20 May in history

8 events that happened on 20 May, from 325 to 1940.

  1. ✦ Anniversary of the day

    325 CE 1,701 years ago

    Council of Nicaea opens under Constantine

    Bishops from across the empire gathered at Nicaea in the first ecumenical council of the Church. It condemned Arianism and produced the first version of the Nicene Creed.

  2. 1498 CE 528 years ago

    Vasco da Gama reaches Calicut in India

    Da Gama's fleet arrived on India's Malabar coast after sailing around Africa. The sea route he opened allowed Portugal to bypass the overland spice trade and build an Asian empire.

    Portuguese EmpireVasco da GamaCalicut

  3. 1570 CE 456 years ago

    Ortelius publishes the first modern atlas

    Abraham Ortelius issued the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum in Antwerp, a bound collection of uniform maps covering the known world. It became a bestseller and went through many editions.

    Antwerp

  4. 1802 CE 224 years ago

    Napoleon restores slavery in French colonies

    A law of the Consulate maintained slavery where it had not been abolished and paved the way for its return elsewhere, reversing the Revolution's abolition of 1794. Resistance helped drive Haiti to independence.

    NapoleonHaiti

  5. 1873 CE 153 years ago

    Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis patent riveted denim trousers

    The patent for copper rivets at the stress points of work trousers marked the birth of blue jeans. Made for labourers in the American West, they became a global garment.

  6. 1927 CE 99 years ago

    Charles Lindbergh takes off for Paris

    Lindbergh left Roosevelt Field, New York, in the Spirit of St Louis. He landed at Le Bourget 33.5 hours later, completing the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight.

    New YorkParis

  7. 1932 CE 94 years ago

    Amelia Earhart sets off on her solo Atlantic flight

    Earhart took off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, and landed in a field near Derry the next day. She became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.

    Newfoundland

  8. 1940 CE 86 years ago

    First prisoners are brought to Auschwitz

    Thirty German criminal prisoners arrived from Sachsenhausen to act as camp functionaries. Auschwitz grew into the largest Nazi death camp, where about 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, were murdered.

May

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31

All days of the year →