What happened on May 31? There are more than 271 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

Interesting Facts & Myths About May 31

May 31 In HistoryMay 31 is the 152nd day of the year 2024. There are 214 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Friday. This day falls under the 22nd week of the year 2024.

On this day in Middlefield, Ohio 44062 sunrise will occur at 05:51 AM and sunset will occur at 08:52 PM (local time).

The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Gemini. The modern birthstone for this month is Emerald while the mystical birthstone is Sapphire.

According to the Chinese calendar, there are 243 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).

Birthday curiousity Is your birthday coming up in two days? Are you not curious to find out who is sharing your special day? Discover all the March 31 famous birthdays. There are fun facts about that day that you must know. (Sponsored link)

Historical Events For May 31

  • 1279 BC
    Rameses II (The Great) (19th dynasty) becomes pharaoh of Ancient Egypt.
  • 526
    A devastating earthquake strikes Antioch, Turkey, killing 250,000.
  • 1223
    Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River – Mongol armies of Genghis Khan led by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus and Cumans.
  • 1578
    King Henry III lays the first stone of the Pont Neuf (New Bridge), the oldest bridge of Paris.
  • 1578
    Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich, England to Frobisher Bay, Canada, eventually to mine fool’s gold, used to pave streets in London.
  • 1669
    Citing poor eyesight, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary.
  • 1678
    The Godiva procession through Coventry begins.
  • 1775
    American Revolution: The Mecklenburg Resolutions are allegedly adopted in the Province of North Carolina.
  • 1790
    Alferez Manuel Quimper explores the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
  • 1790
    French Revolution: the Revolutionary Tribunal is suppressed.
  • 1790
    The United States enacts its first copyright statute, the Copyright Act of 1790.
  • 1805
    French and Spanish forces begin the assault against British forces occupying Diamond Rock
  • 1813
    In Australia, Lawson, Blaxland and Wentworth, reached Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route across the Blue Mountains.
  • 1854
    The civil death procedure is abolished in France.
  • 1859
    The clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, which houses Big Ben, starts keeping time.
  • 1862
    American Civil War Peninsula Campaign: Battle of Seven Pines or (Battle of Fair Oaks) – Confederate forces under Joseph E. Johnston & G. W. Smith engage Union forces under George B. McClellan outside Richmond, Virginia.
  • 1864
    American Civil War Overland Campaign: Battle of Cold Harbor – The Army of Northern Virginia under Robert E. Lee engages the Army of the Potomac under Ulysses S. Grant & George G. Meade.
  • 1866
    In the Fenian Invasion of Canada, John O'Neill leads 850 Fenian raiders across the Niagara River at Buffalo, New York/Fort Erie, Ontario, as part of an effort to free Ireland from the United Kingdom. Canadian militia and British regulars repulse the invaders in over the next three days, at a cost of 9 dead and 38 wounded to the Fenian’s 19 dead and about 17 wounded.
  • 1884
    Arrival at Plymouth of Tawhiao, King of Maoris, to claim protection of Queen Victoria
  • 1889
    Johnstown Flood: Over 2,200 people die after a dam break sends a 60-foot (18-meter) wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
