May 1

Events
Up to 1900
305 - Diocletian and Maximian retire as Roman Emperors.
524 - King Sigismund of Burgundy is executed at Orleans after an eight-year reign and is succeeded by his brother Godomar.
880 - The Nea Ekklesia is inaugurated in Constantinople, setting the model for all later cross-in-square Orthodox churches.
1328 - The Scottish Wars of Independence end: The Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton leads the Kingdom of England to agree to recognize the Kingdom of Scotland as an independent state.
1351 - Zurich becomes part of Switzerland.
1460 - Italian seafarer Antonio de Noli, sailing for Portugal, discovers the Cape Verde island of Maio, which he names after the date of his discovery.
1464 - Edward IV of England marries Elizabeth Woodville.
1707 - Act of Union joins Scotland and England.
1759 - Josiah Wedgwood founds the Wedgwood pottery company.
1776 - The Illuminati are founded in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, by Adam Weishaupt.
1778 - American Revolution: The Battle of Crooked Billet begins in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.
1785 - Kamehameha I, king of Hawai'i defeats Kalanikupule, creating the Kingdom of Hawai'i.
1786 - The Opera, the Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is performed for the first time in Vienna, Austria.
1794 - War of the Pyrenees: The Battle of Boulou ends, in which French forces defeat the Spanish and regain almost the land they had lost to Spain in 1793.
1834 - British colonies abolish Slavery.
1840 - The Penny Black postage stamp, is introduced in the UK.
1844 - The Hong Kong police force is founded.
1851 - Queen Victoria announces the beginning of the Great Exhibition in London.
1852 - The Philippines Peso is introduced into circulation.
1856 - The province of Isabela is created in the Philippines.
1863 - The Stainless Banner is adopted as the flag of the Confederate States of America.
1863 - American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville begins.
1865 - Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay sign the Treaty of the Triple Alliance.
1875 - Alexandra Palace in London re-opens after being burned down in a fire in 1873.
1884 - Moses Fleetwood Walker becomes the first African American to play a professional baseball game in the US.
1893 - The World's Columbian Exposition opens in Chicago.
1898 - Spanish-American War: Battle of Manila Bay - The United States Navy destroys the Spanish Pacific fleet in the first battle of the war.
1900 - The Scofield Mine disaster in Utah kills 200 men.
1901 2000
1901 - Start of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.
1915 - The RMS Lusitania leaves New York City on what would become its final journey across the Atlantic Ocean. It is torpedoed and sunk off Ireland on May 7.
1925 - The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is officially founded.
1927 - The first cooked meals on a scheduled flight are introduced on an Imperial Airways flight from London to Paris.
1929 - A magnitude 7.2 earthquake strikes present-day Iran and Turkmenistan, killing 5,800 people.
1930 - The dwarf planet Pluto is officially given its name.
1931 - New York City's Empire State Building is opened.
1933 - The Humanist Manifesto I is published.
1940 - World War II: The 1940 Summer Olympics are cancelled because of the war.
1941 - World War II: German forces launch a major attack on Tobruk, Libya.
1941 - Orson Welles's movie Citizen Kane is released in cinemas.
1945 - World War II: The Nazi leadership announces the death of Adolf Hitler the previous day.
1945 - World War II: Yugoslav partisans liberate the city of Trieste.
1947 - Porta della Ginestra massacre against people in May Day celebrations in Sicily by bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano, killing 11 people and wounding 33.
1948 - The North Korean state under Kim Il-Sung is founded.
1950 - Guam becomes a US Commonwealth (a state that depends on the US).
1956 - The Polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.
1956 - Minamata disease is first discovered in Japan.
1957 - 34 people are killed when a Vickers Viking airliner crashes in Hampshire, southern England.
1960 - U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is shot down over the Soviet Union, making an international incident.
1960 - Formation of the western Indian states of Gujarat and Maharashtra.
1961 - Then-Prime Minister of Cuba Fidel Castro announces that Cuba is a Communist country, and a one-party state, without elections.
1977 - 36 people are killed in Taksim Square, Istanbul, during Labour Day demonstrations.
1978 - Japan's Naomi Uemura, travelling by Dog Sled, reaches the North Pole on his own.
