Historical Events on May 6

Events 1 - 200 of 209

• 1312 Pope Clement V closes Council of Vienna
• 1527 Spanish & German Imperial troops sack Rome; ending Renaissance

• 1542 Francis Xavier reaches Old Goa, then capital of Portuguese India
• 1598 Archduke Albrecht & Isabella become rulers of the Southern Netherlands
• 1604 Leon VII Spanish poet's first poem is published: La Cocina
• 1626 Dutch colonist Peter Minuit organizes the purchase of Manhattan Island from native American for 60 guilders worth of goods
• 1642 Ville Marie (Montreal) forms
• 1644 Johan Mauritius resigns as governor of Brazil
• 1672 Brandenburg monarch Frederik Willem signs treaty with Netherlands

• 1733 1st international boxing match: Bob Whittaker beats Tito di Carni
• 1753 French King Louis XV observes transit of Mercury at Mendon Castle
• 1757 Battle of Prague: Frederick II of Prussia's forces defeat Austrian army
• 1787 1st African American Masonic Lodge (African # 459) forms Prince Hall, Boston


• 1794 Haiti, under Toussaint L'Ouverture, revolts against France
• 1804 Suriname sold to Great Britain (until Feb 1816)

• 1844 Johan Thorbecke argues general right to vote
• 1848 Otto Tank ends slavery in Suriname colony
• 1851 Dr John Gorrie patents a "refrigeration machine"
• 1851 Linus Yale patents Yale lock
• 1851 New slave regulations go into effect in Suriname
• 1851 San Francisco Chamber of Commerce starts
• 1853 1st major US rail disaster kills 46 (Norwalk, Connecticut)
• 1860 San Francisco Olympic Club, 1st US athletic club forms

• 1861 Arkansas & Tennessee becomes 9th & 10th states to secede from US
• 1864 Battle of Port Walthall Junction, fought in Virginia begins (Battle of Port Walthall Junction), Union victory (US Civil War)

• 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act: US Congress ceases Chinese immigration

• 1882 Thomas Henry Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish are stabbed and killed during the Phoenix Park Murders in Dublin

• 1891 Conductors on London General Omnibus Company go on strike
• 1895 21st Kentucky Derby: Soup Perkins aboard Halma wins in 2:37.50
• 1896 22nd Kentucky Derby: Willie Simms aboard Ben Brush wins in 2:07.75


• 1896 Samuel Pierpont Langley flies his unpiloted Number 5 aircraft using a catapult launch from a boat on the Potomac River, USA. The aircraft travels almost 3/4 of a mile - ten times further than any previous heavier-than-air flying machine.
• 1902 British SS Camorta sinks off Rangoon; 739 die
• 1902 Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place" (BG)
• 1902 Zulu assault at Holkrantz, South Africa
• 1903 Chicago White Sox commit 12 errors against Detroit Tigers
• 1904 American Lung Association holds its 1st meeting
• 1906 "Temporary" permit to erect overhead wires on Market Street, San Francisco

• 1907 33rd Kentucky Derby: Andy Minder aboard Pink Star wins in 2:12.6
• 1909 Indian nationalist Sri Aurobindo acquitted in the Alipore Bomb Case in Calcutta, India

• 1913 King Nikita I of Montenegro vacates Skoetari, northern Albania
• 1914 British House of Lords rejects women's suffrage
• 1915 German U-20 sinks Centurion SE of Ireland

• 1915 The Allies on Cape Helles launch three attacks to enlarge their beachheads; after terrible losses, they advance about three miles
• 1916 Belgian troops march into Kigali, German East Africa
• 1917 St Louis Brown Bob Groom no-hits Chicago White Sox, 3-0
• 1919 Paris Peace Conference disposes of German colonies; German East Africa is assigned to Britain and France, German South West Africa to South Africa
• 1921 American Soccer League forms

• 1929 AL announces it will discontinue MVP award
• 1929 New York to San Francisco footrace begins
• 1933 59th Kentucky Derby: Don Meade aboard Brokers Tip wins in 2:06.8
• 1933 Italy & USSR sign trade agreement
• 1934 Red Sox score 12 runs in 4th inning including record 4 consecutive triples hit by Carl Reynolds, Moose Solters, Rick Ferrell, & B Walters

• 1935 KTM-AM in Los Angeles California changes call letters to KEHE (now KABC)
• 1935 Pulitzer prize awarded to Audrey Wurdemann (Bright Ambush)

