May 22

Events
Up to 1900
334 BC - The Macedonian army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia.
337 (AD) - Roman Emperor Constantine I dies.
853 - A Byzantine Empire fleet sacks and destroys undefended Damietta in Egypt.
896 - Pope Stephen VII is elected.
1176 - The Hashshashin (Assassins) attempt to murder Saladin near Aleppo, present-day Syria.
1200 - King John of England and King Philip II of France sign the Treaty of Le Goulet.
1246 - Henry Raspe is elected Anti-King of Germany, in opposition to Conrad IV of Germany.
1455 - Wars of the Roses: In the First Battle of St. Albans, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York defeats and captures King Henry VI of England.
1629 - Thirty Years' War: The Treaty of Luebeck is signed by Ferdinand IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Christian IV of Denmark to end Danish intervention in the war.
1762 - Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Hamburg.
1762 - The Trevi Fountain in Rome is completed, and opened by Pope Clement XIII.
1768 - Pentecost Island in present-day Vanuatu is reached by Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, whose expedition members become the first Europeans to see it. It is named after the Christian feast day of Pentecost.
1807 - Most of the town of Chudleigh in Devon, southwest England, is destroyed by fire.
1809 - Napoleonic Wars: Second day of the Battle of Apern-Essling.
1819 - The SS Savannah sets sail from Savannah, Georgia to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
1826 - HMS Beagle sets sail on its first voyage.
1840 - Transportation of British convicts to New South Wales is banned.
1848 - Slavery is abolished (banned) in Martinique.
1849 - Abraham Lincoln is given a patent for an invention to lift boats over obstacles in a river. As he later becomes US president in 1861, he is the only President of the United States to be granted a patent.
1863 - American Civil War: Siege of Port Hudson - Union forces begin to lay siege to the Confederate-controlled Port Hudson, Louisiana.
1897 - The Blackwall Tunnel under the River Thames is opened.
1901 2000
1902 - The Crater Lake National Park in Oregon is created by Theodore Roosevelt.
1906 - The Wright brothers are given a patent for their "Flying Machine".
1915 - Lassen Peak in California erupts. Along with the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, this is one of only two volcanic eruptions in the contiguous United States in the 20th Century.
1915 - The Quintinshill rail crash near Gretna Green, southern Scotland, kills 227 people. It is the deadliest-ever accident on the railways in the United Kingdom.
1927 - An earthquake of magnitude 7.9 strikes Tsinghai, China, killing around 200,000 people.
1939 - Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
1942 - World War II: Mexico enters the war on the side of the Allies.
1945 - Operation Paperclip: The United States Army forms plans to evacuate German scientists and engineers to the United States to help in the development of rocket technology.
1946 - Shigeru Yoshida is elected Prime Minister of Japan.
1958 - Ethnic riots break out in Ceylon, present-day Sri Lanka, mostly against the minority Tamil population, killing 300 people over the following five days.
1960 - A major earthquake and a series of Tsunamis hit Chile. The effects are felt as far away as Hawaii where the town of Hilo is hit by a Tsunami. (See Great Chilean Earthquake).
1962 - Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashes after bombs explode on board, killing all 45 people on board.
1963 - Greek left-wing politician Grigoris Lambrakis is shot, and dies on May 27.
1967 - The L'Innovation Department Store fire in Brussels, Belgium, kills 323 people and injures 150.
1967 - Vietnam War: Vinh Xuan massacre.
1968 - US U-boat USS Scorpion (SSN-589) sinks in the Atlantic Ocean southwest of the Azores, with 99 people on board.
1969 - The Apollo 10 mission's Snoopy module with Thomas P. Stafford and Eugene Cernan on board flies to within 15.6 kilometers of the Moon's surface.
1971 - An earthquake in Anatolia, Turkey, kills around 1,000 people.
1972 - Ceylon changes its name to Sri Lanka, becomes a republic, and adopts a new constitution.
1972 - Richard Nixon arrives in Moscow for talks with Soviet leaders.
1980 - Pac-Man is released in Japan.
1981 - The Yorkshire Ripper serial killer Peter Sutcliffe is jailed for life.
