Historical Events on May 21

Events 1 - 200 of 237

• 143 Earliest known date in Amer-pre Mayan king Harvest-Bergvorst installed
• 685 Battle of Nechtansmere/Dun Nechtain: Picts beat Northumbrians
• 878 Syracuse is captured by the Muslim sultan of Sicily.
• 879 Pope John VIII gives blessings to duke Branimir and to Croatian people, considered to be international recognition of Croatian state.
• 996 Pope Gregory V crowns his cousin Otto III as Holy Roman Emperor
• 1040 King Henry III gives Utrecht the Groninger currency

• 1420 Treaty of Troyes: Henry V of England and his heirs would inherit the throne of France upon the death of King Charles VI of France
• 1471 King Edward IV enters London

• 1502 Portuguese admiral Da Nova discovers St Helena
• 1526 -Jun 8] Sermon of Bathe, Aargau: TC evangelical theology
• 1602 Martha's Vineyard 1st sighted (Captain Bartholomew Gosnold)
• 1674 General John Sobieski chosen King of Poland
• 1683 West Indian Company sells 1/3 of Suriname

• 1758 Mary Campbell is abducted from her home in Pennsylvania by Lenape during the French and Indian War.
• 1792 Mount Unzen on Japan's Shimabara Peninsula, erupts creating a tsunami, killing about 15,000; Japan's deadliest volcanic eruption
• 1793 Curacao Island Council forbids criticism of House of Orange

• 1819 1st bicycles (swift walkers) in US introduced in NYC
• 1832 1st Democratic National Convention (Baltimore)
• 1840 Captain William Hobson proclaims British sovereignty over New Zealand; the North Island by treaty and the South Island by 'discovery'
• 1846 1st steamship arrives in Hawaii

• 1856 Lawrence, Kansas, is captured and sacked by pro-slavery forces
• 1861 Richmond, Va, is designated Confederate Capital
• 1863 Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana, begins
• 1864 General David Hunter takes command of Department of West Virginia
• 1864 Russia declares an end to the Russian-Circassian War and many Circassians are forced into exile. The day is designated to be the Circassian Day of Mourning.
• 1866 1st-class debut of G. F. Grace aged 15 years 159 days
• 1871 -July 28] French regular troops attack Commune of Paris; 17,000 die
• 1878 4th Kentucky Derby: Jimmy Carter aboard Day Star wins in 2:37.25
• 1879 Battle of Iquique: Chilean naval forces overcome Peruvian ships (War of the Pacific)

• 1881 US Nation Lawn Tennis Association forms
• 1886 14th Preakness: S Fisher aboard Bard wins in 2:45
• 1891 Boxers Peter Jackson & Jim Corbett fight to a draw in 61 rounds
• 1892 Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera "I Pagliacci" premieres in Milan
• 1894 22-year-old French Anarchist Émile Henry is executed by guillotine. His last words were reputed to be "Courage, camarades! Vive l'anarchie!"


• 1897 Yerkes Observatory 40" (1m) refractor used for 1st time
• 1898 US Assay Office in Seattle, Washington, authorized
• 1904 Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) forms in Paris
• 1904 France recalls its ambassador to the Vatican to protest the Pope's attempt to discipline two French bishops; this is yet another incident driving France and the Catholic Church apart
• 1906 Louis H Perlman patents a demountable tire carrying rim for cars
• 1906 The US and Mexico sign an agreement over distribution of the waters of the Rio Grande, increasingly diverted to the US for irrigation
• 1907 32nd Preakness: G Mountain aboard Don Enrique wins in 1:45.4
• 1908 1st horror movie (Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde) premieres in Chicago
• 1908 Bill Burns pitching for Washington Senators has no-hitter broken up with 2 outs in 9th
• 1911 French troop enter Fez in Morocco to quell anti-European agitation
• 1914 39th Preakness: Andy Schuttinger aboard Holiday wins in 1:53.8
• 1914 Greyhound Bus Co begins in Minnesota
• 1916 Britain begins "Summer Time" (daylight saving time)
• 1917 Leo Pinckney, 1st American drafted during WW I
• 1917 The Great Fire of Atlanta: at least 10,000 people were displaced, but there was only one fatality
• 1918 US House of Representatives passes amendment allowing women to vote
• 1920 Mexican President Venustiano Carranza is executed by army generals after fleeing an armed rebellion in Mexico
• 1921 Oldest radio station west of Mississippi River licensed in Greeley Co
• 1922 "On the Road to Moscow" is 1st cartoon to receive a Pulitzer Prize
• 1922 Col Ruppert buys out Col Huston interest in NY Yankees for $1,500,000
• 1922 Pulitzer prize awarded to Eugene O'Neill for his play "Anna Christie"
• 1922 Ruppert buys out Huston interest in Yankees for $15 million
• 1924 Nathan Leopold & Richard Loeb kidnap and kill Bobby Franks to demonstrate their supposed intellectual superiority by committing a "perfect crime"
• 1925 George Lloyd, Baron Lloyd of Dolobran, becomes British High Commissioner in Egypt
• 1925 Roald Amundsun leaves Spitsbergen with 2 seaplanes to North Pole
• 1926 White Sox Earl Sheely hits a record 6th consecutive double

