Support Time.now: Join our Premium Plan for an ad-free experience! Support Us: Go Premium Ad-Free!

Events on May 29 48

Year 363

The Roman emperor Julian defeats the Sasanian army in the Battle of Ctesiphon, under the walls of the Sasanian capital, but is unable to take the city.

Year 1108

Battle of Uclés: Almoravid troops under the command of Tamim ibn Yusuf defeat a Castile and León alliance under the command of Prince Sancho Alfónsez.

Year 1167

Battle of Monte Porzio: A Roman army supporting Pope Alexander III is defeated by Christian of Buch and Rainald of Dassel.

Year 1176

Battle of Legnano: The Lombard League defeats Emperor Frederick I.

Year 1328

Philip VI is crowned King of France.

Year 1453

Fall of Constantinople: Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih capture Constantinople after a 53-day siege, ending the Byzantine Empire.

Year 1660

English Restoration: Charles II is restored to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Year 1727

Peter II becomes Tsar of Russia.

Year 1733

The right of settlers in New France to enslave natives is upheld at Quebec City.

Year 1780

American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of Waxhaws, the British continue attacking after the Continentals lay down their arms, killing 113 and critically wounding all but 53 that remained.

Year 1790

Rhode Island becomes the last of the original United States' colonies to ratify the Constitution and is admitted as the 13th U.S. state.

Year 1798

United Irishmen Rebellion: Between 300 and 500 United Irishmen are executed as rebels by the British Army in County Kildare, Ireland.

Year 1807

Mustafa IV became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.

Year 1848

Wisconsin is admitted as the 30th U.S. state.

Year 1852

Jenny Lind leaves New York after her two-year American tour.

Year 1861

The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce is founded, in Hong Kong.

Year 1864

Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico arrives in Mexico for the first time.

Year 1867

The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 ("the Compromise") is born through Act 12, which establishes the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Year 1868

Mihailo Obrenović III, Prince of Serbia is assassinated.

Year 1886

The pharmacist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, which appeared in The Atlanta Journal.

Year 1900

N'Djamena is founded as Fort-Lamy by the French commander Émile Gentil.

Year 1903

In the May Coup, Alexander I, King of Serbia, and Queen Draga, are assassinated in Belgrade by the Black Hand (Crna Ruka) organization.

Year 1913

Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring receives its premiere performance in Paris, France, provoking a riot.

Year 1914

The Ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sinks in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with the loss of 1,012 lives.

Year 1918

Armenia defeats the Ottoman Army in the Battle of Sardarabad.

Year 1919

Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested (later confirmed) by Arthur Eddington and Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin.

Year 1931

Michele Schirru, a citizen of the United States, is executed by Italian military firing squad for intent to kill Benito Mussolini.

Year 1932

World War I veterans begin to assemble in Washington, D.C., in the Bonus Army to request cash bonuses promised to them to be paid in 1945.

Year 1935

First flight of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter aeroplane.

Year 1945

First combat mission of the Consolidated B-32 Dominator heavy bomber.

Year 1950

The St. Roch, the first ship to circumnavigate North America, arrives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Year 1953

Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on Tenzing Norgay's (adopted) 39th birthday.

Year 1964

The Arab League meets in East Jerusalem to discuss the Palestinian question, leading to the formation of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Year 1973

Tom Bradley is elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles, California.

Year 1982

Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit Canterbury Cathedral.

Year 1982

Falklands War: British forces defeat the Argentines at the Battle of Goose Green.

Year 1985

Heysel Stadium disaster: Thirty-nine association football fans die and hundreds are injured when a dilapidated retaining wall collapses.

Year 1985

Amputee Steve Fonyo completes cross-Canada marathon at Victoria, British Columbia, after 14 months.

Year 1988

The U.S. President Ronald Reagan begins his first visit to the Soviet Union when he arrives in Moscow for a superpower summit with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Year 1989

Signing of an agreement between Egypt and the United States, allowing the manufacture of parts of the F-16 jet fighter plane in Egypt.

Year 1990

The Russian parliament elects Boris Yeltsin as president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

Year 1993

The Miss Sarajevo beauty pageant is held in war torn Sarajevo drawing global attention to the plight of its citizens.

Year 1999

Olusegun Obasanjo takes office as President of Nigeria, the first elected and civilian head of state in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule.

Year 1999

Space Shuttle Discovery completes the first docking with the International Space Station.

Year 2001

The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the disabled golfer Casey Martin can use a cart to ride in tournaments.

Year 2004

The National World War II Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.

Year 2008

A doublet earthquake, of combined magnitude 6.1, strikes Iceland near the town of Selfoss, injuring 30 people.

Year 2012

A 5.8-magnitude earthquake hits northern Italy near Bologna, killing at least 24 people.

Other days in May