Historical Events on May 20, Special Events on This Day

Important Events From This day in History May 20th. Find Out What happened 20th May This Day in History on your birthday. Also you can find some answers for the following questions;
Which major historical events happened on May 20?
What happened on May 20th in history?
What special day is May 20?
What happened in history on May 20th?

What Happened on May 20th This Day in History

Year Name
2022 Russo-Ukrainian War: Russia claims full control of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol after a nearly three-month siege.
2019 The International System of Units (SI): The base units are redefined, making the international prototype of the kilogram obsolete.
2016 The government of Singapore authorised the controversial execution of convicted murderer Kho Jabing for the murder of a Chinese construction worker despite the international pleas for clemency, notably from Amnesty International and the United Nations.[14][15]
2013 An EF5 tornado strikes the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, killing 24 people and injuring 377 others.
2012 At least 27 people are killed and 50 others injured when a 6.0-magnitude earthquake strikes northern Italy.
2011 Mamata Banerjee is sworn in as the Chief Minister of West Bengal, the first woman to hold this post.
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).
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.
1990 The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.
1989 The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre.
1985 Radio Martí, part of the Voice of America service, begins broadcasting to Cuba.
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.
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.
1980 In a referendum in Quebec, the population rejects, by 60% of the vote, a government proposal to move towards independence from Canada.
1971 In the Chuknagar massacre, Pakistani forces massacre thousands, mostly Bengali Hindus.
1969 The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ends.
1967 The Popular Movement of the Revolution political party is established in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
1965 One hundred twenty-one people are killed when Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705 crashes at Cairo International Airport.
1964 Discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation by Robert Woodrow Wilson and Arno Penzias.
1956 In Operation Redwing, the first United States airborne hydrogen bomb is dropped over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
1949 In the United States, the Armed Forces Security Agency, the predecessor to the National Security Agency, is established.
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.
1941 World War II: Battle of Crete: German paratroops invade Crete.
1940 The Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.
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.
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.
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 .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-
1902 Cuba gains independence from the United States. Tomás Estrada Palma becomes the country's first President.
1891 History of cinema: The first public display of Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope.
1883 Krakatoa begins to erupt; the volcano explodes three months later, killing more than 36,000 people.
1882 The Triple Alliance between the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy is formed.
1875 Signing of the Metre Convention by 17 nations leading to the establishment of the International System of Units.
1873 Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
1864 American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church: In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory.
1862 U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law, opening 84 million acres of public land to settlers.
1861 American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state. Meanwhile, the State of North Carolina secedes from the Union.
1840 York Minster is badly damaged by fire.
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.
1802 By the Law of 20 May 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution.
1775 The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence is allegedly signed in Charlotte, North Carolina.
1741 The Battle of Cartagena de Indias ends in a Spanish victory and the British begin withdrawal towards Jamaica with substantial losses.
1645 Yangzhou massacre: The ten day massacre of 800,000 residents of the city of Yangzhou, part of the Transition from Ming to Qing.
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.
1609 Shakespeare's sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe.
1570 Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas.
1521 Ignatius of Loyola is seriously wounded in the Battle of Pampeluna.
1520 Hernando Cortes defeats Panfilo de Narvaez, sent by Spain to punish him for insubordination.
1498 Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovers the sea route to India when he arrives at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India.
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).
1449 The Battle of Alfarrobeira is fought, establishing the House of Braganza as a principal royal family of Portugal.
1426 King Mohnyin Thado formally ascends to the throne of Ava.
1293 King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Estudio de Escuelas de Generales in Alcalá de Henares.
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.
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.
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.
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.
325 The First Council of Nicaea is formally opened, starting the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church.
Famous People Born on May 20

Here is a random list who born on May 20. For full list please click on the link above.

Year Name
1950 Reinaldo Merlo, Argentinian footballer and coach
1886 Ali Sami Yen, Turkish footballer and manager, founded the Galatasaray Sports Club (d. 1951)
1935 José Mujica, Uruguayan guerrilla leader and politician, 40th President of Uruguay
1956 Douglas Preston, American journalist and author
1968 Timothy Olyphant, American actor and producer
1851 Emile Berliner, German-American inventor, invented the Gramophone record (d. 1929)
1964 Edin Osmanović, Slovenian footballer, coach, and manager
1897 Diego Abad de Santillán, Spanish economist and author (d. 1983)
1915 Joff Ellen, Australian comedian and actor (d. 1999)
1799 Honoré de Balzac, French novelist and playwright (d. 1850)
Famous People Deaths On May 20

Here is a list of some famous peope who died on May 20. For full list please click on the link above.

Date Name
2001 Renato Carosone, Italian singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1920)
2014 Sandra Bem, American psychologist and academic (b. 1944)
1996 Jon Pertwee, English actor, portrayed the Third Doctor (b. 1919)
2015 Bob Belden, American saxophonist, composer, and producer (b. 1956)
1645 Shi Kefa, Chinese general and calligrapher (b. 1601)
1285 John I of Cyprus (b. 1259)
2002 Stephen Jay Gould, American paleontologist, biologist, and academic (b. 1941)
2016 Kho Jabing, Malaysian convicted murderer who was executed by hanging in Singapore (b. 1984)
794 Æthelberht II, king of East Anglia
1896 Clara Schumann, German pianist and composer (b. 1819)