This is a list of selected May 20 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.
Staging area
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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Abraham Ortelius -
Abraham Ortelius's world map -
Levi Strauss -
First edition of Shakespeare's sonnets -
Luc Montagnier -
Abdulaziz, also known as Ibn Saud -
Schlosskirche Weimar, 1660 -
The Luttra Woman's skull -
Dürer's Rhinoceros
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Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| Independence Day in East Timor (2002); | lots of CN tags (12) |
| 325 – The First Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church, was formally opened in present-day Iznik, Turkey. | refimprove section |
| 1217 – First Barons' War: English forces under William Marshal defeated French troops at the Battle of Lincoln. | Too much uncited |
| 1293 – Sancho IV, King of Castile and León, established what is now the Complutense University of Madrid, today one of Spain's top public universities. | unreferenced section |
| 1498 – Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrived at Calicut, India, opening up trade with the Far East directly by sea. | appears on February 12 |
| 1570 – The "first modern atlas", Theatrum Orbis Terrarum by Abraham Ortelius, was published. | Article states an earlier work was the first modern atlas |
| 1741 – War of Jenkins' Ear: Having lost more than 9,500 men, mostly from yellow fever, British forces were forced to withdraw, ending the two-month-long Battle of Cartagena de Indias against Spain. | Date not cited in article |
| 1862 – U.S. president Abraham Lincoln signed the first Homestead Act into law, which gave the right to claim freehold title to about 160 acres (0.65 km2) of undeveloped land in the American West. | refimprove section |
| 1873 – Levi Strauss and Jacob W. Davis received a patent for using copper rivets to strengthen the pockets of denim overalls, allowing their company to start manufacturing blue jeans. | Article doesn't say it enabled them to produce blue jeans |
| 1882 – The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy was formed. | Too much uncited |
| 1902 – Cuba officially gained independence from the United States, with Tomás Estrada Palma becoming its first president. | unreferenced section |
| 1969 – Vietnam War: After ten days of battle, U.S. infantry troops captured the strategically insignificant Hill 937, only to abandon it two weeks later. | needs more footnotes |
| 1983 – A team of researchers led by French virologist Luc Montagnier published their discovery of HIV, but were not then certain that it caused AIDS. | lots of CN tags (11) |
| 1993 – "One for the Road", the series finale of American television sitcom Cheers, was watched by 42.4 million American households on its original airing. | Too much uncited |
| 2011 – Mamata Banerjee took office as the Chief Minister of West Bengal, the first woman to hold this post. | undue weight |
| National Day in Cameroon (1972); | Too much uncited in a short article |
Eligible
- 685 – The Picts defeated the Northumbrians at the Battle of Dun Nechtain, severely weakening the latter's power in northern Great Britain.
- 1515 – Ulysses, who would be famously depicted in a posthumous woodcut, landed in Lisbon, becoming the first of his species to visit Europe in a thousand years.
- 1609 – Thomas Thorpe published the first copies of Shakespeare's sonnets, possibly without William Shakespeare's consent.
- 1811 – A British squadron under Charles Marsh Schomberg defeated a French force off Tamatave, Madagascar, that was attempting to reinforce the French garrison on Mauritius.
- 1875 – Representatives from seventeen countries signed the Metre Convention, which set up an institute for the purpose of coordinating international metrology and for coordinating the development of the metric system.
- 1927 – By the Treaty of Jeddah, the United Kingdom recognised the sovereignty of King Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia (pictured) over Hejaz and Nejd, which later merged to become Saudi Arabia.
- 1943 – The Luttra Woman, a bog body from the Early Neolithic period, was discovered near Luttra, Sweden.
- 1947 – The first session of the National Diet opened in Tokyo, Japan.
- 1965 – While attempting to land at Cairo International Airport, Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705 crashed for unknown reasons, killing all but 6 of the 121 people on board.
- 1996 – In deciding Romer v. Evans, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a constitutional amendment in Colorado that prevented protected status under the law for homosexuals or bisexuals.
- 2012 – The first of two major earthquakes struck Northern Italy, resulting in seven deaths.
- 2013 – A tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, United States, killing 24 people and causing an estimated $2 billion of damage.
- Born/died: | Gero |d|965| Thado Minsaw of Ava |b|1531| John W. Beschter |b|1763| Honoré de Balzac |b|1799| Hieronymus von Colloredo |d|1812| Aleksandra Boiko |b|1918| Astrid Kirchherr |b|1938| Cher |b|1946| Yoshihiko Noda |b|1957| Pat Collins |d|1960| Šárka Kašpárková |b|1971|
Notes
May 20: National Day of Remembrance in Cambodia (1975); National Awakening Day in Indonesia (1908); Victoria Day in Canada (2024)
Schlosskirche Weimar
- 794 – According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, King Æthelberht II of East Anglia was beheaded on the orders of Offa of Mercia.
- 1714 – Johann Sebastian Bach directed the first performance of his Pentecost cantata Erschallet, ihr Lieder at the chapel of Schloss Weimar (pictured).
- 1927 – With the signing of the Treaty of Jeddah, the United Kingdom recognized the sovereignty of Ibn Saud over Hejaz and Nejd, which later merged to become Saudi Arabia.
- 1941 – World War II: German paratroopers began the Battle of Heraklion on the island of Crete, capturing the airfield and port in Heraklion ten days later.
- William Fargo (b. 1818)
- Gertrude Guillaume-Schack (d. 1903)
- Nizamuddin Asir Adrawi (d. 2021)