5th May is the 125th day of the year (126th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. 240 days remain until the end of the year. This day marks the approximate midpoint of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and of autumn in the Southern Hemisphere (starting the season at the March equinox). Find out some of the important events that occurred on this day, 5th May, in history.

 

Historical events

1260 — Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, becomes the ruler of the Mongol Empire.

1430 — Jews are expelled from Speyer, Germany.

1494 — On the second voyage to New World, explorer Christopher Columbus sights Jamaica, landing at Discovery Bay.

1646 — King Charles I of England surrenders in Scotland.

1762 — Russia and Prussia sign the Treaty of Saint Petersburg ending the seven-year-war.

1764 — Smolny Institute forms in St Petersburg for noble girls.

1809 — Mary Kies is the first woman issued a US patent for weaving straw.

1816 — American Bible Society organised in New York.

1865 — The first US train robbery happens in North Bend, Ohio.

1874 — Dutch second Chamber passes child labour law.

1881 — Anti-Jewish rioting in Kiev, Ukraine.

1893 — Panic of 1893 causes a large crash on the NY Stock Exchange.

 

5th May in the 20th Century

1900 — “The Billboard” begins weekly publication.

1912 — The fifth Olympic games open at Stockholm, Sweden.

1917 — Eugene Bullard gains his pilot’s license from Aéro-Club de France. He becomes the first African-American military pilot (French Air Service).

1920 — 28th US President Woodrow Wilson makes Communist Labor Party illegal.

1920 — Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti arrested on charges and robbery of a paymaster at a shoe factory in Massachusetts, US. The two men will be executed.

1925 — Afrikaans is established as an official language in South Africa.

1926 — Geldrop soccer team forms.

1926 — Sinclair Lewis refuses his Pulitzer Prize for “Arrowsmith”.

1927 — Composer Dmitri Shostakovich’s first Symphony premieres in Berlin.

1930 — Aviator Amy Johnson takes off. She is the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia.

 

More dates

1932 — Japan and China sign a peace treaty.

1941 — Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa.

1941 — First modern perfume Chanel No. 5 released by fashion designer Coco Chanel.

1944 — Pacifist and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi freed from prison.

1948 — The first squadron of jet aircraft aboard a carrier.

1955 — Indian parliament accepts Hindu divorce.

1955 — The US performs a nuclear test at the Nevada test site.

1956 — World championships of judo first hold in Tokyo.

1957 — Adolf Scharf elected president of Austria.

1961 — Alan Shepard becomes the first American in space (aboard Freedom 7).

1975 — Pulitzer prize awarded to Michael Shaara for historical novel “Killer Angels”.

1979 — Voyager 1 passes Jupiter.

1986 — Hall of Fame and Museum announced to be built in Cleveland.

1988 — Eugene A Marino installed as the first African American archbishop.

1989 — Heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson gets a second speeding ticket for drag racing in Albany, New York.

1992 — Country singer Tammy Wynette hospitalised with bile duct infection.

1999 — 34th Academy of Country Music Awards: Garth Brooks, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw win.

 

5th May in the 21st Century

2014 — China announces it will upgrade Ethiopia’s infrastructure in an effort to improve a China-Africa strategic partnership.

2015 — “Traveller” debut album by Chris Stapleton released. It wins the 2016 Grammy award for Best Country Album and the 2016 Billboard Album of the Year award.

2016 — Fort McMurray wildfires: Canadian province of Alberta declares a state of emergency as the evacuation of 80,000 people continues.

2017 — Queen Elizabeth makes Anna Wintour, the editor of US Vogue, a dame at the Buckingham Palace.

2018 — Former Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson suffers a brain haemorrhage and is hospitalised. He recovers.

2018 — Actor, musician and director Childish Gambino aka Donald Glover releases the music video to the new single “This is America” to wide acclaim.

2018 — Electric cigarette explodes killing a man in St. Petersburg, Florida. It is the first known death from a vaping product