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May 21 Birthday Events Poster

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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.

  • 293
    Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian appoint Galerius as Caesar to Diocletian, beginning the period of four rulers known as the Tetrarchy.
  • 878
    Syracuse, Sicily, is captured by the Muslim sultan of Sicily.
  • 879
    Pope John VIII gives blessings to Branimir of Croatia and to the Croatian people, considered to be international recognition of the Croatian state.
  • 996
    Sixteen-year-old Otto III is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
  • 1085
    The Swedish town of Helsingborg is founded.
  • 1349
    Dušan’s Code, the constitution of the Serbian Empire, is enacted by Dušan the Mighty.
  • 1403
    Henry 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.
  • 1502
    The island of Saint Helena is discovered by the Portuguese explorer João da Nova.
  • 1554
    Queen Mary I grants a royal charter to Derby School, as a grammar school for boys in Derby, England.
  • 1674
    The nobility elect John Sobieski King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.
  • 1725
    The 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.
  • 1758
    Ten-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.
  • 1809
    The 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.
  • 1851
    Slavery is abolished in Colombia, South America.
  • 1856
    Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces.
  • 1863
    American Civil War: The Union Army succeeds in closing off the last escape route from Port Hudson, Louisiana, in preparation for the coming siege.
  • 1863
    Organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Battle Creek, Michigan.
  • 1864
    Russia declares an end to the Russo-Circassian War and many Circassians are forced into exile. The day is designated the Circassian Day of Mourning.
  • 1864
    American Civil War: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ends.
  • 1864
    The Ionian Islands reunite with Greece.
  • 1871
    French 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.
  • 1871
    Opening of the first rack railway in Europe, the Rigi-Bahnen on Mount Rigi.
  • 1879
    War of the Pacific: Two Chilean ships blocking the harbor of Iquique (then belonging to Peru) battle two Peruvian vessels in the Battle of Iquique.
  • 1881
    The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton in Washington, D.C.
  • 1894
    The Manchester Ship Canal in the United Kingdom is officially opened by Queen Victoria, who later knights its designer Sir Edward Leader Williams.
  • 1904
    The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is founded in Paris.
  • 1911
    President 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.
  • 1917
    The 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.
  • 1917
    The 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).
  • 1924
    University of Chicago students Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks in a “thrill killing”.

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