List of May 19 Historical Events and Facts

• Tweet

This Day In History: List of May 19 Historical Events and Facts

• 1499: Catherine of Aragon, is married by proxy to Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales.
• 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 .
• 1536: Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England, is beheaded for adultery, treason, and inceSt.
• 1568: Queen Elizabeth I of England orders the arrest of Mary, Queen of Scots.
• 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.
• 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.
• 1749: King George II of Great Britain grants the Ohio Company a charter of land around the forks of the Ohio River.
• 1780: New England’s Dark Day: A combination of thick smoke and heavy cloud cover causes complete darkness to fall on Eastern Canada and the New England area of the United States at 10:30 a.m.
• 1802: Napoleon Bonaparte founds the LÈgion d’Honneur.
• 1828: U.S. President John Quincy Adams signs the Tariff of 1828 into law, protecting wool manufacturers in the United States.
• 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 $15 million USD.
• 1864: American Civil War: the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ends.
• 1897: Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol.
• 1919: Mustafa Kemal Atat¸rk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, initiating what is later termed the Turkish War of Independence.

The anniversary of this event is also regarded as a date of remembrance for Pontic Greeks on the Greek genocide.

• 1921: The U.S. Congress passes the Emergency Quota Act establishing national quotas on immigration.
• 1922: The Young Pioneer organization of the Soviet Union is established.
• 1943: World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set Monday, May 1, 1944 as the date for the Normandy landings .

It would later be delayed over a month due to bad weather.

• 1950: A barge containing munitions destined for Pakistan explodes in the harbor at South Amboy, New Jersey, devastating the city.
• 1961: Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus .
• 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.

• 1971: Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.
• 1991: Croatians vote for independence in a referendum.