1979 - Greenland gains autonomy (self government) from Denmark, with Jonathan Motzfeldt as Prime Minister.
1982 - Opening of the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee.
1989 - Disney-MGM Studios opens at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
1993 - President of Sri Lanka Ranasinghe Premadasa is killed by a suicide bomber in Colombo.
1993 - Prime Minister of France Pierre Beregovoy commits suicide.
1994 - Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna is killed in a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix.
1995 - Croatian forces launch Operation Flash during the Croatian War of Independence.
1997 - Tony Blair's Labour Party defeats John Major's Conservative Party in the United Kingdom General Election. Tony Blair therefore becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1999 - The remains of George Mallory are found on Mount Everest, almost 75 years after his disappearance.
1999 - The show SpongeBob SquarePants airs for the first time.
From 2001
2003 - A magnitude 6.4 earthquake strikes Eastern Turkey, killing 177 people.
2004 - Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus and Malta join the EU. This is the biggest enlargement in the EU's history.
2008 - Hangzhou Wen Daqiao Bridge is opened between Cixi and Jiaxing, People's Republic of China.
2009 - Sweden allows Same-sex marriage.
2011 - Osama bin Laden, leader of al-Qaeda, is captured and killed by US forces in Pakistan.
2018 - Scotland introduces a new minimum price for alcohol.
2019 - Naruhito becomes Emperor of Japan, succeeding his father Akihito; Japan's Reiwa period starts.
Births
Up to 1850
1218 - Rudolph I of Germany, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1291)
1218 - John I, Count of Hainaut (d. 1257)
1238 - King Magnus VI of Norway (d. 1280)
1582 - Marco da Gagliano, Italian poet (d. 1641)
1591 - Johann Adam Schall von Bell, German missionary and astronomer (d. 1666)
1653 - Prince George of Denmark, consort of Anne of Great Britain (d. 1708)
1672 - Joseph Addison, English writer and essayist (d. 1719)
1751 - Judith Sargent Murray, American poet, playwright, essayist and women's rights activist (d. 1820)
1764 - Benjamin Henry Latrobe, English-American architect (d. 1820)
1769 - Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (d. 1852)
1814 - Prince Karl of Auersperg, Austro-Hungarian politician (d. 1890)
1821 - Henry Ayers, 8th Premier of South Australia (d. 1897)
1825 - Johann Jakob Balmer, Swiss mathematician and physicist (d. 1898)
1827 - Jules Breton, French painter (d. 1906)
1829 - Jose de Alencar, Brazilian novelist (d. 1877)
1830 - Guido Gezelle, Flemish poet (d. 1899)
1831 - Emily Stowe, Canadian physician and suffragist (d. 1903)
1837 - Walter Hauser, Swiss politician (d. 1902)
1850 - Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (d. 1942)
1851 1900
1852 - Santiago Ramon y Cajal, Spanish doctor, won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1934)
1852 - Calamity Jane, American Wild West performer (d. 1903)
1855 - Cecilia Beaux, American painter (d. 1942)
1857 - Theo van Gogh, Dutch art dealer (d. 1891)
1859 - Jacqueline Comerre-Paton, French artist (d. 1935)
1862 - Marcel Prevost, French writer and dramatist (d. 1941)
1864 - Anna Jarvis, founder of Mother's Day (d. 1948)
1868 - Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse (d. 1940)
1871 - Seakle Greijdanus, Dutch theologian (d. 1948)
1872 - Sidonio Pais, Portuguese military leader and politician (d. 1918)
1872 - Hugo Alfven, Swedish composer and conductor (d. 1960)
1874 - Romaine Brooks, American painter and sculptor (d. 1970)
1881 - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French philosopher (d. 1955)
