Human Saga

On May 27

No pivotal events are recorded on exactly May 27 in the Human Saga — here is the surrounding week in history.

This week in history (May 24 – May 30)

29 May 1453 CEThe Ottoman conquest of ConstantinopleMilitary & conflict

On 29 May 1453, after a siege of some seven weeks begun on 6 April, the army of the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II captured Constantinople, extinguishing the Byzantine Empire that had endured for over a thousand years as the eastern continuation…

28 May 585 BCE (traditional)Thales of Miletus and the predicted eclipse: the dawn of natural philosophyCulture, arts & philosophy

According to Herodotus, a solar eclipse that halted a battle between the Medes and Lydians had been foretold by Thales of Miletus, the figure later remembered as the first of the Ionian or Presocratic philosophers.

1830–1839 (Indian Removal Act 28 May 1830; Cherokee Trail of Tears 1838–39)Indian Removal Act and the Trail of TearsSocial & demographic

Signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on 28 May 1830, the Indian Removal Act authorised the federal government to negotiate the exchange of Native American lands east of the Mississippi for territory in the west, opening the way for…

24 May 1844Morse Opens the Electric TelegraphScience, technology & invention

On 24 May 1844 Samuel F. B. Morse transmitted the message "What hath God wrought" from the Capitol in Washington to his partner Alfred Vail at a railroad station in Baltimore, the first public demonstration of his electromagnetic telegraph…

29 May 1919 (announced 6 November 1919)Eddington's eclipse expeditions confirm general relativityScience, technology & invention

During the total solar eclipse of 29 May 1919, British expeditions led by Arthur Eddington (on Principe, off West Africa) and a Greenwich party at Sobral, Brazil, photographed stars near the obscured Sun and measured the deflection of…

25 May 1085Christian capture of Toledo accelerates the ReconquistaMilitary & conflict

Following the collapse of the Caliphate of Córdoba in 1031, al-Andalus fractured into rival taifa kingdoms.

24 May 2019Taiwan becomes the first place in Asia to legalise same-sex marriageSocial & demographic

On 24 May 2019 same-sex marriage became legal in Taiwan, making it the first jurisdiction in Asia to grant marriage equality.

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