What are the important events that happened on May 11? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

May 11: Facts & Myths About This Day

May 11 is the 131^st day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 234 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Sunday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is April 28, 2025 – a Sunday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 29,115,360 minutes has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘hectatriacontahenagon’ day.

Taurus is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Emerald is the modern birthstone for this month. Sapphire is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 282 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,524 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

May 11 Historical Events

• 330 –
  Byzantium is renamed Nova Roma during a dedication ceremony, but it is more popularly referred to as Constantinople.
• 912 –
  Alexander becomes Emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
• 1647 –
  Peter Stuyvesant arrives in New Amsterdam to replace Willem Kieft as Director-General of New Netherland, the Dutch colonial settlement in present-day New York City.
• 1857 –
  Indian Mutiny: Indian rebels seize Delhi from the British.
• 1862 –
  American Civil War: The ironclad Ship CSS is scuttled in the James River northwest of Norfolk, Virginia.
• 1891 –
  The Ōtsu incident: Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich of Imperial Russia (later Nicholas II) suffers a critical head injury during a sword attack by Japanese policeman Tsuda Sanzō. He is rescued by Prince George of Greece and Denmark.
• 1907 –
  32 Shriners are killed when their chartered train derails at a switch near Surf Depot in Lompoc, California.
• 1945 –
  World War II: Off the coast of Okinawa, the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill, is hit by two kamikazes, killing 346 of her crew. Although badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the U.S. under her own power.
• 1985 –
  Bradford City stadium fire: Fifty-six spectators die and more than 200 are injured in a flash fire at Valley Parade football ground during a match against Lincoln City in Bradford, England.
• 1996 –
  After the aircraft’s departure from Miami, Florida, a fire started by improperly handled oxygen canisters in the cargo hold of Atlanta-bound ValuJet Flight 592 causes the Douglas DC-9 to crash in the Florida Everglades killing all 110 on board.

Who were born on May 11?

• 1854 –
  Jack Blackham, Australian cricketer (d. 1932)
• 1897 –
  Kurt Gerron, German director (d. 1944)
• 1925 –
  Edward J. King, 66th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 2006)
• 1928 –
  Brother Andrew, Dutch missionary
• 1952 –
  Renaud, French composer
• 1957 –
  Peter North, Canadian pornographic actor
• 1974 –
  Stanley Gene, Papua New Guinean rugby league footballer
• 1977 –
  Gonzalo Colsa, Spanish footballer
• 1982 –
  Cory Monteith, Canadian actor
• 1989 –
  Cam Newton, American football player

Who died on May 11?

• 1610 –
  Matteo Ricci, Italian Jesuit missionary (b. 1552)
• 1672 –
  Charles Seton, 2nd Earl of Dunfermline, Scottish royalist (b. 1615)
• 1708 –
  Jules Hardouin Mansart, French architect (b. 1646)
• 1812 –
  Spencer Perceval, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1762)
• 1871 –
  John Herschel, British mathematician and astronomer (b. 1792)
• 1981 –
  Bob Marley, Jamaican singer and musician (b. 1945)
• 1986 –
  Henry P. McIlhenny, American philanthropist (b. 1910)
• 1996 –
  Nnamdi Azikiwe, President of Nigeria (b. 1904)
• 2002 –
  Renaude Lapointe, French Canadian journalist and senator (b. 1912)
• 2008 –
  Bruno Neves, Portuguese cyclist (b. 1981)