Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/May 22
This is a list of selected May 22 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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King Henry VI of England (also appears on March 4) -
Archduke Charles at the Battle of Aspern-Essling (requires undeletion) -
Archduke Charles -
Great Chilean Earthquake -
Lyndon B. Johnson -
Lassen Peak eruption of May 22, 1915 -
National emblem of Sri Lanka -
HMS Beagle
Ineligible
| World Biodiversity Day | stub |
| 1809 – War of the Fifth Coalition: Austrian forces under Archduke Charles prevented Napoleon I and his French troops from crossing the Danube near Vienna at the Battle of Aspern-Essling. | refimprove |
| 1844 – Persian Prophet the Báb founded Bábism. | featured on May 23, date of his declaration |
| 1863 – American Civil War: Union forces began to lay siege to the Confederate-controlled town of Port Hudson, Louisiana. | refimprove |
| 1964 – During a speech at the University of Michigan, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson presented the goals of his Great Society domestic social reforms to eliminate poverty and racial injustice. | unreferenced section |
Eligible
- 853 – Byzantine–Arab Wars: The Byzantine navy sacked and plundered the port city of Damietta on the Nile Delta, whose garrison was absent at the time.
- 1455 – Forces led by Richard, Duke of York, and Richard, Earl of Warwick, captured Lancastrian King Henry VI of England, beginning the Wars of the Roses with a Yorkist victory in the First Battle of St Albans.
- 1816 – A riot broke out in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, England, over high unemployment and rising grain costs, spreading to Ely the next day.
- 1826 – HMS Beagle departed on her first voyage from Plymouth for a hydrographic survey of the Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego regions of South America.
- 1856 – U.S. Congressman Preston Brooks attacked Senator Charles Sumner with a cane for a speech Sumner had made attacking Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas.
- 1915 – Lassen Peak, in the Shasta Cascade region of Northern California, violently erupted, the only volcanic eruption in the contiguous U.S. in the 20th century until Mount St. Helens in 1980.
- 1915 – Five trains were involved in a crash near Gretna Green, Scotland, killing 227 people and injuring 246 others.
- 1942 – United Steelworkers, the largest industrial labor union in the United States, was formed.
- 1945 – The United States Army formed a plan to evacuate German scientists and engineers to help in the development of rocket technology.
- 1960 – A magnitude 9.5 earthquake devastated Valdivia, Chile, and generated destructive tsunamis that reached Hawaii the following day.
- 1972 – Ceylon changed its name to Sri Lanka, adopted a new constitution, and officially became a republic.
- 1980 – Pac-Man, an arcade game that became an icon of 1980s popular culture, made its debut in Japan.
- 1987 – During Hindu–Muslim rioting in Meerut, India, 19 members of the Provincial Armed Constabulary allegedly massacred 42 Muslims and dumped their bodies in water canals.
- 1990 – The Yemen Arab Republic and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen merged to become the Republic of Yemen.
- 2002 – Washington, D.C., police announced that the skeletal remains of missing Federal Bureau of Prisons intern Chandra Levy were found in Rock Creek Park.
- 2003 – Swedish golfer Annika Sörenstam became the first woman to play in a PGA Tour event in 58 years.
- 2012 – Tokyo Skytree, the tallest tower in the world at a height of 634 m (2,080 ft), opened to the public.
Notes
- 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens is listed on May 18, so avoid having Lassen Peak on during the same year for variety's sake.
May 22: Unity Day in Yemen (1990)
- 1629 – Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, and Danish King Christian IV signed the Treaty of Lübeck to end Danish intervention in the Thirty Years' War.
- 1849 – Abraham Lincoln was issued a patent for an invention to lift boats over obstacles in a river, making him the only U.S. President to ever hold a patent.
- 1897 – The first Blackwall Tunnel (construction pictured) under the River Thames was opened to improve commerce and trade in the East End of London.
- 1958 – Ethnic rioting broke out in Ceylon, targeted mostly at the minority Sri Lankan Tamils, resulting in up to 300 deaths over the next five days.
- 2010 – Upon landing in Mangalore, Air India Express Flight 812 overshot the runway and fell over a cliff, killing 158 of the 166 people on board in the crash and ensuing fire.