May 20th 2013 - This Date in History.

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18420



Events :C/P.


325 – The First Council of Nicea – the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church is held.
491 – Empress Ariadne marries Anastasius I. The widowed Augusta is able to choose her successor for the Byzantine throne, after Zeno (late emperor) dies of dysentery.
526 – An earthquake kills about 300,000 people in Syria and Antiochia.
685 – The Battle of Dun Nechtain is fought between a Pictish army under King Bridei III and the invading Northumbrians under King Ecgfrith, who are decisively defeated.
1217 – The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke.
1293 – King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Study of General Schools of Alcalá.
1449 – The Battle of Alfarrobeira is fought, establishing the House of Braganza as a principal royal family of Portugal.
1497 – John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a May 2 date).
1498 – Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovers the sea route to India when he arrives at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India.
1520 – The massacre at the festival of Tóxcatl takes place during the Fall of Tenochtitlan, resulting in turning the Aztecs against the Spanish.
1521 – Battle of Pampeluna: Ignatius Loyola is seriously wounded.
1570 – Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas.
1609 – Shakespeare's sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe.
1631 – The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years' War.
1775 – Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence signed in Charlotte, North Carolina
1802 – By the Law of 20 May 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution
1813 – Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia. The battle ends the next day with a French victory.
1840 – York Minster is badly damaged by fire
1861 – American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state. Meanwhile, the State of North Carolina secedes from the Union.
1862 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church – in the Virginia Bermuda Hundred Campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory.
1873 – Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
1875 – Signing of the Metre Convention by 17 nations leading to the establishment of the International System of Units.
1882 – The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy is formed.
1883 – Krakatoa begins to erupt; the volcano explodes three months later, killing more than 36,000 people.
1884 – Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo becomes the king of the Zulu Nation.
1891 – History of cinema: The first public display of Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope.
1896 – The six ton chandelier of the Palais Garnier falls on the crowd below resulting in the death of one and the injury of many others.
1899 – The first traffic ticket in the US: New York City taxi driver Jacob German was arrested for speeding while driving 12 miles per hour on Lexington Street.
1902 – Cuba gains independence from the United States. Tomás Estrada Palma becomes the country's first President.
1908 – Budi Utomo organization is founded in Dutch East Indies, beginning the Indonesian National Awakening.
1916 – The Saturday Evening Post publishes its first cover with a Norman Rockwell painting (Boy with Baby Carriage).
1920 – Montreal, Quebec radio station XWA broadcasts the first regularly scheduled radio programming in North America.
1927 – Treaty of Jedda: the United Kingdom recognizes the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud in the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, which later merge to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
1927 – At 07:52 Charles Lindbergh takes off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York, on the world's first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. He touched down at Le Bourget Field in Paris at 22:22 the next day.
1932 – Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.
1940 – Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.
1941 – World War II: Battle of Crete – German paratroops invade Crete.
1948 – Chiang Kai-shek is elected as the first President of the Republic of China.
1949 – In the United States, the Armed Forces Security Agency, the predecessor to the National Security Agency, is established.
1956 – In Operation Redwing (shot Cherokee), the first United States airborne hydrogen bomb is dropped over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
1965 – PIA Flight 705, a Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 720-040B, crashes while descending to land at Cairo International Airport, killing 121 of the 127 passengers and crew.
1967 – The Popular Movement of the Revolution political party is established in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
1968 – Operation OAU begins during the Nigerian Civil War
1969 – The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ends.
1980 – In a referendum in Quebec, the population rejects by a 60% vote the proposal from its government to move towards independence from Canada.
1983 – First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by Luc Montagnier.
1983 – The Church Street bombing in the South African capital Pretoria. The bombing killed 19 and wounded 217.
1985 – Radio Martí, part of the Voice of America service, begins broadcasting to Cuba.
1989 – The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre.
1990 – The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.
1996 – Gay rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of gays and lesbians.
2002 – The independence of East Timor is recognized by Portugal, formally ending 23 years of Indonesian rule and 3 years of provisional UN administration (Portugal itself is the former colonizer of East Timor until 1976).

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Today's Canadian Headline..


1980 QUEBEC SAYS NO
Quebec - Quebec votes No by 59.56% to René Lévesque's referendum to get a mandate to negotiate Quebec's sovereignty-association with the rest of Canada; the No forces were led by Claude Ryan; first live coverage of a Canadian referendum; Lévesque says to his supporters: 'If I understand you correctly, what you are telling me is, Next Time!' Trudeau promises 'renewed federalism' even if it means patriating the constitution over the Quebec government's objections.

