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Historical Events

04 May 1256
Augustinian monastic order constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues papal bull Licet ecclesiae catholicae
04 May 1415
Religious reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus are condemned as heretics at the Council of Constance
04 May 1493
Spanish Pope Alexander VI divides America between Spain and Portugal
04 May 1540
Venice and Turkey sign Treaty of Constantinople
04 May 1626
Peter Minuit becomes director-general of New Netherlands
04 May 1634
Johan van Walbeecks fleet departs to West Indies
04 May 1652
Battle of Etampes French army under Turenne beats Fronde rebels
04 May 1686
Municipality of Ilagan is founded in the Philippines
04 May 1776
Rhode Island declares independence from Britain
04 May 1780
Charles Bunbury on Diomed wins 1st Epsom Derby
04 May 1783
Herschel reports seeing a red glow near lunar crater Aristarchus
04 May 1799
Fourth Anglo-Mysore War The Battle of Seringapatam The siege of Seringapatam ends when the city is assaulted and the Tipu Sultan killed by the besieging British army under the command of General George Harris.
04 May 1805
Henry C Overing buys 80 acres of Throggs Neck in the Bronx
04 May 1814
King Ferdinand VII of Spain signs the Decree of the 4th of May returning Spain to absolutism
04 May 1818
Netherlands & Britain sign treaty against illegal slave handling
04 May 1839
The Cunard Steamship Company Ltd forms San Bonifacio
04 May 1847
NY State creates a Board of Commissioners of Emigration
04 May 1858
War of Reform (Mexico) Liberals establish capital at Vera Cruz
04 May 1859
The Cornwall Railway opens across the Royal Albert Bridge linking the counties of Devon and Cornwall in England.
04 May 1861
At Gretna Louisiana one of 1st guns of Rebel navy is cast
04 May 1863
Battle of Chancellorsville-action at Salem Church
04 May 1863
End of Chancellorsville - Beaten Union army withdraws
04 May 1865
Battle of Citronelle Alabama Richard Taylor surrenders
04 May 1866
Woodwards Gardens opens to the public in San Francisco
04 May 1869
Cincinnati Red Stockings play their first official game as the sports first professional side against the Great Western Base Ball Club winning 45-9
04 May 1869
The Naval Battle of Hakodate takes place in Japan.
04 May 1871
1st baseball league game (National Association of Baseball Players) (Ft Wayne 2 Cleveland 0) Deacon Jim White gets 1st hit a double
04 May 1878
Phonograph shown for 1st time at Grand Opera House
04 May 1883
John Gordon Cashmans publishes 1st edition Vicksburg Evening Post (Mississippi)
04 May 1886
Haymarket riot in Chicago bomb kills 7 policemen
04 May 1893
Cowboy Bill Pickett invents bulldogging the skill of grabbing cattle by the horns and wrestling them to the ground
04 May 1896
Grease fire ignites half ton of dynamite at Cripple Creek Colorado
04 May 1897
23rd Kentucky Derby Buttons Garner aboard Typhoon II wins in 212.5
04 May 1897
Fire in Paris bazaar at Rue Jean Goujon kills 200
04 May 1898
24th Kentucky Derby Willie Simms aboard Plaudit wins in 209
04 May 1899
25th Kentucky Derby Fred Taral aboard Manuel wins in 212
04 May 1904
Construction begins by the United States on the Panama Canal
04 May 1904
Charles Stewart Rolls meets Frederick Henry Royce at the Midland Hotel in Manchester England. Go on to form Roll-Royce
