Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/May 31
This is a list of selected May 31 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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Johnstown flood debris -
Samuel Pepys -
Trans-Alaska Pipeline
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| 1669 – Citing poor eyesight, English naval administrator and Member of Parliament Samuel Pepys recorded his last entry in his diary, one of the most important primary sources for the English Restoration period. | need to verify date |
| 1889 – The South Fork Dam near Johnstown, Pennsylvania, US, failed, unleashing a torrent of 18.1 million cubic meters (4.8 billion gallons) of water that killed over 2,200 people. | unreferenced section, refimprove section |
| 1910 – The previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State united to form the Union of South Africa, exactly 51 years before it would become the Republic of South Africa. | no footnotes |
| 1916 – The German Kaiserliche Marine and British Royal Navy clashed in the Battle of Jutland, the largest naval battle during World War I. | intro too long |
| 1970 – The Ancash earthquake devastated various coastal towns in Peru and resulted in a massive avalanche on the north side of Nevado Huascarán, burying the town of Yungay. | refimprove |
Eligible
- 1935 – A 7.7 Mw earthquake struck Balochistan in the British Raj, now part of Pakistan, killing anywhere between 30,000 and 60,000 people.
- 1977 – The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, a major U.S. oil pipeline connecting oil fields in northern Alaska to a sea port where the oil can be shipped to the Lower 48 states for refining, was completed
May 31: World No Tobacco Day; Feast of the Visitation in Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism
- 1279 BC – According to estimates accepted by most Egyptologists today, Ramesses II became Pharaoh of Egypt.
- 1223 – Mongol invasions: Mongol forces defeated a combined army of Kiev, Galich, and the Cumans on the banks of the Kalchik River in present-day Ukraine.
- 1862 – American Civil War: Confederate forces under Joseph E. Johnston and G. W. Smith engaged Union forces under George B. McClellan at the Battle of Seven Pines outside Richmond, Virginia.
- 1981 – An organized mob of police and government-sponsored paramilitias began burning the public library in Jaffna, Sri Lanka, destroying over 97,000 items in one of the most violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the 20th century.
- 2010 – During an attempt to break the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Navy engaged in armed conflict with the crew of the MV Mavi Marmara (pictured), resulting in nine civilian deaths.