What are the important events that happened on May 19? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

May 19: Facts & Myths About This Day

May 19 is the 140^th day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 226 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Sunday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is May 6, 2024 – a Sunday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 28,601,280 minutes has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘hectatetracontagon’ day.

Taurus is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Emerald is the modern birthstone for this month. Sapphire is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 255 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,167 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

May 19 Historical Events

• 1499 –
  Catherine of Aragon is married by proxy to Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales. Catherine is 13 and Arthur is 12.
• 1649 –
  An Act of Parliament declaring England a Commonwealth is passed by the Long Parliament. England would be a republic for the next eleven years.
• 1845 –
  Captain Sir John Franklin and his ill-fated Arctic expedition depart from Greenhithe, England.
• 1848 –
  Mexican-American War: Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo thus ending the war and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of four other modern-day U.S. states to the United States for US$15 million.
• 1897 –
  Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol Prison.
• 1921 –
  The U.S. Congress passes the Emergency Quota Act establishing national quotas on immigration.
• 1934 –
  Zveno and the Bulgarian Army engineer a coup d'état and install Kimon Georgiev as the new Prime Minister of Bulgaria.
• 1959 –
  The North Vietnamese Army establishes Group 559, whose responsibility is to determine how to maintain supply lines to South Vietnam; the resulting route is the Ho Chi Minh trail.
• 1986 –
  The Firearm Owners Protection Act is signed into law by U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
• 1997 –
  The Sierra Gorda Biosphere, the most ecologically diverse region in Mexico, is established as a result of grassroots efforts.

Who were born on May 19?

• 1874 –
  Gilbert Laird Jessop, English cricketer (d. 1955)
• 1890 –
  Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnamese leader (d. 1969)
• 1908 –
  Percy Williams, Canadian athlete (d. 1982)
• 1919 –
  Mitja Ribičič, Slovenian Communist politician, Prime Minister of Yugoslavia
• 1926 –
  Swami Kriyananda, Indian teacher and author
• 1947 –
  David Helfgott, Australian pianist
• 1965 –
  Cecilia Bolocco, Chilean television presenter and 1987 Miss Universe
• 1970 –
  Mario Dumont, Canadian politician
• 1979 –
  Diego Forlán, Uruguayan footballer
• 1986 –
  Mario Chalmers, American basketball player

Who died on May 19?

• 804 –
  Alcuin, English monk and scholar (b. c.735)
• 1610 –
  Thomas Sanchez, Spanish theologian (b. 1550)
• 1786 –
  John Stanley, English composer (b. 1712)
• 1795 –
  Josiah Bartlett, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1729)
• 1865 –
  Sengge Rinchen, Mongol Qing Dynasty field marshal (b. 1811)
• 1895 –
  José Martí, Cuban independence leader (b. 1853)
• 1945 –
  Philipp Bouhler, German Nazi leader (b. 1889)
• 1994 –
  Luis Ocaña, Spanish cyclist (b. 1945)
• 2009 –
  Velupillai Prabhakaran, Sri Lankan founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (b. 1954)
• 2011 –
  Garret FitzGerald, Irish politician and former Taoiseach (b. 1926)