June 12

• June 12, 1665
  England installs a municipal government in New York City, the former Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam
• June 12, 1701
  The Act of Settlement establishes the order of succession to the English throne and gives English crown to Sophia, Princess of Hanover
• June 12, 1776
  Virginia's colonial legislature becomes the first to adopt a Bill of Rights which grants every individual the right to the enjoyment of life and liberty and to acquire and possess property
• June 12, 1792
  George Vancouver discovers site of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• June 12, 1849
  Gas mask is patented by Lewis Haslett
• June 12, 1898
  Emilio Aguinaldo, rebel leader and the first president, proclaims Philippine independence from Spain
• June 12, 1944
  Germany launches the first V-1 flying bombs against Britain: from 55 launch sites, seven are able to launch a total of ten flying bombs during the night, of which three reach England
• June 12, 1963
  African-American civil rights leader Medgar Evers, aged 37, is gunned down in the driveway of his home in Jackson, Mississippi, United States
• June 12, 1964
  South African justice Quartus de Wet sentences anti-apartheid politician Nelson Mandela and two of his co-accused to life imprisonment
• June 12, 1967
  Six-Day War between Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria ends with conquest of Sinai Peninsula and the West Bank of the Jordan River by Israel
• June 12, 1982
  Israel invades Lebanon after an attempt of Abu Nidal Organization to assassinate Shlomo Argov, Israel's ambassador to the United Kingdom
• June 12, 1987
  During a visit to Berlin, Germany, U.S. President Ronald Reagan challenges Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall
• June 12, 1991
  Boris Yeltsin is elected President of Russia, the largest and most populous of the fifteen Soviet republics
• June 12, 1997
  The Globe Theater, a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare, is reopened by Queen Elizabeth II
• June 12, 1999
  NATO-led United Nations peacekeeping forces KFOR enter the province of Kosovo in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
• June 12, 2008
  A public vote in Ireland on the European Union's Lisbon treaty results in a "no" decision, by 53.4 percent to 46.6, while all members of the European Union must ratify the treaty for it to take effect
• June 12, 2009
  Official results of presidential election in Iran show Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defending his re-election with 62.6 percent of votes which lead to a series of sustained protests

May 4

• May 4, 1471
  The Yorkists under King Edward IV defeat the Lancastrian forces of ex-queen Margaretha in the Battle of Tewkesbury, in which the 17-year-old prince of Wales, Edward, is killed
• May 4, 1626
  Peter Minuit becomes director-general of New Netherlands after Indians sold Manhattan Island for $24 in cloth and buttons
• May 4, 1776
  Rhode Island become the first of the original Thirteen Colonies to declare independence from British rule
• May 4, 1799
  In India Tipu Sultan, the sultan of Mysore, is defeated and killed in a battle against 5,000 British soldiers who stormed and razed his capital, Seringapatanam
• May 4, 1814
  Bourbon reign is restored in France as Louis XVIII returns in Paris from Great Britain
• May 4, 1858
  In the Mexican War of Reform liberals established their capital at Vera Cruz
• May 4, 1904
  United States continue construction of Panama Canal left by France because of high mortality due to disease
• May 4, 1919
  May Fourth Movement, an anti-imperialist and political movement in China, begins with student demonstration against decision of Paris Peace Conference allowing Japan to receive Chinese territories in Shandong
• May 4, 1979
  Margaret Thatcher, the leader of the Conservative Party, becomes the first female prime minister of Great Britain
• May 4, 1990
  Latvia's parliament votes 138-0 for independence