Did you know
Napoleon Bonaparte's coup on 9 November 1799 marked the end of the French Revolution
May 20 in History
1802 — By the Law of 20 May 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution
May 20 spans 64 recorded events across recorded history, from 325 to 2022. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Historical Events
64 events
325 – 2022
Today in history
More major events on May 20
The featured story and these ranked highlights form a quick summary. Every recorded event remains available in the chronology below.
- 1948 Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek wins the 1948 Republic of China presidential election and is sworn in as the first President of the Republic of China at Nanjing. Source
- 1902 Cuba gains independence from the United States. Tomás Estrada Palma becomes the country's first President. Read story Source
- 1996 Civil rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of gays and lesbians. Source
Did you know
The Estates General of 1789 was the starting point of the French Revolution
Did you know
Liberal democracy principles were established during the French Revolution
Did you know
The French Revolution lasted from 1789 to 1799, spanning a decade of significant change
Did you know
The Coup of 18 Brumaire led to Napoleon Bonaparte's rise to power in France
325
The First Council of Nicaea is formally opened, starting the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church.
Council of Christian bishops in Nicaea, 325
491
Empress Ariadne marries Anastasius I.
The widowed Augusta is able to choose her successor for the Byzantine throne, after Zeno (late emperor) dies of dysentery.
685
The Battle of Dun Nechtain is fought between a Pictish army under King Bridei III and the invading Northumbrians under King Ecgfrith, who are decisively defeated.
685 battle between Picts and Northumbrians
794
While visiting the royal Mercian court at Sutton Walls with a view to marrying princess Ælfthryth, King Æthelberht II of East Anglia is taken captive and beheaded.
Early English kingdom (527–918)
921
Christopher Lekapenos is crowned Byzantine co-emperor by his father, emperor Romanos I Lekapenos, on the feast of Whitsun.
Byzantine emperor from 921 to 931
942
A Magyar raiding army defeats forces of the Muslim frontier state of Fraxinetum.
Raid in AD 942
1202
A major earthquake hits Syria, widely felt between Sicily and Iraq.
Earthquake affecting the Levant
1217
The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke.
Battle during the First Barons' War
1293
King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Estudio de Escuelas de Generales in Alcalá de Henares.
King of Castile and León from 1284 to 1295
1426
King Mohnyin Thado formally ascends to the throne of Ava.
King of Ava (1426–1439), and founder of the Mohnyin dynasty of Ava
1449
The Battle of Alfarrobeira is fought, establishing the House of Braganza as a principal royal family of Portugal.
1449 battle between Portuguese royal forces and those of the rebellious Duke of Coimbra
1497
John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a May 2 date).
Italian navigator and explorer (c. 1450 – c. 1500)
1498
Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovers the sea route to India when he arrives at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India.
Portuguese explorer (c. 1460s – 1524)
1520
Hernan Cortés defeats Pánfilo de Narváez, sent by Spain to punish him for insubordination.
Spanish conquistador and explorer (1485–1547)
1521
Ignatius of Loyola is seriously wounded in the Battle of Pampeluna.
Basque Spaniard Catholic priest and theologian (1491–1556)
1570
Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas.
Study and practice of making maps
1609
Shakespeare's sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe.
1631
The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years' War.
Capital city of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
1645
Yangzhou massacre: The ten day massacre of the residents of the city of Yangzhou, part of the Transition from Ming to Qing.
1645 mass killing of Chinese civilians by Manchu forces
1714
Johann Sebastian Bach leads the first performance of his cantata for Pentecost, Erschallet, ihr Lieder, BWV 172, at the chapel of Schloss Weimar.
German composer (1685–1750)
1741
The Battle of Cartagena de Indias ends in a Spanish victory and the British begin withdrawal towards Jamaica with substantial losses.
1741 naval battle of the War of Jenkins' Ear
1775
The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence is allegedly signed in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Purported and unproven colonial declaration of independence document
1813
Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia.
The battle ends the next day with a French victory.
1861
American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state.
1861–1865 conflict in the United States
1861
American Civil War: The State of North Carolina secedes from the Union.
1861–1865 conflict in the United States
1862
U.S.
President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law, opening eighty-four million acres (340,000 km2) of public land to settlers.
1864
American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church: In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory.
Part of the American Civil War in Virginia
1873
Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S.
patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
1875
Signing of the Metre Convention by 17 nations leading to the establishment of the International System of Units.
