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”.