1987 - The first-ever Rugby World Cup begins in Auckland. Host country New Zealand defeats Italy in the opening match.
1990 - Yemen becomes a united country.
1990 - Microsoft releases the Windows 3.0 operating system.
1992 - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia join the UN.
1992 - Johnny Carson hosts The Tonight Show for the last time.
1998 - A magnitude 6.6 earthquake strikes Bolivia, killing 105 people.
From 2001
2003 - The final manuscript of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which was annotated by the composer, is auctioned off for $3.47 million.
2004 - Manmohan Singh becomes Prime Minister of India.
2004 - Hallam, Nebraska is wiped out by a Force 4 tornado.
2004 - In Spain, Felipe, Prince of Asturias marries Letizia, Princess of Asturias.
2010 - An Air India Express Flight 812 airplane overshoots the runway and bursts into flames in Mangalore, southern India, killing 158 people. 8 people survive.
2011 - A tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri, killing 162 people.
2012 - The Tokyo Sky Tree is opened to the public in Japan. It is the tallest free-standing tower and second-tallest freestanding man-made structure in the world, after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
2013 - British soldier Lee Rigby is murdered on a Woolwich, London, street by two Islamic extremists.
2014 - General Prayuth Chan-ocha of the Royal Thai Armed Forces announces a military coup in Thailand after months of political unrest. Government and Television are taken over by the military.
2014 - 31 people are killed in a bomb attack in Northwest China.
2014 - Elections to the European Parliament begin, being held until May 25. The United Kingdom and the Netherlands are first to vote.
2015 - The Republic of Ireland becomes the first country where same-sex marriage is legalized through a referendum, with 62% of voters supporting the change.
2016 - Alexander Van der Bellen narrowly defeats far-right candidate Norbert Hofer in Austria's Presidential election, getting 50.3% compared to 49.7% for Hofer. Van der Bellen also wins the re-run of the election in December of the same year.
2017 - Manchester Arena bombing: A suicide bomber detonates an explosive device at the end of an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, killing 22 people.
2020 - Pakistan International Airlines Flight 8303 crashes in Karachi, killing 97 people, leaving two survivors from the plane and eight injuries on the ground.
Births
Up to 1900
1408 - Annamacharya, Hindu saint (d. 1503)
1570 - John II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar (d. 1605)
1622 - Louis de Buade de Frontenac, Governor of New France (d. 1698)
1711 - Guillaume de Tillot, French politician (d. 1774)
1715 - Francois-Joachim de Pierre de Bernis, French cardinal and statesman (d. 1794)
1724 - Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, French explorer (d. 1772)
1733 - Hubert Robert, French artist (d. 1808)
1770 - Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom (d. 1840)
1772 - Ram Mohan Roy, Hindu reformer (d. 1833)
1781 - Newton Cannon, Governor of Tennessee (d. 1841)
1783 - William Sturgeon, English physicist and inventor (d. 1850)
1813 - Richard Wagner, German composer (d. 1883)
1823 - Solomon Bundy, American politician (d. 1889)
1833 - Felix Bracquemond, French painter (d. 1914)
1834 - Niwa Nagakuni, Japanese daimyo (d. 1904)
1844 - Mary Cassatt, American painter (d. 1926)
1846 - Rita Cetina Gutierrez, Mexican poet, educator and activist (d. 1908)
1849 - Louis Perrier, Swiss politician (d. 1913)
1859 - Tsubouchi Shoyo, Japanese writer (d. 1935)
1859 - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Scottish physician and writer (Sherlock Holmes) (d. 1930)