1881 - John Svanberg, Swedish long-distance runner (d. 1957)
1884 - Francis Curzon, 5th Earl of Howe, British naval officer and racing driver (d. 1964)
1885 - Ralph Stockpole, American sculptor and painter (d. 1973)
1887 - Vincenzo Cardarelli, Italian journalist and writer (d. 1959)
1888 - John Francis O'Hara, American cardinal (d. 1962)
1896 - J. Lawton Collins, American general (d. 1987)
1896 - Herbert Backe, German Nazi politician (d. 1947)
1898 - Eugene R. Black, Sr., 3rd President of the World Bank (d. 1992)
1899 - Jon Leifs, Icelandic composer (d. 1968)
1900 - Ignazio Silone, Italian author and politician (d. 1978)
1901 1950
1905 - Henry Koster, German-American director, producer and screenwriter (d. 1988)
1907 - Kate Smith, American singer (d. 1986)
1908 - Giovannino Guareschi, Italian journalist (d. 1968)
1909 - Yiannis Ritsos, Greek poet (d. 1990)
1913 - Balraj Sahni, Indian actor (d. 1973)
1913 - Walter Susskind, Czech conductor (d. 1980)
1914 - Louis Nye, American comedian and actor (d. 2005)
1915 - Archie Williams, American sprinter (d. 1993)
1915 - Hanns Martin Schleyer, German business executive (d. 1977)
1916 - Glenn Ford, Canadian-American actor (d. 2006)
1916 - Rong Yiren, Chinese politician (d. 2005)
1917 - Danielle Darrieux, French singer and actress (d. 2017)
1917 - Wendy Toye, English actress (d. 2010)
1918 - Jack Paar, American author and television and radio host (d. 2004)
1919 - Dan O'Herlihy, Irish actor (d. 2005)
1919 - Mohammed Karim Lamrani, former Prime Minister of Morocco (d. 2018)
1919 - Manna Dey, Indian playback singer (d. 2013)
1923 - Frank Brian, American basketball player (d. 2017)
1923 - Billy Steel, Scottish footballer (d. 1982)
1924 - Terry Southern, American screenwriter (d. 1995)
1924 - Art Fleming, American game show host (d. 1995)
1924 - Evelyn Boyd Granville, American mathematician and educator
1924 - Gregoire Kayibanda, 1st President of Rwanda (d. 1976)
1925 - Scott Carpenter, American astronaut, pilot and aquanaut (d. 2013)
1925 - Chuck Bednarik, American football player (d. 2015)
1925 - Gabriele Amorth, Italian priest and exorcist (d. 2016)
1926 - Doug Cowie, Scottish footballer
1926 - Peter Lax, Hungarian-American mathematician
1927 - Mustafa Nurul Islam, Bangladeshi academic (d. 2018)
1927 - Laura Betti, Italian actress (d. 2004)
1927 - Walter Zeman, Austrian footballer (d. 1991)
1928 - Desmond Titterington, Northern Irish racing driver (d. 1972)
1929 - Ralf Dahrendorf, German-born sociologist and politician (d. 2009)
1930 - Little Walter, American singer (d. 1968)
1930 - Richard Riordan, former Mayor of Los Angeles
1930 - Ollie Matson, American football player (d. 2011)
1932 - Sandy Woodward, British admiral (d. 2013)
1934 - Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, Mexican politician
1936 - Hasse Wallman, Swedish entrepreneur, composer, director, author and producer (d. 2014)
1937 - Una Stubbs, English actress and dancer
1937 - Bo Nilsson, Swedish composer and songwriter
1939 - Judy Collins, American singer
1939 - Rosy Armen, French singer
1940 - Fakhruddin Ahmed, Bangladeshi economist and politician
1941 - Asil Nadir, Turkish-Cypriot businessman
1943 - Joe Walsh, Irish politician (d. 2014)
1944 - Costa Cordalis, Greek-German singer
1945 - Rita Coolidge, American singer
1946 - Joanna Lumley, English actress
1946 - John Woo, Chinese movie director
1950 - Danny McGrain, Scottish footballer
1951 1975
1951 - Antony Worrall Thompson, English chef and broadcaster
1954 - Ray Parker Jr., American singer, musician and actor
1956 - Catherine Frot, French actress
1957 - Uberto Pasolini, Italian movie producer, director and investment banker
1959 - Yasmina Reza, French actress, writer and playwright
