Template:On this day - May 4

Ferdinand VII

• 1455 – In the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada (present-day Spain), Christian troops of Henry IV of Castile enter the towns of Álora, Coín and Cártama (present-day Province of Málaga), laying waste to cereal fields and vineyards.
• 1502 – Christopher Columbus begins his fourth voyage to America.
• 1525 – Death of Pedro de Córdoba, Spanish missionary and Dominican friar, first Inquisitor of America and protector of the natives (b. 1482).
• 1589 – In Spain, the English privateer Francis Drake begins his attack on La Coruña, in command of the gigantic Counter-Armada that Queen Elizabeth of England sent against Spain, and which would end in total disaster.
• 1622 – Birth of Juan de Valdés Leal, Spanish Baroque painter (d. 1691).
• 1704 – Archduke Charles of Austria lands in Lisbon (Portugal) at the head of 14,000 men, thus beginning the War of the Spanish Succession.
• 1814 – In Spain, Ferdinand VII declares null and void the Constitution of 1812 and all the decisions approved by the Cortes of Cádiz.
• 1839 – In Lima (Peru) the newspaper El Comercio is founded, the oldest still published in the country.
• 1862 – At the Hacienda de las Traperas (Mexico) the Battle of Atlixco is fought, one day before the Battle of Puebla.
• 1872 – In Oroquieta (Spain) troops of the Liberal army, commanded by General Moriones, defeat the Carlists.
• 1875 – Birth of Ramiro de Maeztu, Spanish writer and politician (d. 1936).
• 1885 – Death of Francisco Valero y Padrón, Spanish politician, signatory of the Castilian Federal Pact (b. 1824).
• 1887 – Spain signs an agreement with the Triple Alliance on maintaining the status quo in the Mediterranean.
• 1910 – A magnitude 6.2 earthquake on the Richter scale almost completely destroys the city of Cartago, first capital of Costa Rica, leaving 1,000 dead, approximately 10% of the city's total population.
• 1917 – In the course of the First World War, Nicaragua breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany.
• 1927 – In Nicaragua, Augusto César Sandino refuses to hand over his weapons after the "Pact of Espino Negro", drafted in the United States.
• 1935 – In Granada (Spain) violent clashes break out over the sale of the newspaper Patria.
• 1938 – The Holy See recognizes the regime of Francisco Franco as the legitimate Government of Spain.
• 1939 – Spain withdraws from the League of Nations.
• 1950 – In Argentina, the government of Juan Domingo Perón arrests all the communist leaders.
• 1951 – In Nicaragua, Anastasio Somoza assumes the presidency.
• 1954 – In Paraguay, General Alfredo Stroessner stages a coup d'état and appoints himself President of the Republic.
• 1976 – The newspaper El País is founded in Madrid (Spain).
• 1979 – In Spain, within the framework of the transition to democracy, the new Senate is constituted.
• 1982 – In the course of the Falklands War, an Argentine aircraft sinks (with a missile) the destroyer Sheffield, the most modern ship of the British fleet.
• 2006 – In Mexico the red alert of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation begins.
• 2008 – In the Department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, a referendum on the autonomy of this region is held; the «yes» wins with 85.6%.
• 2023 – Death of Rafael Guillén, Spanish poet of the Generation of the 50s (b. 1933).