On May 29th...

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1176 The Lombard League defeated Frederick Barbarossa and the Holy Roman Empire at the Battle of Legnano.

1453 The Turks captured Constantinople.

1500 A ship commanded by Bartolomeu Dias was lost in a storm off Brazil.

1630 Charles II, King of England, was born.

1660 King Charles II returned to England from exile in the Netherlands.

1721 South Carolina was formally incorporated as a royal colony.

1727 Peter II became Tsar of Russia.

1736 Patrick Henry, hero of the American Revolution, was born.

1780 Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton's troops killed 113 of Colonel Abraham Buford's Continental Army troops after the Continentals raised a white flag.

1790 Rhode Island became the last of the original thirteen colonies to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1790 Israel Putnam, American Revolutionary War general, died.

1814 Josephine de Beauharnais Bonaparte, the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, died.

1829 Chemist Humphry Davy died.

1848 Wisconsin became the 30th state.

1866 U.S. General Winfield Scott died.

1868 Michael Obrenovich III, Prince of Serbia, was assassinated in Belgrade.

1874 Author G. K. Chesterton was born.

1900 The trademark "Escalator" was registered by Otis Elevator Company.

1903 Alexander Obrenovich, King of Serbia, and Queen Draga were assassinated in Belgrade.
1903 Entertainer Bob Hope was born.

1914 The Canadian ship Empress of Ireland was rammed by another ship on the St. Lawrence River; 1,024 persons were killed.

1916 U.S. forces invaded the Dominican Republic.

1917 John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th President of the United States, was born.

1919 Charles Strite applied for a patent for the pop-up toaster.
1919 The Republic of Prekmurje was founded.

1922 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that organized baseball is a sport, not a business, and thus not subject to antitrust laws.

1932 The "Bonus Army" began assembling in Washington, D.C.

1939 Auto racer Al Unser Sr. was born.

1942 Bing Crosby recorded "White Christmas."
1942 The film "Yankee Doodle Dandy" premiered in New York City, New York.
1942 Actor John Barrymore died.

1951 Yul Brynner made his first stage appearance in the lead role of The King and I.
1951 Singer Fanny Brice died.

1953 Edmund Hillary and Tenziing Norgay became the first persons to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

1955 John Hinckley, attempted assassin of U.S. President Ronald Reagan, was born.

1956 Singer La Toya Jackson was born.

1957 Auto racer Bobby Hamilton was born.

1961 Singer Melissa Etheridge was born.

1963 Actress Lisa Whelchel was born.

1968 The U.S. Truth in Lending Act was signed into law.

1971 Al Unser won the Indianapolis 500.

1973 Thomas Bradley was elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles.

1977 Janet Guthrie became the first woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500, which was won by A. J. Foyt.

1979 Actress Mary Pickford died.

1983 Tom Sneva won the Indianapolis 500.

1990 Boris Yeltsin was elected President of the Russian Republic.

1994 Al Unser, Jr., won the Indianapolis 500.

1998 U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater died.

1999 The Space Shuttle Discovery completed the first ever docking with the International Space Station.

2004 The World War II Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C.

2005 Dan Wheldon won the Indianapolis 500.

2008 Comedian Harvey Korman died.

2010 Actor Dennis Hopper died.

2011 Dan Wheldon won the Indianapolis 500.

2012 A magnitude 5.9 earthquake killed 24 persons near Bologna, Italy.

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This page was last updated on January 22, 2018.