• 1938 Dutch writer Maurits Dekker sentenced to 50 days for "offending a friendly head of state" (Adolf Hitler)
• 1939 1st performance of Honegger/Claudel's "Jeanne d'Arc Ouch B-cher"
• 1939 65th Kentucky Derby: James Stout aboard Johnstown wins in 2:03.4

• 1942 Corregidor & Philippines surrender to Japanese Armies
• 1943 British 1st army opens assault on Tunis
• 1944 70th Kentucky Derby: Conn McCreary aboard Pensive wins in 2:04.2
• 1944 KJR-AM in Seattle Washington swaps calls with KOMO
• 1945 General Johannes Blaskowitz surrenders German troops in Netherlands
• 1945 World War II: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops (first was on December 11, 1941).
• 1946 Pulitzer prize awarded to Arthur M Schlesinger (Age of Jackson)"
• 1948 "Sally" opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC for 36 performances
• 1950 "Great to Be Alive" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 52 performances
• 1950 76th Kentucky Derby: William Boland on Middleground wins in 2:01.6
• 1951 Pitts Pirate Cliff Chambers no-hits Boston Brave, 3-0
• 1953 Brown's Bobo Holloman 1st major league start, no-hits Philadelphia A's, 6-0

• 1955 West Germany joins NATO
• 1956 Gus Bell (Reds) homers off Bob Miller in both ends of a double header
• 1956 WRCB TV channel 3 in Chattanooga, TN (NBC) begins broadcasting
• 1957 Italian government of Antonio Segni resigns
• 1957 Last broadcast of "I Love Lucy" on CBS-TV

• 1959 Iceland gunboats shoot at British fishing vessels

• 1960 Students attack Dutch embassy in Jakarta
• 1960 Trotsky's murderer Jacques Mornard (Ramon Mercader) freed in Mexico
• 1961 87th Kentucky Derby: John Sellers aboard Carry Back wins in 2:04
• 1961 Omer Vanaudenhove chosen chairman of Belgium Liberal Party
• 1962 1st nuclear warhead fired from Polaris submarine (Ethan Allen)
• 1962 Antonio Segni elected President of Italy
• 1962 Pathet Lao breaks cease fire and conquer Nam Tha Laos
• 1962 US performs nuclear test at Pacific Ocean
• 1963 Pulitzer prize awarded to Barbara Tuchman (Guns of August)
• 1964 Joe Orton's "Entertaining Mr Sloan" premieres in London
• 1965 Lawry & Simpson complete opening stand of 382 against W Indies
• 1966 Canadian Minister of Finance announces a $20 Centennial gold coin
• 1966 Most runs scored in 11th inning (9) Phils score 5 to beat Pirates 8-7


• 1966 Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are sentenced to life imprisonment for the Moors Murders in England

• 1967 400 students seize administration building at Cheyney State College, Pennsylvania
• 1967 93rd Kentucky Derby: Bobby Ussery on Proud Clarion wins in 2:00.6
• 1967 Maureen Wilton runs female world record marathon (3:15:22)
• 1967 Zakir Husain elected 1st Muslim president of India
• 1968 Street battle between students & troops in Paris, 1,000 injured
• 1968 Giants reliever Lindy McDaniel sets NL record of 225th consecutive errorless game (108 chances consecutively since June 16, 1964)
• 1968 Spain closes border to Gibraltar except to Spaniards
• 1969 Northern Ireland Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark announces an amnesty for all offences associated with demonstrations since 5 October 1968, resulting in the release of, among others, Ian Paisley and Ronald Bunting
• 1970 Yuchiro Miura of Japan skis down Mt Everest
• 1970 Irish Prime Minister Jack Lynch sacks two ministers in the Irish government over allegations of illegal arms importation
• 1970 14th European Cup: Feyenoord beats Celtic 2-1 at Milan
• 1972 98th Kentucky Derby: Ron Turcotte aboard Riva Ridge wins in 2:01.8
• 1972 Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan are executed in Ankara for attempting to overthrow the Constitutional order
• 1973 1st WHA championship, New England Whalers beat Win Jets, 4 games to 1
• 1974 A's pitcher Paul Lindblad makes an errant throw in 1st inning of 6-3 loss to Balt ends his record streak of 385 consecutive errorless games
• 1974 Bundy victim Roberta Parks disappears from OSU, Corvallis, Ore
• 1974 Smallest attendance at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium (4,149)
• 1974 Stolen "Guitar Player" painting by Jan Vermeer found in London

