Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/May 21
May 21: Victoria Day in Canada (2007); Navy Day in Chile.
- 1674 - John III Sobieski, elected by the szlachta, became the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
- 1879 - War of the Pacific: Two Peruvian ironclads led by Miguel Grau Seminario attempted to lift the blockade of Iquique by Chilean battleships under Arturo Prat in the Battle of Iquique.
- 1894 - The Manchester Ship Canal was officially opened, linking the city of Manchester to the Irish Sea.
- 1927 - Aboard the Spirit of St. Louis, Charles Lindbergh completed the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight, flying from New York City to Paris.
- 1991 - Former Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a female suicide bomber of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
- 1998 - Indonesian President Suharto (pictured) resigned following the deadly Jakarta riots of May 1998, ending a 32-year reign.