On This Day — 19 May

2000s

2024

A helicopter crash in Iran leaves 8 people dead, including the country's president Ebrahim Raisi & foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.

2024 Varzaqan helicopter crash

2018

The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is held at St George's Chapel, Windsor, with an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion.

Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

2016

EgyptAir Flight 804 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea while traveling from Paris to Cairo, killing all on board.

EgyptAir Flight 804

2015

The Refugio oil spill deposited 142,800 U.S. gallons (3,400 barrels) of crude oil onto an area in California considered one of the most biologically diverse coastlines of the west coast.

Refugio oil spill

2012

Three gas cylinder bombs explode in front of a vocational school in the Italian city of Brindisi, killing one person and injuring five others.

Brindisi school bombing

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2012

A car bomb explodes near a military complex in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, killing nine people.

2012 Deir ez-Zor bombing

2010

The Royal Thai Armed Forces concludes its crackdown on protests by forcing the surrender of United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship leaders.

Royal Thai Armed Forces

2007

President of Romania Traian Băsescu survives an impeachment referendum and returns to office from suspension.

President of Romania

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2007

A mass shooting starts in Moscow, Idaho, which would leave 3 non-shooters dead and 3 more injured, before the shooter committed suicide the next day.

2007 Moscow, Idaho, shooting

2000

Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on mission STS-101 to resupply the International Space Station.

Space Shuttle Atlantis

1900s

1997

The Sierra Gorda biosphere, the most ecologically diverse region in Mexico, is established as a result of grassroots efforts.

Sierra Gorda

1996

Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on mission STS-77.

Space Shuttle program

1993

SAM Colombia Flight 501 crashes on approach to José María Córdova International Airport in Medellín, Colombia, killing 132.

SAM Colombia Flight 501

1991

Croatians vote for independence in a referendum.

Croatia

1986

The Firearm Owners Protection Act is signed into law by U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

Firearm Owners Protection Act

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1971

Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.

Soviet Mars program

1963

The New York Post Sunday Magazine publishes Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail.

Martin Luther King Jr.

1962

A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe's rendition of "Happy Birthday".

John F. Kennedy

1961

Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data).

Venera program

1961

At Silchar Railway Station, Assam, 11 Bengalis die when police open fire on protesters demanding state recognition of Bengali language in the Bengali Language Movement.

Silchar

1959

The North Vietnamese Army establishes Group 559, whose responsibility is to determine how to maintain supply lines to South Vietnam; the resulting route is the Ho Chi Minh trail.

People's Army of Vietnam

1950

A barge containing munitions destined for Pakistan explodes in the harbor at South Amboy, New Jersey, devastating the city.

Pakistan

1950

Egypt announces that the Suez Canal is closed to Israeli ships and commerce.

Egypt

1945

Syrian demonstrators in Damascus are fired upon by French troops injuring twelve, leading to the Levant Crisis.

Syrians

1943

Winston Churchill's second wartime address to the U.S. Congress

Winston Churchill's address to the United States Congress (1943)

1942

World War II: In the aftermath of the Battle of the Coral Sea, Task Force 16 heads to Pearl Harbor for repairs.

World War II

1934

Zveno and the Bulgarian Army engineer a coup d'état and install Kimon Georgiev as the new Prime Minister of Bulgaria.

Zveno

1933

Finnish cavalry general C. G. E. Mannerheim is appointed the field marshal.

Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim

1922

The Young Pioneer Organization of the Soviet Union is established.

Young Pioneers (Soviet Union)

1921

The United States Congress passes the Emergency Quota Act establishing national quotas on immigration.

United States Congress

1919

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, initiating what is later termed the Turkish War of Independence.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

1917

The Norwegian football club Rosenborg BK is founded.

Rosenborg BK

1911

Parks Canada, the world's first national park service, is established as the Dominion Parks Branch under the Department of the Interior.

Parks Canada

1900

Great Britain annexes Tonga Island.

Great Britain

1900

Second Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking.

Second Boer War

1800s

1883

Buffalo Bill's first Buffalo Bill's Wild West opens in Omaha, Nebraska.

Buffalo Bill

1848

Mexican–American War: Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo thus ending the war and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of four other modern-day U.S. states to the United States for US$15 million.

Mexican–American War

1845

Captain Sir John Franklin and his ill-fated Arctic expedition depart from Greenhithe, England.

John Franklin

1828

U.S. President John Quincy Adams signs the Tariff of 1828 into law, sparking outrage in the South and leading to the Nullification crisis.

John Quincy Adams

1802

Napoleon Bonaparte founds the Legion of Honour.

Napoleon

Before 1800

1798

Napoleon Bonaparte and his expedition force leave France to invade Egypt.

Napoleon

1780

New England's Dark Day, an unusual darkening of the day sky, was observed over the New England states and parts of Canada.

New England's Dark Day

1776

American Revolutionary War: A Continental Army garrison surrenders in the Battle of The Cedars.

American Revolutionary War

1749

King George II of Great Britain grants the Ohio Company a charter of land around the forks of the Ohio River.

George II of Great Britain

1743

Jean-Pierre Christin developed the centigrade temperature scale.

Jean-Pierre Christin

1674

John III Sobieski becomes king of Poland-Lithuania.

John III Sobieski

1655

The Invasion of Jamaica begins during the Anglo-Spanish War.

Invasion of Jamaica

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1649

An Act of Parliament declaring England a Commonwealth is passed by the Long Parliament. England would be a republic for the next eleven years.

Act of parliament

1643

Thirty Years' War: French forces under the duc d'Enghien decisively defeat Spanish forces at the Battle of Rocroi, marking the symbolic end of Spain as a dominant land power.

Thirty Years' War

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1542

The Prome Kingdom falls to the Taungoo Dynasty in present-day Myanmar.

Prome kingdom

1536

Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England, is beheaded for adultery, treason, and incest.

Anne Boleyn

1535

French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to North America with three ships, 110 men, and Chief Donnacona's two sons (whom Cartier had kidnapped during his first voyage).

Jacques Cartier