• 1929 Automatic electric stock quotation board installed, NYC
• 1929 Sergei Prokoviev's ballet "Prodigal Son" premieres in Paris
• 1930 Max Bishop draws 8 walks in a doubleheader

• 1931 Belgian government of Jaspar falls
• 1932 1st Curtis Cup: US wins, 5½-3½ at Wentworth Club (Wentworth, England)

• 1934 Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes first US city to fingerprint its citizens
• 1936 Sada Abe is arrested after wandering the streets of Tokyo for days with her dead lover's severed genitals in her hand. Her story soon becomes one of Japan's most notorious scandals.

• 1940 AVRO-chairman Willem Vogt fires all Jewish employees
• 1940 Allied counter attack at Atrecht, northern France
• 1940 Reynaud forms French government
• 1941 SS Robin Moor becomes the first US ship sunk by a U-boat during World War II
• 1941 German airforce occupies airport at Maleme, Crete
• 1941 Singer Johan Heesters visits Dachau concentration camp
• 1942 Convoy PQ16 departs Great Britain for Russia
• 1943 Fastest 9 inning AL baseball game (89 mins), White Sox beat Senators

• 1945 Australian Services win 1st Victory Test Cricket at Lord's by 6 wickets

• 1946 Physicist Louis Slotin is exposed to a lethal dose of radiation while preparing a plutonium core experiment at the Los Alamos lab, he dies 9 days later and the accident ends all hands-on nuclear assembly work at Los Alamos

• 1951 The opening of the Ninth Street Show, otherwise known as the 9th Street Art Exhibition - a gathering of a number of notable artists, and the stepping-out of the post war New York avant-garde, collectively know as the New York School.
• 1952 Booklyn Dodgers score 15 runs in their 1st inning to beat Cincinnati Reds 19-1
• 1952 Dutch Queen Juliana opens Amsterdam-Rhine Canal
• 1953 French government of Mayer resigns
• 1954 Amendment to give 18-year-olds right to vote is defeated
• 1955 "House of Flowers" closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 165 performances
• 1955 1st transcontinental round-trip solo flight-sunrise to sunset
• 1955 WFRV TV channel 5 in Green Bay, WI (ABC/NBC) begins broadcasting
• 1956 Jordan government of Said el-Mufti forms
• 1956 US explodes 1st airborne hydrogen bomb over Bikini Atoll
• 1956 WITI TV channel 6 in Milwaukee, WI (CBS/ABC) begins broadcasting
• 1957 French government of Mollet resigns
• 1958 Indonesian paratroopers reconquers Morotai Island
• 1958 US performs nuclear test at Bikini Island (atmospheric tests)
• 1959 "Gypsy" opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 702 performances
• 1959 Cleveland Metroparks Zoo Children's Petting Farm opens
• 1960 85th Preakness: Bobby Ussery aboard Bally Ache wins in 1:57.6

• 1961 Governor Patterson declares martial law in Montgomery
• 1962 3 more Cleveland HR set AL record for most HR (26) over 8 games
• 1964 1st nuclear-powered lighthouse begins operations (Chesapeake Bay)
• 1964 Fire in Belgian resort kills 19
• 1964 US begin intelligence flights above Laos
• 1966 "Downtown" by Mrs Miller hits #82
• 1966 "Time for Singing" opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 41 performances
• 1966 91st Preakness: Don Brumfield aboard Kauai King wins in 1:55.4
• 1966 Louie Louie by The Kingsmen reentered the chart & hits #97

• 1966 A "loyalist" group calling itself the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) issued a statement declaring war on the Irish Republican Army (IRA)
• 1967 "Sing, Israel Sing" closes at Brooks Atkinson NYC after 14 performances
• 1968 Cubs Billy Williams sets outfielder record of 695 straight game

• 1968 USSR performs nuclear test (underground)
• 1968 WEKW TV channel 52 in Keene, NH (PBS) begins broadcasting
• 1968 Nuclear-powered sub USS Scorpion, with 99 men, reported missing & is later found at the bottom of the ocean off Azores
• 1969 Robert F. Kennedy's murderer Sirhan Sirhan sentenced to death: later commuted to life imprisonmnet
• 1969 Slovan Bratislava of Czechoslovakia win 9th European Cup Winner's Cup against FC Barcelona of Spain 3-2 in Basel