  • 1902
    Second Boer War: The Treaty of Vereeniging ends the war and ensures British control of South Africa.
  • 1909
    The National Negro Committee, forerunner to the NAACP, convenes for the first time.
  • 1910
    Creation of the Union of South Africa.
  • 1911
    President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz flees the country during the Mexican Revolution.
  • 1911
    The hull of the ocean liner RMS Titanic is launched.
  • 1916
    World War I: Battle of Jutland – The British Grand Fleet under the command of Sir John Jellicoe & Sir David Beatty engage the Kaiserliche Marine under the command of Reinhard Scheer & Franz von Hipper in the largest naval battle of the war, which proves indecisive.
  • 1921
    Tulsa Race Riot: A civil unrest in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States, the official death toll is 39, but recent investigations suggest the actual toll may be much higher.
  • 1924
    The Soviet Union signs an agreement with the Peking government, referring to Outer Mongolia as an “integral part of the Republic of China”, whose “sovereignty” therein the Soviet Union promises to respect.
  • 1927
    The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line after a production run of 15,007,003 vehicles.
  • 1929
    The first talking cartoon of Mickey Mouse, “The Karnival Kid”, is released.
  • 1935
    A 7.7 Mw earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan: 40,000 dead.
  • 1941
    A Luftwaffe air raid in Dublin, Ireland, claims 38 lives.
  • 1941
    Anglo-Iraqi War: The United Kingdom completes the re-occupation of Iraq and returns 'Abd al-Ilah to power as regent for Faisal II.
  • 1942
    World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines begin a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia.
  • 1961
    In Moscow City Court, the Rokotov–Faibishenko show trial begins, despite the Khrushchev Thaw to reverse Stalinist elements in Soviet society.
  • 1961
    The Union of South Africa becomes the Republic of South Africa.
  • 1962
    Adolf Eichmann is hanged in Israel.
  • 1962
    The West Indies Federation dissolves.
  • 1970
    The Ancash earthquake causes a landslide that buries the town of Yungay, Peru; more than 47,000 people are killed.
  • 1971
    In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30.
  • 1973
    The United States Senate votes to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets within Cambodia, hastening the end of the Cambodian Civil War.
  • 1977
    The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System completed.
  • 1981
    Burning of Jaffna library, Sri Lanka, It is one of the violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the twentieth century.
  • 1985
    1985 United States-Canadian tornado outbreak: Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead.
  • 1991
    Bicesse Accords in Angola lay out a transition to multi-party democracy under the supervision of the United Nations’ UNAVEM II mission.
  • 2005
    Vanity Fair reveals that Mark Felt was Deep Throat.
  • 2009
    Anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder shoots and kills physician George Tiller during church services in Wichita, Kansas.
  • 2010
    In international waters, armed Shayetet 13 commandos, intending to force the flotilla to anchor at the Ashdod port, boarded ships trying to break the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip, resulting in 9 civilian deaths when teams of IHH activists on the MV Mavi Marmara attacked them with knives and metal rods and abducted one of the soldiers.

