May 19Birthdays & History

On this day: May 19 in history

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

1. 639Ashina Jiesheshuai and his tribesmen assault Emperor Taizong at Jiucheng Palace.Asia
2. 715Pope Gregory II is elected.Europe
3. 934The Byzantine Empire reconquers Melitene under the leadership of John Kourkouas.Europe
4. 1051Henry I of France marries the Rus' princess, Anne of Kiev.Europe
5. 1445John II of Castile defeats the Infantes of Aragon at the First Battle of Olmedo.Europe
6. 1499Catherine of Aragon is married by proxy to Arthur, Prince of Wales. Catherine is 13 and Arthur is 12.Europe
7. 1535French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to North America with three ships, 110 men, and Chief Donnacona's two sons (whom Cartier had kidnapped during his first voyage).EuropeNorth America
8. 1536Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England, is beheaded for adultery, treason, and incest.Europe
9. 1542The Prome Kingdom falls to the Taungoo Dynasty in present-day Myanmar.Asia
10. 1643Thirty Years' War: French forces under the duc d'Enghien decisively defeat Spanish forces at the Battle of Rocroi, marking the symbolic end of Spain as a dominant land power.Europe
11. 1649An Act of Parliament declaring England a Commonwealth is passed by the Long Parliament. England would be a republic for the next eleven years.Europe
12. 1655The Invasion of Jamaica begins during the Anglo-Spanish War.Latin AmericaEurope
13. 1674John III Sobieski becomes king of Poland-Lithuania.Europe
14. 1743Jean-Pierre Christin develops the centigrade temperature scale.Europe
15. 1749King George II of Great Britain grants the Ohio Company a charter of land around the forks of the Ohio River.EuropeNorth America
16. 1776American Revolutionary War: A Continental Army garrison surrenders in the Battle of The Cedars.North America
17. 1780New England's Dark Day, an unusual darkening of the day sky, is observed over the New England states and parts of Canada.EuropeNorth America
18. 1798Napoleon Bonaparte and his expedition force leave France to invade Egypt.EuropeMiddle East
19. 1802Napoleon Bonaparte founds the Legion of Honour.Europe
20. 1828U.S. President John Quincy Adams signs the Tariff of 1828 into law, sparking outrage in the South and leading to the Nullification crisis.North America
21. 1845Captain Sir John Franklin and his ill-fated Arctic expedition depart from Greenhithe, England.Europe
22. 1848Mexican–American War: Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thus ending the war and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of four other modern-day U.S. states to the United States for US$15 million.Latin AmericaNorth America
23. 1883Buffalo Bill's first Buffalo Bill's Wild West opens in Omaha, Nebraska.North America
24. 1900Great Britain annexes Tonga Island.EuropeOceania
25. 1900Second Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking.AfricaEurope
26. 1911Parks Canada, the world's first national park service, is established as the Dominion Parks Branch under the Department of the Interior.North America
27. 1917The Norwegian football club Rosenborg BK is founded.Europe
28. 1919Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, initiating what is later termed the Turkish War of Independence.Middle East
29. 1921The United States Congress passes the Emergency Quota Act establishing national quotas on immigration.North America
30. 1922The Young Pioneer Organization of the Soviet Union is established.Europe
31. 1933Finnish cavalry general C. G. E. Mannerheim is appointed the field marshal.Europe
32. 1934Zveno and the Bulgarian Army engineer a coup d'état and install Kimon Georgiev as the new Prime Minister of Bulgaria.Europe
33. 1942World War II: In the aftermath of the Battle of the Coral Sea, Task Force 16 heads to Pearl Harbor for repairs.North America
34. 1943Winston Churchill's second wartime address to the U.S. CongressNorth America
35. 1945Syrian demonstrators in Damascus are fired upon by French troops injuring twelve, leading to the Levant Crisis.Middle EastEurope
36. 1950A barge containing munitions destined for Pakistan explodes in the harbor at South Amboy, New Jersey, devastating the city.AsiaNorth America
37. 1959The North Vietnamese Army establishes Group 559, whose responsibility is to determine how to maintain supply lines to South Vietnam; the resulting route is the Ho Chi Minh trail.Asia
38. 1961At Silchar Railway Station, Assam, 11 Bengalis die when police open fire on protesters demanding state recognition of Bengali language in the Bengali Language Movement.Asia
39. 1961Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data).World
40. 1962A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe's rendition of "Happy Birthday".North America
41. 1963The New York Post Sunday Magazine publishes Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail.North America
42. 1971Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.Europe
43. 1986The Firearm Owners Protection Act is signed into law by U.S. President Ronald Reagan.North America
44. 1991Croatians vote for independence in a referendum.Europe
45. 1993SAM Colombia Flight 501 crashes on approach to José María Córdova International Airport in Medellín, Colombia, killing 132.Latin America
46. 1996Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on mission STS-77.World
47. 1997The Sierra Gorda biosphere, the most ecologically diverse region in Mexico, is established as a result of grassroots efforts.Latin America
48. 2000Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on mission STS-101 to resupply the International Space Station.World
49. 2007President of Romania Traian Băsescu survives an impeachment referendum and returns to office from suspension.Europe
50. 2007A mass shooting starts in Moscow, Idaho, which would leave 3 non-shooters dead and 3 more injured, before the shooter committed suicide the next day.North America
51. 2010The Royal Thai Armed Forces concludes its crackdown on protests by forcing the surrender of United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship leaders.Asia
52. 2012A car bomb explodes near a military complex in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, killing nine people.Middle East
53. 2012Three gas cylinder bombs explode in front of a vocational school in the Italian city of Brindisi, killing one person and injuring five others.Europe
54. 2015The Refugio oil spill deposited 142,800 U.S. gallons (3,400 barrels) of crude oil onto an area in California considered one of the most biologically diverse coastlines of the west coast.North America
55. 2016EgyptAir Flight 804 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea while traveling from Paris to Cairo, killing all on board.EuropeMiddle East
56. 2018The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is held at St George's Chapel, Windsor, with an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion.Europe
57. 2024A helicopter crash in Iran leaves 8 people dead, including the country's president Ebrahim Raisi & foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.Middle East

Source: Wikipedia "May 19" / CC BY-SA 4.0