1626
Peter Minuit landed in Manhattan, which he later bought for $24 worth of cloth and brass buttons.
1886
The Haymarket Square riot broke out as a result of a labor demonstration.
1932
Public Enemy Number One, Al Capone, was jailed for tax evasion.
1959
The first Grammy Awards were held.
1961
Civil rights activists, called "freedom riders," left Washington, DC for New Orleans.
1970
Four Kent State University students were shot down by National Guard members during an anti-Vietnam War demonstration.
Source:This day in history/May-4
1998
The Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, was sentenced to four life terms plus 30 years for his series of bombings that killed three and injured 23.
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Las Vegas (AFP) - Floyd Mayweather danced his way to a unanimous decision over frustrated Manny Pacquiao to win the richest fight in history and cement his place in the pantheon of boxing greats.

Boos rang out from a pro-Pacquiao Las Vegas crowd as Mayweather's emphatic victory was confirmed by all three scorecards after 12 rounds of cat and mouse action.
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1937
Margaret Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for Gone With the Wind.
1948
The Shelley v. Kraemer Supreme Court decision stated that it is unconstitutional for a court to enforce a restrictive covenant which prevents people of a certain race from owning or occupying property.
1979
Margaret Thatcher became the first woman elected prime minister of England.
1986
At the age of 54, legendary horse jockey Bill Shoemaker became the oldest person to win the Kentucky Derby, riding Ferdinand to victory.
1999
Kansas and Oklahoma were hit by an outbreak of more than 55 tornadoes, including one measured at F5 on the Fujita scale.
2001
The United States, a member of the UN Human Rights Commission since its inception, lost its seat. It would be restored the following year.
2003
New Hampshire’s symbol, the granite Old Man of the Mountain, collapsed in the state’s Franconia Mountains.
Source:This day in history/May-3
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1885

Good Housekeeping magazine went on sale for the first time.

1939

Lou Gehrig established a new major-league baseball record when he played his 2,130th consecutive game. It would take another 57 years before Cal Ripken, Jr., broke it.

1945

The Soviet Union announced the fall of Berlin.

1955

Tennessee Williams won the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

1969

The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth II departed on her maiden voyage to New York.

1994

Nelson Mandela was victorious in South Africa’s first multiracial election.

1997

The Labour Party’s Tony Blair became Prime Minister of Britain, ending 18 years of conservative rule. At 44, he was the youngest prime minister in 185 years.

2011

U.S. troops and CIA operatives shot and killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

2012

A pastel version of The Scream, by painter Edvard Munch, sold for $120 million in a New York City auction. The transaction set a new world record for an auctioned piece of art.
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People Dancing Around A Maypole

(Photo : Oli Scarff | Getty Images)
Most people know that May brings with it two of the biggest holidays of spring: Mother's Day and Memorial Day. However, if you're looking for a celebration in May, you don't have to wait very long after the month begins because May 1 is a holiday too.
May 1 is also known as May Day. And no, it's not a day about that word you yell when you have an emergency. That would kind of be a weird thing to celebrate, don't you think?
It's OK if you don't know what May Day is all about. Lots of people don't. The fact that there isn't just one holiday but two on this day doesn't make it any easier to understand it either.
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On April 29, 1770, the British HM Bark Endeavor became the first European vessel to reach the east coast of Australia after it landed at Botany Bay near modern day Sydney. At the helm was James Cook, a taciturn mariner who would go on to circumnavigate the globe twice and explore everything from the Bering Strait and the islands of the South Pacific to the treacherous ice floes surrounding Antarctica. Cook’s three voyages of discovery helped fill in many of the blank spots on Europeans’ world maps, but his mistreatment of natives in Hawaii eventually led to an untimely death. Two hundred forty-five years after he landed in Australia, learn 10 surprising facts about the explorer who vowed to sail “as far as I think it possible for man to go.”
james cook
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1707

The Act of Union joined England and Scotland to form Great Britain.

1931

The Empire State Building opened in New York City. At 102 stories, it would be the world's tallest building for the next 41 years. Click to see the current tallest.

1941

Orson Welles's Citizen Kane, considered by many the greatest film ever made, premiered in New York.

1948

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) was established with Kim Il Sung as president.

1960

The Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 reconnaissance plane over Soviet territory.

1967

Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu. (They divorced in 1973.)

1991

44-year-old Texas fireballer Nolan Ryan hurled his seventh and final no-hitter in a 3-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. That same day, Oakland's Rickey Henderson broke Lou Brock’s stolen base record.

2003

President Bush made a speech aboard an aircraft carrier proclaiming “major combat operations in Iraq have ended.”

2009

For the first time in 341 years, a woman is appointed as poet laureate of the United Kingdom. Carol Ann Duffy, 53, will take over the post from current poet laureate Andrew Motion.
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