On this day in History - May 4

• 1008 - King Henry I of France was born (d. 1060).
• 1460 - O navegador português Diogo Gomes descobriu o Arquipélago de Cabo Verde .
• 1471 - Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Tewkesbury - Edward IV defeats a Lancastrian Army and kills Edward, Prince of Wales.
• 1493 - Pope Alexander VI divides the New World between Spain and Portugal along the Demarcation Line.
• 1494 - Christopher Columbus lands in Jamaica.
• 1626 - Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrives in New Netherland (present day Manhattan Island) aboard the See Meeuw.
• 1655 - Bartolomeo Cristofori was born. Italian harpsichord maker.
• 1675 - King Charles II of England orders the construction of the Royal Greenwich Observatory.
• 1722 - Claude Gillot dies. French painter.
• 1733 - Jean-Charles de Borda, was born (d. 1799). French mathematician, physicist, political scientist, and sailor.
• 1772 - Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus, was born (d. 1823). German publisher.
• 1776 - Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.
• 1781 - Karl Christian Friedrich Krause, was born (d.1832). German philosopher.
• 1796 - Horace Mann was born (d. 1859). American educator.
• 1799 - Tipu Sultan dies (b. c. 1750). Muslim Indian military leader.
• 1814 - Emperor Napoleon I of France arrives at Portoferraio on the island of Elba to begin his exile.
• 1820 - Julia Tyler, was born (d. 1889). First Lady of the United States.
• 1824 - Joseph Joubert, dies (b. 1754). French essayist and moralist.
• 1825 - Thomas Henry Huxley was born (d. 1895). English scientist .
• 1826 - Frederic Edwin Church was born (d. 1900). Painter.
• 1827 - John Hanning Speke was born (d. 1864). British explorer.
• 1849 - Hokusai dies (b. 1760). Painter and ukiyo-e artist.
• 1852 - Alice Pleasance Liddell, for whom Lewis Carroll wrote Alice in Wonderland was born (d. 1934) .
• 1855 - American adventurer William Walker departs from San Francisco with about 60 men to conquer Nicaragua.
• 1859 - Cornwall Railway opened across the Royal Albert Bridge linking the counties of Devon and Cornwall in England.
• 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Chancellorsville - The battle ends with a Union retreat.
• 1867 - Sylvain Salnavet assume a presidência do Haiti
• 1869 - Naval Battle of Hakodate in Japan.
• 1871 - The National Association, the first professional baseball league, begins its first season.
• 1873 - Joe De Grasse was born (d. 1940). Canadian film director.
• 1880 - Edward Clark dies (b. 1815). Governor of Texas.
• 1886 - Haymarket Square Riot: A bomb is thrown at policemen trying to break up a labor rally in Chicago, killing 8 and wounding 60. The police fire into the crowd.
• 1889 - Francis Cardinal Spellman, was born (d. 1967). American religious leader.
• 1903 - Luther Adler, was born (d. 1984). American stage actor.
• 1903 - Goce Delchev, dies (b. 18972). Bulgarian revolutionary.
• 1904 - Construction begins on the Panama Canal.
• 1904 - Yoshishige Saito was born. Japanese painter and sculptor.
• 1905 - Nascia em Mortágua o escritor Branquinho da Fonseca. Cultivou diferentes géneros literários mas talvez tenha sido o conto aquele em que mais se destacou. É autor de O Barão, conto inicialmente publicado sob o pseudónimo António Madeira.
• 1907 - Maxence van der Meersch was born in Roubaix (d. 14 Jan 1951). French writer.
• 1910 - The Royal Canadian Navy is created.
• 1912 - Italy occupies the island of Rhodes.
• 1917 - Hermenegildo (Carlos de) Brito Capelo dies (b. 4 Fev 1841). Portuguese explorer.
• 1918 - Tanaka Kakuei, was born (d.1993). Japanese political leader.
• 1919 - May Fourth Movement: Student demonstrations take place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, protesting the Treaty of Versailles, which transferred Chinese territory to Japan.
• 1920 - Muere en Buenos Aires el jurisconsulto, legislador, profesor de derecho internacional y escritor Osvaldo Magnasco. Nació en Gualeguaychú (Provincia de Entre Ríos) el 4 de julio de 1864.
• 1921 - Edo Murtić was born (d. 2005). Croatian painter
• 1923 - Eric Sykes was born. British actor and comedian.
• 1924 - The 1924 Summer Olympics open in Paris, France.
• 1927 - The American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded in Hollywood.
• 1928 - Maynard Ferguson was born. Jazz musician.
• 1928 - Hosni Mubarak was born. President of Egypt.
• 1929 - Audrey Hepburn was born (d. 1993). Belgian actress.
• 1929 - Sidney Lamb was born. Linguist.
• 1929 - Ronald Golias was born in São Carlos, São Paulo. Brazilian acrobat and comedian.
  1930 - Roberta Peters was born. American soprano .
• 1930 - British police arrest Mahatma Gandhi and place him in Yeravda Central Prison.
• 1932 - In Atlanta, Georgia, mobster Al Capone begins serving an eleven-year prison sentence for tax evasion.
• 1936 - Manuel Benítez El Cordobes was born. Bullfighter.
• 1937 - Dick Dale was born. Guitarist .
• 1937 - Noel de Medeiros Rosa dies (b. 1910). Brazilian musician who is considered the Samba creator
• 1940 - Álvaro Manuel Machado was born in Porto. Portuguese essayst and poet.
• 1941 - George Will was born. Writer .
