On April 20
No pivotal events are recorded on exactly April 20 in the Human Saga — here is the surrounding week in history.
This week in history (Apr 17 – Apr 23)
Dated to Saka year 822, corresponding to 21 April 900 CE, the Laguna Copperplate Inscription is the earliest known calendar-dated written document found in the Philippines.
On 22 April 1500 a Portuguese fleet commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral, bound for India along Vasco da Gama's route, made landfall on the coast of present-day Bahia in South America.
On 21 April 1526 Babur, a Timurid prince from Central Asia, defeated Sultan Ibrahim Lodi of Delhi at Panipat in northern India.
The Baha'i Faith emerged as a distinct world religion in 1863 when Baha'u'llah (Mirza Husayn-Ali Nuri, 1817-1892) declared in the Garden of Ridvan near Baghdad that he was the messianic 'He whom God shall make manifest' foretold by the Bab.
The First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) was fought between Qing China and the Empire of Japan, primarily for influence over Korea, long a Chinese tributary.
The Asian–African Conference held at Bandung, Indonesia, from 18 to 24 April 1955 brought together delegates from twenty-nine newly independent and emerging states of Asia and Africa, representing more than half of the world's population.
The papal transition of 2025 saw the death of Pope Francis and the election of the first US-born pope.
After militants killed 26 tourists, mostly Hindu civilians, in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir on 22 April 2025, India blamed Pakistan-based groups and launched missile and air strikes inside Pakistan on 7 May under the codename…
The first Earth Day was held on 22 April 1970, conceived by US Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin and coordinated nationally with organiser Denis Hayes.