On April 29:
711 Islamic conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad landed at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus).
1429 Joan of Arc arrived to relieve the Siege of Orleans.
1483 Gran Canaria, the main of the Canary Islands was conquered by the Kingdom of Castile, an important step in the expansion of Spain.
1624 Cardinal Richelieu became Prime Minister of Louis XIII.
1672 Franco-Dutch War: Louis XIV of France invaded the Netherlands.
1707 Scotland and England unified in United Kingdom of Great Britain.
1770 James Cook arrived at and named Botany Bay, Australia.
1832 Évariste Galois released from prison.
1861 American Civil War: Maryland’s House of Delegates voted not to secede from the Union.
1863 William Randolph Hearst, American publisher, was born (d. 1951).
1864 The Theta Xi fraternity was founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.
1882 The “Elektromote” – forerunner of the trolleybus – was tested by Ernst Werner von Siemens in Berlin.
1899 Duke Ellington, American jazz pianist and bandleader, was born (d. 1974).
1901 Hirohito, Emperor of Japan, was born (d. 1989).
1903 A 30 million cubic-metre landslide killed 70 in Frank, Alberta.
1915 Donald Mills, American singer (Mills Brothers), was born (d. 1999).
1916 World War I: The British 6th Indian Division surrendered to Ottoman Forces at Kt in one of the largest surrenders of British forces up to that point.
1916 Easter Rebellion: Martial law in Ireland was lifted and the rebellion was officially over with the surrender of Irish nationalists to British authorities in Dublin.
1933 Rod McKuen, American poet and composer, was born.
1934 Otis Rush, American musician, was born.
1938 Bernard Madoff, American convict, who was a financier and Chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange., was born.
1945 World War II: The German Army in Italy unconditionally surrendered to the Allies.
1945 World War II: Start of Operation Manna.
1945 World War II – Fuehrerbunker: Adolf Hitler married his long-time partner Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker and designated Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor.
1945 – The Dachau concentration camp was liberated by United States troops.
1945 – The Italian commune of Fornovo di Taro was liberated from German forces by Brazilian forces.
1946 Former Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo and 28 former Japanese leaders were indicted for war crimes.
1952 Anzus came into force.
1953 The first U.S. experimental 3D-TV broadcast showed an episode of Space Patrol on Los Angeles ABC affiliate KECA-TV.
1954 Jerry Seinfeld, American comedian, was born.
1957 – Daniel Day-Lewis, British-Irish actor, was born.
1958 Michelle Pfeiffer, American actress, was born.
1958 Eve Plumb, American actress, was born.
1965 Pakistan’s Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) successfully launched its seventh rocket in its Rehber series.
1967 After refusing induction into the United States Army the day before (citing religious reasons), Muhammad Ali was stripped of his boxing title.
1968 The controversial musical Hair opened on Broadway.
1970 Andre Agassi, American tennis player, was born.
1970 Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia to hunt Viet Cong.
1974 President Richard Nixon announced the release of edited transcripts of White House tape recordings related to the Watergate scandal.
1975 Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. began to evacuate U.S. citizens from Saigon prior to an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war ended.
1979 Jo O’Meara, British singer (S Club), was born.
1980 Corazones Unidos Siempre Chi Upsilon Sigma National Latin Sorority Inc. was founded.
1980 Kian Egan, Irish singer (Westlife), was born.
1986 Roger Clemens then of the Boston Red Sox set a major league baseball record with 20 strikeouts in nine innings against the Seattle Mariners.
1986 A fire at the Central library of the City of Los Angeles Public Library damaged or destroyed 400,000 books and other items.
1991 A cyclone struck the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around 155 mph, killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as 10 million homeless.
1992 Riots in Los Angeles following the acquittal of police officers charged with excessive force in the beating of Rodney King. Over the next three days 53 people were killed and hundreds of buildings were destroyed.
1997 The Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 enters into force, outlawing the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons by its signatories.
1999 The Avala TV Tower near Belgrade was destroyed in the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
2002 The United States was re-elected to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, one year after losing the seat that it had held for 50 years.
2004 Dick Cheney and George W. Bush testified before the 9/11 Commission in a closed, unrecorded hearing in the Oval Office.
2004 Oldsmobile built its final car ending 107 years of production.
2005 Syria completed withdrawal from Lebanon, ending 29 years of occupation.
2005 – New Zealand’s first civil union took place.
Sourced from NZ History Online and WIkipedia.