Historical Events on May 22

Events 1 - 200 of 211

• 760 14th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet

• 1200 Treaty of Le Goulet signed between France and England
• 1370 Jews are expelled and massacred in Brussels, Belgium
• 1377 Pope Gregory XI issues five papal bulls to denounce the doctrines of English theologian John Wycliffe

• 1570 First atlas 'Theatrum Orbis Terrarum' (Theatre of the World), published by Abraham Ortelius in Antwerp with 70 maps
• 1594 Siege of Spanish held city of Groningen begins led by Dutch and English army led by Maurice of Orange

• 1659 France, England & Netherlands sign "Hedges Concerto" treaty
• 1690 San Francisco De Los Tejas Mission founded by the Spanish on San Pedro Creek - first Spanish mission in East Texas (later relocated) [1]
• 1702 Commission for the first Census of Iceland issued - first modern census, carried out by Professor Árni Magnússon and Vice Chancellor Páll Vídalín (1702-3) [1]

• 1720 Foundation stone laid for German Baroque palace the Würzburg Residence (completed 1744)
• 1746 Russia and Austria sign treaty of cooperation
• 1761 1st life insurance policy in North America issued in Philadelphia
• 1762 Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Hamburg, reaffirming the status quo that existed before the Seven Years' War
• 1766 Istanbul earthquake with estimated magnitude of 7.1, causes widespread extensive damage, followed by a significant tsunami

• 1803 1st US public library opens in Connecticut

• 1807 Townsend Speakman 1st sells fruit-flavored carbonated drinks in Philadelphia

• 1826 HMS Beagle departs on its first voyage to survey Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego

• 1840 The transporting of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished
• 1842 Farmers Lester Howe and Henry Wetsel discover Howe Caverns in New York state when they stumble upon a large gaping hole in the ground
• 1843 First wagon train departs Independence, Missouri for Oregon with 700-1,000 migrants

• 1856 Violence in the US Senate, South Carolina rep Brooks uses a cane on Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner
• 1858 Confederación Granadina (now Colombia) forms
• 1863 War Department establishes Bureau of Colored Troops
• 1864 Battle of North Anna River, Virginia (Totopotamy River, Haw's Shop, Hanovertown)
• 1868 Train robbery at Marshfield, Indiana by the Reno Brothers Gang, who make off with $98,000
• 1872 Amnesty Act restores civil rights to Southerners (except for 500)
• 1883 Cubs' Billy Sunday's 1st at bat, begins 14 consecutive strikes out
• 1884 1-armed pitcher Hugh Daily fanned 13 hitters
• 1888 Leroy Buffington patents a system to build skyscrapers
• 1892 Dr Washington Sheffield invents the toothpaste tube
• 1893 Montreal Athletic Association beat Ottawa Generals 2-1, in 1st Cup Game
• 1894 American inventor Augustine Sackett is granted a patent for Sackett Board, the prototype for drywall (U.S. Patent No. 520,123)
• 1897 The Blackwall Tunnel under the River Thames, in London, England officially opens
• 1900 American inventor Edwin S Votey receives patent for pneumatic piano player
• 1900 Associated Press organizes in NYC as nonprofit news cooperative

• 1903 Launch of the White Star Liner SS Ionic.
• 1905 Royal Academy in Delft Holland becomes Technical High School
• 1906 A British garrison leaves Esquimalt, on the Pacific coast, after a military occupation that began in 1858: the last British soldiers stationed in Canada
• 1906 Wright Brothers are granted a patent for their "flying machine," having applied for one 3 years earlier (patent no. 821,393)
• 1907 Albert Trott takes two hat-tricks in an innings, Middlesex v Somerset
• 1907 Plaza Cinema opens in Ottawa, Kansas, the world's oldest purpose-built movie theatre [1]
• 1909 1st San Francisco fireboat, David Scannell, launched
• 1911 Braves pitcher, Cliff Curtis, loses his 23rd game in a row
• 1915 Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, only mountain other than Mount St. Helens, to erupt in the continental US during the 20th century
• 1915 Local train collides with troop train killing 226 in Gretna, Scotland
• 1916 Battle of Verdun: French troops assault Fort Douaumont but fail to recapture it after hours of dogged fighting

• 1926 "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue" by Gene Austin hits #1

• 1927 8.3 Nan-Shan earthquake strikes Tsinghai, China, over 40,900 killed
• 1927 Dodgers beat Phillies, 20-4
• 1928 US Congress accept Jones-White Merchant Naval Act

