On This Day — 30 May

2024

Donald Trump is convicted of falsifying business records in his New York trial, the first time a former President of the United States has been found guilty in a criminal case.

Donald Trump

2020

The Crew Dragon Demo-2 launches from the Kennedy Space Center, becoming the first crewed orbital spacecraft to launch from the United States since 2011 and the first commercial flight to the International Space Station.

Crew Dragon Demo-2

2013

Nigeria passes a law banning same-sex marriage.

Nigeria

2012

Former Liberian president Charles Taylor is sentenced to 50 years in prison for his role in atrocities committed during the Sierra Leone Civil War.

Liberia

2008

Convention on Cluster Munitions is adopted.

Convention on Cluster Munitions

2008

TACA Flight 390 overshoots the runway at Toncontín International Airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and crashes, killing five people.

TACA Flight 390

2003

Depayin massacre: At least 70 people associated with the National League for Democracy are killed by government-sponsored mob in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi flees the scene, but is arrested soon afterwards.

Depayin massacre

1999

53 people are killed in a stampede at the Nyamiha metro station in Minsk, Belarus.

Nyamiha stampede

1998

The 6.5 Mw  Afghanistan earthquake shook the Takhar Province of northern Afghanistan with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong), killing around 4,000–4,500.

May 1998 Afghanistan earthquake

1998

Nuclear Testing: Pakistan conducts an underground test in the Kharan Desert. It is reported to be a plutonium device with yield of 20kt TNT equivalent.

Nuclear weapons testing

1990

Croatian Parliament is constituted after the first free, multi-party elections, today celebrated as the National Day of Croatia.

Croatian Parliament

1982

Cold War: Spain joins NATO.

Cold War

1979

Downeast Airlines Flight 46 crashes on approach to Knox County Regional Airport in Rockland, Maine, killing 17.

Downeast Airlines Flight 46

1975

European Space Agency is established.

European Space Agency

1974

The Airbus A300 passenger aircraft first enters service.

Airbus A300

1972

The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout the United Kingdom.

The Angry Brigade

1972

In Ben Gurion Airport (at the time: Lod Airport), Israel, members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.

Ben Gurion Airport

1971

Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched to map 70% of the surface, and to study temporal changes in the atmosphere and surface, of Mars.

Mariner program

1968

Charles de Gaulle reappears publicly after his flight to Baden-Baden, West Germany, and dissolves the French National Assembly by a radio appeal. Immediately after, less than one million of his supporters march on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. This is the turning point of May 1968 events in France.

Charles de Gaulle

1967

The Nigerian Eastern Region declares independence as the Republic of Biafra, sparking a civil war.

Nigeria

1966

Former Congolese Prime Minister, Évariste Kimba, and several other politicians are publicly executed in Kinshasa on the orders of President Joseph Mobutu.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

1963

A protest against pro-Catholic discrimination during the Buddhist crisis is held outside South Vietnam's National Assembly, the first open demonstration during the eight-year presidency of Ngo Dinh Diem.

Buddhist crisis

1961

The long-time Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo is assassinated in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Rafael Trujillo

1961

Viasa Flight 897 crashes after takeoff from Lisbon Airport, killing 61.

Viasa Flight 897

1959

The Auckland Harbour Bridge, crossing the Waitemata Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, is officially opened by Governor-General Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham.

Auckland Harbour Bridge

1948

A dike along the flooding Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes. Fifteen people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.

1948 Columbia River flood

1943

The Holocaust: Josef Mengele becomes chief medical officer of the Zigeunerfamilienlager (Romani family camp) at Auschwitz concentration camp.

The Holocaust

1942

World War II: One thousand British bombers launch a 90-minute attack on Cologne, Germany.

Bombing of Cologne in World War II

1941

World War II: Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas climb the Athenian Acropolis and tear down the German flag.

World War II

1937

Memorial Day massacre: Chicago police shoot and kill ten labor demonstrators.

1937 Memorial Day massacre

1925

May Thirtieth Movement: Shanghai Municipal Police Force shoot and kill 13 protesting workers.

May Thirtieth Movement

1922

The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.

Lincoln Memorial

1914

The new, and then the largest, Cunard ocean liner RMS Aquitania, 45,647 tons, sets sails on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England, to New York City.

Cunard Line

1913

The Treaty of London is signed, ending the First Balkan War between the Balkan allies and the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans cede all their European territories west of a straight line between Enos and Media and Albania becomes an independent nation.