Who Were Born On May 31?

  • 1162
    Genghis Khan, Khagan of the Mongol Empire (d. 1227)
  • 1443
    Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII of England (d. 1509)
  • 1469
    Manuel I of Portugal (d. 1521)
  • 1535
    Alessandro Allori, Italian painter (d. 1607)
  • 1557
    Feodor I of Russia (d. 1598)
  • 1613
    John George II, Elector of Saxony (d. 1680)
  • 1640
    Michael of Poland (d. 1673)
  • 1641
    Dositheos, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem (d. 1707)
  • 1656
    Marin Marais, French composer (d. 1728)
  • 1732
    Count Hieronymus von Colloredo, Austrian Roman Catholic Archbishop (d. 1812)
  • 1753
    Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud, French statesman (d. 1793)
  • 1754
    Andrea Appiani, Italian painter (d. 1817)
  • 1773
    Ludwig Tieck, German writer (d. 1853)
  • 1801
    Johann Georg Baiter, Swiss philologist (d. 1887)
  • 1818
    John Albion Andrew, American politician (d. 1867)
  • 1819
    Walt Whitman, American poet (d. 1892)
  • 1835
    Hijikata Toshizō, Japanese military leader (d. 1869)
  • 1838
    Henry Sidgwick, English philosopher (d. 1900)
  • 1852
    Francisco Moreno, Argentine explorer (d. 1919)
  • 1857
    Pope Pius XI (d. 1939)
  • 1860
    Walter Sickert, English painter (d. 1942)
  • 1863
    Francis Younghusband, British explorer (d. 1942)
  • 1872
    W. Heath Robinson, English cartoonist (d. 1944)
  • 1879
    Frances Alda, New Zealand-Australian operatic soprano (d. 1952)
  • 1882
    Sándor Graf Festetics, Hungarian politician (d. 1956)
  • 1883
    Lauri Kristian Relander, Finnish politician (d. 1942)
  • 1885
    Alois Hudal, Austrian Roman Catholic bishop (d. 1963)
  • 1887
    Saint-John Perse, French diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
  • 1892
    Erich Neumann, German Nazi politician (d. 1951)
  • 1892
    Gregor Strasser, German Nazi politician (d. 1934)
  • 1892
    Konstantin Paustovsky, Russian writer (d. 1968)
  • 1892
    Michel Kikoine, Belarusian painter (d. 1968)
  • 1894
    Fred Allen, American comedian (d. 1956)
  • 1898
    Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, American clergyman (d. 1993)
  • 1901
    Alfredo Antonini, American conductor and composer (d. 1983)
  • 1902
    Billy Mayerl, English pianist and composer (d. 1959)
  • 1905
    Florence Desmond, English actress and comedian (d. 1993)
  • 1908
    Don Ameche, American actor (d. 1993)
  • 1908
    Nils Poppe, Swedish actor (d. 2000)
  • 1909
    Aurore Gagnon, French Canadian child abuse victim (d. 1920)
  • 1911
    Maurice Allais, French economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2010)
  • 1912
    Alfred Deller, English countertenor (d. 1979)
  • 1914
    Akira Ifukube, Japanese composer (d. 2006)
  • 1916
    Bert Haanstra, Dutch filmmaker (d. 1997)
  • 1919
    Robie Macauley, American novelist and literary critic (d. 1995)
  • 1921
    Alida Valli, Italian actress (d. 2006)
  • 1921
    Howard Reig, American radio and television announcer (d. 2008)
  • 1922
    Denholm Elliott, English actor (d. 1992)
  • 1923
    Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (d. 2005)
  • 1930
    Clint Eastwood, American film director and actor
  • 1931
    John Robert Schrieffer, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1931
    Shirley Verrett, American soprano (d. 2010)
  • 1932
    Ed Lincoln, Brazilian musician and album producer
  • 1932
    Jay Miner, American microchip designer (d. 1994)
  • 1933
    Henry B. Eyring, American religious figure; son of Henry Eyring
  • 1934
    Jim Hutton, American actor d. 1979
  • 1935
    Jim Bolger, 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand
  • 1938
    John Prescott, English politician
  • 1938
    Johnny Paycheck, American singer (d. 2003)
  • 1938
    Peter Yarrow, American folk singer (Peter, Paul and Mary)
  • 1939
    Terry Waite, British humanitarian
  • 1940
    Gilbert Shelton, American underground comics illustrator
  • 1941
    Louis J. Ignarro, American pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1943
    Joe Namath, American football player
  • 1943
    Sharon Gless, American actress
  • 1945
    Bernard Goldberg‎, American journalist
  • 1945
    Laurent Gbagbo, Fourth President of Côte d'Ivoire
  • 1945
    Rainer Werner Fassbinder, German film director (d. 1982)
  • 1946
    Steve Bucknor, West Indian Cricket Umpire
  • 1946
    Ted Baehr, American media critic
  • 1947
