On this day: May 5

Events on May 5

• 1494 On his second voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus sights Jamaica, landing at Discovery Bay and declares Jamaica the property of the Spanish crown. Wikipedia
• 1654 Cromwell's Act of Grace, aimed at reconciliation with the Scots, proclaimed in Edinburgh. Wikipedia
• 1762 Russia and Prussia sign the Treaty of St. Petersburg. Wikipedia
• 1789 In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time since 1614. Wikipedia
• 1821 Emperor Napoleon dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. Wikipedia
• 1862 Cinco de Mayo: Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico. Wikipedia
• 1864 American Civil War: Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign in Virginia began with the inconclusive Battle of the Wilderness in Spotsylvania County. Wikipedia
• 1886 Workers marching for the eight-hour day in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, are shot at by Wisconsin National Guardsmen in what becomes known as the Bay View Massacre. Wikipedia
• 1891 Carnegie Hall (interior pictured) in New York City, built by the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, officially opened with a concert conducted by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Wikipedia
• 1891 The Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor. Wikipedia
• 1930 The 1930 Bago earthquake, the first of two major earthquakes in southern Burma, kills as many as 7,000 in Yangon and Bago. Wikipedia
• 1936 Second Italo-Ethiopian War: Italian troops captured the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa unopposed. Wikipedia
• 1936 March of the Iron Will: Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Wikipedia
• 1940 World War II: A squad of 250 Norwegian volunteers defending Hegra Fortress surrendered to a superior Nazi force after a 25-day siege. Wikipedia
• 1940 World War II: Norwegian campaign: Norwegian squads in Hegra Fortress and Vinjesvingen capitulate to German forces after all other Norwegian forces in southern Norway had laid down their arms. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: American and German troops fought side-by-side at the Battle for Castle Itter, defending a prison against Waffen-SS forces. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: The citizens of Prague spontaneously rose up against the city's German occupiers. Wikipedia
• 1972 Alitalia Flight 112 crashes into Mount Longa near Palermo, Sicily, killing all 115 aboard, making it the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in Italy. Wikipedia
• 1980 Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege. Wikipedia
• 1985 Ronald Reagan visits the military cemetery at Bitburg and the site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he makes a speech. Wikipedia
• 1991 Riots broke out in Washington, D.C., after a rookie police officer shot a Salvadoran man in the chest. Wikipedia
• 1994 The signing of the Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan effectively freezes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Wikipedia
• 1994 American teenager Michael P. Fay is caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism. Wikipedia
• 2006 The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army. Wikipedia
• 2023 The World Health Organization declared the end of COVID-19 as a global health emergency. Wikipedia
• 2023 The World Health Organization declares the end of the COVID-19 pandemic as a global health emergency. Wikipedia

Born on May 5

• 1210 Afonso III of Portugal (died 1279) Wikipedia
• 1310 Preczlaw of Pogarell, Cardinal and Bishop of Wrocław (died 1376) Wikipedia
• 1747 Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1792) Wikipedia
• 1813 Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher and author (died 1855) Wikipedia
• 1818 Karl Marx, German philosopher, sociologist, and journalist (died 1883) Wikipedia
• 1826 Eugénie de Montijo, French wife of Napoleon III (died 1920) Wikipedia
• 1846 Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1916) Wikipedia
• 1864 Nellie Bly, American journalist and author (died 1922) Wikipedia
• 1873 Leon Czolgosz, American assassin of William McKinley (died 1901) Wikipedia
• 1883 Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, English general and politician, 43rd Governor-General of India (died 1950) Wikipedia
• 1914 Tyrone Power, American actor (died 1958) Wikipedia
• 1916 Zail Singh, Indian politician, 7th President of India (died 1994) Wikipedia
• 1921 Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1999) Wikipedia
• 1943 Michael Palin, English actor and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1944 John Rhys-Davies, Welsh actor and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1981 Craig David, English singer-songwriter, musician and producer Wikipedia
• 1983 Henry Cavill, English actor Wikipedia
• 1988 Adele, English singer-songwriter Wikipedia
• 1991 Raúl Jiménez, Mexican footballer Wikipedia
• 1998 Aryna Sabalenka, Belarusian tennis player Wikipedia
• 1999 Justin Kluivert, Dutch footballer Wikipedia
• 2003 Carlos Alcaraz, Spanish tennis player Wikipedia

Died on May 5

• 1582 Charlotte of Bourbon, Princess consort of Orange, married to William I of Orange (born 1547) Wikipedia
• 1705 Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1640) Wikipedia
• 1821 Napoleon, French general and emperor (born 1769) Wikipedia
• 1859 Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, German mathematician and academic (born 1805) Wikipedia
• 1921 Alfred Hermann Fried, Austrian journalist and publicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1864) Wikipedia
• 1959 Carlos Saavedra Lamas, Argentinian academic and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1878) Wikipedia
• 1977 Ludwig Erhard, German economist and politician, Chancellor of Germany (born 1897) Wikipedia
• 1995 Mikhail Botvinnik, Russian chess player and coach (born 1911) Wikipedia
• 2000 Gino Bartali, Italian cyclist (born 1914) Wikipedia
• 2007 Theodore Harold Maiman, American-Canadian physicist and engineer, created the laser (born 1927) Wikipedia
• 2008 Irv Robbins, Canadian-American businessman, co-founded Baskin-Robbins (born 1917) Wikipedia
• 2010 Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, Nigerian academic and politician, 13th President of Nigeria (born 1951) Wikipedia
• 2013 Robert Ressler, American FBI agent and author (born 1937) Wikipedia
• 2024 César Luis Menotti, Argentine footballer and manager (born 1938) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Children's Day (Japan, South Korea) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Angelus of Jerusalem Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Aventinus of Tours Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Caterina Cittadini Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Frederick the Wise (Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gotthard of Hildesheim Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Grzegorz Bolesław Frąckowiak Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Hilary of Arles Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Jutta of Kulmsee Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Stanisław Kazimierczyk Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: May 5 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Cinco de Mayo (Mexico, United States) Wikipedia
• Constitution Day (Kyrgyzstan) Wikipedia
• Europe Day (Council of Europe) Wikipedia
• Feast of al-Khadr or Saint George (Palestinian) Wikipedia
• Indian Arrival Day (Guyana) Wikipedia
• International Midwives' Day (International) Wikipedia
• Liberation Day (Denmark, Netherlands) Wikipedia
• Lusophone Culture Day (Community of Portuguese Language Countries) Wikipedia
• World Portuguese Language Day (International) Wikipedia
• Martyrs' Day (Albania) Wikipedia
• Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Awareness Day (Canada and United States) Wikipedia
• National Cartoonist Day Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “May 5” 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.