This Day in History
Today: May 5, 2026
553
The Second Council of Constantinople begins.[1]
1215
Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England — part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta.
1260
Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire.[2]
1494
On his second voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus sights Jamaica, landing at Discovery Bay and declares Jamaica the property of the Spanish crown.[3]
1609
Daimyō (Lord) Shimazu Tadatsune of the Satsuma Domain in southern Kyūshū, Japan, completes his successful invasion of the Ryūkyū Kingdom in Okinawa.[4]
1640
King Charles I of England dissolves the Short Parliament.[5]
1654
Cromwell's Act of Grace, aimed at reconciliation with the Scots, proclaimed in Edinburgh.
1762
Russia and Prussia sign the Treaty of St. Petersburg.
1789
In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time since 1614.
1809
Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S. patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.
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