Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/May 20 - Wikipedia
Article Images
This is a list of selected May 20 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
May 20: National Day in Cameroon (1972); Independence Day in East Timor (2002); Day of Remembrance in Cambodia; National Awakening Day in Indonesia (1908); Yom Yerushalayim in Israel (2012)
- 1217 – In the last land battle of the First Barons' War, William the Marshal drove Prince Louis of France out of England.
- 1609 – Thomas Thorpe published the first copies of Shakespeare's sonnets, possibly without William Shakespeare's consent.
- 1862 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law, which gave the right to claim freehold title to about 160 acres (0.65 km2) of undeveloped land in the American West.
- 1873 – Clothing manufacturer Levi Strauss (pictured) and tailor Jacob Davis were granted a patent for using copper rivets to strengthen the pockets of denim overalls, allowing their company to start manufacturing their first line of blue jeans.
- 1983 – A team of researchers led by French virologist Luc Montagnier published their discovery of HIV, although they did not know yet if it caused AIDS.
- 2002 – East Timor gained independence from Indonesia, becoming the first new sovereign state of the 21st century.