May 19 in History

Historical Events on May 19

639

Ashina Jiesheshuai and his tribesmen assaulted Emperor Taizong at Jiucheng Palace.
715

Pope Gregory II is elected.
1051

Henry I of France is married to Anne of Kiev.
1445

John II of Castile defeats the Infantes of Aragon at the First Battle of Olmedo.
1499

Catherine of Aragon is married by proxy to Arthur, Prince of Wales. Catherine is 13 and Arthur is 12.
1535

French 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).
1536

Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England, is beheaded for adultery, treason, and incest.
1542

The Prome Kingdom falls to the Taungoo Dynasty in present-day Burma.
1568

Queen Elizabeth I of England orders the arrest of Mary, Queen of Scots.
1643

Thirty 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.
1649

An Act of Parliament declaring England a Commonwealth is passed by the Long Parliament. England would be a republic for the next eleven years.
1655

The Invasion of Jamaica begins during the Anglo-Spanish War.
1743

Jean-Pierre Christin developed the centigrade temperature scale.
1749

King George II of Great Britain grants the Ohio Company a charter of land around the forks of the Ohio River.
1776

American Revolutionary War: A Continental Army garrison surrenders in the Battle of The Cedars.
1780

New England's Dark Day, an unusual darkening of the day sky was observed over the New England states and parts of Canada.
1802

Napoleon Bonaparte founds the Legion of Honour.
1828

U.S. President John Quincy Adams signs the Tariff of 1828 into law, protecting wool manufacturers in the United States.
1845

Captain Sir John Franklin and his ill-fated Arctic expedition depart from Greenhithe, England.
1848

Mexican-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.
1911

Parks Canada, the world's first national park service, is established as the Dominion Parks Branch under the Department of the Interior.
1917

The Norwegian football club Rosenborg BK is founded.
1919

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, initiating what is later termed the Turkish War of Independence.
1921

The United States Congress passes the Emergency Quota Act establishing national quotas on immigration.
1922

The Young Pioneer Organization of the Soviet Union is established.
1934

Zveno and the Bulgarian Army engineer a coup d'état and install Kimon Georgiev as the new Prime Minister of Bulgaria.
1942

World War II: In the aftermath of the Battle of the Coral Sea, Task Force 16 heads to Pearl Harbor.
1950

A barge containing munitions destined for Pakistan explodes in the harbor at South Amboy, New Jersey, devastating the city.
1950

Egypt announces that the Suez Canal is closed to Israeli ships and commerce.
1959

The 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.
1961

Venera 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).
1961

At Silchar Railway Station, Assam, 11 Bengalis die when police open fire on protesters demanding state recognition of Bengali language in the Bengali Language Movement.
1962

A 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".
1963

The New York Post Sunday Magazine publishes Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail.
1971

Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.
1986

The Firearm Owners Protection Act is signed into law by U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
1991

Croatians vote for independence in a referendum.
1997

The Sierra Gorda biosphere, the most ecologically diverse region in Mexico, is established as a result of grassroots efforts.
2007

President of Romania Traian Băsescu survives an impeachment referendum and returns to office from suspension.
2010

The Royal Thai Armed Forces concludes its crackdown on protests by forcing the surrender of United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship leaders.
2012

Three gas cylinder bombs explode in front of a vocational school in the Italian city of Brindisi, killing one person and injuring five others.
2012

A car bomb explodes near a military complex in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, killing nine people.
2015

The 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.
2016

EgyptAir Flight 804 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea while traveling from Paris to Cairo, killing all on board.

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