May 6 – Some important events on this day
1527 👉🏼 Spanish & German Imperial troops sack Rome, ending Renaissance
1541 👉🏼 King Henry VIII orders a bible in English be placed in every church in England
1626 👉🏼 Dutch colonist Peter Minuit organizes the purchase of Manhattan Island from Native Americans for 60 guilders worth of goods, believed to have been Canarsee Indians of the Lenape.
1733 👉🏼 1st international boxing match: Bob Whittaker beats Tito di Carni
1840 👉🏼 World’s first adhesive postage stamp, the “Penny Black”, issued on May 1, is first used in Great Britain.
1860 👉🏼 Giuseppe Garibaldi’s Mille sets sail from Genoa to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
1889 👉🏼 Exposition Universelle (World’s Fair) in Paris opens with the recently completed Eiffel Tower serving as the entrance arch 🇫🇷
1896 👉🏼 Samuel Pierpont Langley flies his unpiloted Number 5 aircraft using a catapult launch from a boat on the Potomac River, USA. The aircraft travels almost 3/4 of a mile, ten times further than any previous heavier-than-air flying machine.
1910 👉🏼 George V becomes King of the United Kingdom upon the death of his father, Edward VII.
Standing, from left to right: King Haakon VII of Norway, Tsar Ferdinand of the Bulgarians, King Manuel II of Portugal and the Algarves, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and King of Prussia, King George I of the Hellenes and King Albert I of the Belgians. Seated, from left to right: King Alfonso XIII of Spain, King George V of the United Kingdom and King Frederick VIII of Denmark.
Edward VII died on this day after a short reign of nine years. His funeral was notable for the enormous assemblage of foreign royalty. In a mere four years, the picture would be antiquated for another reason: it would be the last great gathering of royals before the outbreak of World War I, where many of the nations represented would be at war with each other.
1937 👉🏼 German airship Hindenburg explodes in flames at Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 35 of the 97 on board and 1 on the ground
1941 👉🏼 Joseph Stalin becomes Premier of the Soviet Union, replacing his foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov 🇷🇺
1954 👉🏼 Roger Bannister of the UK becomes the 1st person to run a 4 minute mile, recording 3:59:4 at Iffley Road, Oxford
1970 👉🏼 Yuchiro Miura of Japan skis down Mt Everest 🏔
1994 👉🏼 The Channel Tunnel, linking England and France, was officially opened. ✔️ READ THE ARTICLE!
2001 👉🏼 During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to enter a mosque