WHAT HAPPENED ON 20. APRIL
Want to find out what all happened on 20. April

The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by Pope Boniface VIII. (20. April 1303)

The last naval battle in Byzantine history occurs, as three Genoese galleys escorting a Byzantine transport fight their way through the huge Ottoman blockade fleet and into the Golden Horn. (20. April 1453)

Jacques Cartier begins the voyage during which he discovers Canada and Labrador. (20. April 1534)

The Sun dog phenomenon observed over Stockholm and depicted in the famous painting Vädersolstavlan. (20. April 1535)

Oliver Cromwell dissolves the Rump Parliament. (20. April 1653)

Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet under heavy fire at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. (20. April 1657)

Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City). (20. April 1657)

The former king, James II of England, now deposed, lays siege to Derry. (20. April 1689)

Start of Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War, a new phase in the Burmese Civil War (1740–57) (20. April 1752)

The Georgian king, Erekle II, abandoned by his Russian ally Count Totleben, wins a victory over Ottoman forces at Aspindza. (20. April 1770)

American Revolutionary War: the Siege of Boston begins, following the battles at Lexington and Concord. (20. April 1775)

President George Washington arrives in Philadelphia after his inauguration to elaborate welcome at Gray's Ferry just after noon first inauguration of George Washington (20. April 1789)

France declares war against the "King of Hungary and Bohemia", the beginning of French Revolutionary Wars. (20. April 1792)

Two Austrian army corps in Bavaria are defeated by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon I of France at the Battle of Abensberg on the second day of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory. (20. April 1809)

The Governor of Caracas declares independence from Spain. (20. April 1810)

The case of Ashford v Thornton ends, with Abraham Thornton allowed to go free rather than face a retrial for murder, after his demand for trial by battle is upheld. (20. April 1818)

René Caillié becomes the first non-Muslim to enter Timbouctou. (20. April 1828)

U.S. Congress passes an act creating the Wisconsin Territory. (20. April 1836)

American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia. (20. April 1861)

Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard complete the experiment falsifying the theory of spontaneous generation. (20. April 1862)