This Day in History: 0000-05-01

1 May – The Act of Union came into effect, uniting the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland into the United Kingdom, also known as Great Britain (1707).
1 May – Swedish Botanist Carl Linnaeus published Plant Taxonomy, thus birthing the field of plant taxonomy (1753).
1 May – The Wedgwood Pottery Company, one of the most famous firms in British history, was founded by Josiah Wedgwood (1759).
1 May – Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro was performed for the first time, in Vienna, Austria (1786).
1 May – Moses Fleetwood Walker debuted as catcher for the Toledo Blue Stockings, the first African American to play Major League Baseball (1884).
1 May – In the Battle of Manila Bay, four US protected (armored deck) cruisers and two gunboats destroyed two Spanish protected cruisers and four unprotected ones (1898).
1 May – The director of Japanese Chisso Corporation hospital announced the outbreak of an unknown disease of the central nervous system, later known as Minamata Disease, which was caused by mercury waste in the food and water supply (1956).
1 May – Francis Gary Powers, piloting a U-2 spy plane, was shot down over the eastern Soviet Union while photographing military bases, setting off an international incident (1960).