May 1, 1707 – Great Britain was formed from a union between England and Scotland. Wales had already been part of England since the 1500s, so was automatically part of the union.
May 20, 1932 – Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, completing the 2,026-mile journey from Newfoundland, Canada, to Londonderry, Ireland, in about 13 hours. She disappeared five years later while trying to fly around the equator.
May 27, 1937 – San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge opened for the first time, with 200,000 people strolling across it in celebration.
May 10, 1994 – Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as president of South Africa after winning the country’s first free elections. He had been a political prisoner for 27 years until his release in 1990.