Unix Timestamp: 990316800
Sunday, May 20. 2001, 12:00:00 AM UTC

Georgia becomes the first country to recognize the 19th-century Russian military caign against the Circassians in the northwest Caucasus as a genocide. //www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=23472 (Civil Georgia), //www.trust.org/alertnet/news/georgia-lawmakers-call-circassian-killings-genocide (Reuters)

Scientists at the J. Craig Venter Institute announce the successful transplant of a synthesized genome into an existing cell, creating the world's first artificial lifeform ("Mycoplasma laboratorium"). //www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/may/20/craig-venter-synthetic-life-form ("The Guardian") //www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16163006 (Economist) //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10132762.stm (BBC) //www.ft.com/cms/s/2/3dbad5ca-6431-11df-8618-00144feab49a.html ("Financial Times")

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum of Dubai makes the largest single charitable donation in modern history, committing €7.41 billion to an educational foundation in the Middle East.

The main landing gear of an Air Canada Jazz plane flight # AC8911 collapsed while on a runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada with 37 passengers and 3 crew members who were not injured. //toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20070520/plane_landing_gear_070520/20070520/?hub=TorontoHome (CTV Toronto)

Romário scores his 1000th goal for Vasco da Gama by penalty kick against Sport Recife. He is only the second player in the history of professional soccer to achieve this, the first being Pelé in 1969. //esporte.uol.com.br/futebol/ultimas/2007/05/20/ult59u121134.jhtm (Uol)

A case of BSE (mad cow disease) in a single cow in Alberta is confirmed by Canadian federal and provincial officials. The animal had been destroyed and declared unfit for consumption prior to being diagnosed. The US issues a temporary ban on all Canadian beef. This is the first North American case of BSE since one in 1993 involving an animal born in Britain.

East Timor regains its independence.

Taiwanese (ROC) president Chen Shui-bian makes the Four Noes and One Without pledge to Taiwan.

Members of the Armed Islamic Group in Algeria kill 7 French Trappist monks, after talks with French government concerning the imprisonment of several GIA sympathisers break down.

The Trappist Martyrs of Atlas are executed.

Swede Göran Kropp reaches the Mount Everest summit alone without oxygen, after having bicycled there from Sweden.

Gay rights ndash "Romer v. Evans": The Supreme Court of the United States rules against a law that prevents any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of homosexuals.

The "MV Bukoba" sinks in Tanzanian waters in Lake Victoria, killing nearly 1,000 in one of Africa's worst maritime disasters.

U.S. President Bill Clinton indefinitely closes part of the street in front of the White House, Pennsylvania Avenue, to vehicular traffic in response to the Oklahoma City bombing.

After a funeral in Cluny Parish Church, Edinburgh attended by 900 people and after which 3,000 people lined the streets, John Smith is buried in a private family funeral on the island of Iona, at the sacred burial ground of Reilig Odhráin, which contains the graves of several Scottish kings as well as monarchs of Ireland, Norway and France.//www.scotland.org.uk/guide/Isle_of_Iona

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: The Chinese government declares martial law in Beijing.

1980 Quebec referendum: Voters in Quebec reject by a vote of 60% a proposal to seek independence from Canada.

Mavis Hutchinson, 53, becomes the first woman to run across the U.S. her trek took 69 days.

United States National Guard helicopters spray skin-stinging powder on anti-war protesters in California.

In Japan, police carry away socialist members of the Diet of Japan. The Diet next approves a mutual security treaty with the United States.

Fulgencio Batista's government launches a counteroffensive against Castro's rebels.

Chiang Kai-shek is reelected president of the Republic of China by the National Assembly.

The British House of Commons decides to nationalize mines.

The first African-American seamen are taken into the United States Navy.

WWII: The Battle of Crete begins as Germany launches an airborne invasion of Crete.

Pan-American Airways begins trans-Atlantic mail service with the inaugural flight of its Yankee Clipper from Port Washington, New York.

Czechoslovakia orders a partial mobilization of its armed forces along the German border.

May 21 ndash Charles Lindbergh makes the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight, from New York City to Paris in his single-seat, single-engine monoplane, the Spirit of St. Louis.

Saudi Arabia becomes independent of the United Kingdom by the Treaty of Jedda.

The United States Congress passes the Air Commerce Act, licensing pilots and planes.

Mexican Revolution: Venustiano Carranza arrives in San Antonio Tlaxcalantongo. Troops of Rodolfo Herrero attack him at night and shoot him.

The small town of Codell, Kansas is hit for the third year in a row by a tornado. Coincidentally, all three tornadoes hit on May 20, 1916, 1917, and 1918 respectively.

The "Saturday Evening Post" publishes its first cover with a Norman Rockwell painting ("Boy with Baby Carriage").

The first Chelsea Flower Show held in London.

