May is the fifth month of the year in our modern-day Gregorian calendar. In older versions of the ancient Roman calendar, May was the third month of the year. It became the fifth month when January and February were added to the calendar.
According to Gregory calendar, the day number 365 in a year and if it is a leap year then the day number is 366. May 15 has its own special significance in India and world history.
There are 31 days in May and it does not start or end on the same day of the week as any other month.
May’s birth flower is the Lily of the Valley and the Crataegus monogyna.
Here you will find some important events that happened today in Indian and world History on May 15. Read on to know more about this day.
List of Important Historical events of 15 May:
- 1610: The Parliament of Paris appointed Louis XIII as King of France.
- 1701: Spanish War begins for succession.
- 1718: James Pakley, a London lawyer, built the world’s first machine gun.
- 1730: Robert Walpole is effectively made Britain’s first Prime Minister.
- 1788: Australian border wars begin.
- 1811: Paraguay declares independence from Spain.
- 1829: Patent applied for an instrument called Estrian by Damien Cyril.
- 1851: The first Australian Gold Rush was announced, although the discovery was made three months earlier.
- 1858: The Royal Italian Opera Covent Garden opened in London.
- 1878: Tokyo Stock Exchange was established.
- 1891: Phillips & Company established in Holland.
- 1918: First air mail service launched in America.
- 1925: First Arabic Communist Newspaper launched.
- 1930: Alan Church, the world’s first female airhostess, flew in the Auckland-Chicago flight.
- 1939: The romantic drama Goodbye made by Mr Chips premiered in the UK.
- 1940: Two brothers named Mac and Dick Macdonald start Macdonald’s Restaurant in San Bernardino, California.
- 1948: Australia set a world record of scoring 721 runs in a single day in a cricket match against Essex.
- 1985: John Anthony Walker Jr.is arrested by the FBI for passing classified naval communications to the Soviet Union.
- 1993: The United Nations decides to celebrate May 15 as International Family Day.
- 2004: Arsenal Football Club became the first team in the English Premier League to become champions without losing a single match.
- 2008: Manjula Sood of Indian origin became the first Asian woman to become mayor in Britain.