04 May 1910
Canadian Currency Act receives Royal Assent
04 May 1912
Italian mariners occupy Turkish Island of Rhodes
04 May 1915
Italy drops Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary & Germany
04 May 1916
At request of US Germany curtails its submarine warfare
04 May 1916
Ned Daly Willie Pearse Michael OHanrahan and Joseph Plunkett are executed by British authorities following the Easter Rising at Kilmainham Gaol Dublin
04 May 1917
A flotilla of US destroyer ships arrive in Queenstown Ireland to aid in convoying ships to England
04 May 1918
Yankees set record with 8 sacrifices beat Red Soxs Babe Ruth 5-4
04 May 1919
1st legal Sunday baseball game in NYC 35000 watch the Phillies beat the NY Giants 4-3
04 May 1919
Demonstrates organised by students erupt in China after news from the Paris Peace Conference that the Allies intend to give Shangtung to Japan
04 May 1922
KNX-AM in Los Angeles CA begins radio transmissions
04 May 1923
Bloody street battles between nazis socialist & police in Vienna
04 May 1924
German Republic election fascists & communists win
04 May 1925
League of Nations conference on arms control & poison gas usage
04 May 1927
1st balloon flight over 40000 feet (Scott Field Illinois)
04 May 1927
Nicaragua agrees to a US supervised presidential election in 1928
04 May 1933
Pulitzer prize awarded to Archibald Macleish (Conquistador)
04 May 1935
61st Kentucky Derby Willie Saunders aboard Omaha wins in 205
04 May 1936
Pulitzer prize awarded to Harold L Davis (Honey in the Horn)
04 May 1938
Douglas Hyde (a protestant) becomes 1st president of Eire
04 May 1940
21 not neutral nazis & communists arrested in Netherlands
04 May 1940
66th Kentucky Derby Carroll Bierman aboard Gallahadion wins in 205
04 May 1942
Battle of Coral Sea begins (1st naval battle fought solely in air) between Japanese US and Australian navies and air forces
04 May 1942
German occupiers imprison 450 prominent Dutch as hostages
04 May 1942
Pulitzer prize awarded to Ellen Glasgow (In this our Life)
04 May 1943
NL Ford Frick demonstrates revised balata ball to reporters by bouncing it on his office carpet ball proves to be 50% livelier
04 May 1945
German forces in Bavaria surrender unconditionally to American commander Jacob L. Devers
04 May 1946
5 die in a 2 day riot at Alcatraz prison in San Francisco bay
04 May 1946
72nd Kentucky Derby Warren Mehrtens aboard Assault wins in 206.6
04 May 1946
Washs Cecil Travis gets 6 straight hits before being stopped
04 May 1948
The Hague Court of Justice convicts Nazi SS officer in the Netherlands Hans Rauter of Crimes against Humanity (executed 24 March 1949)
04 May 1949
Air crash at Turin 31 killed including Torino soccer team
04 May 1956
Queen Juliana unveils National Monument to Dams in Amsterdam
04 May 1957
83rd Kentucky Derby Bill Hartack aboard Iron Liege wins in 202.2
04 May 1957
Alan Freed hosts Rock n Roll Show 1st prime-time network rock show
04 May 1958
Alberto Lleras Camargo chosen president of Colombia
04 May 1959
Pulitzer Prize awarded to Archibald Macleish (JB)
04 May 1959
The 400 Blows French film directed by Franois Truffaut starring Jean-Pierre Laud is released
04 May 1960
1st great Delta dam closes North-South Beveland
04 May 1961
CORE begins freedom rides from Washington D.C.
