- May 14
- In the eastern Caucasus, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake occurs, a few miles west of Machackala on the Caspian Sea. Extensive damage in the Dagestan Republic. [53]
- British Royal Air Force leader Andreas Baader freed after serving two years in West Berlin. [1]
- May 15
- France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island. [1]
- May 17
- Thor Heyerdahl crosses the Atlantic on reed raft Ra. [1]
- May 20
- 100,000 march in New York supporting US policies in Vietnam. [1]
- May 21
- USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya. [1]
- May 22
- Arab terrorists kill nine children and three adults on a school bus. [1]
- France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island. [1]
- May 23
- USSR performs nuclear test (underground). [1]
- May 27
- USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk. [1]
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- May 29
- USSR performs nuclear test (underground). [1]
- May 31
- In Chimbote, Peru, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake occurs. About 50,000 people were killed; 20,000 missing and presumed dead; and 150,000 injured in Ancash and La Libertad Catastrophic debris avalanche of rock, ice and mud buries the town of Yungay, which had a population of about 20,000. [1] [53]
- June 1
- Soyuz 9 launched into Earth orbit for 18 days. [1]
- June 4
- Tonga gains independence from Britain. [1]
- June 11
- US leaves Wheelus Air Force Base Libya. [1]
- June 14
- Blood, Sweat and Tears becomes the first Western rock band to play Soviet-bloc countries, opening a tour of Yugoslavia, Romania and Poland. [457]
- June 19
- A Nikolayev and V Sevastyanov return after 18 days in Soyuz 9. [1]
- June 29
- US ends two month military offensive into Cambodia. [1]
- July 2
- Near Sivas, Turkey, a magnitude 4.8 earthquake occurs. [53]
- July 4
- Chartered Dan-Air Comet plane crashes into mountains north of Barcelona, Spain killing 112 vacationing Britons. [1]
- July 5
- Air Canada DC-8 Flight 621 from Montreal to Toronto with 109 passengers and crew crashes on landing, killing all aboard. [1] [1171.221]
- July 25
- In Kyushu, Japan, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurs. [53]
- July 30
- In northeast Iran, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake occurs, killing 176, injuring 483, and leaving an estimated 10,000 homeless. Extensively damaged villages included Qapan, Shahabad, Maraveh Tappeh, Gonbad-e Kavus, Bojnurd, and Sabzevar. [53]
- July 31
- In Colombia, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake occurs. [53]
- August 3
- Hurricane "Celia" becomes most expensive Gulf storm in history. [1]
- August 7
- First computer chess tournament. [1]
- Four, including presiding judge, killed in courthouse shootout in San Rafael, California (Police charge Angela Davis provided weapons). [1]
- August 9
- Peruvian Airlines jet carrying 45 US exchange students explodes. [1]
- August 12
- The West German government signs a non-aggression treaty with the Soviet Union. [37]
- August 14
- City University of New York inaugurates open admissions. [1]
- August 17
- Venera 7 is launched by USSR. [1] [5]
- August 24
- Bomb kills one at University of Wisconsin's Army Math Research Center in Madison. [1]
- September 12
- USSR launches Luna 16. [1]
- September 13
- IBM announces System 370 computer. [1]
- September 24
- First automated return of lunar sample by Luna 16. [1]
- September 28
- Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser dies of a heart attack at age 52. [1]
- September 30
- A fire at the Smithsonian Institution damages portions of the Hall of Monetary History and Medallic Art. [551.22]
- In the Philippine Islands, a magnitude 5.3 earthquake occurs. [53]
- October 5
- In Canada, Quebec separatists kidnap British trade commissioner James Cross. [1]
- October 8
- Soviet author Alexander I Solzhenitsyn awarded Nobel Prize for Literature. [1]
- October 9
- Khmer Republic (Cambodia) declares independence. [1]
- October 10
- Fiji gains independence from Britain. [1] [700.47A]
- October 16
- Anwar Sadat elected president of Egypt, succeeding Gamal Abdel Nasser. [1]
- October 21
- Caledonian Airways takes over British United Airways. [1]
- October 24
- Salvador Allende Gossens elected president of Chile. [1]
- October 28
- US/USSR sign an agreement to discuss joint space efforts. [1]
- October 31
- In New Guinea, Papua New Guinea, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurs. [53]
- November 1
- Discotheque in Grenoble, France, burns, all exits padlocked and 142 die. [1]
- November 3
- Salvador Allende inaugurated as President of Chile. [1]
- November 10
- General Motors signs a deal with holders of the Wankel patents for US$50 million. (In 1972, two Corvette test cars will be built with two-rotor and four-rotor engines.) [8]
- Luna 17, with unmanned self-propelled Lunokhod 1, is launched. [1]
- November 13
- Cyclone kills estimated 300,000 in Chittagong, Bangladesh. [1]
- Lieutenant General Hafez al-Assad becomes Prime Minister of Syria following military coup. [1]
- November 27
- Pope Paul VI wounded in chest during a visit to Philippines by a dagger-wielding Bolivian painter disguised as a priest. [1]
- November 30
- The People's Republic of Southern Yemen changes its name to The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen. [285.1086]
- December 1
- Independent People's Republic of South Yemen becomes the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen. [1]
- Luis Echeverria Alvarez sworn in as President of México. [1]
- December 7
- The Federal Republic of Germany signs a treaty with Poland recognizing the Oder-Neisse Line as a legitimate border. [1] [37]
- December 9
- Dutch Antilles: Government of Petronia falls. [1]
- December 10
- In the Peru-Ecuador border region, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake occurs. 72 people killed. [53]
- December 11
- Mediterranean Shipping Company is founded by Italian seaman Gianluigi Aponte as a container carrier, with first ship, the Patricia. [339]
- December 12
- Polish government proclaims price rise. [1]
- Small Astronomy Satellite Explorer 42 launched to study X-rays. [1]
- USSR performs underground nuclear test. [1]
- December 15
- South Korean ferry Namyong-Ho sinks in Strait of Korea, 308 die. [1]
- December 16
- New Jersey State Lottery begins sale of 50-cent tickets in a weekly lottery on a drawn 6-digit number. (This proves to be a big improvement over monthly and higher cost lotteries of New Hampshire and New York.) [86.57] [187.388] (1971 [39])
- December 17
- Gdansk, Poland shipworkers strike. [1]
- USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk. [1]
- December 20
- Edward Gierek succeeds Wladyslaw Gomulka as Poland's party leader. [1]
- December 22
- SS Commander Franz Stangl of Treblinka is sentenced to life imprisonment. [1]
- December 23
- 7,511th performance of Agatha Christie's Mousetrap (record). [1]
- French author Régis Debray freed in Bolivia. [1]
- New York World Trade Center reaches highest point (411 m). [1]
- USSR performs nuclear test. [1]
- December 24
- Nine Jews are convicted in Leningrad, Russia, for hijacking a plane. [1]
- December 27
- Hello, Dolly! closes at Saint James Theater in New York City after 2,844 performances. [1]
- December 28
- Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) adopts constitution. [1]
- December 31
- Paul McCartney files a lawsuit to dissolve the Beatles. [1]
- President Allende nationalizes Chilean coal mines. [1]
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