| | 1153 - Malcolm IV becomes King of Scotland. |
| | 1218 - The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt. |
| | 1276 - Magnus Ladulås crowned King of Sweden in Uppsala Cathedral. |
| | 1487 - Imposter Lambert Simnel is crowned as "King Edward VI" at Dublin. |
| | 1595 - Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library. |
| | 1621 - Protestant Union formally dissolved. |
| | 1626 - Peter Minuit buys Manhattan. |
| | 1689 - The English Parliament passes the Act of Toleration protecting Protestants (Roman Catholics are intentionally excluded). |
| | 1738 - John Wesley is converted, essentially launching the Methodist movement; the day is celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day. |
| | 1787 - The United States Constitutional Convention is convened after a quorum of delegates arrives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. |
| | 1798 - Irish Rebellion of 1798 led by the United Irishmen against British rule begins. |
| | 1822 - Battle of Pichincha: Antonio José de Sucre secures the independence of the Presidency of Quito. |
| | 1830 - Mary had a little lamb by Sarah Hale is published. |
| | 1844 - Samuel F. B. Morse sent the message "What hath God wrought" (a Bible quotation, Numbers 23:23) from the Supreme Court room in Washington, D.C. to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, Maryland. |
| | 1846 - Mexican-American War: General Zachary Taylor captures Monterrey. |
| | 1856 - John Brown and his men murder five slavery supporters at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas. |
| | 1861 - American Civil War: Union troops occupy Alexandria, Virginia. |
| | 1883 - The Brooklyn Bridge in New York is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction. |
| | 1893 - The Niagara Falls Park and River Railway opens in Ontario. |
| | 1895 - Henry Irving becomes the first personage from the theatre to be knighted. |
| | 1899 - The first public parking garage in the United States is opened in Boston, Massachusetts. |
| | 1900 - Second Boer War: The United Kingdom annexes the Orange Free State. |
| | 1911 - The New York Public Library opened. |
| | 1915 - World War I: Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary. |
| | 1921 - The trial of Sacco and Vanzetti opens. |
| | 1929 - The Cocoanuts, the first film to star the Marx Brothers, opens. |
| | 1930 - Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the first woman to fly from England to Australia (she left on May 5 for the 11,000 mile flight). |
| | 1935 - Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Ohio, hosts major-league baseball's first night game ever as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-1. |
| | 1940 - Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight. |
| | 1941 - World War II: In the North Atlantic, the German Battleship Bismarck sinks the HMS Hood killing all but three crewmen on what was the pride of the Royal Navy. |
| | 1943 - Holocaust: Josef Mengele becomes chief medical officer in Auschwitz concentration camp. |
| | 1949 - The Soviet Union ends the 11-month Berlin Blockade. |
| | 1958 - United Press International is formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service. |
| | 1961 - American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi for "disturbing the peace" after disembarking from their bus. |
| | 1961 - Cyprus enters the Council of Europe. |
| | 1962 - American astronaut Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth three times in the Aurora 7 space capsule. |
| | 1968 - Students set fire to the Paris bourse. |
| | 1968 - FLQ separatists bomb the U.S. consulate in Quebec City. |
| | 1970 - The drilling of the Kola Superdeep Borehole begins in the USSR |
| | 1974 - After a nine-year run, The Dean Martin Show airs for the last time. |
| | 1976 - London to Washington, DC Concorde service begins. |
| | 1980 - The International Court of Justice calls for the release of United States embassy hostages in Tehran. The hostages would not be freed until the following January. |
| | 1980 - Bobby Nystrom scores the game winning overtime goal to lift the New York Islanders to their first of four consecutive Stanley Cups. |
| | 1981 - First International Women's Day for Disarmament. |
| | 1988 - Section 28 is passed as law by Parliament in the United Kingdom. |
| | 1989 - Sonia Sutcliffe, wife of the Yorkshire Ripper, is awarded a six-figure sum in damages after winning a libel action against Private Eye. |
| | 1990 - A car carrying American Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney explodes in Oakland, California, critically injuring both. |
| | 1991 - Israel conducts Operation Solomon, evacuating Ethiopian Jews to Israel. |
| | 1992 - The last Thai dictator, General Suchinda Kraprayoon, resigns following pro-democracy protests. |
| | 1993 - Eritrea gains its independence from Ethiopia. |
| | 1993 - Microsoft unveils Windows NT. |
| | 1999 - Venezuela entered the Antarctic Treaty System. |
| | 2000 - Israeli troops withdraw from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation. |
| | 2001 - Mountain climbing: 15-year-old Sherpa Temba Tsheri becomes the youngest person to climb to the top of Mount Everest. |
| | 2001 - The Versailles wedding hall collapse in Jerusalem, Israel, kills 23 and injures over 200 in Israel's worst-ever civil disaster. |
| | 2002 - Russia and the United States sign the Moscow Treaty. |