    Junior Campbell, British musician and songwriter (The Marmalade)
  • 1948
    Duncan Hunter, American politician
  • 1948
    John Bonham, British musician (Led Zeppelin) (d. 1980)
  • 1948
    Lynda Bellingham, Canadian-born English actress and broadcaster
  • 1949
    Nancy Shade, American opera singer
  • 1949
    Tom Berenger, American actor
  • 1950
    Gregory Harrison, American actor
  • 1952
    Karl Bartos, German musician (Kraftwerk, Electronic)
  • 1953
    Pirkka-Pekka Petelius, Finnish actor
  • 1954
    Thomas Mavros, Greek footballer
  • 1954
    Vicki Sue Robinson, American singer (d. 2000)
  • 1955
    Susie Essman, American actress
  • 1955
    Tommy Emmanuel, Australian Guitarist CGP
  • 1956
    Fritz Hilpert, German musician and sound engineer (Kraftwerk)
  • 1957
    Jim Craig, American hockey player
  • 1959
    Andrea de Cesaris, Italian racing driver
  • 1960
    Chris Elliott, American comedian
  • 1960
    Greg Adams, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1960
    Peter Winterbottom, English Rugby player
  • 1961
    Justin Madden, Australian politician and footballer
  • 1961
    Lea Thompson, American actress
  • 1961
    Ray Cote, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1962
    Corey Hart, Canadian musician
  • 1962
    Sebastian Koch, German actor
  • 1963
    Hugh Dillon, Canadian musician and actor
  • 1963
    Viktor Orbán, Hungarian politician
  • 1963
    Wesley Willis, American musician (d. 2003)
  • 1964
    Darryl McDaniels, American musician (Run-D.M.C.)
  • 1964
    Leonard Asper, Canadian businessman
  • 1964
    Scotti Hill, American rock guitarist
  • 1965
    Brooke Shields, American actress and supermodel
  • 1965
    Giorgos Gasparis, Greek basketball player
  • 1966
    Jeremy Hotz, Canadian stand-up comedian
  • 1966
    Nick Scotti, American actor and singer
  • 1967
    Kenny Lofton, American baseball player
  • 1967
    Phil Keoghan, New Zealand television personality
  • 1967
    Sandrine Bonnaire, French actress
  • 1967
    Vampiro, Canadian professional wrestler
  • 1968
    John Connolly, Irish author
  • 1969
    Mindi Abair, American smooth jazz saxophonist
  • 1971
    Diana Damrau, German soprano
  • 1972
    Antti Niemi, Finnish footballer
  • 1972
    Archie Panjabi, English actress
  • 1972
    Dave Roberts, American baseball player
  • 1972
    Frode Estil, Norwegian cross-country skier
  • 1972
    Karl Geary, Irish actor
  • 1972
    Sarah Murdoch, Australian model
  • 1973
    Dominique Van Roost, Belgian tennis player
  • 1974
    Adrian Tomine, American cartoonist
  • 1974
    Chad Campbell, American golfer
  • 1974
    Sean Kent, American stand-up comedian, actor and writer
  • 1974
    Zsolt Erdei, Hungarian light heavyweight boxer
  • 1975
    Yiasoumis Yiasoumi, Greek-Cypriot footballer
  • 1976
    Colin Farrell, Irish actor
  • 1976
    Matt Harpring, American basketball player
  • 1976
    Tonka Tomicic, Chilean model and television presenter
  • 1977
    Debbie King, English TV presenter
  • 1977
    Domenico Fioravanti, Italian swimmer
  • 1977
    Eric Christian Olsen, American actor
  • 1977
    Greg Leeb, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1977
    Joachim Olsen, Danish athlete
  • 1977
    Joel Ross, British disc jockey
  • 1977
    June Sarpong, British television presenter
  • 1977
    Moses Sichone, Zambian footballer
  • 1977
    Petr Tenkrát, Czech ice hockey player
  • 1977
    Phil Devey, Canadian baseball player
  • 1977
    Scott Klopfenstein, American musician (Reel Big Fish)
  • 1977
    Theodoros Baev, Bulgarian-born Greek volleyball player
  • 1979
    Jean-François Gillet, Belgian footballer
  • 1980
    Andy Hurley, American musician (Fall Out Boy)
  • 1980
    Craig Bolton, Australian rules footballer
  • 1981
    Jake Peavy, American baseball player
  • 1981
    Mikael Antonsson, Swedish footballer
  • 1981
    Tasha Reid, Korean rapper
  • 1982
    Jonathan Tucker, American actor
  • 1983
    David Hernandez, American singer
  • 1983
    Dustin Wells, New Zealand footballer
  • 1983
    Reggie Yates, English television presenter
  • 1984
    Jason Smith, Australian actor
  • 1984
    Milorad Čavić, Serbian swimmer
  • 1984
    Nate Robinson, American basketball player
  • 1985
    Ian Vougioukas, Greek basketball player
  • 1986
    Melissa McIntyre, Canadian actress
  • 1986
    Waka Flocka Flame, American rapper
  • 1989
    Marco Reus, German footballer
  • 1990
    Erik Karlsson, Swedish ice hockey player

