11 May in history
6 events that happened on 11 May, from 868 to 1998.
✦ Anniversary of the day
868 CE 1,158 years ago
Diamond Sutra is printed in Tang China
A block-printed copy of the Diamond Sutra was made on this date, according to its colophon. Found in a cave at Dunhuang, it is the oldest dated printed book known.
1502 CE 524 years ago
Columbus sails from Cádiz on his fourth voyage
Christopher Columbus set out on his last voyage, exploring the coast of Central America from Honduras to Panama. Shipwrecked on Jamaica for a year, he returned to Spain in 1504.
1745 CE 281 years ago
Marshal Saxe defeats the allied army at Fontenoy
French forces under Maurice de Saxe beat British, Dutch and Hanoverian troops led by the Duke of Cumberland. The victory opened the way to the French conquest of the Austrian Netherlands.
1812 CE 214 years ago
Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is shot in the Commons lobby
John Bellingham, a merchant with a grievance against the government, shot Perceval dead. He remains the only British prime minister to be assassinated.
1857 CE 169 years ago
Mutinous sepoys from Meerut seize Delhi
Rebel soldiers rode into Delhi and proclaimed the aged Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah II their leader. The Indian Rebellion that spread from here led to the end of East India Company rule in 1858.