• 1942 - Tammy Wynette was born (d. 1998). Country musician.
• 1942 - Nickolas Ashford was born. Producer, songwriter, musician (Ashford and Simpson)
• 1942 - World War II: Battle of the Coral Sea - The battle begins with the launch of attack aircraft from American and Japanese aircraft carriers.
• 1944 - Roger Rees was born. British-born actor.
• 1945 - Narasinham Ram was born. Journalist
• 1945 - World War II: Liberation of the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg by the British Army.
• 1945 - World War II: Surrender of the North Germany Army to Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery.
• 1946 - António Leal de Oliveira e Silva dies. Portuguese film director.
• 1946 - In San Francisco Bay, US Marines from the Treasure Island Marine Barracks stop a two-day riot at Alcatraz federal prison. Five people are killed in the riot.
• 1948 - Norman Mailer's first novel, The Naked and the Dead, is published.
• 1949 - The entire Torino football (soccer) team (except for one player who did not take the trip due to an injury) is killed in a plane crash at the Superga hill at the edge of Turin, Italy.
• 1949 - John Force was born. NHRA drag racer.
• 1953 - Ernest Hemingway is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.
• 1953 - Lulu Santos (Luís Maurício Pragana dos Santos) was born in Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian musician.
• 1954 - Pia Zadora was born. Actress.
• 1956 - David Guterson was born. Author.
• 1956 - Ulrike Meyfarth was born. Winner of 1976 Olympic Games in the high jump at 16.
• 1958 - Keith Haring was born (d. 1990). Graphical artist.
• 1959 - Randy Travis was born. Country musician .
• 1959 - The first Grammy Awards are announced.
• 1961 - American civil rights movement: The "Freedom Riders" begin a bus trip through the South.
• 1961 - Herbert Vianna (Herbert Lemos de Souza Vianna) was born in João Pessoa - PB. Brazilian composer and musician.
• 1962 - Oleta Adams was born. US singer .
• 1963 - A fire at a theater in Diourbel, Senegal kills 64 people.
• 1964 - The soap opera Another World debuts on NBC in the United States.
• 1967 - Ana Gasteyer was born. Actress.
• 1969 - Osbert Sitwell dies (b. 1892). English writer.
• 1970 - Vietnam War: Kent State shootings - The Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after the ROTC building was burnt down, opens fire on students protesting at the United States' invasion of Cambodia. Four students are killed, 9 are wounded.
• 1971 - Mike Dirnt was born. Musician (Green Day) .
• 1972 - Edward Calvin Kendall dies (b. 1886). American chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 1974 - An all-female Japanese team reaches the summit of Manaslu, becoming the first women to climb an 8,000-meter peak.
• 1975 - Moe Howard dies (b. 1897). American actor and comedian; member of the Three Stooges.
• 1976 - España: aparece el diario El País.
• 1979 - Margaret Thatcher is sworn in as Britain's first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
• 1980 - Josip Broz Tito dies (b. 1892). President of Yugoslavia .
• 1984 - Bob Clampett dies (b. 1913). Cartoonist, creator of Bugs Bunny.
• 1984 - Diana Dors dies (b. 1931). British actress .
• 1985 - In Gothenburg, Sweden, Bobbysocks win the thirtieth Eurovision Song Contest for Norway singing "La det swinge" (Let it swing).
• 1985 - Clarence Wiseman dies (b. 1907). the 10th General of The Salvation Army
• 1986 - Henri Toivonen dies (b. 1956). Finnish rally car driver .
• 1989 - Iran-Contra Affair: Former White House aide Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and was acquitted of nine other charges. The convictions, however, are later overturned on appeal.
• 1990 - Latvia proclaims independence.
• 1991 - In Rome, Italy, Carola wins the thirty-sixth Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden singing "Fångad av en stormvind" (Trapped in a storm wind).
• 1994 - Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat sign a peace accord regarding Palestinian autonomy granting self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.
• 1996 - José María Aznar is appointed Prime Minister of Spain, thus ending 13 years of Socialist rule.
• 1979 - Lance Bass, was born. Musician (NSYNC) .
• 1994 - Alexander Gould, was born. Actor (Finding Nemo) .
• 1998 - A federal judge in Sacramento, California gives "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepted a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty.
• 1999 - Several tornadoes hit the Midwestern part of the United States during the night, killing at least 45 people.
• 1999 - In California, Manuel Babbitt is executed for the 1980 murder of Leah Schendel. While on death row Babbitt was awarded a Purple Heart for injuries he received in the Vietnam War.
• 2000 - Sandra Bréa dies (b. 1952). Brazilian actress.
• 2001 - Papa João Paulo II chega à Grécia e pede desculpas aos ortodoxos.
• 2002 - An EAS Airlines BAC 1-11-500 crashes in a suburb of Kano, Nigeria shortly after takeoff killing more than 148 people.
• 2003 - The Outbreak of 2003 begins. Ninety-four tornadoes begin the week-long outbreak.
• 2004 - O espanhol Rodrigo Rato é confirmado como o novo diretor-geral do Fundo Monetário Internacional.
• 2005 - David Hackworth dies (b. 1930). U.S. Army officer and military journalist.
• 2006 - À 1 hora 2 minutos 3 segundos de hoje tem a seguinte sequencia 01:02:03 04-05-06. Só no ano 2106 se pode repetir uma sequencia semelhante.
• International - World Asthma Day .
• The Netherlands - Remembrance of the dead (1940-1945) .
• China - Youth Day (observing May Fourth Movement).