Editing May 19 (section)

===1601–1900===
*[[1643]] &ndash; [[Thirty Years' War]]: French forces under the [[Louis, Grand Condé|duc d'Enghien]] decisively defeat Spanish forces at the [[Battle of Rocroi]], marking the symbolic end of Spain as a dominant land power.
*[[1649]] &ndash; An [[Act of Parliament]] declaring England a [[Commonwealth of England|Commonwealth]] is passed by the [[Long Parliament]]. England would be a [[republic]] for the next eleven years.
*[[1655]] &ndash; The [[Invasion of Jamaica]] begins during the [[Anglo-Spanish War (1654–60)|Anglo-Spanish War]].
*[[1743]] &ndash; [[Jean-Pierre Christin]] developed the [[centigrade temperature scale]].
*[[1749]] &ndash; King [[George II of Great Britain]] grants the [[Ohio Company]] a charter of land around the forks of the [[Ohio River]].
*[[1776]] &ndash; [[American Revolutionary War]]: A [[Continental Army]] garrison surrenders in the [[Battle of The Cedars]].
*[[1780]] &ndash; [[New England's Dark Day]], an unusual darkening of the day sky, was observed over the [[New England]] states and parts of [[Canada]]. 
*[[1802]] &ndash; [[Napoleon|Napoleon Bonaparte]] founds the [[Legion of Honour]].
*[[1828]] &ndash; U.S. President [[John Quincy Adams]] signs the [[Tariff of 1828]] into law, protecting [[wool]] manufacturers in the United States.
*[[1845]] &ndash; Captain Sir [[John Franklin]] and his [[Franklin's lost expedition|ill-fated Arctic expedition]] depart from [[Greenhithe, Kent|Greenhithe]], England.
*[[1848]] &ndash; [[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&nbsp;million.
*[[1883]] &ndash; [[Buffalo Bill]]'s first ''Buffalo Bill's Wild West'' opens in Omaha, Nebraska.<ref name="WDL">{{cite web |url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11200/ |title = William "Buffalo Bill" Cody |work = [[World Digital Library]] |year = 1917 |access-date = June 1, 2013 }}</ref>
*[[1900]] &ndash; [[Great Britain]] annexes [[Tonga Island]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Jacques|last=Legrand|title=Chronicle of the 20th Century|publisher=Ecam Publication|year=1987|page=14|isbn=0-942191-01-3}}</ref>
*  1900   &ndash; [[Second Boer War]]: British troops relieve [[Siege of Mafeking|Mafeking]].