1006 – Supernova observed by Chinese & Egyptians in constellation Lupus
1328 – Wars of Scottish Independence end: By the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton the Kingdom of England recognises the Kingdom of Scotland as an independent state.
1707 – The Act of Union joins the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1731 – Johann Ludwig Bach, German composer (b. 1677) Dies
1753 – Publication of Species Plantarum by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature.
1764 – Benjamin Henry Latrobe, English-American architect, designed the United States Capitol (d. 1820) was born.
1769 – Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington and British Prime Minister (Tory) (1828-30) Born
1776 – Establishment of the Illuminati in Ingolstadt (Upper Bavaria), by Jesuit-taught Adam Weishaupt.
1778 – American Revolution: The Battle of Crooked Billet begins in Hatboro, Pennsylvania.
1840 – The Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, is issued in the United Kingdom.
1844 – Whig convention nominates Henry Clay as presidential candidate
1852 – Calamity [Martha] Jane [Burke], frontier adventurer/indian fighter – Born
1862 – American Civil War: The Union Army completes the Capture of New Orleans.
1873 – David Livingstone, British physician/explorer (looter) (Africa), dies at 60
1875 – 238 members of “Whiskey Ring” accused of anti-US activities
1884 – Proclamation of the demand for eight-hour workday in the United States.
1885 – The original Chicago Board of Trade Building opens for business.
1886 – Rallies are held throughout the United States demanding the eight-hour work day, culminating in the Haymarket Affair in Chicago, in commemoration of which May 1 is celebrated as International Workers’ Day in many countries.
1901 – The Pan-American Exposition opens in Buffalo, New York.
1915 – The RMS Lusitania departs from New York City on her two hundred and second, and final, crossing of the North Atlantic. Six days later, the ship is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland with the loss of 1,198 lives, including 128 Americans, rousing American sentiment against Germany.
1923 – Marcel Rayman, WWII resistance fighter (d. 1944) was born.
1924 – Art Fleming, American actor and game show host (d. 1995) was born.
1925 – The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is officially founded. Today it is the largest trade union in the world, with 134 million members.
1925 – The first Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer is held at the University of Toronto, Canada.
1929 – Police kill 19 Mayday demonstrators in Berlin
1931 – The Empire State Building is dedicated in New York City.
1931 – The Gangster Al Capone is being sought for questioning over the murder of Mike De Pike Hitler from a rival gang by detectives in Chicago a number of other members of his gang .
1933 – The Humanist Manifesto I published.
1936 – FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover arrests Alvin Karpis
1937 – FDR signs act of neutrality
1939 – Batman comics hit street
1940 – The 1940 Summer Olympics are cancelled due to war.
1941 – The first “Code talkers” Navajo indians are specially recruited by the Marines to serve in their standard communications units in the Pacific Theater, they provide an unbreakable combat voice communications code
1941 – The movie “Citizen Kane,” the first feature film directed by Orson Welles, also starring Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane premiers in New York.
1945 – World War II: A German newsreader officially announces that Adolf Hitler has “fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany”. The Soviet flag is raised over the Reich Chancellery, by order of Stalin.
1945 – World War II: Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda commit suicide in the Reich Garden outside the Führerbunker. Their children are murdered by Magda by having cyanide pills inserted into their mouths.
1948 – The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) is established, with Kim Il-sung as leader.
1950 – Guam is organized as a United States commonwealth.
1952 – Mr Potato Head introduced
1956 – The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.
1956 – A doctor in Japan reports an “epidemic of an unknown disease of the central nervous system”, marking the official discovery of Minamata disease.
1957 – Thirty-four people are killed when a Vickers Viking airliner crashes in Hampshire England.
1960 – Russia shoots down Francis Gary Powers’ U-2 spy plane over Sverdlovsk
1963 – 1st American (James Whittaker) conquers Mount Everest
1965 – Spike Jones, composer (Spike Jones Show), dies at 53
1968 – D’arcy Wretzky, American bass player (The Smashing Pumpkins and Catherine) was born.
1968 – Johnny Colt, American bass guitarist (The Black Crowes and Lynyrd Skynyrd) was born.
1970 – Protests erupt in Seattle, Washington, following the announcement by U.S. President Richard Nixon that U.S. Forces in Vietnam would pursue enemy troops into Cambodia, a neutral country.
1971 – Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) takes over operation of U.S. passenger rail service.
1981 – Wes Welker, American football player – Born
1986 – Tass reports Chernobyl nuclear power plant mishap
1987 – Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.
1989 – Disney-MGM Studios opens at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, United States.
1997 – Bebe, AKA Flipper, dolphin, dies at 40
1998 – Eldridge Cleaver, American activist (b. 1935) Dies
2003 – 2003 invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the “Mission Accomplished” speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declares that “major combat operations in Iraq have ended”.
2003 – Miss Elizabeth, American wrestling manager (b. 1960) died.
2004 – Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin.
2006 – The Puerto Rican government closes the Department of Education and 42 other government agencies due to significant shortages in cash flow.
2007 – The Los Angeles May Day mêlée occurs, in which the Los Angeles Police Department’s response to a May Day pro-immigration rally become a matter of controversy.
2008 – The London Agreement on translation of European patents, concluded in 2000, enters into force in 14 of the 34 Contracting States to the European Patent Convention.
2010 – (FBI Sting) Car bomb fails to go off in Times Square, New York City
2011 – Barack Obama announces that Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks has been killed by United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Due to the time difference between the United States and Pakistan, bin Laden was actually killed on May 2.
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