On this day: April 30

Events on April 30

• 311 The Diocletianic Persecution of Christians officially ended in the eastern Roman Empire. Wikipedia
• 313 Civil wars of the Tetrarchy: An outnumbered army led by Roman emperor Licinius defeated his rival Maximinus II's forces at the Battle of Tzirallum. Wikipedia
• 1006 SN 1006, the brightest supernova in recorded history, first appeared in the constellation Lupus. Wikipedia
• 1492 Spain gives Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration. He is named admiral of the ocean sea, viceroy and governor of any territory he discovers. Wikipedia
• 1598 Henry IV of France issues the Edict of Nantes, allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots. Wikipedia
• 1789 George Washington took the oath of office as the first president of the United States at Federal Hall in New York City. Wikipedia
• 1803 The United States purchased France's claim to the Louisiana Territory for 80 million francs, or less than US$.03 per acre ($.07/ha). Wikipedia
• 1859 Charles Dickens publishes the first edition of his literary magazine, All the Year Round, containing the first installment of his best-selling classic, A Tale of Two Cities. Wikipedia
• 1883 New York governor Grover Cleveland signed legislation that led to the creation of Niagara Falls State Park, the United States' first state park. Wikipedia
• 1894 A crowd of workers, unemployed due to the Panic of 1893, concluded the first significant popular protest march on Washington D.C. Wikipedia
• 1897 British physicist J. J. Thomson and his team announce the discovery of the electron. Wikipedia
• 1927 The Federal Industrial Institute for Women opened near Alderson, West Virginia, as the first federal prison for women in the United States. Wikipedia
• 1927 Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford became the first two celebrities to make imprints of their hands and feet in cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California. Wikipedia
• 1943 Second World War: The Royal Navy submarine HMS Seraph began Operation Mincemeat to deceive Germany about the upcoming invasion of Sicily. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: As Allied forces closed in on Berlin, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler committed suicide in the Führerbunker with Eva Braun one day after their marriage. Wikipedia
• 1963 A refusal by the Bristol Omnibus Company and the Transport and General Workers' Union to permit the employment of black bus crews led to a bus boycott in Bristol, England. Wikipedia
• 1975 American forces completed a helicopter evacuation of U.S. citizens, South Vietnamese civilians and others from Saigon, just before North Vietnamese troops captured the city and ended the Vietnam War. Wikipedia
• 1982 Sixteen monks and a nun of the Hindu organisation Ananda Marga were beaten to death and set on fire in Calcutta, India. Wikipedia
• 1993 CERN announces World Wide Web protocols will be free. Wikipedia
• 1994 Riverdance was performed for the first time, as the interval act for the Eurovision Song Contest. Wikipedia
• 2000 Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun whose apparitions of Jesus inspired the Catholic devotion to the Divine Mercy, was canonized by Pope John Paul II. Wikipedia
• 2004 The New Yorker published an online article and photographs detailing accounts of torture and abuse by American military personnel of Iraqi prisoners held at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. Wikipedia
• 2009 A Dutch man drove his car at high speed into a parade in an attempt to kill the Dutch royal family. Wikipedia
• 2013 Willem-Alexander is inaugurated as King of the Netherlands following the abdication of Beatrix. Wikipedia
• 2014 A bomb blast in Ürümqi, China, killed three people and injured 79 others. Wikipedia
• 2021 A crowd crush killed 45 people during the annual pilgrimage to the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in Israel. Wikipedia

Born on April 30

• 1310 King Casimir III of Poland (died 1368) Wikipedia
• 1662 Mary II, Queen of England and Scotland (died 1694) Wikipedia
• 1777 Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician and physicist (died 1855) Wikipedia
• 1883 Jaroslav Hašek, Czech soldier and author (died 1923) Wikipedia
• 1893 Joachim von Ribbentrop, German politician, 14th German Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs, executed Nuremberg war criminal (died 1946) Wikipedia
• 1901 Simon Kuznets, Belarusian-American economist, statistician, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1985) Wikipedia
• 1902 Theodore Schultz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1998) Wikipedia
• 1909 Juliana of the Netherlands (died 2004) Wikipedia
• 1916 Claude Shannon, American mathematician and engineer (died 2001) Wikipedia
• 1926 Cloris Leachman, American actress and comedian (died 2021) Wikipedia
• 1946 King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden Wikipedia
• 1949 António Guterres, Portuguese academic and politician, 114th Prime Minister of Portugal and 9th Secretary-General of the United Nations Wikipedia
• 1956 Lars von Trier, Danish director and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1959 Stephen Harper, Canadian economist and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Canada Wikipedia
• 1967 Philipp Kirkorov, Bulgarian-born Russian singer, composer and actor Wikipedia
• 1981 John O'Shea, Irish footballer Wikipedia
• 1982 Kirsten Dunst, American actress Wikipedia
• 1985 Gal Gadot, Israeli actress and model Wikipedia
• 1986 Dianna Agron, American actress and singer Wikipedia
• 1988 Ana de Armas, Cuban actress Wikipedia
• 1991 Travis Scott, American rapper and producer Wikipedia
• 1992 Marc-André ter Stegen, German footballer Wikipedia

Died on April 30

• 65 Lucan, Roman poet (born 39) Wikipedia
• 1030 Mahmud of Ghazni, Ghaznavid emir (born 971) Wikipedia
• 1632 Sigismund III Vasa, Swedish-Polish son of John III of Sweden (born 1566) Wikipedia
• 1883 Édouard Manet, French painter (born 1832) Wikipedia
• 1943 Otto Jespersen, Danish linguist and academic (born 1860) Wikipedia
• 1945 Adolf Hitler, Austrian-German politician and author, dictator of Nazi Germany (born 1889) Wikipedia
• 1945 Eva Braun, German photographer and office and lab assistant, wife of Adolf Hitler (born 1912) Wikipedia
• 1956 Alben W. Barkley, American lawyer and politician, 35th Vice President of the United States (born 1877) Wikipedia
• 1983 Muddy Waters, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and bandleader (born 1913) Wikipedia
• 1989 Sergio Leone, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 2011 Ernesto Sabato, Argentinian physicist, author, and painter (born 1911) Wikipedia
• 2016 Harry Kroto, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1939) Wikipedia
• 2020 Rishi Kapoor, Indian actor, film director and producer (born 1952) Wikipedia
• 2024 Paul Auster, American writer and film director (born 1947) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Armed Forces Day (Georgia) Wikipedia
• Camarón Day (French Foreign Legion) Wikipedia
• Children's Day (Mexico) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Adjutor Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Aimo Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Amator, Peter and Louis Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Donatus of Evorea Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Eutropius of Saintes Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Marie Guyart (Anglican Church of Canada and Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Maximus of Rome Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Miles Gerard Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pomponius of Naples Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Pius V Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Quirinus of Neuss Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Sarah Josepha Hale (Episcopal Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Suitbert the Younger Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: April 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Consumer Protection Day (Thailand) Wikipedia
• Honesty Day (United States) Wikipedia
• International Jazz Day (UNESCO) Wikipedia
• Martyrs' Day (Pakistan) Wikipedia
• May Eve, the eve of the first day of summer in the Northern hemisphere (see May 1): Beltane begins at sunset in the Northern hemisphere, Samhain begins at sunset in the Southern hemisphere. (Neo-Druidic Wheel of the Year) Wikipedia
• May Eve, the eve of the first day of summer in the Northern hemisphere (see May 1): Walpurgis Night (Central and Northern Europe) Wikipedia
• National Persian Gulf Day (Iran) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “April 30” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/April 30” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “April 30” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for April 30 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.