The World Health Organization declared the end of COVID-19 as a global health emergency.
5 May 2041
A Sunday in history
Weekday
Sunday
Season
Spring (N. Hemisphere)
Century
21st century
Records
290
2023
2020Philippine broadcast network ABS-CBN was forced to go off-air by the National Telecommunications Commission after Congress failed to renew its franchise granted in 1995.
2007Kenya Airways Flight 507 crashed immediately after takeoff from Douala International Airport in Cameroon, resulting in the deaths of all 114 people aboard.
- 1994
American teenager Michael P. Fay was caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism, a punishment that the United States deemed to be excessive for a teenager committing a non-violent crime.
1992The Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, 202 years after it was first proposed.
- 1991
Riots broke out in Washington, D.C., after a rookie police officer shot a Salvadoran man in the chest.
- 1981
After a 66-day hunger strike, Irish republican Bobby Sands died of starvation in HM Prison Maze.
1980The British Special Air Service recaptured the Iranian embassy in London following a six-day siege after Iranian Arab separatists had seized it.
1961Project Mercury: American astronaut Alan Shepard made a sub-orbital spaceflight on board Freedom 7, becoming the second person to travel into outer space.
1960The Netherlands Carillon was inaugurated in Arlington, Virginia, on the 15th anniversary of Dutch Liberation Day.
1945World War II: American and German troops fought side-by-side at the Battle for Castle Itter, defending a prison against Waffen-SS forces.
1945World War II: The citizens of Prague spontaneously rose up against the city's German occupiers.
1945The Mauthausen and Gusen concentration camps were liberated by the United States Army.
1940World War II: A squad of 250 Norwegian volunteers defending Hegra Fortress surrendered to a superior Nazi force after a 25-day siege.
1936Second Italo-Ethiopian War: Italian troops (pictured) captured the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa unopposed.
1904Pitching for the Boston Americans, Cy Young threw the first perfect game in modern professional baseball.
1891Carnegie Hall (interior pictured) in New York City, built by the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, officially opened with a concert conducted by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
1864American Civil War: Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's Overland Campaign in Virginia began with the inconclusive Battle of the Wilderness in Spotsylvania County.
1860Led by Italian general Giuseppe Garibaldi, the volunteer Expedition of the Thousand set sail from Genoa on a campaign to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, a crucial event of the unification of Italy.
1654Cromwell's Act of Grace, which pardoned the people of Scotland for any crimes committed during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, was proclaimed in Edinburgh.
1646First English Civil War: Charles I surrendered himself to Scottish Covenanter leader David Leslie near Newark, England.
Photo archive
24 historic images from this day — tap to open the gallery.
What was life like?
Prices, jobs, food, music and everyday routine — the world as it felt to live in.
Sources & fact check
Every claim is traced to primary sources, archives, universities and the press — with an explicit confidence rating. Dossiers are generated once and cached permanently.