• 1969 Civil unrest in Rosario, Argentina, aka Rosariazo, following the death of a 15-year-old student.
• 1970 National Guard mobilizes to quell disturbances at Ohio State University
• 1970 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
• 1971 Chelsea win 11th European Cup Winner's Cup against Real Madrid 2-1 in Athens (replay)
• 1971 National Guard mobilizes to quell riot in Chattanooga, Tennessee
• 1972 "Heathen!" opens & closes at Billy Rose Theater NYC for 1 performance

• 1972 The Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) kidnaps and shoots dead William Best (19), a soldier in the Royal Irish Rangers stationed in Germany whilst on leave at home
• 1975 Lowell W Perry confirmed as chairman of US Equal Opportunity Commission
• 1975 Trial against Baader-Meinhof-group begins in Stuttgart
• 1977 "Fiddler on the Roof" closes at Winter Garden NYC after 167 performances
• 1977 102nd Preakness: Jean Cruguet aboard Seattle Slew wins in 1:54.4
• 1977 Albert Innaurato's "Gemini" premieres in NYC
• 1977 Fire in hotel Duc de Brabant Brussels, kills 19
• 1977 San Diego Padres beat Mont Expos, 11-8, in 21 innings
• 1978 118 Unification church couples wed in England
• 1978 Yamada Mumon Roshi appointed head of Zen Rinzai Sect
• 1979 Dan White convicted of manslaughter death of San Francisco mayor Moscone
• 1979 National Volksraad installed in Namibia


• 1979 Stanley Cup Final, Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec: 4 consecutive titles for Montreal Canadiens; beat NY Rangers, 4-1 for a 4 games to 1 series win

• 1980 Ensign Jean Marie Butler is 1st woman to graduate from US service academy

• 1981 Kim Seelbrede, (Ohio), crowned 30th Miss USA
• 1981 Stanley Cup Final, Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY: NY Islanders win back-to-back titles; beat Minnesota North Stars, 5-1 for 4 games to 1 series win

• 1982 British troops land on Falkland Islands
• 1983 "Bang The Drum All Day" by Todd Rundgren hits #63
• 1983 108th Preakness: Donald Miller Jr on Deputed Testamony wins in 1:55.4
• 1983 Challenger moves to Vandenberg AFB, for mating for STS-7 mission

• 1985 Israel exchanges 1,150 prisoners with the PFLP-GC in return for 3 Israeli soldiers
• 1986 Atlanta Brave Rafael Ramirez hits 4 doubles in a game
• 1986 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1987 Military coup in Fiji under Lt. Col Sitivani Rabuka
• 1987 Xignals PC Board BBS begins in Alabama
• 1988 "Da'Butt" by EU hits #35

• 1988 113th Preakness: Eddie Delahoussaye aboard Risen Star wins in 1:56.2
• 1988 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

• 1990 Dow Jones avg hits a record 2,844.68
• 1990 Last episode of "Newhart" airs on CBS-TV
• 1990 43rd Cannes Film Festival: "Wild at Heart" directed by David Lynch wins the Palme d'Or
• 1991 Ethiopia's Marxist president (Mengistu Haile Mariam) resigns
• 1992 China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor, PRC
• 1992 NJ senate overrides Governor Florio's veto & lowers sales tax to 6%
• 1993 Dayanara Torres, 18, of Puerto Rico, crowned 42nd Miss Universe
• 1993 Opposition leader Xanana Gusmao of East-Timor sentenced to life
• 1993 Robin Smith scores 167 in England Texaco Trophy loss v Australia
• 1993 Venezuela president Carlos Andres Perez fired
• 1994 "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" closes at Lunt-Fontanne NYC after 16 performances
• 1994 119th Preakness: Pat Day aboard Tabasco Cat wins in 1:56.4
• 1994 Reds bat out of order against Dodgers in 2nd inning
• 1994 South Yemen secedes from Yemen
• 1996 Blackout in many areas of Queens, NY
• 1996 Ken Griffey Jr, 26, is 8th youngest to hits 200 home runs
• 1996 The Trappist Martyrs of Atlas are executed.
• 1996 "You're Makin' Me High" single released by Toni Braxton (Grammy Award Best Female R&B Vocal Performance 1997)

• 1997 Emmy 24th Daytime Award presentation - Susan Lucci loses for 17th time
• 1998 In Miami, Florida, five abortion clinics are hit by a butyric acid attacker.

• 1999 All My Children star Susan Lucci finally wins a Daytime Emmy after being nominated 19 times, the longest period of unsuccessful nominations in television history
• 2001 French Taubira law officially recognizes the Atlantic slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity.
• 2001 The Enron Corporation's power generating venture in India, the Dabhol Power Company, serves formal notice that it will terminate its power supply contract and pull out
• 2001 NHL Western Conference Final: Colorado Avalanche beat St. Louis Blues, 4 games to 1
• 2003 An earthquake hits northern Algeria killing more than 2,000 people.

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