May 21

The Sicilian city of Syracuse falls to Aghlabid Muslim forces after a nine-month siege.

The Sicilian city of Syracuse, once one of the greatest cities of the ancient Greek world, fell to besieging Aghlabid Muslim forces after a grueling nine-month siege that had reduced its defenders to starvation, a major strategic loss for the Byzantine Empire that further consolidated Muslim Arab control over the island of Sicily.

James I is crowned King of Scotland at Scone.

James I was crowned King of Scotland at Scone Abbey following his release from over eighteen years of captivity in England, where he had been held as a diplomatic hostage since childhood, beginning a reign focused on aggressively consolidating royal authority against Scotland's traditionally powerful and unruly nobility.

A collapsing lava dome on Japan's Mount Unzen triggers a catastrophic tsunami, killing an estimated 15,000 people.

The catastrophic collapse of a lava dome on Japan's Mount Unzen during a volcanic eruption triggered a massive tsunami that struck the Shimabara Peninsula and Higo Province, killing an estimated 15,000 people in what remains one of the deadliest volcanic-related disasters in recorded Japanese history.

Napoleon Bonaparte abandons his two-month siege of Acre, marking one of his few major defeats.

Napoleon Bonaparte abandoned his two-month siege of the fortress city of Acre in present-day Israel after repeatedly failing to breach its defenses, partly due to British naval support for the Ottoman defenders, a rare and significant setback during his otherwise highly successful early Middle Eastern military campaign.

The Battle of Aspern-Essling begins along the Danube River between Austrian and French forces, ending in one of Napoleon's rare defeats.

Austrian forces under Archduke Charles inflicted a costly, unexpected defeat on Napoleon's army at the Battle of Aspern-Essling along the Danube River near Vienna, marking one of the first major battlefield losses of Napoleon's entire military career and a significant morale boost for the anti-French coalition.

Clara Barton founds the American Red Cross in Dansville, New York.

Humanitarian Clara Barton, inspired by her earlier battlefield nursing work during the Civil War and her exposure to the International Red Cross movement in Europe, founded the American Red Cross in Dansville, New York, establishing an organization that became a central pillar of American disaster relief, blood donation, and emergency response for well over a century.

FIFA, the international governing body for association football, is founded in Paris.

Representatives from seven European football associations, notably excluding England's, founded FIFA in Paris to establish common international rules and organize matches between national teams, laying the institutional foundation for the governing body that now oversees the immensely popular quadrennial World Cup and global football on a massive scale.

Charles Lindbergh completes the world's first solo nonstop transatlantic flight, landing at Le Bourget Field near Paris.

Charles Lindbergh landed at Le Bourget Field near Paris, completing the world's first solo nonstop transatlantic flight after roughly 33.5 grueling, sleep-deprived hours in the air, and was greeted by a massive, ecstatic crowd of an estimated 150,000 people that instantly transformed him into a global celebrity and aviation hero.

Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a suicide bomber near Madras.

Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a suicide bomber affiliated with the Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers militant group while campaigning at a political rally near Madras, a shocking killing that occurred during an already tense general election campaign and echoed his own mother Indira Gandhi's earlier assassination.

Montenegro holds a referendum in which a majority votes for independence from its union with Serbia.

Voters in Montenegro narrowly approved independence from their loose federal union with Serbia in a closely watched, high-turnout referendum that cleared the required threshold by a slim margin, removing the final legal barrier to the small Balkan republic's formal declaration of full sovereignty weeks later.