May 1Birthdays & History

On this day: May 1 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 418A synod in Carthage condemns Pelagianism.Africa
2. 1169Norman mercenaries land at Bannow Bay in Leinster, marking the beginning of the Norman invasion of Ireland.Europe
3. 1328Wars of Scottish Independence end: By the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton, England recognises Scotland as an independent state.Europe
4. 1455Scottish Royal forces loyal to King James II defeat a rebel army of the Black Douglases in the battle of Arkinholm.Europe
5. 1492The Edict of Expulsion is officially proclaimed in Castile, requiring all Jewish residents to leave within three months.Europe
6. 1669Henry Morgan's raid on Lake Maracaibo: the Spanish Armada de Barlovento is defeated by an English Privateer fleet led by Captain Henry Morgan.Europe
7. 1707The Act of Union joining England and Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain takes effect.Europe
8. 1753Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.Europe
9. 1807The Slave Trade Act 1807 takes effect, abolishing the slave trade within the British Empire.Europe
10. 1820Execution of the Cato Street Conspirators, who plotted to kill the British Cabinet and Prime Minister Lord Liverpool.Europe
11. 1851Queen Victoria opens The Great Exhibition at The Crystal Palace in London.Europe
12. 1863American Civil War: During the Vicksburg campaign, Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant win the Battle of Port Gibson and establish a firm presence on the east side of the Mississippi River.North America
13. 1863American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville between Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac under Joseph Hooker begins.North America
14. 1865The Empire of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay sign the Treaty of the Triple Alliance.Latin America
15. 1866The Memphis Race Riots begin. Over three days, 46 blacks and two whites were killed. Reports of the atrocities influenced passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.North America
16. 1886Rallies are held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour work day, culminating in the Haymarket affair in Chicago, in commemoration of which May 1 is celebrated as International Workers' Day in many countries.North America
17. 1891On Labor Day in Catania, Sicily, workers establish the first successful Fascio Siciliano, launching a movement of peasants and laborers protesting poverty, landlordism, taxation, and economic hardship across Sicily.Europe
18. 1891The 1891 New Orleans Lynchings: 11 Italian immigrants are lynched by a mob in Louisiana, USA after the acquittal of several defendants in a murder case, the largest mass lynching in U.S. history.North AmericaEurope
19. 1894Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, arrives in Washington, D.C.North America
20. 1896While on a pilgrimage of Shah Abdol-Azim Shrine in Ray, Tehran, Naser al-Din Shah of Qajar Persia, was assassinated by Mirza Reza Kermani.Middle East
21. 1898Spanish–American War: Battle of Manila Bay: The Asiatic Squadron of the United States Navy destroys the Pacific Squadron of the Spanish Navy after a seven-hour battle. Spain loses all seven of its ships, and 381 Spanish sailors die. There are no American vessel losses or combat deaths.EuropeNorth AmericaAsia
22. 1900The Scofield Mine disaster kills over 200 men in Scofield, Utah in what is to date the fifth-worst mining accident in United States history.North America
23. 1921The Jaffa riots begin.Middle East
24. 1929The 7.2 Mw Kopet Dag earthquake shakes the Iran–Turkmenistan border region with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), killing up to 3,800 and injuring 1,121.Middle EastAsia
25. 1945World War II: German radio broadcasts news of Adolf Hitler's death, falsely stating that he has "fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany". The Soviet flag is raised over the Reich Chancellery, by order of Stalin. Up to 2,500 people die in a mass suicide in Demmin following the advance of the Red Army.Europe
26. 1946Start of three-year Pilbara strike of Indigenous Australians.Oceania
27. 1947Portella della Ginestra massacre against May Day celebrations in Sicily by the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano where 11 persons are killed and 33 wounded.Europe
28. 1957A Vickers VC.1 Viking crashes while attempting to return to Blackbushe Airport in Yateley, killing 34.Europe
29. 1960Cold War: U-2 incident: Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Sverdlovsk Oblast, Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis.Europe
30. 1970Vietnam War: A student anti-war strike erupts in response to U.S. and South Vietnamese forces attacking Vietnamese communists in a Cambodian Campaign.AsiaNorth America
31. 1982Operation Black Buck: The Royal Air Force attacks the Argentine Air Force during the Falklands War.Latin America
32. 1991Angolan Civil War: The MPLA and UNITA agree to the Bicesse Accords, which are formally signed on May 31 in Lisbon.AfricaEurope
33. 1993Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa is assassinated in Colombo in a suicide bombing carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.Asia
34. 1994Three-time Formula One champion Ayrton Senna is killed in an accident during the San Marino Grand Prix.Europe
35. 1997The Labour Party wins the 1997 General Election and Tony Blair is elected as Prime Minister.Europe
36. 2003Invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended".Middle EastNorth America
37. 2004Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin.Middle EastEurope
38. 2009Same-sex marriage in Sweden is legalized.Europe
39. 2010Faisal Shahzad attempts to detonate a car bomb in Times Square, but the bomb fails to go off.North America
40. 2011Pope John Paul II is beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.Europe
41. 2018Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) resumes the Deir ez-Zor campaign in order to clear the remnants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the Iraq–Syria border.Middle East
42. 2019Naruhito ascends to the throne of Japan succeeding his father Akihito, beginning the Reiwa period.Asia
43. 2019Naxalite attack in Gadchiroli district of India: Sixteen army soldiers, including a driver, killed in an IED blast. Naxals targeted an anti-Naxal operations team.Asia
44. 2024The 2024 Loblaw boycott, a Canadian boycott against retail corporation and grocer Loblaw Companies, begins.North America
45. 2026After a ransomware attack by the group ShinyHunters, the education platform Canvas operated by private company Instructure, goes offline, affecting thousands of educational institutions.North America

Source: Wikipedia "May 1" / CC BY-SA 4.0