• 1931 1931 George End introduces “Genuine Diamondback Rattlesnake with Supreme Sauce” in a can, by his Florida Products Corporation; the popular item ceases production in 1944 after when the owner dies, a victim of one snake's revenge [1]
• 1933 First modern sighting of the Loch Ness Monster by Aldie and John Mackay saw "something resembling a whale"
• 1933 World Trade Day/National Maritime Day 1st celebrated
• 1936 Aer Lingus (Aerloingeas) is incorporated as the national airline of the Republic of Ireland
• 1938 Dodgers announce contracts to install lights at Ebbets Field

• 1940 Dutch Premier De Geer begins working with Nazis

• 1941 British troops attack Baghdad
• 1942 Mexico declares war on Nazi-Germany & Japan
• 1942 The Steel Workers Organizing Committee disbands, and a new trade union, the United Steelworkers, is formed
• 1943 RAF scatters 1st copies of "The Flying Hollander"
• 1945 6th US Marine division reaches suburbs of Naha Okinawa
• 1945 NSB-Fuhrer Rost van Tonningen makes failed suicide attempt
• 1946 Yankees turn triple-play & defeat Tigers 5-3
• 1947 "Truman Doctrine" goes into effect, aiding Turkey and Greece
• 1947 1st US ballistic missile fired
• 1949 Brooklyn Dodgers Don Newcombe, in 1st MLB start, shuts out Cincinnati on 5 hits to win 3-0
• 1950 Celal Bayar elected President of Turkey
• 1950 Dutch poet Gerrit Achterberg wins PC Hooft prize

• 1953 Yankee Irv Noren hits into a triple-play, Yanks beat Wash 12-4
• 1954 KREX TV channel 5 in Grand Junction, CO (CBS) begins broadcasting
• 1954 Robert Zimmerman aka Bob Dylan is Bar Mitzvahed
• 1955 Oldest man to drive in the Grand Prix (aged 55) finishes 6th

• 1956 KRIS TV channel 6 in Corpus Christi, TX (NBC) begins broadcasting
• 1957 KBTX TV channel 3 in Bryan, TX (CBS) begins broadcasting
• 1957 Red Sox set AL record by smashing 4 HRs in 6th inning in 11-0 win
• 1957 South Africa's government approves race separation in universities
• 1958 Influential modernist skyscraper the Seagram Building designed by Mies van der Rohe officially opens in Manhattan, New York
• 1959 Benjamin O Davis Jr becomes 1st black major general in US Air Force
• 1960 A magnitude 9.4-9.6 earthquake strikes near the city of Valdivia in Chile, the strongest ever recorded, causing multiple tsunamis and killing 1,000-7,000 people
• 1960 Tsunami generated by a magnitude 9.4-9.6 earthquake in Chile strikes Hilo, Hawaii at 01:04 AM, severely damaging virtually all coastal towns between the 37th and 44th parallels
• 1961 "Mother-In-Law" single by Ernie K-Doe hits #1; written and produced by pianist Allen Toussaint
• 1961 Novelty single "Touchables In Brooklyn" by Dickie Goodman hits #42

• 1962 Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashes after bombs explode on board
• 1962 Major Robert A Rushworth, USAF, takes X-15 to 30,600m
• 1962 Netherlands telephone network becomes completely automated

• 1963 Greek parliament leader Lambrakis injured

• 1965 "Super-cali-fragil-istic-expi-ali-docious", from the film "Mary Poppin" hits #66
• 1965 Beatles' "Ticket to Ride" single goes #1
• 1965 Mad Dog Vachon beats Igor Vodic in Omaha, to become NWA champ

• 1967 Fire at L'Innovation department store kills 322 (Brussels, Belgium)

• 1969 Stafford & Cernan pilot Apollo 10 LEM 9.4 mi(15km) above lunar surface
• 1970 Arab terrorists kill 9 children & 3 adults on a school bus
• 1970 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll

• 1971 A British soldier is killed by members of the Official Irish Republican Army in Belfast
• 1972 Ceylon becomes Republic of Sri Lanka as its constitution is ratified
• 1972 Over 400 women in Derry attack the offices of Official Sinn Féin in Derry, North Ireland, following the shooting of William Best by the Official Irish Republican Army
• 1972 Ton Sijbrands becomes world checkers champion
• 1972 US President Nixon begins visit to Moscow
• 1973 President Nixon confesses his role in Watergate cover-up

