Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Today: 1498 – Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrived at Calicut, India, becoming the first European to reach India by sea. 1609 – Shakespeare’s Sonnets were first published in London by Thomas Thorpe. 1861 – North Carolina became the last state to secede from the Union during the American Civil War. 1873 – Levi Strauss […]
Monday, May 19, 2025
Today: 1536 – Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England, was beheaded for adultery, treason, and incest. 1568 – Queen Elizabeth I of England arrested Mary, Queen of Scots. 1649 – England declared itself a Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell after the execution of King Charles I. 1743 – Jean-Pierre Christin published the […]
Sunday, May 18, 2025
Today: 1291 – The Fall of Acre marked the end of Crusader rule in the Holy Land when Muslim forces captured the city, ending the Kingdom of Jerusalem. 1593 – Playwright Thomas Kyd was arrested in England and tortured after being accused of heresy. 1652 – Rhode Island enacted the first law in North America […]
Saturday, May 17, 2025
Today: 1536 – George Boleyn, brother of Anne Boleyn, and four others were executed for treason in England, accused of adultery with the queen. 1792 – The New York Stock Exchange was founded when 24 brokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement on Wall Street. 1814 – Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden under the Treaty of Kiel, […]
Friday, May 16, 2025
Today: 1770 – Louis XVI of France and Marie Antoinette were married in a lavish ceremony in Versailles. 1866 – The U.S. Congress authorized the minting of the nickel 5-cent coin to replace the half-dime. 1918 – The Sedition Act was passed in the United States, expanding the Espionage Act and limiting free speech during […]
Thursday, May 15, 2025
Today: 1536 – Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, stood trial in England for adultery, incest, and treason. 1618 – Johannes Kepler confirmed his third law of planetary motion. 1718 – James Puckle patented the Puckle Gun, an early form of the machine gun, in London. 1851 – The first Australian gold […]
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
Today: 1607 – English settlers established the Jamestown Colony in Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in North America. 1643 – Louis XIV became King of France at age 4 upon the death of his father, Louis XIII. 1787 – Delegates began arriving in Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention, which would begin later in the […]
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
Today: 1607 – English settlers established the first permanent English colony in America at Jamestown, Virginia. 1619 – Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt was executed for treason in The Hague. 1787 – Captain Arthur Phillip left England with the First Fleet, carrying convicts to Australia. 1846 – The United States declared war on Mexico, starting […]
Monday, May 12, 2025
Today: 1551 – The National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in the Americas, is founded in Lima, Peru. 1780 – The Cumberland Compact is signed by American settlers in what is now Nashville, Tennessee, establishing a provisional government. 1797 – Napoleon Bonaparte conquers Venice, ending over 1,000 years of Venetian independence. 1820 – […]
Sunday, May 11, 2025
Today: 868 – The Diamond Sutra, the world’s oldest known printed book, is dated in China. 1745 – French forces defeat the British at the Battle of Fontenoy during the War of the Austrian Succession. 1792 – The Columbia River is named by American captain Robert Gray, who becomes the first recorded European to sail […]