TODAY in HISTORY
Today is Saturday, May 20, the 140th day of 2017. There are 225 days left in the year. HIGHLIGHTS IN 526 An earthquake kills about 250,000 people in what is now Syria and Antiochia.
1217 The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke.
1570 Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas.
1609 Shakespeare's sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by publisher Thomas Thorpe.
1631 The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the 30 Years’ War.
1802 By the Law of 20 May 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution.
1861 The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality in the American Civil War, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state. Meanwhile, the state of North Carolina secedes from the Union.
1862 US President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law.
1873 Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a US patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
1882 The Triple Alliance between the German empire, Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy is formed.
1883 Krakatoa begins to erupt; the volcano explodes three months later, killing more than 36,000 people.
1891 The first public display of Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope.
1902 Cuba gains independence from the United States. Tomás Estrada Palma becomes the country's first President.
1932 Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world’s first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.
1969 The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ends.
2002 The independence of East Timor is recognised by Portugal, formally ending 23 years of Indonesian rule and three years of provisional UN administration.
2010 A social media event is celebrated in response to Muslim extremists’ reaction to images of Mohammed.