Events in History
Event of Interest
May 5 Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre commissioned to measure the meridian between Dunkerque to Rodez to calculate accurate length of the metre
Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre
- May 7 Captain Robert Gray discovers Grays Harbor (Washington)
- May 8 British Captain George Vancouver sights and names Mt Rainier, Washington
- May 8 US establishes the military draft
- May 11 Columbia River discovered & named by US Captain Robert Gray
- May 12 Toilet that flushes itself at regular intervals is patented
- May 16 Denmark abolishes slave trade
- May 17 24 merchants form New York Stock Exchange at 70 Wall Street
- May 19 Russian army enters Poland
- May 21 Mount Unzen on Japan's Shimabara Peninsula, erupts creating a tsunami, killing about 15,000; Japan's deadliest volcanic eruption