1948
Rome Italy - George 'Buzz' Beurling killed at age 26 when the Norseman plane he is piloting for the Israeli underground army Haganah blows up at Urbe airport. Canada's top World War II air ace with 31 1/2 kills, Beurling was born on the Miramachi, and brought up in Verdun Quebec; a high school dropout, he hung around airports until he learned to fly, failed to join the RCAF, but got into the RAF; shot down 27 German planes over Malta in a two week period, earning him the DFC, DSO, DFM and Bar He was buried in Rome's English cemetery between the graves of Keats and Shelley, but two years later the grateful state of Israel exhumed his body, laid him in state in Haifa, and buried him at the base of Mount Carmel, near the cave of Elijah the Prophet.
1996 Cannes France - Toronto director David Cronenberg's film Crash wins the Prix SpŽcial du Jury for daring, originality and audacity; after scandalous reception in France, the film will win two Genies, for best adapted screenplay and best director, in November.
1990 Ottawa Ontario - Lucien Bouchard sends telegram of support to the Parti Quebecois National Council meeting at Alma praising those who fought for the Yes side during the 1980 Referendum; many of his fellow Progressive Conservative caucus members are outraged; leads to his resignation from the Party and the Commons May 22.
1990 Alma Quebec - Parti Quebecois National Council issues 46 page pamphlet outlining proposals on achieving Quebec independence; discusses army, passports, common currency with Canada.
1986 Nepal - Sharon Wood and Dwayne Congdon of Canmore, Alberta, reach the summit of Mount Everest; Wood the first North American woman to climb the world's highest peak.
1984 Victoria BC - Robert Skelly 1943- elected leader of the British Columbia New Democratic Party.
1978 Montreal Quebec - Willie Stargell hits 535-foot home run off Wayne Twitchell to lead the Pirates' to a 6-0 win over the Expos; longest home run ever in the Olympic Stadium.
1977 Toronto Ontario - J. Pearce Bunting replaces Jack Kimber as President and CEO of the Toronto Stock Exchange.
1975 Ottawa Ontario - Ottawa approves 840 km Inter-provincial Pipeline extension from Sarnia to Montreal.
1975 Ottawa Ontario - Supreme Court of Canada upholds right of citizens to challenge provincial movie censorship laws.
1971 Montreal Quebec - Francis Simard sentenced to life imprisonment for the October 17, 1970 murder of Quebec Labor Minister Pierre Laporte.
1970 New York City - The Guess Who's American Woman/No Sugar Tonight stays at #1 on the Billboard pop chart; Winnipeg based group.
1967 Ottawa Ontario - Air Canada DC-8 crashes near Ottawa on training flight, killing three veteran pilots.
1963 Montreal Quebec - RCMP arrest 20 young FLQ members for terrorist acts; Mario Bachand later sentenced to four years in jail for planting post box bombs in Westmount, including the one that maimed Canadian Army engineer Sergeant-Major Walter Leja.
1938 Vancouver BC - 500 unemployed members of Relief Project Worker's Union start sit-down strike in Hotel Georgia; paid $500 to leave; strikers stay in Art Gallery.
1932 St. John's Newfoundland - Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland for Ireland; will became the first woman to make a solo plane flight across the Atlantic.
1923 London England - New Brunswick-born British Prime Minister Bonar Law resigns due to ill health; replaced by Stanley Baldwin.
1900 Paris France - Opening of the second modern Olympic Games in Paris, with 22 nations and 1330 competitors; will last five months, until Oct. 28. Canada does not send an official team, but Canadian George Orton, running for the US, will take the gold medal in the 2500m steeplechase.
1882 Brandon Manitoba - Brandon incorporated as a city.
1879 Ottawa Ontario - Charles Tupper 1821-1915 first director of the new Department of Railroads and Canals; a Minister will now have jurisdiction over all railways pertaining to the Dominion Government; previously under Public Works.
1870 Ottawa Ontario - Adams George Archibald 1814-1892 appointed first Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba and North West Territory; serves until Dec. 1, 1872.
1862 Ottawa Ontario - George-Etienne Cartier 1814-1873 sees his Militia Bill defeated; Macdonald Cartier government resigns.
1859 Nanaimo BC - George Barstow elected Mayor of Nanaimo with only one vote cast.
1851 Kingston Ontario - Province of Canada issues its first postage stamps.
1851 Kingston Ontario - Opening of fourth session of third Parliament of Canada; meets until Aug. 30; normal school in Canada East; medical schools in Montreal and Toronto.
1836 Toronto Ontario - City of Toronto & Lake Huron Railway Company incorporated.
1814 Sackett's Harbour New York - James Yeo 1782-1818 blockades Sackett's Harbour for three weeks during the War of 1812.
1806 BC - John Stuart 1779-1847 journeys up the Peace River with Simon Fraser; Stuart the uncle of Donald A. Smith, later Lord Strathcona.
1803 Montreal Quebec - Chief Justice William Osgoode declares slavery to be inconsistent with the laws of Canada.
1786 PEI - St. John Island separates from Nova Scotia; later named Prince Edward Island.
1776 London England - Mariot Arbuthnot 1711-1794 appointed Lieutenant Governor and administrator of Nova Scotia; serves from May 13, 1776 to Aug. 17, 1778.
1776 Vaudreuil Quebec - British defeat American invasion force in skirmish at Vaudreuil.
1774 London England - Parliament passes the Quebec Act, extending the boundaries of the province northwards to Hudson's Bay and as far south as the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
1760 Montreal Quebec - François, Duc de Lévis sets out from Montreal with his 7,000 strong army to retake Quebec from the British.
1751 Toronto Ontario - Pierre Robineau de Portneuf 1708-1761 orders trader Joseph Dufeaux to build a larger post, Fort Rouillé, to the east of Fort Toronto; on the site of the CNE.
1668 Quebec Quebec - Jacques Marquette 1637-1675 starts upriver to join Father Claude Dablon and open a mission at Sault Ste-Marie that will serve 2,000 Algonkians.
1616 Midland Ontario - Samuel de Champlain c1570-1635 leaves Huronia to visit the Nipissing tribe after wintering with the Hurons.
1497 Bristol England - John Cabot [Giovanni Caboto Montecataluna] c1450-1498 departs Bristol on the Matthew with a crew of about 20; his second voyage to the new world.

End of C/P.