• 1974 Ruffian begins her racing career as a filly and dies 14 months later
• 1974 Soccer team Veendam forms
• 1974 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1976 NASA launches space vehicle S-179
• 1976 St Louis Cardinal Reggie Smith hits 3 HR

• 1977 Red Sox (6) & Brewers (5) tie single game HR record of 11

• 1980 Video game Pac-Man created by Toru Iwatani is first released in Japan [1]
• 1981 Soyuz 40 returns to Earth
• 1983 Toronto Blue Jay Cliff Johnson hits record 18th pinch hit HR

• 1985 US sailor Michael L Walker arrested for spying for USSR

• 1987 30 killed in a Texas tornado

• 1988 Károly Grósz succeeds party leader Janos Kádár in Hungary

• 1990 Dow Jones avg hits a record 2,852.23
• 1990 Microsoft releases Windows 3.0
• 1990 North & South Yemen merge to form Republic of Yemen
• 1991 NFL Owners agree to add 2 teams in 1994
• 1991 Roh Jai Bong resigns as premier of South Korea
• 1992 California Angels, are involved in a bus crash, in New Jersey
• 1992 India launches its Agni rocket

• 1993 "The New WKRP in Cincinnati", an ensemble TV sitcom sequel created by Hugh Wilson and set in a struggling radio station, concludes syndicated run

• 1994 Toronto NBA franchise unveils name "Raptors" & logo

• 1997 "Closer" play by Patrick Marber starring Clive Owen, opens at the Royal National Theatre in London
• 1997 Kelly Flinn, US Air Force's first female bomber pilot certified for combat, accepts a general discharge in order to avoid a court martial

• 2002 American civil rights movement: a jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church

• 2002 The remains of missing Chandra Levy are found in Rock Creek Park, Washington, D.C.

• 2004 Super Rugby Final, Canberra: ACT Brumbies claim their 2nd title with a 47-38 win over Canterbury Crusaders; Brumbies wingers Mark Gerrard (3) and Joe Roff (2) combine for 5 tries
• 2004 The U.S. town of Hallam, Nebraska, is wiped out by a powerful F4 tornado that broke a width record at an astounding 2.5 miles wide. It also kills one local resident.
• 2005 58th Cannes Film Festival: "The Child" directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne wins the Palme d'Or

• 2006 Results from the Montenegrin independence referendum, 2006 are announced. 55.4% of voters vote to become independent from the Serbia and Montenegro Union.

• 2011 64th Cannes Film Festival: "The Tree of Life" directed by Terrence Malick wins the Palme d'Or
• 2011 An EF5 Tornado strikes the US city of Joplin, Missouri killing at least 158 people, the single deadliest US tornado since modern record keeping began in 1950
• 2012 14 people die and 30 are injured in train collision in India
• 2012 Philip Philips is crowned the eleventh American Idol
• 2013 British Army Fusilier Lee Rigby is murdered near the Royal Artillery Barracks in London by two Islamic terrorists, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale.
• 2014 Royal Thai Armed Forces, led by General Prayut Chan-o-cha stage a coup in Thailand, suspending the kingdom's constitution and taking control of the government, the 12th since the country's first coup in 1932

• 2015 Ireland becomes 1st country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage by popular vote

• 2015 Pakistan begin the first test-playing nation cricket tour of Zimbabwe since 2009
• 2016 69th Cannes Film Festival: "I, Daniel Blake," directed by Ken Loach wins the Palme d'Or
• 2016 Independent Alexander Van der Bellen defeats Freedom Party's Norbert Hofer by just 31,000 votes to become President in Austrian elections
• 2016 The Tradition Senior Men's Golf, Greystone G&CC: Germany's Berhard Langer wins sixth of 13 Champions Tour majors by 6 strokes from Olin Browne

• 2017 Japanese researchers from University of Yamanashi report birth of mice from freeze-dried sperm stored on the International Space Station
• 2017 South Africa's Western Cape province declares a drought disaster - worst for 113 years

• 2018 Australian court finds Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson guilty of covering up sexual abuse in 1970s, most senior Catholic priest to be convicted

• 2018 New York Stock Exchange announces Stacey Cunningham will be its first woman head in its 226-year history
• 2018 Outbreak of Nipah virus confirmed to have killed 10 including a nurse in Kozhikode, India
• 2018 Stacey Abrams is the first black woman to be nominated as US state governor - for Georgia

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