1865 - Enric Morera i Viura, Spanish composer (d. 1942)
1874 - Daniel Francois Malan, Apartheid-era Prime Minister of South Africa (d. 1959)
1876 - Antonius Bouwens, Dutch sports shooter (d. 1963)
1879 - Alla Nazimova, Ukrainian actress, scriptwriter and politician (d. 1945)
1879 - Jean Cras, French composer and naval officer (d. 1932)
1885 - Soemu Toyoda, Japanese admiral (d. 1957)
1885 - Giacomo Matteotti, Italian politician (d. 1924)
1887 - Frank Nelson, American pole vaulter (d. 1970)
1890 - Per Collinder, Swedish astronomer (d. 1975)
1897 - Marcelle Meyer, French pianist (d. 1958)
1897 - Jeanne de Casalis, British actress (d. 1966)
1898 - Rito Selvaggi, Italian composer, pianist, conductor and poet (d. 1972)
1900 - Yvonne de Gaulle, First Lady of France (d. 1979)
1901 1950
1901 - Maurice J. Tobin, 56th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1953)
1903 - Yves Rocard, French physicist (d. 1992)
1904 - Pyotr Sobolevsky, Soviet actor (d. 1977)
1905 - Bodo von Borries, German physicist (d. 1956)
1907 - Herge, Belgian cartoonist (d. 1983)
1907 - Laurence Olivier, British actor (d. 1989)
1908 - Rattana Pestonji, Thai director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer (d. 1970)
1908 - Horton Smith, American golfer (d. 1970)
1911 - Anatol Rapoport, Russian-American psychologist (d. 2007)
1912 - Herbert C. Brown, English-born chemist (d. 2004)
1914 - Sun Ra, American musician (d. 1993)
1917 - Georg Tintner, Austrian-born conductor (d. 1999)
1917 - George Aratani, Japanese-American entrepreneur (d. 2013)
1919 - Paul Vanden Boeynants, Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2001)
1920 - Thomas Gold, Austrian-American astrophysicist (d. 2004)
1923 - Faye Adams, American singer
1924 - Charles Aznavour, Armenian-French singer, songwriter and actor (d. 2018)
1925 - Jean Tinguely, Swiss artist (d. 1991)
1927 - George Andrew Olah, Hungarian-born chemist (d. 2017)
1927 - Michael Constantine, American actor
1927 - Peter Matthiessen, American writer (d. 2014)
1928 - Jackie Cain, American jazz singer (d. 2014)
1928 - T. Boone Pickens, American businessman and financier
1929 - Sergio Mantovani, Italian racing driver (d. 2001)
1930 - Harvey Milk, American politician (d. 1978)
1930 - Marisol Escobar, American artist and sculptor (d. 2016)
1932 - Tavo Burat, Italian journalist, writer and politician (d. 2009)
1932 - Robert Spitzer, American psychiatrist (d. 2015)
1936 - George H. Heilmeier, American engineer (d. 2014)
1937 - Guy Marchand, French actor and director
1938 - Richard Benjamin, American actor and movie director
1938 - Susan Strasberg, American actress (d. 1999)
1939 - Adamou Moumouni Djermakoye, Nigerien officer, politician and diplomat
1940 - Michael Sarrazin, Canadian actor (d. 2011)
1941 - Menzies Campbell, Scottish athlete and politician, former leader of the Liberal Democrats
1942 - Calvin Simon, American singer and musician
1942 - Ted Kaczynski, American terrorist, the 'Unabomber'
1943 - Gesine Schwan, German politician
1943 - Betty Williams, Northern Irish political activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner
1943 - David Bernstein, English businessman
1944 - Beaton Tulk, Canadian politician, 7th Premier of Newfoundland (d. 2019)
1945 - Piero Ferrari, Italian businessman
1946 - George Best, Northern Irish footballer (d. 2005)
1946 - Howard Kendall, English footballer and manager (d. 2015)
1949 - Ieuan Wyn Jones, Welsh politician, former leader of Plaid Cymru
1950 - Bernie Taupin, English singer-songwriter and poet
1951 1975
1952 - Louise Christian, British human rights lawyer
1953 - Cha Bum-Kun, South Korean footballer
1953 - Paul Mariner, English football manager