1960 - Bart Chilton, American civil servant (d. 2019)
1961 - Clint Malarchuk, Canadian ice hockey player
1961 - Timna Brauer, Austrian-Israeli singer
1962 - Maia Morgenstern, Romanian actress
1962 - Ted Sundquist, American football player, coach and manager
1964 - Lady Sarah Chatto, member of the extended British royal family
1964 - Yvonne van Gennip, Dutch speed skater
1965 - Todd Spikes, American former police officer and convicted sex offender
1966 - Olaf Thon, German footballer
1967 - Tim McGraw, American singer
1968 - Oliver Bierhoff, German footballer
1968 - D'arcy Wretzky, American musician
1968 - Johnny Colt, American bass guitarist
1969 - Wes Anderson, American director and writer
1969 - Mary Lou McDonald, Irish politician, leader of Sinn Fein
1973 - Oliver Neuville, German footballer
1974 - Lornah Kiplagat, Kenyan-Dutch runner
1975 - Marc-Vivien Foe, Cameroon footballer (d. 2003)
1975 - Alexey Smertin, Russian footballer
1975 - Nina Hossain, English journalist
From 1976
1976 - Violante Placido, Italian actress and singer
1979 - Mauro Bergamasco, Italian rugby player
1979 - Lars Berger, Norwegian biathlete
1979 - Pauli Rantasalmi, Finnish musician
1980 - Zaz, French singer
1980 - Jay Reatard, American rock musician (d. 2010)
1981 - Aliaksandr Hleb, Belarussian footballer
1981 - Derek Asamoah, Ghanaian footballer
1981 - Manny Acosta, Panamanian baseball player
1982 - Darijo Srna, Croatian footballer
1982 - Tommy Robredo, Spanish tennis player
1982 - Mark Warren, Irish footballer (d. 2016)
1983 - Alain Bernard, French rower
1984 - Alexander Farnerud, Swedish footballer
1984 - Farah Fath, American actress
1986 - Christian Benitez, Ecuadorean footballer (d. 2013)
1987 - Leonardo Bonucci, Italian footballer
1987 - Shahar Pe'er, Israeli tennis player
1988 - Anushka Sharma, Indian actress and model
1990 - Caitlin Stasey, Australian actress
1991 - Levina, German singer
1992 - Sammy Ameobi, English footballer
1997 - Ariel Gade, American actress
Deaths
Up to 1950
408 - Arcadius, Roman emperor
524 - King Sigismund of Burgundy
1118 - Edith of Scotland, first wife of Henry I of England (born 1080)
1277 - Stephen Uros I of Serbia (born 1223)
1308 - Albert I of Habsburg (murdered) (born 1255)
1555 - Pope Marcellus II (born 1501)
1572 - Pope Pius V (born 1504)
1731 - Johann Ludwig Bach, German composer (born 1677)
1738 - Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Carlisle, English statesman
1772 - Gottfried Achenwall, German statistician (born 1719)
1813 - Jean-Baptiste Bessieres, French marshal (killed in combat) (born 1768)
1873 - David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer (born 1813)
1881 - Romolo Gessi, Italian soldier and explorer (born 1831)
1893 - Alexander Kaufmann, German poet (born 1817)
1899 - Ludwig Buchner, German philosopher and physician (born 1824)
1904 - Antonin Dvorak, Czech composer (born 1841)
1920 - Princess Margaret of Connaught (born 1882)
1928 - Ebenezer Howard, English town planner, founder of the Garden City movement (born 1850)
1931 - Thomas Cooper Gotch, British painter (born 1854)
1935 - Henri Pelissier, French cyclist (born 1889)
1937 - Snitz Edwards, American actor (born 1868)
1943 - Johan Oscar Smith, Norwegian religious leader (born 1871)
1945 - Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda (suicide) (born 1897)
1945 - Magda Goebbels, wife of Joseph Goebbels (suicide) (born 1901)
1951 2000
1963 - Lope K. Santos, Filipino writer (born 1879)
1965 - Spike Jones, American band leader, musician, and comedian (born 1911)
1968 - Jack Adams, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach and manager (born 1895)
1970 - Yi, Eun, Crown Prince Korea (born 1897)
1973 - Asger Jorn, Danish painter (born 1914)
