Events Pre-1600 350 – The Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, proclaims himself Roman emperor, entering Rome at the head of a group of gladiators. 713 – The Byzantine emperor Philippicus is blinded, deposed and sent into exile by conspirators of the Opsikion army in Thrace. He is succeeded by Anastasios II, who begins the reorganization of the Byzantine army. 1098 – After a five-month siege during the First Crusade, the Crusaders seize Antioch. 1140 – The French scholar Peter Abelard is found guilty of heresy. 1326 – The Treaty of Novgorod delineates borders between Russia and Norway in Finnmark. 1539 – Hernando de Soto claims Florida for Spain.
1601–1900 1602 – An English naval force defeats a fleet of Spanish galleys, and captures a large Portuguese carrack at the Battle of Sesimbra Bay. 1608 – Samuel de Champlain lands at Tadoussac, Quebec, in the course of his third voyage to New France, and begins erecting fortifications. 1621 – The Dutch West India Company receives a charter for New Netherland. 1658 – Pope Alexander VII appoints François de Laval vicar apostolic in New France. 1665 – James Stuart, Duke of York (later to become King James II of England), defeats the Dutch fleet off the coast of Lowestoft. 1700 – Foundation of the Academy of the Distrustful in the library room of the Palau Dalmases in Barcelona.Historical Archive of the City of Barcelona: 1781 – Jack Jouett begins his midnight ride to warn Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia legislature of an impending British raid. 1839 – In Humen, China, Lin Zexu destroys 1.2 million kilograms of opium confiscated from British merchants, providing Britain with a casus belli to open hostilities, resulting in the First Opium War. 1844 – The last pair of great auks is killed. 1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Philippi (also called the Philippi Races): Union forces rout Confederate troops in Barbour County, Virginia, now West Virginia. 1863 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia begin marching to invade the North for a second time, starting the Gettysburg campaign. 1864 – American Civil War: Union forces under Ulysses S. Grant sustain heavy casualties attacking Confederate troops under Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Cold Harbor in Hanover County, Virginia. 1885 – In the last military engagement fought on Canadian soil, the Cree leader, Big Bear, escapes the North-West Mounted Police. 1889 – The first long-distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon. 1892 – Liverpool F.C. is founded by John Houlding.
1901–present 1916 – The National Defense Act is signed into law, increasing the size of the United States National Guard by 450,000 men. 1935 – One thousand unemployed Canadian workers board freight cars in Vancouver, beginning a protest trek to Ottawa. 1937 – The Duke of Windsor (the former King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom) marries Wallis Simpson. 1940 – World War II: During the Battle of France, the Luftwaffe bombs Paris. 1940 – Franz Rademacher proposes plans to make Madagascar the "Jewish homeland", an idea that had first been considered by 19th century journalist Theodor Herzl. 1941 – World War II: The Wehrmacht razes the Greek village of Kandanos to the ground and murders 180 of its inhabitants. 1942 – World War II: Japan begins the Aleutian Islands Campaign by bombing Unalaska Island. 1943 – In Los Angeles, California, white U.S. Navy sailors and Marines attack Latino youths in the five-day Zoot Suit Riots. 1950 – Herzog and Lachenal of the French Annapurna expedition become the first climbers to reach the summit of an 8,000-metre peak. 1962 – At Paris Orly Airport, Air France Flight 007 overruns the runway and explodes when the crew attempts to abort takeoff, killing 130. 1963 – Soldiers of the South Vietnamese Army attack protesting Buddhists in Huế with liquid chemicals from tear-gas grenades, causing 67 people to be hospitalized for blistering of the skin and respiratory ailments. 1965 – The launch of Gemini 4, the first multi-day space mission by a NASA crew. Ed White, a crew member, performs the first American spacewalk. 1969 – Melbourne-Evans collision: Off the coast of South Vietnam, the Australian aircraft carrier cuts the U.S. Navy destroyer in half, resulting in 74 deaths. 1973 – A Soviet supersonic Tupolev Tu-144 crashes near Goussainville, France, killing 14, the first crash of a supersonic passenger aircraft. 1979 – A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least of oil to be spilled into the waters, the second-worst accidental oil spill ever recorded. 1980 – The 1980 Grand Island tornado outbreak hits Nebraska, United States, causing five deaths and $300 million (equivalent to $ million in ) worth of damage. 1982 – The Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov, is shot on a London street; he survives but is left paralysed. 1984 – Operation Blue Star, a military offensive, is launched by the Indian government at Harmandir Sahib, also known as the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs, in Amritsar. The operation continues until June 6, with casualties, most of them civilians, in excess of 5,000. 1989 – The government of China sends troops to force protesters out of Tiananmen Square after seven weeks of occupation. 1991 – Mount Unzen erupts in Kyūshū, Japan, killing 43 people, all of them either researchers or journalists. 1992 – Australian Aboriginal land rights are recognised in Mabo v Queensland (No 2), a case brought by Torres Strait Islander Eddie Mabo which led to the Native Title Act 1993 overturning the long-held colonial assumption of terra nullius. 1998 – After suffering a mechanical failure, a high speed train derails at Eschede, Germany, killing 101 people. 2006 – The union of Serbia and Montenegro comes to an end with Montenegro's formal declaration of independence. 2012 – A plane carrying 153 people crashes in a residential neighborhood in Lagos, Nigeria, killing everyone on board plus six people on the ground. 2012 – The pageant for the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II takes place on the River Thames. 2013 – The trial of United States Army private Chelsea Manning for leaking classified material to WikiLeaks begins in Fort Meade, Maryland. 2013 – At least 119 people are killed in a fire at a poultry farm in Jilin Province in northeastern China. 2019 – Khartoum massacre: In Sudan, over 100 people are killed when security forces accompanied by Janjaweed militiamen storm and open fire on a sit-in protest. 2025 – Reconstitution of the Academy of the Distrustful in the Sala Dalmases of the Historical Archive of the City of Barcelona in Barcelona.
