Today in History: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Black Sea coast, beginning the Turkish War of Independence

The following are some of the major events to have occurred on May 19:

1536 - Anne Boleyn, second wife of English King Henry VIII, is beheaded at the Tower of London on charges of adultery, incest and treason.

1649 - England is declared a Commonwealth by an act of the Rump Parliament making England a republic for the next 11 years.

1885 - German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck takes possession of Cameroon and Togoland

1906 – The Simplon Tunnel opened, connecting Italy and Switzerland through the Alps.

1919 - Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Black Sea coast, beginning the Turkish War of Independence.

1934 – Coup in Bulgaria.

1935 – T. E. Lawrence, known as Lawrence of Arabia, died after a motorcycle accident. He described his military exploits during World War One in the book “Seven Pillars of Wisdom”.

1994 – Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis died.

2001 – Arab foreign ministers, meeting in Egypt, recommended the suspension of political contacts with the Israeli government until it halted military assaults against the Palestinians.

2002 – John Gorton, former prime minister of Australia, died.

2003 – Indonesia’s military launched a big offensive on rebel bases in Aceh after peace talks failed the day before.

2004 – The world’s first embryonic stem cell bank opened in Britain.

2007 – Romanian referendum rejects attempt by parliament to impeach reformist President Traian Basescu.

2015 – Pipeline rupture spills some 21,000 gallons of oil along California coastline.

2016 – Egypt Air flight 804 en route from Paris to Cairo crashes in Mediterranean Sea.

(Reuters)