04 May 1961
Malcolm Ross & Victor Prather reach 34668 m (record) in balloon
04 May 1961
South Africa ANC leader John Nkadimeng arrested
04 May 1963
89th Kentucky Derby Braulio Baeza aboard Chateaugay wins in 201.8
04 May 1963
Pitcher Bob Shaw sets record of 5 balks in a game
04 May 1964
KIII TV channel 3 in Corpus Christi TX (ABC) begins broadcasting
04 May 1964
Pulitzer prize awarded to Richard Hofstadter (Anti-intellectualism)
04 May 1966
Soviet government signs accord about building Fiat factory in USSR
04 May 1967
Lunar Orbiter 4 launched by US begins orbiting Moon May 7
04 May 1968
1st ABA championship Pitts Pipers beat NO Buccaneers 4 games to 3
04 May 1968
94th Kentucky Derby Ismael Valenzuela aboard Forward Pass wins
04 May 1968
Dancer Image disqualified due to drugs after winning 94th Kent Derby in 202
04 May 1969
Charles Gordones No Place to be Somebody premieres in NYC
04 May 1969
Stanley Cup Final St. Louis Arena St. Louis MO John Ferguson scores the winner as Montreal Canadiens edge St Louis Blues 2-1 for a 4 game series sweep
04 May 1970
Premier Kosygin affirms existence Russian military advisors in Egypt
04 May 1970
Pulitzer prize awarded to Erik H Erikson (Gandhis Truth)
04 May 1972
Vietcong forms revolutionary government in Quang Tri South Vietnam
04 May 1972
The Dont Make A Wave Committee a fledgling environmental organization founded in Canada in 1971 officially changes its name to the Greenpeace Foundation
04 May 1973
1st TV network female nudity-Steambath (PBS)-Valerie Perrine
04 May 1973
BPAA US Womens Bowling Open won by Millie Martorella
04 May 1973
Longest baseball game in Veterans Stadium Phillies beat Braves 5-4 in 20 innings
04 May 1973
Patriarch Shenuda II of Kopitisch church visits the pope
04 May 1974
100th Kentucky Derby Angel Cordero Jr. aboard Cannonade wins in 204
04 May 1975
Ed Bullins Taking of Miss Jane premieres in NYC
04 May 1975
Houstons Bob Watson scores baseballs one-millionth run of all time
04 May 1975
Italian film Seven Beauties directed by Lina Wertmller starring Giancarlo Giannini and Shirley Stoler released - first film directed by a women to be nominated for an Academy Award
04 May 1976
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue opens at Mark Hellinger NYC for 7 performances
04 May 1979
Jackie Mercer wins her 4th golf title 31 years after her 1st
04 May 1980
Dodgers bat out of order against Phillies in 1st inning
04 May 1980
White Sox 1st baseman Mike Squires catches final inning of 11-1 loss to Brewers becoming 1st lefty to catch since Dale Long in 1958
04 May 1981
Silvana Cruciata runs 15k female world record (4944.0)
04 May 1981
Yankee Ron Davis strikes out 8 consecutive Angels ran record of 13 strikeouts of last 14 faced also saved Gene Nelsons 1st win 4-2
04 May 1982
British destroyer HMS Sheffield hit by Exocet rocket off Falkland Islands 20 of her crew died.
04 May 1982
Twins rookie outfielder Jim Eisenreich who suffers from Tourettes Syndrome removes himself due to taunts from Red Sox bleacher fans
04 May 1982
NHL Prince of Wales Conference Final New York Islanders beat Quebec Nordiques 4 games to 0
04 May 1984
Dave Kingmans fly ball never comes down (stuck in Metrodome ceiling)
04 May 1985
111th Kentucky Derby Angel Cordero Jr on Spend A Buck wins 200.2
04 May 1985
30th Eurovision Song Contest Bobbysocks for Norway wins singing La det swinge in Gothenburg
04 May 1986
President Babrak Karmal resigns as party leader of Afghanistan
04 May 1989
Junior Felix of Toronto becomes 53rd to hit HR on 1st at bat
04 May 1989
NASA launches Magellan mission to Venus from the Kennedy Space Center Florida
04 May 1990
Latvias parliament votes 138-0 (1 abstention) for Independence
04 May 1990
Oriole Gregg Olson sets relief pitcher rec of 41 cons scoreless inns
04 May 1990
Pakistan beat Australia by 36 runs to win Austral-Asia Cup Sharjah
04 May 1991
117th Kentucky Derby Chris Antley wins aboard Strike the Gold the first of 2 Derby victories
04 May 1991
ABC Masters Bowling Tournament won by Doug Kent
04 May 1991
Indians Chris James sets club record for most RBIs in a game (9)
04 May 1991
US politician Mo Udall Representative for Arizona (1961-91) resigns due to Parkinson disease
04 May 1991
NY Mets M Sasser & Mark Carreon are 8th to hit consecutive pinch HRs
04 May 1991
36th Eurovision Song Contest Carola for Sweden wins singing Fangad av en stormvind in Rome
04 May 1992
I Saw the Light single released by Wynonna (Billboard Song of the Year )
04 May 1993
Angels in America-Millennium Approaches opens at Kerr for 367 performances
04 May 1994
Arsenal of England win 34th European Cup Winners Cup against Parma of Italy 1-0 in Copenhagen
04 May 1996
122nd Kentucky Derby Jerry Bailey wins aboard Grindstone his second Derby victory (1993 Sea Hero)
04 May 1996
Greg Pavlik one-hits Tigers making the Rangers 1st AL team to pitch back-to-back one-hitters since the Washington Senators in 1917
04 May 2000
Ken Livingstone becomes the first Mayor of London
04 May 2001
The Milwaukee Art Museum addition the first Santiago Calatrava-designed structure in the United States opens to the public.
