On this day: May 20

Events on May 20

• 325 The First Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church, was formally opened by Constantine the Great. Wikipedia
• 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). Wikipedia
• 1609 Thomas Thorpe published the first copies of Shakespeare's sonnets, possibly without William Shakespeare's consent. Wikipedia
• 1714 J. S. Bach led the first performance of his Pentecost cantata Erschallet, ihr Lieder at the chapel of Schloss Weimar. Wikipedia
• 1714 Johann Sebastian Bach leads the first performance of his cantata for Pentecost, Erschallet, ihr Lieder, BWV 172, at the chapel of Schloss Weimar. Wikipedia
• 1741 The Battle of Cartagena de Indias ends in a Spanish victory and the British begin withdrawal towards Jamaica with substantial losses. Wikipedia
• 1802 By the Law of 20 May 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution. Wikipedia
• 1811 A British squadron under Charles Marsh Schomberg defeated a French force off Tamatave, Madagascar, that was attempting to reinforce the French garrison on Mauritius. Wikipedia
• 1861 American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state. Wikipedia
• 1862 U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law, opening eighty-four million acres (340,000 km2) of public land to settlers. Wikipedia
• 1864 American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church: In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory. Wikipedia
• 1873 Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets. Wikipedia
• 1891 History of cinema: The first public display of Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope. Wikipedia
• 1902 Cuba gains independence from the United States. Tomás Estrada Palma becomes the country's first President. Wikipedia
• 1927 Treaty of Jeddah: 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. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: German paratroopers began the Battle of Heraklion on the island of Crete, capturing the airfield and port in Heraklion ten days later. Wikipedia
• 1967 The Popular Movement of the Revolution political party is established in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Wikipedia
• 1969 The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ends. Wikipedia
• 1985 Radio Martí, part of the Voice of America service, begins broadcasting to Cuba. Wikipedia
• 1989 The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre. Wikipedia
• 1990 The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania. Wikipedia
• 1996 In deciding Romer v. Evans, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a constitutional amendment in Colorado that prevented protected status under the law for homosexuals or bisexuals. Wikipedia
• 1996 Civil 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. Wikipedia
• 2002 The independence of East Timor is recognized by Portugal, formally ending 23 years of Indonesian rule and three years of provisional UN administration (Portugal itself is the former colonizer of East Timor until 1976). Wikipedia
• 2013 A tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, United States, killing 24 people and causing an estimated $2 billion of damage. Wikipedia
• 2016 The government of Singapore authorises the controversial execution of convicted murderer Kho Jabing for the murder of a Chinese construction worker despite international pleas for clemency, notably from Amnesty International and the United Nations. Wikipedia

Born on May 20

• 1759 William Thornton, Virgin Islander-American architect, designed the United States Capitol (died 1828) Wikipedia
• 1799 Honoré de Balzac, French novelist and playwright (died 1850) Wikipedia
• 1806 John Stuart Mill, English economist, civil servant, and philosopher (died 1873) Wikipedia
• 1822 Frédéric Passy, French economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1912) Wikipedia
• 1860 Eduard Buchner, German chemist, zymologist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1917) Wikipedia
• 1875 Hendrik Offerhaus, Dutch Olympic rower and head of the Dutch Red Cross (died 1953) Wikipedia
• 1877 Pat Leahy, Irish-American Olympic jumper (died 1927) Wikipedia
• 1882 Sigrid Undset, Danish-Norwegian novelist, essayist, and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1949) Wikipedia
• 1883 Faisal I of Iraq (died 1933) Wikipedia
• 1899 John Marshall Harlan II, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court (died 1971) Wikipedia
• 1901 Max Euwe, Dutch chess player, mathematician, and author (died 1981) Wikipedia
• 1908 James Stewart, American actor (died 1997) Wikipedia
• 1913 William Redington Hewlett, American engineer, co-founded Hewlett-Packard (died 2001) Wikipedia
• 1915 Moshe Dayan, Israeli general and politician, 5th Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 1981) Wikipedia
• 1918 Edward B. Lewis, American biologist, geneticist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2004) Wikipedia
• 1924 David Chavchavadze, English-American CIA officer and author (died 2014) Wikipedia
• 1935 José Mujica, Uruguayan guerrilla leader and politician, 40th President of Uruguay (died 2025) Wikipedia
• 1944 Joe Cocker, English singer-songwriter (died 2014) Wikipedia
• 1946 Cher, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress Wikipedia
• 1957 Yoshihiko Noda, Japanese lawyer and politician, 62nd Prime Minister of Japan Wikipedia
• 1981 Iker Casillas, Spanish footballer Wikipedia
• 1982 Petr Čech, Czech footballer Wikipedia

Died on May 20

• 965 Gero the Great, Saxon ruler (born c. 900) Wikipedia
• 1277 Pope John XXI (born 1215) Wikipedia
• 1506 Christopher Columbus, Italian explorer, early European explorer of the Americas (born 1451) Wikipedia
• 1622 Osman II, Ottoman sultan (born 1604) Wikipedia
• 1648 Władysław IV Vasa, Polish son of Sigismund III Vasa (born 1595) Wikipedia
• 1834 Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, French general (born 1757) Wikipedia
• 1896 Clara Schumann, German pianist and composer (born 1819) Wikipedia
• 1940 Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1859) Wikipedia
• 1947 Philipp Lenard, Slovak-German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1862) Wikipedia
• 1962 Timothy (Szretter), a Polish Orthodox clergyman, the third Metropolitan of Warsaw and all Poland (born 1901) Wikipedia
• 1989 John Hicks, English economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1904) Wikipedia
• 2012 Eugene Polley, American engineer, invented the remote control (born 1915) Wikipedia
• 2019 Niki Lauda, Austrian race car driver (born 1949) Wikipedia
• 2021 Gary Wilson, American anti-pornography activist (born 1956) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Abercius and Helena Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Alcuin of York Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Aurea of Ostia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Austregisilus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Baudilus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Bernardino of Siena Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Columba of Rieti Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Lydia of Thyatira Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Lucifer of Cagliari Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Sanctan Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: May 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Day of Remembrance (Cambodia) Wikipedia
• Emancipation Day (Florida) Wikipedia
• European Maritime Day (European Council) Wikipedia
• Independence Restoration Day, celebrates the independence of East Timor from Indonesia in 2002. Wikipedia
• Josephine Baker Day (NAACP) Wikipedia
• National Awakening Day (Indonesia), and its related observances: Indonesian Doctor Day (Indonesia) Wikipedia
• National Day (Cameroon) Wikipedia
• World Bee Day Wikipedia
• World Metrology Day Wikipedia
• Doug the Pug Day (Nashville, Tennessee) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “May 20” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.