Births Pre-1600 1139 – Conon of Naso, Basilian abbot (died 1236) 1421 – Giovanni di Cosimo de' Medici, Italian noble (died 1463) 1454 – Bogislaw X, Duke of Pomerania (1474–1523) (died 1523) 1537 – João Manuel, Prince of Portugal (died 1554) 1540 – Charles II, Archduke of Austria (died 1590) 1554 – Pietro de' Medici, Italian noble (died 1604) 1576 – Giovanni Diodati, Swiss-Italian minister, theologian, and academic (died 1649)Jean Diodati, in the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland
1601–1900 1635 – Philippe Quinault, French playwright and composer (died 1688) 1636 – John Hale, American minister (died 1700) 1659 – David Gregory, Scottish-English mathematician and astronomer (died 1708) 1723 – Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Italian physician, geologist, and botanist (died 1788) 1726 – James Hutton, Scottish geologist and physician (died 1797) 1736 – Ignaz Fränzl, German violinist and composer (died 1811) 1770 – Manuel Belgrano, Argentinian economist, lawyer, and politician (died 1820) 1771 – Sydney Smith, English preacher and author (died 1845) 1808 – Jefferson Davis, American colonel and politician, President of the Confederate States of America from 1861 - 1865 (died 1889) 1817 – Princess Clémentine of Orléans(died 1907) 1818 – Louis Faidherbe, French general and politician, Governor of Senegal (died 1889) 1819 – Anton Anderledy, Swiss religious leader, 23rd Superior General of the Society of Jesus (died 1892) 1819 – Johan Jongkind, Dutch painter (died 1891) 1819 – Magdalene Thoresen, Danish writer (died 1903) 1832 – Charles Lecocq, French pianist and composer (died 1918) 1843 – Frederik VIII of Denmark (died 1912) 1844 – Garret Hobart, American lawyer and politician, 24th Vice President of the United States (died 1899) 1844 – Detlev von Liliencron, German poet and author (died 1909) 1852 – Theodore Robinson, American painter and academic (died 1896) 1853 – Flinders Petrie, English archaeologist and academic (died 1942) 1864 – Otto Erich Hartleben, German poet and playwright (died 1905) 1864 – Ransom E. Olds, American businessman, founded Oldsmobile and REO Motor Car Company (died 1950) 1865 – George V of the United Kingdom (died 1936) 1866 – George Howells Broadhurst, English-American director and manager (died 1952) 1873 – Otto Loewi, German-American pharmacologist and psychobiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1961) 1877 – Raoul Dufy, French painter and illustrator (died 1953) 1879 – Alla Nazimova, Ukrainian-American actress, producer, and screenwriter (died 1945) 1879 – Raymond Pearl, American biologist and botanist (died 1940) 1879 – Vivian Woodward, English footballer and soldier (died 1954) 1881 – Mikhail Larionov, Russian painter and set designer (died 1964) 1890 – Baburao Painter, Indian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1954) 1897 – Memphis Minnie, American singer-songwriter (died 1973) 1899 – Georg von Békésy, Hungarian-American biophysicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1972) 1900 – Adelaide Ames, American astronomer and academic (died 1932) 1900 – Leo Picard, German-Israeli geologist and academic (died 1997)
1901–present 1901 – Maurice Evans, English actor (died 1989) 1901 – Zhang Xueliang, Chinese general and warlord (died 2001) 1903 – Eddie Acuff, American actor (died 1956) 1904 – Charles R. Drew, American physician and surgeon (died 1950) 1904 – Jan Peerce, American tenor and actor (died 1984) 1905 – Martin Gottfried Weiss, German SS officer, commandant of the Dachau concentration camp, executed war criminal (died 1946) 1906 – R. G. D. Allen, English economist, mathematician, and statistician (died 1983) 1906 – Josephine Baker, French actress, singer, and dancer; French Resistance operative (died 1975) 1907 – Paul Rotha, English director and producer (died 1984) 1910 – Paulette Goddard, American actress and model (died 1990) 1910 – Wilfred Thesiger, British military officer, explorer, and writer (died 2003) 1911 – Ellen Corby, American actress and screenwriter (died 1999) 1913 – Pedro Mir, Dominican poet and author (died 2000) 1914 – Ignacio Ponseti, Spanish physician and orthopedist (died 2009) 1917 – Leo Gorcey, American actor (died 1969) 1918 – Patrick Cargill, English actor and producer (died 1996) 1918 – Lili St. Cyr, American burlesque dancer (died 1999) 1921 – Forbes Carlile, Australian pentathlete and coach (died 2016) 1922 – Alain Resnais, French director, cinematographer, and screenwriter (died 2014) 1923 – Igor Shafarevich, Russian mathematician and theorist (died 2017) 1924 – Karunanidhi, Indian screenwriter and politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (died 2018) 1924 – Colleen Dewhurst, Canadian-American actress (died 1991) 1924 – Jimmy Rogers, American singer and guitarist (died 1997) 1924 – Torsten Wiesel, Swedish neurophysiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1925 – Tony Curtis, American actor (died 2010) 1926 – Allen Ginsberg, American poet (died 1997) 1926 – Flora MacDonald, Canadian banker and politician, 10th Canadian Minister of Communications (died 2015) 1927 – Boots Randolph, American saxophonist and composer (died 2007) 1928 – Donald Judd, American sculptor and painter (died 1994)