04 May 2002
128th Kentucky Derby Victor Espinoza aboard War Emblem wins in 201.13
04 May 2002
English FA Cup Final Millennium Stadium Cardiff (73963) Arsenalbeats Chelsea 2-0 for 8th title
04 May 2007
Greensburg Kansas is almost completely destroyed by a 1.7m wide EF-5 tornado
04 May 2007
The Scottish National Party wins the Scottish general election and becomes the largest party in the Scottish Parliament for the first time ever
04 May 2012
14 decapitated bodies and 9 hung from a bridge are found in Nuevo Laredo Mexico
04 May 2013
5 US soldiers are killed by a bomb in Kandahar Afghanistan
04 May 2013
77 people are killed by the Syrian Army in Baniyas
04 May 2013
39 people are killed at a funeral in Wukari Nigeria
04 May 2013
Juventus F.C. win their 29th Serie A football title
04 May 2013
139th Kentucky Derby Joel Rosario aboard Orb wins in 202.89
04 May 2014
Juan Carlos Varela is elected President of Panama
04 May 1924
VIII Summer Olympic Games open at Olympic Stadium of Colombes Paris France
04 May 1949
Plane carrying the entire Torino Serie A soccer squad crashes on the outskirts of Turin Italy 31 killed Torino awarded League title at the request of their rivals
04 May 1977
US Catholic bishops rescind automatic excommunications for divorced and remarried Catholics (receiving communion still outlawed if the previous marriages were not annulled by Church tribunals)
04 May 2015
Stuart Bingham wins the World Snooker Championship
04 May 1776
Rhode Island declares independence from Great Britain
04 May 1869
Cincinnati Reds play their 1st baseball game win 45-9 against the Great Western Base Ball Club
04 May 1973
Longest baseball game in Philadelphias Veterans Stadium Phillies beat Braves 5-4 in 20 innings
04 May 1985
111th Kentucky Derby Puerto Rican jockey ngel Cordero Jr.wins aboard Spend A Buck for his third Derby triumph
04 May 1988
PEPCON chemical plant in Henderson Nevada explodes killing 2 and injuring 372 causing damage within 10-mile (16 km) radius
04 May 1863
U.S. Civil War Battle of Chancellorsville action at Salem Church Union Army withdraws
04 May 1868
Worlds largest book the Kuthodaw Inscription Shrines recording whole of Buddhist scriptures on 729 marble tablets completed and opened to the public in Mandalay Burma
04 May 1869
Cincinnati Red Stockings play their 1st official baseball game a win against the Great Western Base Ball Club 45-9
04 May 1923
New York state revokes its Mullan-Gage Act Prohibition law federal Volstead Act still in place
04 May 1989
Junior Felix of Toronto Blue Jays becomes 53rd MLB player to hit HR on 1st at bat
04 May 1989
NASA launches Magellan probe to Venus from Space Shuttle Atlantis
04 May 1989
NASA launches space shuttle Atlantis (STS-30) from the Kennedy Space Center Florida
04 May 1992
I Saw the Light single released by Wynonna (Billboard Song of the Year )
04 May 1993
Angels in America - Millennium Approaches opens at Kerr for 367 performances
04 May 1895
Wilhelm Kienzls opera Der Evangelimann (The Evangelist) 1st performed at the Neues Knigliches Opernhaus in Berlin Germany
04 May 1957
Alan Freed hosts Rock n Roll Show 1st prime-time network rock show cancelled after 4 episodes
04 May 1959
Pulitzer Prize awarded to Archibald MacLeish (J.B.)