1976 - Alexandros Panagoulis, Greek politician and poet (born 1939)
1978 - Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer (born 1903)
1982 - William Primrose, Scottish violist (born 1903)
1989 - Douglass Watson, American actor (born 1921)
1990 - Sergio Franchi, Italian director (born 1926)
1991 - Richard Thorpe, American movie director (born 1896)
1993 - Pierre Beregovoy, Prime Minister of France (suicide) (born 1925)
1993 - Ranasinghe Premadasa, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (born 1924)
1993 - Warren P. Knowles, Governor of Wisconsin (born 1908)
1994 - Ayrton Senna, Brazilian race car driver (born 1960)
1996 - Luana Patten, American actress (born 1938)
1997 - Fernand Dumont, Canadian sociologist (born 1927)
1998 - Eldridge Cleaver, American activist (born 1935)
2000 - Steve Reeves, American actor (born 1926)
From 2001
2008 - Anthony Mamo, first President of Malta (born 1909)
2008 - Philipp von Boeselager, German resistance activist (born 1917)
2009 - Karst Tates, Dutch attempted assassin (born 1971)
2010 - Helen Wagner, American actress (born 1918)
2011 - Henry Cooper, British heavyweight boxer (born 1934)
2011 - Osama bin Laden, Saudi-Arabian terrorist leader (al-Qaeda) (born 1957)
2013 - Chris Kelly, American rapper (Kris Kross) (born 1978)
2014 - Assi Dayan, Israeli movie director and actor (born 1945)
2014 - Juan Formell, Cuban musician and composer (born 1942)
2014 - Juan de Dios Castillo, Mexican footballer and coach (born 1951)
2014 - Richard Percival Lister, English author, poet and artist (born 1914)
2014 - Manfred von Richthofen, German sports official (born 1934)
2014 - Georg Stollenwerk, German footballer (born 1930)
2014 - Mel Clark, American baseball player (born 1926)
2015 - David Day, Australian broadcaster (born 1951)
2015 - Pete Brown, American golfer (born 1935)
2015 - Geoff Duke, British motorcycle racer (born 1923)
2015 - Stephen Milburn Anderson, American movie director and writer (born 1947)
2015 - Grace Lee Whitney, American actress (born 1930)
2015 - Vafa Guluzade, Azerbaijani diplomat (born 1940)
2015 - Beth Whittall, Canadian swimmer (born 1936)
2015 - Harry Geisinger, American politician (born 1933)
2015 - Dave Goldberg, American executive (born 1967)
2016 - Jean-Marie Girault, French politician (born 1926)
2016 - Solomon W. Golomb, American mathematician, engineer and educator (born 1922)
2016 - Madeleine LeBeau, French actress (born 1923)
2017 - Erkki Kurenniemi, Finnish musician and designer (born 1941)
2017 - Mike Lowry, American politician, Governor of Washington (born 1939)
2017 - Sam Mele, American baseball player (born 1922)
2017 - Mohamed Talbi, Tunisian historian and professor (born 1921)
2017 - Bruce Hampton, American musician (born 1947)
2017 - Yisrael Friedman, Israeli rabbi and educator (born 1923)
2017 - Karel Schoeman, South African novelist and translator (born 1939)
2018 - Elmar Altvater, German political scientist (born 1938)
2018 - Chuck Missler, American evangelist and author (born 1934)
2018 - Universo 2000, Mexican professional wrestler (born 1963)
2018 - Peter Temple-Morris, British politician (born 1938)
2018 - Arthur Barnard, American sprinter (born 1929)
2018 - Max Berru, Ecuadorean-Chilean singer and musician (born 1942)
2019 - Dinko Dermendzhiev, Bulgarian footballer (born 1941)
2019 - Alessandra Panaro, Italian actress (born 1939)
2019 - Arvi Parbo, Estonian-Australian businessman and philanthropist (born 1926)
2019 - B. Subhashan Reddy, Indian judge (born 1943)
Holidays
Saints of the Day: Saint Joseph the Worker; Saint Jeremiah, prophet
May Day
International Workers' Day
Beltane in Neo-Pagan Tradition
Lei Day (Hawaii)
Constitution Day (Latvia and Marshall Islands)
Loyalty Day
May 01