1875 international standardization treaty
1882
The Triple Alliance between the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy is formed.
Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy
1883
Krakatoa begins to erupt; the volcano explodes three months later, killing more than 36,000 people.
Volcanic caldera in the Sunda Strait, Indonesia
1891
History of cinema: The first public display of Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope.
1902
Cuba gains independence from the United States.
Tomás Estrada Palma becomes the country's first President.
1927
Treaty of Jeddah: The United Kingdom recognizes the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud in the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, which later merge to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Treaty between Great Britain and Ibn Saud, King of Hejaz and Nejd
1927
Charles Lindbergh takes off for Paris from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, N.Y., aboard the Spirit of St.
Louis on the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, landing 33+1⁄2 hours later.
1932
Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.
American aviation pioneer (1897–1937)
1940
The Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.
Genocide of European Jews by Nazi Germany
1941
World War II: Battle of Crete: German paratroops invade Crete.
Axis invasion of Crete during World War II
1943
The Luttra Woman, a bog body from the Early Neolithic period (radiocarbon-dated c. 3928–3651 BC), is discovered near Luttra, Sweden.
Neolithic bog body from Sweden
1948
Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek wins the 1948 Republic of China presidential election and is sworn in as the first President of the Republic of China at Nanjing.
Leader of the Republic of China from 1928 to 1975
1949
In the United States, the Armed Forces Security Agency, the predecessor to the National Security Agency, is established.
U.S. signals intelligence organization
1956
In Operation Redwing, the first United States airborne hydrogen bomb is dropped over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
Series of 1950s US nuclear tests
1958
Capital Airlines Flight 300 collides in mid-air with a United States Air Force Lockheed T-33 over Brunswick, Maryland, killing 12.
1958 aviation accident
1964
Discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation by Robert Woodrow Wilson and Arno Penzias.
Aspect of the history of modern physical cosmology
1965
One hundred twenty-one people are killed when Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705 crashes at Cairo International Airport.
1965 aviation accident
1967
The Popular Movement of the Revolution political party is established in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Ruling party of Zaire from 1967 to 1997
1971
In the Chuknagar massacre, Pakistani forces massacre thousands, mostly Bengali Hindus.
1971 massacre during the Bangladesh War of Independence
1980
In a referendum in Quebec, the population rejects, with 60% of the vote, a government proposal to move towards independence from Canada.
Plebiscite on Quebec's independence from Canada
1983
First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by a team of French scientists including Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Jean-Claude Chermann, and Luc Montagnier.
Human retrovirus, cause of AIDS
1983
Church Street bombing: A car bomb planted by UMkhonto we Sizwe explodes on Church Street in South Africa's capital, Pretoria, killing 19 people and injuring 217 others.
1983 car bombing in South Africa
1985
Radio Martí, part of the Voice of America service, begins broadcasting to Cuba.
US radio, television broadcaster to Cuba
1989
The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Government system where political power lies with the people
1990
The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.
Political and socioeconomic ideology
1996
Civil rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Romer v.
Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of gays and lesbians.
2002
The independence of East Timor is recognized by Portugal, formally ending 23 years of Indonesian rule and three years of provisional UN administration (Portugal itself is the former colonizer of East Timor until 1976).
Country in Southeast Asia
2009
An Indonesian Air Force Lockheed L-100 Hercules crashes in Magetan Regency, killing 99.
Aerial service branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces
2011
Mamata Banerjee is sworn in as the Chief Minister of West Bengal, the first woman to hold this post.
Chief Minister of West Bengal from 2011 to 2026
2012
At least 27 people are killed and 50 others injured when a 6.0-magnitude earthquake strikes northern Italy.
Severe earthquakes centered in Emilia-Romagna, Italy
2013
An EF5 tornado strikes the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, killing 24 people and injuring 377 others.
Tornado intensity rating scale
2016
The government of Singapore authorises the controversial execution of convicted murderer Kho Jabing for the murder of a Chinese construction worker despite international pleas for clemency, notably from Amnesty International and the United Nations.
Island country in Southeast Asia
2019
The International System of Units (SI): The base units are redefined, making the international prototype of the kilogram obsolete.
Modern form of the metric system
2022
Russo-Ukrainian war: Russia claims full control of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol after a nearly three-month siege.
Ongoing conflict since 2014