Cuba gains independence from the United States.

Thomas Alva Edison's prototype kinetoscope is first displayed at Edison's Laboratory, for a convention of the National Federation of Women's Clubs.

The first public train departs Swanage station on the newly built Swanage Railway in England.

A cyclone in the Arabian Sea causes flooding in Bombay harbor, leaving about 100,000 dead.

Battle of Embabo: The Shewan forces of Menelik defeat the Gojjame army.

The Triple Alliance is formed between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.

June ndash The record-setting clipper "Flying Cloud" is burned for scrap metal.

The Metre Convention is signed in Paris.

Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets. The price is $13.50 per dozen.

American Civil War ndash Battle of Ware Bottom Church: In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred Caign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory.

May 20 Death of John Clare Northton peasant poet 1793 - 1864

Australian Bushranger Ben Hall and his gang escape from a shootout with police after attempting to rob the Bang Bang Hotel in Koorawatha, New South Wales.

President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law.

American Civil War: Kentucky proclaims its neutrality which lasts until September 3, when Confederate forces enter the state. North Carolina secedes from the Union.

David Livingstone arrives at Quelimane on the Indian Ocean having completed a 2-year transcontinental journey across Africa from Luanda.

July 9 ndash Zarafa, a giraffe presented by the Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt, Mehmet Ali Pasha, to King Charles X of France, the first to be seen in Europe for over three centuries, walks from Marseilles to Paris.

John Stuart Mill sets out on his formative boyhood trip to France.

July ndash A revolt under Guglielmo Pepe forces Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies to sign a constitution modeled on the Spanish Constitution of 1812.

May 21 ndash Battle of Bautzen: Napoleon again defeats his combined enemies.

By the Law of 20 May 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution.

The last mock Garrat Elections are held in Surrey, England.

20 June ndash A garrison of the British Army in India is imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta.ref name=Cassell's Chronology/

Seven Years\\' War ndash Battle of Minorca: The British fleet under John Byng is defeated by the French under Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière.

England passes the Act of Grace, forgiving followers of the deposed James II.

Abraham Ortelius issues the first modern atlas.

Battle of Peluna: The French defeat the Spanish.

The Treaty of Everlasting Peace between Scotland and England is signed it actually lasts for ten years.

Feast of the Ascension) ndash Ascension Island is first definitely sighted, by Portuguese admiral Afonso de Albuquerque.

James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor are married by Pope Alexander VI according to Papal Bull.

Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama arrives at Calicut (now Kozhikode), India, becoming the first European to get there by sailing around Africa, thus discovering the maritime route to India. He finds a local Arab merchant who is able to interpret for him.

John Cabot sets sail from Bristol on his ship the "Matthew", looking for a route to the west (some sources give a May 2 date).ref name=Cassell's Chronology/

Tensions between King Afonso V and Peter, Duke of Coimbra erupt at the Battle of Alfarrobeira. Defeat of the Duke's forces.

The city of Piteşti, now in Romania, is first mentioned.

Cola di Rienzo, a Roman commoner, declares himself Emperor of Rome in response to years of baronic power-struggles.

King Sancho IV of Castile creates the "Studium General", forerunner to the modern Complutense University of Madrid.

First Barons\\' War in England: Occupying French forces are defeated at the Battle of Lincoln by English royal troops led by William Marshal, Earl of Pembrokeref name=CBH and survivors forced to flee south.

An earthquake occurs in Syria.

July ndash John of England rescues his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, from near capture by the rebellious forces of Arthur I, Duke of Brittany."King John" by Warren. Published by University of California Press in 1961. p. 77-78

Genghis Khan crushes the Tartars.

Battle of Dun Nechtain: Picts defeat Northumbrians.

Plague kills almost all the monks in a Northumbrian monastery, aside from the abbot and one small boy – future scholar Bede.

The UmayyadcaliphMarwan I (684–685) is succeeded by Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (685–705).

Wu Zetian gives two giant pandas to Japan.

In Japan, the styles of official ranks are reformed so that there are in all 48 grades.

Anastasius I marries Ariadne shortly after his accession. His reign is disturbed by religious distractions and a civil war started by Longinus, brother of late emperor Zeno.

Aelle of Sussex besieges and conquers the fortified town Anderitum in southern Britain. He massacres the population, apparently sub-RomanBrythons (this according to the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle").

Anti-Isaurian riots break out in the Hippodrome at Constantinople. Longinus and several other Isaurians, including general Longinus of Cardala are exiled to Thebaid (Egypt).

First Council of Nicaea: Constantine I summons an ecumenical council of bishops in Nicaea (Turkey). The Nicene Creed declares that the members of the Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) are equal. The council decided that Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Arius is exiled to Illyria, his works are confiscated and consigned to the flames.

The Church of the Nativity is built in Bethlehem.