04 May 1970
National Guard kills 4 student anti-war protesters at Kent State University in Kent Ohio
04 May 1980
White Sox 1st baseman Mike Squires catches final inning of 11-1 loss to Brewers becoming 1st lefty to catch since Cubs Dale Long in 1958
04 May 1990
MLB Baltimore Orioles Gregg Olson sets relief pitcher record of 41 consecutive scoreless innings
04 May 1998
The Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre designed by Renzo Piano to celebrate indigenous Kanak culture is inaugurated near Nouma New Caledonia [1]
04 May 1572
Dutch towns of Flushing and Veere side with Dutch rebels the Sea Beggers (Geuzen) during the uprising against the Spanish
04 May 1634
Johannes van Walbeecks fleet of four ships leaves Holland tasked with taking Curaao from the Spanish
04 May 1747
William IV Prince of Orange appointed Stadtholder of Overijssel
04 May 1805
Henry C. Overing buys 80 acres of Throggs Neck in the Bronx
04 May 1869
Japanese Imperial forces win the naval Battle of Hakodate over an Ezo Republic fleet
04 May 1936
Pulitzer prize for the novel awarded to Harold L. Davis for Honey in the Horn
04 May 1938
Douglas Hyde a protestant becomes 1st president of Eire
04 May 1942
Pulitzer prize for a Novel awarded to Ellen Glasgow for In this our Life
04 May 1958
Alberto Lleras Camargo chosen as president of Colombia
04 May 1959
Pulitzer Prize for Drama awarded to Archibald Macleish for his play J.B.
04 May 1964
Pulitzer prize for General Non-Fiction awarded to Richard Hofstadter for Anti-intellectualism
04 May 1970
Pulitzer prize for General Non-Fiction awarded to Erik H. Erikson for Gandhis Truth
04 May 1973
1st TV network female nudity in Steambath on PBS by Valerie Perrine
04 May 1976
Schiedam train accident kills 24 people and injures 11
04 May 1979
NASA launches Fltsatcom-2 a communications system for US Navy aircraft ships submarines and ground stations
04 May 1984
Itaipu Dam begins generating electricity on the border between Paraguay and Brazil - the worlds second largest generator of electricity (considered one of the seven engineering wonders of the modern world) [1]
04 May 2015
World Snooker Championship Crucible Theatre Sheffield Stuart Bingham beats fellow Englishman Shaun Murphy 18-15 for his lone world title
04 May 2016
Ohio Governor John Kasich bows out of the race for US Republican Presidential nominee
04 May 2018
California overtakes Great Britain to become the worlds fifth largest economy
04 May 2020
Countries in Europe begin cautious reopening after COVID-19 lockdown Italy restarts construction and takeaways Germany reopens schools
04 May 2020
India begins lifting some restrictions in regions with fewer COVID-19 cases
04 May 2020
World leaders pledge 8 billion to research treatments and a vaccine for COVID-19 with the US and Russia not taking part
04 May 2021
Malian woman Halima Cisse gives birth to nonuplets (nine babies) in Morocco in only the third known case worldwide
04 May 2022
Worlds most dangerous trafficker Colombian drug kingpin Dairo Antonio suga (known as Otoniel) is extradited to the US for drug charges [1]
04 May 2022
First of its kind study of transgender children by Princeton University transitioning aged 3-12 found vast majority continue to identify with their new gender five years later [1]
04 May 2022
US Federal Reserve makes largest interest rate increase since 2000 (0.5%) attempting to combat the fastest rate of inflation in four decades [1]
04 May 2023
In 2022 Covid-19 slipped from third to fourth leading cause of death in the US (behind heart disease cancer and unintentional injuries) according to National Center for Health Statistics [1]
04 May 2023
WHO declares Covid-19 over as a global health emergency but remains a significant threat with seven million known deaths (real total likely to be 20 million) [1]
04 May 1493
Spanish Pope Alexander VI decrees in the papal bull Inter caetera that all lands west of a line 100 leagues west of any of the islands of the Azores or the Cape Verde Islands belong to Castile ultimately dividing the Americas between Spain and Portugal
04 May 1859
Cornwall Railway opens across the Royal Albert Bridge linking the English counties of Devon and Cornwall
04 May 1865
