May 3 Historical Events
The following events took place on May 3. The list is arranged in chronological order.
Found 48 events. Showing 1 - 30.
- 752Mayan king Bird Jaguar IV of Yaxchilan in modern-day Chiapas, Mexico assumes the throne.
- 1481The largest of three earthquakes strikes the island of Rhodes and causes an estimated 30,000 casualties.
- 1491Kongo monarch Nkuwu Nzinga is baptised by Portuguese missionaries, adopting the baptismal name of João I.
- 1715A total solar eclipse was visible across northern Europe, and northern Asia, as predicted by Edmond Halley to within 4 minutes accuracy.
- 1791The Constitution of May 3 (the first modern constitution in Europe) is proclaimed by the Sejm of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
- 1802Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city.
- 1808Finnish War: Sweden loses the fortress of Sveaborg to Russia.
- 1808Peninsular War: The Madrid rebels who rose up on May 2 are executed near Príncipe Pío hill.
- 1815Neapolitan War: Joachim Murat, King of Naples is defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Tolentino, the decisive engagement of the war.
- 1830The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway is opened. It’s the first steam hauled passenger railway to issue season tickets and include a tunnel.
- 1837The University of Athens is founded in Athens, Greece.
- 1849The May Uprising in Dresden begins – the last of the German revolutions of 1848.
- 1855American adventurer William Walker departs from San Francisco with about 60 men to conquer Nicaragua.
- 1860Charles XV of Sweden–Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
- 1867The Hudson’s Bay Company gives up all claims to Vancouver Island.
- 1877Labatt Park, the oldest continually operating baseball grounds in the world has its first game.
- 1901The Great Fire of 1901 begins in Jacksonville, Florida.
- 1913Raja Harishchandra the first full-length Indian feature film is released, marking the beginning of the Indian film industry.
- 1915The poem In Flanders Fields is written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae.
- 1920A Bolshevik coup fails in the Democratic Republic of Georgia.
- 1921West Virginia becomes the first state to legislate a broad sales tax, but does not implement it until a number of years later due to enforcement issues.
- 1928Japanese atrocities in Jinan, China.
- 1937Gone with the Wind, a novel by Margaret Mitchell, wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
- 1939The All India Forward Bloc is formed by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
- 1942World War II: Japanese naval troops invade Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands during the first part of Operation Mo that results in the Battle of the Coral Sea between Japanese forces and forces from the United States and Australia.
- 1945World War II: Sinking of the prison ships Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland by the Royal Air Force in Lübeck Bay.
- 1947New post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect.
- 1948The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Shelley v. Kraemer that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks and other minorities are legally unenforceable.
- 1951London’s Royal Festival Hall opens with the Festival of Britain.
- 1951The United States Senate Committee on Armed Services and United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations begin their closed door hearings into the dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur by U.S. President Harry Truman.
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