Today is Monday, May 4, the 124th day of 2009. There are 241 days left in the year.
1494 _ Christopher Columbus lands in Jamaica
1626 _ Indians sell Manhattan Island for $24 in cloth and buttons
1715 _ French manufacturer debuts first folding umbrella (Paris France)
1896 _ First edition of London Daily Mail
1923 _ New York state revokes Prohibition Law
1924 _ German Republic election; fascists and communists win
1927 _ Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences forms
1959 _ First Grammy Awards: Perry Como and Ella Fitzgerald win
1979 _ First woman prime minister of Great Britain; Margaret Thatcher
1983 _ China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor, People's Republic of China