May 2

• May 2, 1250
  Mamluks, a military class initially composed of slaves, murder Al-Muazzam Turanshah, a sultan of Egypt, and seize control of the Egyptian Sultanate, making Cairo the center of Islamic world
• May 2, 1497
  John Cabot departs to North America
• May 2, 1519
  Leonardo Da Vinci, artist and scientist, dies of natural causes at age 67
• May 2, 1598
  Henry IV signs the Peace of Vervins with Philip II of Spain, ending Spain's interference in France
• May 2, 1668
  Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, ends War of Devolution
• May 2, 1670
  Hudson's Bay Company is chartered by England's King Charles II to exploit the resources of the Hudson Bay area
• May 2, 1729
  Catherine the Great, empress of Russia, is born
• May 2, 1749
  Empress Maria Theresa unifies the Austrian and Bohemian chancelleries
• May 2, 1776
  France and Spain agree to donate arms to American rebels
• May 2, 1780
  William Herschel, a British astronomer, discovers first star system consisting of two stars orbiting around their common center of mass, Xi Ursae Majoris
• May 2, 1798
  The black General Toussaint Louverture forces British troops to agree to evacuate the port of Santo Domingo
• May 2, 1808
  The citizens of Madrid rise up against the occupation of the city by French troops, but uprising is suppressed by Grand Duke Joachim Murat who slaughters hundreds of citizens along the Prado promenade in reprisal
• May 2, 1813
  Napoleon defeats a Russian and Prussian army at Lützen, halting the advances of the Sixth Coalition
• May 2, 1863
  The Confederates smash Hooker's flank and win a smashing victory in Lee's "perfect battle" at Chancellorsville, Virginia, the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville Campaign of American Civil War
• May 2, 1885
  King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo Free State as a personal fiefdom, starting atrocities, and genocide of the Congolese people
• May 2, 1989
  Hungary dismantles 150 miles of barbed wire fencing along the border with Austria, which becomes the first crack in the Iron Curtain
• May 2, 1990
  Agreement is reached between East and West Germany on the exchange of currency as the East takes on the Deutsches-mark as its currency and exchange 1:1 with some variations for given categories of exchange
• May 2, 1997
  Tony Blair becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• May 2, 2010
  The Eurozone and the International Monetary Fund agree to a 110 billion euro bailout package, involved sharp austerity measures, for Greece due to threat of Greece defaulting on its debts