May 21 Historical Events
The following events took place on May 21. The list is arranged in chronological order.
Found 66 events. Showing 1 - 30.
- 293Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian appoint Galerius as Caesar to Diocletian, beginning the period of four rulers known as the Tetrarchy.
- 878Syracuse, Sicily, is captured by the Muslim sultan of Sicily.
- 879Pope John VIII gives blessings to Branimir of Croatia and to the Croatian people, considered to be international recognition of the Croatian state.
- 996Sixteen-year-old Otto III is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
- 1085The Swedish town of Helsingborg is founded.
- 1349Dušan’s Code, the constitution of the Serbian Empire, is enacted by Dušan the Mighty.
- 1403Henry III of Castile sends Ruy González de Clavijo as ambassador to Timur to discuss the possibility of an alliance between Timur and Castile against the Ottoman Empire.
- 1502The island of Saint Helena is discovered by the Portuguese explorer João da Nova.
- 1554Queen Mary I grants a royal charter to Derby School, as a grammar school for boys in Derby, England.
- 1674The nobility elect John Sobieski King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.
- 1725The Order of St. Alexander Nevsky is instituted in Russia by Empress Catherine I. It would later be discontinued and then reinstated by the Soviet government in 1942 as the Order of Alexander Nevsky.
- 1758Ten-year-old Mary Campbell is abducted in Pennsylvania by Lenape during the French and Indian War. She is returned six and a half years later.
- 1809The first day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling between the Austrian army led by Archduke Charles and the French army led by Napoleon I of France sees the French attack across the Danube held.
- 1851Slavery is abolished in Colombia, South America.
- 1856Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces.
- 1863American Civil War: The Union Army succeeds in closing off the last escape route from Port Hudson, Louisiana, in preparation for the coming siege.
- 1863Organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Battle Creek, Michigan.
- 1864Russia declares an end to the Russo-Circassian War and many Circassians are forced into exile. The day is designated the Circassian Day of Mourning.
- 1864American Civil War: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ends.
- 1864The Ionian Islands reunite with Greece.
- 1871French troops invade the Paris Commune and engage its residents in street fighting. By the close of “Bloody Week”, some 20,000 communards have been killed and 38,000 arrested.
- 1871Opening of the first rack railway in Europe, the Rigi-Bahnen on Mount Rigi.
- 1879War of the Pacific: Two Chilean ships blocking the harbor of Iquique (then belonging to Peru) battle two Peruvian vessels in the Battle of Iquique.
- 1881The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton in Washington, D.C.
- 1894The Manchester Ship Canal in the United Kingdom is officially opened by Queen Victoria, who later knights its designer Sir Edward Leader Williams.
- 1904The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is founded in Paris.
- 1911President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz and the revolutionary Francisco Madero sign the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez to put an end to the fighting between the forces of both men, concluding the initial phase of the Mexican Revolution.
- 1917The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is established through royal charter to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations military forces.
- 1917The Great Atlanta fire of 1917 causes $5.5 million in damages, destroying some 300 acres including 2,000 homes, businesses and churches, displacing about 10,000 people but leading to only one fatality (due to heart attack).
- 1924University of Chicago students Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks in a “thrill killing”.
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