11 May History
- 1573 - Henry of Anjou becomes the first elected king of Poland.
- 1689 - French and English navies battle at Bantry Bay.
- 1690 - In the first major engagement of King William's War, British troops from Massachusetts seize Port Royal in Acadia (Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) from the French.
- 1745 - French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army at Fontenoy.
- 1792 - The Columbia River is discovered by Captain Robert Gray.
- 1812 - British prime Minster Spencer Perceval is shot by a bankrupt banker in the lobby of the House of Commons.
- 1857 - Indian mutineers seize Delhi.
- 1858 - Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd U.S. state.
- 1860 - Giuseppe Garibaldi lands at Marsala, Sicily.
- 1862 - Confederates scuttle the CSS Virginia off Norfolk, Virginia.
- 1864 - Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart is mortally wounded at Yellow Tavern.
- 1960 - Israeli soldiers capture Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires.
- 1967 - The siege of Khe Sanh ends, the base is still in American hands.
11 May Birthdays
- 1885 - "King" Joseph Oliver, jazz cornetist and bandleader.
- 1888 - Irving Berlin, composer, writer of over 1,500 songs.
- 1894 - Mari Sandoz, writer and biographer (Crazy Horse).
- 1895 - William Grant Still, American composer and conductor.
- 1904 - Salvador Dali, surrealist painter.
- 1912 - Phil Silvers, comedian and actor.
- 1918 - Richard Feynman, theoretical physicist.
- 1930 - Stanley Elkin, author (George Mills).
- 1933 - Louis Farrakhan, American religious leader.