• 1975 Bundy victim Lynette Culver disappears from Pocatello, Idaho
• 1975 Early warnings provided by REACT (ham radio operators) means only
• 1975 3 people die in tornado that strikes Omaha, Nebraska
• 1976 An earthquake strikes Friuli in Northern Italy, causes 989 deaths and the destruction of entire villages
• 1977 "Beatles at Hollywood Bowl" released in UK
• 1978 104th Kentucky Derby: Steve Cauthen wins aboard Affirmed - first and only Derby victory and 1st-leg of Triple Crown
• 1978 South Africa military goes into Angola
• 1979 Fred Markham set a bicycle speed record of 818 kph over 200 m
• 1979 Louis LaRusso II's "Knockout" premieres in NYC
• 1979 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
• 1981 "Inacent Black" opens at Biltmore Theater NYC for 14 performances
• 1981 Mariners manager Maury Wills is fired & replaced by Rene Lachemann
• 1981 US expels Libyan diplomats
• 1982 Seattle Mariner Gaylord Perry becomes 15th pitcher to win 300 games
• 1982 NHL Clarence Campbell Conference Final: Vancouver Canucks beat Chicago Black Hawks, 4 games to 1

• 1984 Jose Napoleon Duarte wins El Salvador presidential election
• 1985 17th Space Shuttle Mission (51-B)-Challenger 7 lands at Edwards AFB
• 1986 Donald E Pelotte becomes 1st native American bishop


• 1986 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
• 1987 Gary Hart denies affair with model Donna Rice

• 1987 Niroslav Milhailovic begins 54 hours of telling jokes
• 1987 American televangelist Jim Bakker & Rich Dortch dismissed from Assemblies of God
• 1987 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
• 1988 Graeme Hick scores 405 for Worcs v Somerset 35 fours 11 sixes
• 1988 Doughnutgate incident: NJ Devils' coach Jim Schoenfeld tells referee Don Koharski to 'eat another doughnut you fat pig!,' he is suspended
• 1989 115th Kentucky Derby: Pat Valenzuela on Sunday Silence wins in 2:05
• 1989 34th Eurovision Song Contest: Riva for Yugoslavia wins singing "Rock Me" in Lausanne
• 1990 Ayako Okamoto wins LPGA Sara Lee Golf Classic

• 1991 Phillie Lenny Dykstra slams his sports car into 2 trees
• 1991 Seppo Raty of Finland sets javelin record to 301' 9"
• 1991 Space Shuttle STS 39 (Discovery 12) lands
• 1992 NY Met Anthony Young begins losing streak of at least 26 games
• 1992 Werder Bremen of Germany win 32nd European Cup winner's Cup against AS Monaco of France 2-0 in Lisbon
• 1993 STS-55 (Columbia) lands
• 1994 Channel tunnel linking England & France officially opens
• 1994 Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait sets fire to the couch on Tonight Show
• 1994 US House of Representatives passes the Federal Assault Weapons Ban

• 1995 121st Kentucky Derby: Gary Stevens on Thunder Gulch wins in 2:01.2
• 1995 Classic Sports Network begins on cable TV
• 1996 Guatemala's leftist guerrillas sign key accord with government of President Alvaro Arzu aimed at ending 35 years of civil war
• 1996 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Hartford CT on WCCC 106.9 FM
• 1996 The body of former CIA director William Colby is found washed up on a riverbank in southern Maryland, eight days after he disappeared.
• 1997 Army Staff Sgt Delmar Simpson gets 25-year sentence for rape

• 1997 NHL Hartford Whalers become Carolina Hurricanes
• 1997 Rick Pitino becomes coach of Boston Celtics
• 1997 The Bank of England is given independence from political control, the most significant change in the bank's 300-year history

• 2000 126th Kentucky Derby: Kent Desormeaux aboard Fusaichi Pegasus wins in 2:01.12

• 2002 Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is shot and killed by an animal rights activist

• 2002 "The Good Stuff" single released by Kenny Chesney (Billboard Song of the Year 2002)

• 2006 132nd Kentucky Derby: Edgar Prado aboard Barbaro wins in 2:01.36

• 2008 Chaiten Volcano erupts in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people.
• 2010 The second largest intraday point swing in Dow Jones Industrial Average history occurs
• 2011 The US Department of Labor states that 244,000 jobs were created in April, with 235,000 added in February and 221,000 in March, but unemployment continues to grow, reaching 9%

• 2012 Greek parliamentary election results in 60% support for parties opposed to austerity measures
• 2013 10 people are killed and 26 people are injured after a wave of attacks across Iraq

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