician (Green Day)
- 1973 – Guillermo Barros Schelotti, Argentine footballer
- 1974 – Tony McCoy, Northern Irish jockey
- 1975 – Louise Hansen, Danish footballer
- 1975 – Catherine Trudeau, Canadian actress

### From 1976

- 1977 – Emily Perkins, Canadian actress
- 1978 – Daisuke Ono, Japanese voice actor
- 1979 – Lance Bass, American singer (*NSYNC)
- 1979 – Lesley Vainikolo, Tongan–born rugby player
- 1982 – Nathan Tyson, English footballer
- 1983 – Trisha Krishnan, Indian actress
- 1984 – Little Boots, British singer
- 1985 – Ravinder Bopara, English cricketer
- 1987 – Cesc Fàbregas, Spanish footballer
- 1987 – Jorge Lorenzo, Spanish motorcycle racer
- 1988 – David Gray, Scottish footballer
- 1989 – Rory McIlroy, Northern Irish golfer
- 1989 – Daniel Gyurta, Hungarian swimmer
- 1990 – Shunki Takahashi, Japanese footballer
- 1992 – Ashley Rickards, American actress
- 1992 – Courtney Jines, American actress
- 1994 – Alexander Gould, American actor
- 1994 – Pauline Ducruet, Monegasque royal
- 2002 – Anastasiya Petryk, Ukrainian singer
- 2009 – Prince Henrik of Denmark

### Up to 1900

- 1406 – Coluccio Salutati, Italian humanist and politician (b. 1331)
- 1436 – Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson, Swedish statesman
- 1471 – Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales (b. 1453)
- 1471 – Edmund of Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset, English military commander (b. 1438)
- 1519 – Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino (b. 1492)
- 1566 – Luca Ghini, Italian physician and botanist (b. 1490)
- 1604 – Claudio Merulo, Italian organist and composer (b. 1533)
- 1605 – Ulisse Aldrovandi, Italian physician and naturalist (b. 1522)
- 1615 – Adriaan van Roomen, Flemish mathematician (b. 1561)
- 1677 – Isaac Barrow, English mathematician and theologian (b. 1630)
- 1729 – Louis-Antoine, Cardinal de Noailles, French cardinal (b. 1651)
- 1734 – James Thornhill, English painter
- 1774 – Duke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick (b. 1714)
- 1790 – Matthew Tilghman, American planter and revolutionary leader (b. 1718)
- 1799 – Tipu Sultan, Indian military leader (b. 1750)
- 1811 – Mikolay Kamensky, Russian general (b. 1776)
- 1839 – Denis Davydov, Russian general and poet (b. 1784)
- 1849 – Hokusai, Japanese artist (b. 1760)
- 1859 – Joseph Diaz Gergonne, French mathematician (b. 1771)
- 1880 – Edward Clark, 8th Governor of Texas (b. 1815)
- 1897 – Duchess Sophie Charlotte of Bavaria (b. 1847)

### 1901 – 2000

- 1901 – John Jones Ross, 7th Premier of Quebec (b. 1831)
- 1903 – Goce Delchev, Macedonian revolutionary figure (b. 1872)
- 1916 – Easter Rising leaders executed in Ireland:
    - Edward Daly (b. 1891)
    - Joseph Mary Plunkett (b. 1887)
    - Willie Pearse (b. 1891)
- 1921 – Alfred Hermann Fried, Austrian pacifist and writer (b. 1864)
- 1923 – Ralph McKittrick, American golfer and tennis player (b. 1877)
- 1924 – E. Nesbit, English writer and poet (b. 1858)
- 1938 – Carl von Ossietzky, German pacifist (b. 1889)
- 1945 – Fedor von Bock, German field marshal (b. 1877)
- 1949 – Torino footballers killed in plane crash:
    - Aldo Ballarin, Italian footballer (b. 1922)
    - Dino Ballarin, Italian footballer (b. 1925)
    - Guglielmo Gabetto, Italian footballer (b. 1916)
    - Leslie Lievesley, English footballer (b. 1911)
    - Valentino Mazzola, Italian footballer (b. 1919)
    - Romeo Menti, Italian footballer (b. 1919)
- 1953 – Alexandre Pharamond, French rugby player (b. 1876)
- 1955 – George Enescu, Romanian composer (b. 1881)
- 1961 – Maurice Merleau-Ponty, French philosopher (b. 1908)
- 1961 – Anita Stewart, American actress (b. 1895)
- 1970 – Victims of the Kent State shootings:
    - Allison Krause, Kent State victim (b. 1951)
    - Jeffrey Miller, Kent State victim (b. 1950)
    - Sandra Scheuer, Kent State victim (b. 1949)
    - William Schroeder, Kent State victim (b. 1950)
- 1971 – Seamus Elliott, Irish cyclist (b. 1934)
- 1972 – Edward Calvin Kendall, American chemist (b. 1886)
- 1980 – Josip Broz Tito, President of Yugoslavia (b. 1892)
- 1984 – Willie Ormond, Scottish footballer (b. 1927)
- 1984 – Diana Dors, English actress (b. 1931)
- 1985 – Clarence Wiseman, 10th General of the Salvation Army (b. 1907)
- 1987 – Paul Butterfield, American musician (b. 1942)
- 1991 – Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Egyptian singer-songwriter and mandolin player (b. 1907)
- 2000 – Hendrik Casimir, Dutch physicist (b. 1909)