1954 - Shuji Nakamura, Japanese-American electronic engineer
1955 - Dale Winton, English television and radio presenter (d. 2018)
1957 - Lisa Murkowski, American politician
1958 - Denise Welch, British actress
1959 - Steven Morrissey, British singer
1959 - Andres Luure, Estonian philosopher and translator
1959 - Jon Sopel, British journalist
1960 - Hideaki Anno, Japanese animator and movie director
1961 - Wang Xiaoshuai, Chinese actor, screenwriter and movie director
1964 - Mark Christopher Lawrence, American actor and comedian
1964 - Ramunas Butautas, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
1965 - Jay Carney, American journalist
1966 - Kenny Hickey, American guitarist (Type O Negative)
1966 - Wang Xiaoshuai, Chinese film director and screenwriter
1968 - Michael Kelly, American actor
1970 - Naomi Campbell, British model
1972 - Alison Eastwood, American actress and model
1972 - Jaouad Gharib, Moroccan long-distance runner
1972 - Anna Belknap, American actress
1974 - Arseniy Yatsenyuk, former Prime Minister of Ukraine
1975 - Janne Niinimaa, Finnish ice hockey player
From 1976
1976 - Daniel Erlandsson, Swedish musician
1976 - Lee Hughes, English footballer
1978 - Katie Price, English model and television personality
1978 - Ginnifer Goodwin, American actress
1979 - Maggie Q, American actress
1980 - Lucy Gordon, British actress (d. 2009)
1980 - Robert Gunnarsson, Icelandic handball player
1980 - Shinu K Abraham, Indian football player
1981 - Jurgen Melzer, Austrian tennis player
1981 - Melissa Gregory, American figure skater
1981 - Bassel Khartabil, Palestinian-Syrian software engineer
1982 - Erin McNaught, Australian model and television host
1982 - Sara Pascoe, English comedienne
1983 - Abdulrahman Al-Qahtani, Saudi footballer
1983 - John Hopkins, American motorcycle racer
1984 - Dustin Moskovitz, American entrepreneur (Facebook)
1985 - Tranquillo Barnetta, Swiss footballer
1985 - Chris Salvatore, American actor, singer-songwriter, model and same-sex rights activist
1985 - Hideaki Takeda, Japanese footballer
1985 - Mauro Boselli, Argentine footballer
1986 - Luca Gentili, Italian footballer
1986 - Matt Jarvis, English footballer
1987 - Novak Djokovic, Serbian tennis player
1987 - Arturo Vidal, Chilean footballer
1988 - Chris Budinger, American actress
1989 - Giordano Benedetti, Italian runner
1991 - Kyle Bartley, English footballer
1992 - Chinami Tokunaga, Japanese singer
1999 - Camren Bicondova, American actress and singer
Deaths
Up to 1900
192 - Dong Zhuo, Chinese politician and warlord (b. 138)
337 - Constantine I of the Roman Empire, Roman emperor (b. 272)
748 - Emperor Gensho of Japan (b. 680)
985 - Saint Bobo of Provence
1068 - Emperor Go-Reizei of Japan (b. 1025)
1455 - Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, English politician
1455 - Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, English commander (b. 1406)
1457 - Rita of Cascia, Italian saint (b. 1381)
1540 - Francesco Guicciardini (b. 1483)
1666 - Gaspar Schott, German physicist and mathematician (b. 1608)
1667 - Pope Alexander VII (b. 1599)
1746 - Thomas Southerne, Irish dramatist (b. 1660)
1795 - Ewald Friedrich von Hertzberg, Prussian statesman (b. 1725)
1802 - Martha Washington, First Lady of the United States (b. 1731)
1849 - Maria Edgeworth, Irish-English writer (b. 1767)
1859 - Emperor Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies (b. 1810)
1861 - Thornsbury Bailey Brown, American soldier (b. 1829)
1873 - Alessandro Manzoni, Italian poet (b. 1785)
1873 - Per-Georg Scheutz, Swedish inventor (b. 1877)
1885 - Victor Hugo, French writer (b. 1802)
1901 2000
1901 - Gaetano Bresci, Italian anarchist (b. 1869)
