Template:On this day - May 8

Hernando de Soto

• 589 – The Third Council of Toledo begins, which set a decisive course in the political and religious evolution of Visigothic Hispania, as King Reccared made a profession of the Catholic faith and claimed the conversion of the Gothic and Suebian peoples.
• 914 – In the Caliphate of Córdoba (present-day Spain) Abd al-Rahman III launches the second aceifa against the rebel leader Umar ibn Hafsun, governor of Bobastro, who had converted to Christianity.
• 1254 – Alfonso X the Wise grants the founding statutes of the University of Salamanca, the oldest in operation in Spain and the Hispanic world, and the third oldest in Europe.
• 1366 – In present-day Spain, Peter IV of Aragon grants Don Pedro Jordán de Urriés the castle and town of Ayerbe, and its lands.
• 1456 – Christian troops of King Henry IV of Castile reconquer from the Muslims the Town of Estepona in Málaga (present-day Spain).
• 1527 – On the Río de la Plata (between the present-day territories of Uruguay and Argentina), Spanish conquistadors led by the Italian navigator Sebastian Cabot (in the service of the Crown of Spain) are the first Europeans to sight the Paraná River.
• 1541 – In the present-day United States, Spanish conquistadors led by Hernando de Soto are the first Europeans to sight the Mississippi River, which they name Río del Espíritu Santo (River of the Holy Spirit).
• 1605 – Birth of Marcela de San Félix, Spanish poet and nun, daughter of Lope de Vega (d. 1687).
• 1701 – In Spain, the Cortes recognize Philip V of Bourbon as King.
• 1753 – Birth of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Mexican priest and military officer who stood out in the first stage of the Independence of Mexico (d. 1811).
• 1797 – Birth of José Rodríguez Losada, Spanish watchmaker, known for having donated to the Madrid City Council the Gobernación Clock that has presided over the Puerta del Sol in Madrid since 1866 (d. 1870).
• 1799 – Execution of José María España, Venezuelan military officer and politician (b. 1761).
• 1859 – Death of José Madrazo, Spanish painter and engraver, who evolved from the Baroque to the Neoclassical (b. 1781).
• 1863 – The Granadine Confederation takes the name of United States of Colombia.
• 1897 – Birth of José María Pemán, Spanish journalist and playwright (d. 1981).
• 1942 – In the Philippines, the United States troops surrender after five months of fighting against Japan.
• 1970 – In Costa Rica, José Figueres Ferrer assumes the presidency for the third and last time.
• 1981 – In Spain, Luis Buñuel, Eduardo Chillida, Cristóbal Halffter, Alfredo Kraus and Nicanor Zabaleta receive the Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts.
• 1987 – The Peruvian Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Secretary-General of the UN, receives the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation.
• 2013 – Death of Alfred Benlloch Llorach, prolific Spanish inventor with more than one hundred invention patents registered in different fields (b. 1917).
• 2015 – In Guatemala, Vice President Roxana Baldetti (the first Guatemalan woman to reach that office) resigns.
• 2018 – In Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado Quesada assumes the presidency, the youngest person of the Second Republic to reach the office.
• 2022 – In Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves Robles assumes the presidency for the 2022-2026 term.