Template:On this day - April 20

Roger of Lauria

• 1194 – In Tordehumos (present-day Spain), the King of León, Alfonso IX, and the King of Castile, Alfonso VIII, sign the Treaty of Tordehumos.
• 1283 – Peter III of Aragon appoints Roger of Lauria admiral of the fleet of the Crown of Aragon and of the Kingdom of Sicily.
• 1482 – A Muslim army under the command of Muley Hacén attacks Alhama de Granada (present-day Spain), which is vigorously defended by the Christians.
• 1672 – Death of Juan Rana (Cosme Pérez), Spanish comic actor of the Golden Age (b. 1593).
• 1693 – Death of Claudio Coello, court painter of Charles II (b. 1642).
• 1702 – Birth of the Marquis of la Ensenada (Zenón de Somodevilla), Spanish politician (d. 1781).
• 1741 – The British troops are forced to withdraw with heavy losses after trying to take Cartagena de Indias, one of the greatest defeats in the history of the British Royal Navy.
• 1763 – In Seville (Spain), the bullring of the Real Maestranza is inaugurated; it will come to be called the Cathedral of Bullfighting.
• 1783 – At the Theater of the Santa Cruz in Barcelona (Spain), that city's first opera season begins.
• 1808 – King Ferdinand VII leaves Spain to meet Napoleon Bonaparte in Bayonne (France), a meeting at which he will be detained and from which he will not return until the French defeat.
• 1810 – After the resignation of Vicente Emparan, the Captaincy General of Venezuela is replaced by the Supreme Junta Preserving the Rights of Ferdinand VII.
• 1833 – King Ferdinand VII of Spain creates, by Royal Order, the Boletín Oficial de las Provincias Españolas.
• 1859 – A Franco-Spanish armed expedition sets sail from Spain and France bound for Cochinchina.
• 1862 – In Barcelona (Spain), the Gran Teatro del Liceo reopens after the reconstruction made necessary by the fire that destroyed it on 9 April of the previous year.
• 1866 – In Madrid (Spain), construction work begins on the National Library.
• 1893 – Birth of Joan Miró, Spanish sculptor, printmaker and ceramist (d. 1983).
• 1929 – In Spain, the Government of Miguel Primo de Rivera decrees the closure of the University of Barcelona (as it had already done in Madrid) because of growing student unrest.
• 1935 – Birth of Mario Camus, Spanish screenwriter and film director.
• 1961 – In Cuba, the final phase of the anti-Castro defeat in the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion is accelerated, so as to prevent the passing of the 72 hours the U.S. government needed to recognize a "provisional government", which would justify a direct invasion by the U.S. Navy and Army.
• 1992 – In Seville (Spain), the Universal Exposition of Seville opens.
• 1993 – Death of Mario Moreno, Cantinflas, Mexican actor and comedian.
• 2004 – In Guernica y Luno (Biscay), the oak of Guernica dies at the age of 146 years from a serious fungal infection.
• 2008 – In Paraguay, in historic elections, Fernando Lugo is elected President of the Republic. The Colorado Party loses the presidency after more than sixty years in power.
• 2020 – Death of Horacio Fontova, Argentine humorist, singer-songwriter, actor, draftsman and writer (b. 1946).