Treaty of London (1913)

1911

At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first Indianapolis 500 ends with Ray Harroun in his Marmon Wasp becoming the first winner of the 500-mile auto race.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

1899

Pearl Hart, a female outlaw of the Old West, robs a stage coach 30 miles southeast of Globe, Arizona.

Pearl Hart

1883

In New York City, 12 people are killed in a stampede on the recently opened Brooklyn Bridge.

Brooklyn Bridge

1876

Ottoman sultan Abdülaziz is deposed and succeeded by his nephew Murad V.

Abdulaziz

1876

The secret decree of Ems Ukaz, issued by Russian Tsar Alexander II in the German city of Bad Ems, was aimed at stopping the printing and distribution of Ukrainian-language publications in the Russian Empire.

Ems Ukaz

1868

Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern "Memorial Day") is observed in the United States for the first time after a proclamation by John A. Logan, head of the Grand Army of the Republic (a veterans group).

Memorial Day

1866

Bedrich Smetana's comic opera The Bartered Bride premiered in Prague.

Bedřich Smetana

1862

American Civil War: The Siege of Corinth ends in a Union victory, with General Henry Halleck capturing the critical rail junction of Corinth, Mississippi from retreating Confederate forces under General P. G. T. Beauregard.

American Civil War

1854

The Kansas–Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the U.S. territories of Kansas and Nebraska.

Kansas–Nebraska Act

1845

The Fatel Razack coming from India, lands in the Gulf of Paria in Trinidad and Tobago carrying the first Indians to the country.

Fatel Razack

1842

John Francis attempts to murder Queen Victoria as she drives down Constitution Hill in London with Prince Albert.

Queen Victoria

1834

Minister of Justice Joaquim António de Aguiar issues a law seizing "all convents, monasteries, colleges, hospices and any other houses" from the Catholic religious orders in Portugal, earning him the nickname of "The Friar-Killer".

Joaquim António de Aguiar

1815

The East Indiaman Arniston is wrecked during a storm at Waenhuiskrans, near Cape Agulhas, in present-day South Africa, with the loss of 372 lives.

East Indiaman

1814

The First Treaty of Paris is signed, returning the French frontiers to their 1792 extent, and restoring the House of Bourbon to power.

Treaty of Paris (1814)

1806

Future U.S. President Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel.

Andrew Jackson

1796

War of the First Coalition: In the Battle of Borghetto, Napoleon Bonaparte manages to cross the Mincio River against the Austrian army. This crossing forces the Austrians to abandon Lombardy and retreat to the Tyrol, leaving the fortress of Mantua as the sole remaining Austrian stronghold in Northern Italy.

War of the First Coalition

1723

Johann Sebastian Bach assumed the office of Thomaskantor in Leipzig, presenting his first new cantata, Die Elenden sollen essen, BWV 75, in the St. Nicholas Church on the first Sunday after Trinity.

Johann Sebastian Bach

1642

From this date all honors granted by Charles I of England are retroactively annulled by Parliament.

Charles I of England

1635

Thirty Years' War: The Peace of Prague is signed.

Thirty Years' War

1631

Publication of Gazette de France, the first French newspaper.

La Gazette (France)

1588

The last ship of the Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel.

Spanish Armada

1574

Henry III becomes King of France.

Henry III of France

1539

In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal of finding gold.

Florida

1536

King Henry VIII of England marries Jane Seymour, a lady-in-waiting to his first two wives.

Henry VIII

1510

During the reign of the Zhengde Emperor, Ming dynasty rebel leader Zhu Zhifan is defeated by commander Qiu Yue, ending the Prince of Anhua rebellion.

Zhengde Emperor

1434

Hussite Wars: Battle of Lipany: Effectively ending the war, Utraquist forces led by Diviš Bořek of Miletínek defeat and almost annihilate Taborite forces led by Prokop the Great.

Hussite Wars

1431

Hundred Years' War: In Rouen, France, the 19-year-old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal.

Hundred Years' War

1416

The Council of Constance, called by Emperor Sigismund, a supporter of Antipope John XXIII, burns Jerome of Prague following a trial for heresy.

Council of Constance

1381

Beginning of the Peasants' Revolt in England.

Peasants' Revolt

70

Siege of Jerusalem: Titus and his Roman legions breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem. Jewish defenders retreat to the First Wall. The Romans build a circumvallation, cutting down all trees within fifteen kilometres (9.3 mi).

AD 70