Battle of Citronelle Alabama Confederate General Richard Taylor surrenders to Union General Edward Canby
04 May 1868
Worlds largest book the Kuthodaw Inscription Shrines recording the whole of Buddhist scriptures on 729 marble tablets is completed and opened to the public in Mandalay Burma
04 May 1869
Cincinnati Red Stockings play their first official baseball game defeating the Great Western Base Ball Club 45-9
04 May 1883
John Gordon Cashman publishes the first edition of the Vicksburg Evening Post in Mississippi
04 May 1896
First edition of the London Daily Mail costs a halfpenny
04 May 1904
United States begins construction of the Panama Canal
04 May 1915
Italy leaves the Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary and Germany
04 May 1919
First legal Sunday baseball game in NYC 35000 watch the Phillies beat the NY Giants 4-3
04 May 1925
League of Nations conference on arms control and poison gas usage
04 May 1927
First balloon flight over 40000 feet takes place at Scott Field Illinois
04 May 1938
Protestant Douglas Hyde is the only nominee for the position of the first President of Ireland
04 May 1940
21 non-neutral Nazis and Communists are arrested in the Netherlands
04 May 1960
First Great Delta Dam closes in North-South Beveland Netherlands
04 May 1961
First on-the-road Spacemobile lecture is given
04 May 1961
Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather reach a record height of 34668 meters in a balloon
04 May 1973
PBS is the first TV network to show female nudity in Steambath featuring Valerie Perrine
04 May 1975
Ed Bullinss stage drama The Taking of Miss Janie opens in NYC
04 May 1987
Dufuna Canoe - the oldest known boat in Africa 8000-8500 years old is discovered in Dufuna northeastern Nigeria [1]
04 May 1991
MLB Cleveland Indians Chris James sets club record for most RBIs in a game (9)
04 May 1991
MLB New York Mets Mackey Sasser & Mark Carreon are 8th teammates to hit consecutive pinch-hit HRs
04 May 2023
Primary Trust written by Eboni Booth and starring William Jackson Harper premieres at the Roundabout Theater in New York - 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama [1]
04 May 1818
The Netherlands and Britain sign a treaty to combat the slave trade
04 May 1861
At Gretna Louisiana one of the first guns for the Confederate Navy is cast
04 May 1871
First baseball league game in the National Association of Base Ball Players Fort Wayne defeats Cleveland 2 to 0 and Deacon Jim White gets the first hit a double
04 May 1895
Wilhelm Kienzls opera Der Evangelimann (The Evangelist) is first performed at the Neues Knigliches Opernhaus in Berlin Germany
04 May 1923
Bloody street battles erupt in Vienna among Nazis socialists and police
04 May 1946
Five people die during a two-day riot at Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay
04 May 1948
Leroy Andersons Sleigh Ride is first performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra with Arthur Fiedler conducting
04 May 1961
NASAs first traveling Spacemobile lecture brings its educational efforts directly to schools and communities
04 May 1965
KTCI TV channel 17 in St. Paul-Minneapolis Minnesota (PBS) begins broadcasting
04 May 1966
The Soviet government signs an agreement with Fiat to build an automobile factory in the Soviet Union
04 May 1967
US Lunar Orbiter 4 is launched begins orbiting the Moon on May 7
04 May 1975
MLB Houston Astros Bob Watson scores baseballs one-millionth run of all time
04 May 1980
White Sox first baseman Mike Squires catches final inning of 11-1 loss to Brewers becoming 1st lefty to catch since Cubs Dale Long in 1958
04 May 1982
British destroyer HMS Sheffield is hit by an Exocet missile off the Falkland Islands killing 20 crew members
04 May 1989
NASA launches Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-30) from Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying the Magellan spacecraft to Venus aboard
04 May 1996
Greg Pavlik one-hits the Tigers making the Rangers the first AL team to pitch back-to-back one-hitters since the Washington Senators in 1917
04 May 2025
Nearly three weeks of uninterrupted 24-hour live streaming (478 hours) of Swedens Great Moose Migration end after moose cross the ngerman River [1]