1910 - Jules Renard, French writer (b. 1864)
1932 - Augusta, Lady Gregory, Irish playwright (b. 1852)
1933 - Tsengeltiin Jigjidjav, Prime Minister of Mongolia (b. 1894)
1934 - Joseph M. Dixon, American politician, Governor of Montana (b. 1867)
1939 - Ernst Toller, German writer
1939 - Jiri Mahen, Czech writer (b. 1882)
1943 - Helen Herron Taft, First Lady of the United States (b. 1861)
1949 - Klaus Mann, German writer (b. 1906)
1966 - Tom Goddard, English cricketer (b. 1900)
1967 - Langston Hughes, American writer (b. 1902)
1970 - Goodwin Knight, 31st Governor of California (b. 1896)
1972 - Cecil Day-Lewis, poet and writer (b. 1904)
1972 - Margaret Rutherford, English actress (b. 1892)
1975 - Lefty Grove, American baseball player (b. 1900)
1983 - Albert Claude, Belgian biologist (b. 1899)
1984 - Karl-August Fagerholm, Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1901)
1985 - Wolfgang Reithermann, German-American Disney animator, director and producer (b. 1909)
1988 - Giorgio Almirante, Italian politician (b. 1914)
1990 - Rocky Graziano, American boxer (b. 1922)
1992 - Zellig Harris, linguist (b. 1909)
1992 - Elizabeth David, English cookery writer (b. 1913)
1997 - Myrtle Bachelder, American chemist (b. 1908)
1997 - Alfred Hershey, American biochemist (b. 1908)
1997 - Renzo Montagnani, Italian actor (b. 1930)
1998 - John Derek, American actor, director and photographer (b. 1926)
From 2001
2002 - Xi Zhongxun, Chinese politician (b. 1913)
2004 - Richard Biggs, actor (b. 1960)
2004 - Mikhail Voronin, Russian gymnast (b. 1945)
2005 - Charilaos Florakis, Greek politician (b. 1914)
2005 - Thurl Ravenscroft, voice actor and singer (b. 1914)
2005 - Julia Randall, poet (b. 1924)
2006 - Lee Jong-wook, South Korean Director-General of the WHO (b. 1945)
2007 - Pemba Doma Sherpa, Nepalese mountaineer (b. 1970)
2010 - Martin Gardner, American writer (b. 1914)
2012 - Flinder Anderson Khonglam, Indian physician and politician, 18th Chief Minister of Meghalaya (b. 1945)
2013 - Henri Dutilleux, French composer (b. 1916)
2013 - Andrea Gallo, Italian priest (b. 1928)
2013 - Lee Rigby, British soldier (b. 1987)
2015 - Marques Haynes, American basketball player (b. 1926)
2015 - Radomir Naumov, Serbian politician (b. 1946)
2015 - Terry Sue-Patt, English actor (b. 1964)
2016 - Adolf Born, Czech painter, filmmaker, illustrator and caricaturist (b. 1930)
2016 - Leonorilda Ochoa, Mexican actress and comedienne (b. 1939)
2016 - Bata Zivojinovic, Serbian actor (b. 1922)
2016 - Lucjan Avgustini, Albanian Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1963)
2016 - Velimir Sombolac, Serbian footballer and coach (b. 1939)
2017 - Oscar Fullone, Argentine footballer and coach (b. 1939)
2017 - Nicky Hayden, American motorcycle racer (b. 1981)
2017 - Dina Merrill, American actress (b. 1923)
2017 - Zbigniew Wodecki, Polish singer, composer and television presenter (b. 1950)
2017 - Leonhard Nagenrauft, German luger (b. 1938)
2017 - Mickey Roker, American jazz drummer (b. 1932)
2018 - Alberto Dines, Brazilian journalist (b. 1932)
2018 - Philip Roth, American writer (b. 1933)
2018 - Daniela Samulski, German swimmer (b. 1984)
2018 - Julio Pomar, Portuguese painter and illustrator (b. 1926)
2019 - Judith Kerr, German-born British writer and illustrator (b. 1923)
2019 - Ahmad Shah of Pahang, former King of Malaysia (b. 1930)
2019 - Eduard Punset, Spanish politician, lawyer, economist and science populariser (b. 1936)
Observances
Saint of the Day: Saint Rita of Cascia
Republic Day (Sri Lanka)
Unity Day or National Day (Yemen)
National Sovereignty Day (Haiti)
International Day for Biological Diversity
Harvey Milk Day (California)
National Maritime Day (United States)
Abolition Day (Martinique)