Browse events, births, deaths and holidays on May 2 throughout history.
On 2 May 2014, a pair of mudslides occurred in Argo District, Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan. The death toll is uncertain, the number of deaths is believed to be at least 350 an…
Two mudslides in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, leave up to 2,500 people missing
A pastel is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among othe…
A pastel version of The Scream, by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sells for $120 million in a New York City auction, se
Osama bin Muhammad bin 'Awad bin Laden was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda from 1988 until his death in 2011. A Salafi jihadist, bin Laden worked towards a pan-Isla…
Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI's most wanted fugitive, is killed by the Uni
A novel strain of Escherichia coli O104:H4 bacteria caused a serious outbreak of foodborne illness focused in northern Germany in May through June 2011. The illness was characteri…
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Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Nargis was an extremely deadly and catastrophic tropical cyclone that caused the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Myanmar during e…
Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Burma killing over 138,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless
Chaitén is a volcanic caldera 3 kilometres (2 mi) in diameter, 17 kilometres (11 mi) west of the elongated ice-capped Michinmahuida volcano and 10 kilometres (6 mi) northeast of t…
Chaitén Volcano begins erupting in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people
The Yelwa massacre was a series of related incidents of religious violence between Muslims and Christians which took place in Yelwa, Nigeria between February and May 2004. These i…
The Yelwa massacre concludes
William Jefferson Clinton is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, he previo…
President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military
General elections were held in Panama on 2 May 1999, electing both a new President of the Republic and a new Legislative Assembly.
Panamanian general election: Mireya Moscoso becomes the first woman to be elected President of Panama
The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central component of the Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Uni…
The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the European Union's monetary policy
The Croatian War of Independence was an armed conflict fought in Croatia from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia—which had declared independence …
During the Croatian War of Independence, the Army of the Republic of Serb Krajina fires cluster bombs at Zagreb, killing
The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc…
Cold War: Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect
On 26 April 1986, reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, exploded. With dozens of direct casualties and thousands of he…
Chernobyl disaster: The City of Chernobyl is evacuated six days after the disaster
The Falklands War was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands …
Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano
The Sunshine Mine is located between the cities of Kellogg and Wallace in northern Idaho. It has been one of the world's largest and most profitable silver mines, having produced …
In the early morning hours a fire breaks out at the Sunshine Mine located between Kellogg and Wallace, Idaho, killing 91
ALM Flight 980 was a regularly scheduled international passenger flight that originated in John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, to Princess Juliana Internationa…
ALM Flight 980 ditches in the Caribbean Sea near Saint Croix, killing 23
Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) is a retired British ocean liner. Built by John Brown & Company on the River Clyde in Scotland for the Cunard Line, the ship was operated as a transatlanti…
The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City
The Vietnam War was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Uni…
Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the American aircraft carrier USNS Card while it is docked at Saigon
In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent, is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain peak or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-centur…
First ascent of Shishapangma, the fourteenth highest mountain in the world and the lowest of the Eight-thousanders
The Berthold Seliger Forschungs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (BSFEGmbH) was a company founded by West German rocket technical designer Berthold Seliger in 1961. Seliger was a…
Berthold Seliger launches a rocket with three stages and a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres (62 mi) n