### From 2001

- 2002 – François Adam, Belgian cyclist (b. 1911)
- 2008 – Kishan Maharaj, Indian tabla player (b. 1923)
- 2009 – Dom DeLuise, American entertainer (b. 1933)
- 2010 – Luigi Poggi, Italian cardinal (b. 1917)
- 2012 – Adam Yauch, American musician (Beastie Boys) (b. 1964)
- 2012 – Rashidi Yekini, Nigerian footballer (b. 1963)
- 2013 – Christian de Duve, Belgian biochemist (b. 1917)
- 2013 – Otis R. Bowen, 44th Governor of Indiana (b. 1918)
- 2013 – Mario Machado, Chinese–American journalist and actor (b. 1935)
- 2014 – Elena Baltacha, Ukrainian–born British tennis player (b. 1983)
- 2014 – Dick Ayers, American comic book artist and cartoonist (b. 1924)
- 2014 – Edgar Cortright, American scientist and engineer (b. 1923)
- 2014 – Tatiana Samoilova, Russian actress (b. 1934)
- 2015 – Eva Aeppli, Swiss artist (b. 1925)
- 2015 – Ellen Albertini Dow, American actress (b. 1913)
- 2015 – Andrew Lewis, Guyanese boxer (b. 1970)
- 2015 – Joshua Ozersky, American food writer (b. 1967)
- 2015 – Zhivko Gospodinov, Bulgarian footballer (b. 1957)
- 2016 – Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, President of Burundi (b. 1946)
- 2016 – Bob Bennett, American politician (b. 1933)
- 2016 – Karl W. Butzer, German–American geographer (b. 1934)
- 2016 – Olle Ljungström, Swedish singer–songwriter and guitarist (b. 1961)
- 2016 – Rita Renoir, French entertainer and actress (b. 1934)
- 2016 – Friedrich Schattleitner, Austrian sports shooter (b. 1923)
- 2017 – William Baumol, American economist (b. 1922)
- 2017 – Bart Carlier, Dutch footballer (b. 1929)
- 2017 – C. Jackson Grayson, American businessman and writer (b. 1923)
- 2017 – Victor Lanoux, French actor (b. 1936)
- 2017 – Edwin Sherin, American–Canadian television director and producer (b. 1930)
- 2017 – R. Lee Wrights, American political activist and consultant (b. 1958)
- 2018 – Abi Ofarim, Israeli musician (b. 1937)
- 2018 – Naser Cheshm Azar, Iranian musician, composer and arranger (b. 1950)
- 2018 – Renate Dorrestein, Dutch writer and journalist (b. 1954)
- 2019 – Prospero Nograles, Filipino politician (b. 1947)
- 2019 – Rachel Held Evans, American Christian writer (b. 1981)
- 2019 – Terje Moe Gustavsen, Norwegian politician (b. 1954)

## Observances

- Unofficial Star Wars Day ("May the fourth be with you")
- International Firefighters Day
- Youth Day (China, Fiji)
- Greenery Day (Japan)
- Bird Day (United States)
- Cassinga Day (Namibia)
- Remembrance of the Dead (Netherlands)