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May 13 is the 133rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (134th in leap years). There are 232 days remaining.
Events
- 1497 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola.
- 1568 - Battle of Langside: the forces of Mary Queen of Scots are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother.
- 1607 - Jamestown, Virginia is settled as an English colony.
- 1619 - Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is executed in The Hague after having been accused of treason.
- 1779 - War of Bavarian Succession: Russian and French mediators at the Congress of Teschen negotiate an end to the war. In the agreement Austria receives the part of its territory that was taken from them (the Inn District).
- 1787 - Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England with eleven ships full of convicts to establish a penal colony in Australia.
- 1830 - Ecuador gains its independence.
- 1846 - Mexican-American War: The United States declares war on Mexico.
- 1848 - First performance of Finland's national anthem.
- 1861 - American Civil War: Queen Victoria of Britain issues a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Resaca - the battle begins with Union General Sherman fighting toward Atlanta.
- 1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch - In far south Texas, more than a month after Confederate General Lee's surrender, the last land battle of the civil war ends with a Union victory.
- 1880 - In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway.
- 1888 - Brazil abolishes slavery.
- 1912 - In the United Kingdom, the Royal Flying Corps (now the Royal Air Force) is established.
- 1913 - Igor Sikorsky becomes the first man to pilot a four engine aircraft.
- 1917 - Three peasant children claim to see the Blessed Virgin Mary above a holmoak tree in Cova da Iria near Fatima, Portugal.
- 1940 - World War II: Germany's conquest of France begins as the German army crosses the Meuse River. Churchill makes his "blood, tears, toil and sweat" speech to the House of Commons.
- 1940 - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands flees the Nazi invasion in the Netherlands to Britain. Princess Juliana takes her children to Canada for their safety.
- 1943 - World War II: German Afrika Korps and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to Allied forces.
- 1948 - 1948 Arab-Israeli War: The Kfar Etzion massacre was an atrocity committed by Arab armed forces on May 13, 1948, the day before the declaration of independence of the state of Israel.
- 1958 - During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard M. Nixon's car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.
- 1958 - Pierre Pflimlin becomes Prime Minister of France
- 1958 - Velcro's trade mark is registered.
- 1960 - First ascent of Dhaulagiri, World's 7th highest mountain.
- 1969 - Race riots in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, later known as the 13 May Incident.
- 1981 - Mehmet Ali Agca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II at St. Peter's Square in Rome.
- 1985 - Philadelphia's mayor orders police to storm the radical group's MOVE headquarters to end a stand-off. The police drop an explosive device into the headquarters killing 11 MOVE members and destroying the homes of 250 city residents in the resulting fire.
- 1995 - In Dublin, Ireland, Secret Garden win the fortieth Eurovision Song Contest for Norway performing "Nocturne".
- 1996 - Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kill 600 people.
- 1997 - Shadow Warrior, a first-person shooter developed by 3D Realms, is released.
- 1998 - Following India's second round of nuclear tests the United States and Japan impose economic sanctions.
- 2000 - 22 people die after an explosion in a fireworks factory in Enschede, Netherlands.
- 2000 - At Fatima, Portugal, Pope John Paul II revealed the Third Secret given by the Blessed Virgin Mary to three Portuguese peasant children in 1917 was his own attempted assassination by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca in St Peters Square, Rome, on 13 May 1981. The apparitions at Fatima had commenced on 13 May 1917.
- 2000 - In Stockholm, Sweden, the Olsen Brothers win the forty-fifth Eurovision Song Contest for Denmark singing "Fly On The Wings of Love".
Births
- 1655 - Pope Innocent XIII (d. 1724)
- 1699 - Marquis of Pombal, Portuguese prime minister (d. 1782)
- 1717 - Empress Maria Theresa of Austria (d. 1780)
- 1792 - Pope Pius IX (d. 1878)
- 1830 - Zebulon Baird Vance, three-time governor of North Carolina (d. 1894)
- 1840 - Alphonse Daudet, French novelist (d. 1897)
- 1842 - Arthur Sullivan of Gilbert and Sullivan, composer (d. 1900)
- 1882 - Georges Braque, painter (d. 1963)
- 1894 - Ásgeir Ásgeirsson, 2nd president of Iceland (d. 1972)
- 1907 - Dame Daphne du Maurier, author (d. 1989)
- 1913 - Gil Evans, jazz musician (d. 1988)
- 1914 - Joe Louis, boxer (d. 1981)
- 1923 - Bea Arthur, actress
- 1926 - Wallace Breem, author
- 1927 - Herbert Ross, director (d. 2001)
- 1931 - Jim Jones, cult leader (d. 1978)
- 1934 - Adolf Muschg, author
- 1937 - Roger Zelazny, science fiction author (d. 1995)
- 1937 - Roch Carrier, Canadian novelist and National Librarian
- 1939 - Harvey Keitel, actor
- 1940 - Bruce Chatwin, novelist (d. 1989)
- 1941 - Ritchie Valens, singer (d. 1959)
- 1941 - Senta Berger, actress
- 1944 - Armistead Maupin, author
- 1945 - Magic Dick, musician ("J. Geils Band")
- 1947 - Stephen R. Donaldson, author
- 1950 - Stevie Wonder, singer, pianist, bassist, drummer
- 1954 - Johnny Logan, Irish singer, songwriter, three-time Eurovision Song Contest winner
- 1961 - Dennis Rodman, basketball player, actor
- 1966 - Darius Rucker, Hootie & The Blowfish frontman
- 1977 - Samantha Morton, actress
- 1978 - Mike Bibby, basketball player
- 1978 - Barry Zito, baseball pitcher
- 1979 - Prince Carl Philip of Sweden
- 1981 - Sunny Leone, Penthouse Magazine's pet of the Year, 2003
Deaths
- 1619 - Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Dutch statesman (b. 1547)
- 1835 - John Nash, architect (b. 1752)
- 1884 - Cyrus McCormick, inventor (b. 1809)
- 1916 - Sholom Aleichem, author (b. 1859)
- 1930 - Fridtjof Nansen, explorer (b. 1861)
- 1945 - Tubby Hall, jazz musician (b. 1895)
- 1961 - Gary Cooper, actor (b. 1901)
- 1972 - Dan Blocker, actor
- 1975 - Bob Wills, country musician (b. 1905)
- 1988 - Chet Baker, American jazz trumpeter (b. 1929)
- 1999 - Gene Sarazen, golfer (b. 1902)
- 2001 - R.K. Narayan, Indian novelist (b. 1906)
- 2003 - John Savage, former Premier of Nova Scotia
Holidays and observances
May 12 - May 14 - April 13 - June 13 -- listing of all days
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