Who Died On May 31?

  • 1162
    Géza II of Hungary (b. 1130)
  • 1246
    Isabella of Angouleme, queen of John of England (b. 1188)
  • 1349
    Thomas Wake, English politician (b. 1297)
  • 1408
    Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Japanese shogun (b. 1358)
  • 1410
    King Martin I of Aragon (b. 1356)
  • 1495
    Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, mother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England (b. 1415)
  • 1558
    Philip Hoby, English politician (b. 1505)
  • 1567
    Guido de Bres, Belgian theologian (b. 1522)
  • 1594
    Tintoretto, Italian painter (b. 1518)
  • 1680
    Joachim Neander, German clergyman (b. 1650)
  • 1740
    King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia (b. 1688)
  • 1747
    Andrei Osterman, Russian statesman (b. 1686)
  • 1799
    Pierre Lemonnier, French astronomer (b. 1715)
  • 1809
    Jean Lannes, French marshal (b. 1769)
  • 1809
    Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer (b. 1732)
  • 1831
    Samuel Bentham, British mechanical engineer (b. 1757)
  • 1832
    Évariste Galois, French mathematician (b. 1811)
  • 1837
    Joseph Grimaldi, British clown (b. 1779)
  • 1846
    Philip Marheineke, German clergyman (b. 1780)
  • 1847
    Thomas Chalmers, Scottish pastor (b. 1780)
  • 1848
    Eugénie de Guérin, French writer (b. 1805)
  • 1908
    Louis-Honoré Fréchette, French Canadian poet (b. 1839)
  • 1910
    Elizabeth Blackwell, American physician (b. 1821)
  • 1931
    Felix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau, French Canadian cardinal (b. 1866)
  • 1945
    Odilo Globocnik, Austrian Nazi officer (b. 1904)
  • 1954
    Antonis Benakis, Greek politician and art collector (b. 1873)
  • 1957
    Leopold Staff, Polish poet (b. 1878)
  • 1957
    Stefanos Sarafis, Greek Greek Resistance figure (b. 1890)
  • 1960
    Walther Funk, Nazi leader (b. 1890)
  • 1960
    Willem Elsschot, Flemish writer (b. 1882)
  • 1961
    Walter Little, Canadian politician (b. 1877)
  • 1962
    Adolf Eichmann, German Nazi official (b. 1906)
  • 1962
    Henry Fountain Ashurst, American politician (b. 1874)
  • 1967
    Billy Strayhorn, American composer, pianist and arranger (b. 1915)
  • 1970
    Terry Sawchuk, Canadian hockey player (b. 1929)
  • 1972
    Walter Freeman, American physician (b. 1895)
  • 1976
    Jacques Monod, French biologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1910)
  • 1977
    William Castle, American film director (b. 1914)
  • 1978
    József Bozsik, Hungarian footballer (b. 1925)
  • 1983
    Jack Dempsey, American boxer (b. 1895)
  • 1985
    Gaston Rébuffat, French mountaineer (b. 1921)
  • 1986
    James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1917)
  • 1986
    Jane Frank (Jane Schenthal Frank), American artist (b. 1918)
  • 1987
    John Abraham (director), Indian film director (b. 1937)
  • 1992
    Walter Neugebauer, Croatian comic book author (b. 1921)
  • 1993
    Francis Lynch, American state legislator (b. 1920)
  • 1994
    Herva Nelli, Italian-born soprano (b. 1909)
  • 1996
    Timothy Leary, American professor and LSD advocate (b. 1920)
  • 1997
    James Bennett Griffin, American archaeologist (b. 1905)
  • 1998
    Charles Van Acker, Belgian racing driver (b. 1912)
  • 2000
    Johnnie Taylor, American singer (b. 1938)
  • 2000
    Tito Puente, American musician (b. 1923)
  • 2001
    Arlene Francis, American television personality (b. 1907)
  • 2004
    Étienne Roda-Gil, French songwriter and screenwriter (b. 1941)
  • 2004
    Robert Quine, American guitarist (b. 1941)
  • 2006
    Lula Mae Hardaway, American songwriter, mother of singer Stevie Wonder (b. 1930)
  • 2006
    Miguel Berrocal, Spanish sculptor (b. 1933)
  • 2006
    Raymond Davis Jr., American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)
  • 2006
    Ryan Bennett, American sportscaster (b. 1970)
  • 2009
    Danny La Rue, British entertainer (b. 1927)
  • 2009
    George Tiller, American abortion doctor (b. 1941)
  • 2009
    Millvina Dean, British survivor of the RMS Titanic sinking (b. 1912)
  • 2010
    Benjamin Lees, American composer (b. 1924)
  • 2010
    Brian Duffy, British photographer and film producer (b. 1933)
  • 2010
    Louise Bourgeois, French-born American sculptor (b. 1911)
  • 2010
    Merata Mita, New Zealander filmmaker (b. 1942)
  • 2010
    Rubén Juárez, Argentine bandoneonist (b. 1947)
  • 2010
    William A. Fraker, American cinematographer (b. 1923)

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