April 22 is the 112th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (113th in leap years). There are 253 days remaining.

• 1500 - Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral becomes the first European to sight Brazil.
• 1509 - Henry VIII ascends the throne of England after the death of his father.
• 1529 - Treaty of Saragossa divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal along a line 297.5 leagues or 17° east of the Moluccas.
• 1836 - Texas Revolution: A day after the Battle of San Jacinto forces under Texas General Sam Houston capture Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
• 1863 - American Civil War: Grierson's Raid begins – troops under Union Colonel Benjamin Grierson attack central Mississippi.
• 1864 - The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act which mandates that the inscription "In God We Trust" be placed on all coins minted as United States currency.
• 1889 - Oklahoma land rush: President Benjamin Harrison opens the Unassigned Lands in what is now central Oklahoma to white settlement.
• 1898 - Spanish-American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports and the USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship.
• 1913 - Pravda, the "voice" of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, begins publications in Saint Petersburg.
• 1914 - Babe Ruth, age 19, pitches his first professional game for the minor league Baltimore Orioles.
• 1915 - The use of poison gas in World War I escalates when chlorine gas is released as a chemical weapon in the Second Battle of Ypres.
• 1930 - The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding.
• 1943 - Albert Hofmann writes his first report about the hallucinogenic properties of LSD.
• 1944 - World War II: Operation Persecution initiated – Allied forces land in the Hollandia area of New Guinea.
• 1945 - World War II: After learning that Soviet forces have taken Eberswalde without a fight, Adolf Hitler admits defeat in his underground bunker and states that suicide is his only recourse.
• 1946 - The first installment of the popular Japanese comic strip, Sazae-san, is published in the Fukunichi Shimbun.
• 1954 - Red Scare: Army-McCarthy Hearings begin.
• 1964 - The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair opens for its first season.
• 1970 - First Earth Day celebrated.
• 1971 - John Kerry, dressed in combat fatigues, testifies on his views of the Vietnam War before the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee
• 1972 - Vietnam War: Increased American bombing in Vietnam prompts antiwar protests in New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
• 1975 - Barbara Walters signs a five-year $5 million contract with the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), becoming the highest paid television newsperson.
• 1978 - The Blues Brothers make their first appearance on Saturday Night Live.
• 1979 - Brent Mydland performs his first show with the Grateful Dead at Spartan Stadium, San Jose, California.
• 1993 - In Washington, DC, the Holocaust Memorial Museum is dedicated.
• 1993 - The web browser Mosaic version 1.0 is released.
• 1996 - Cisco Systems acquires StrataCom for $4B
• 1997 - Haouch Khemisti massacre in Algeria; 93 villagers killed.
• 1997 - A 126-day hostage crisis at the residence of the Japanese ambassador in Lima, Peru ends after government commandos storm and capture the building, rescuing 71 hostages. One hostage dies of a heart attack, two soldiers are killed from rebel fire, and all 14 rebels are slain.
• 2000 - In a predawn raid, federal agents seize six-year-old Elián González from his relatives' home in Miami, Florida.
• 2000 - The Big Number Change takes place in the United Kingdom.
• 2004 - Two fuel trains collide in Ryongchon, North Korea, killing up to 150 people.

• 1451 - Queen Isabella of Castile and Leon (d. 1504)
• 1550 - Edward de Vere, Lord Great Chamberlain of England (d. 1604)
• 1610 - Pope Alexander VIII (d. 1691)
• 1658 - Giuseppe Torelli, Italian composer (d. 1709)
• 1690 - John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, English statesman (d. 1763)
• 1692 - James Stirling, Scottish mathematician (d. 1770)
• 1707 - Henry Fielding, English author (d. 1754)
• 1711 - Eleazar Wheelock, American founder of Dartmouth College (d. 1779)
• 1724 - Immanuel Kant, German philosopher (d. 1804)
• 1766 - Madame de Staël, French author (d. 1817)
• 1812 - Solomon Caesar Malan, British orientalist (d. 1894)
• 1816 - Charles Denis Bourbaki, French general
• 1840 - Odilon Redon, French painter (d. 1916)
• 1844 - Lewis Thornton Powell, would-be assassin of Secretary of State William Seward (d. 1865)
• 1852 - Guillaume IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (d. 1912)
• 1854 - Henri La Fontaine, Belgian lawyer and activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1943)
• 1860 - Ada Rehan, American stage actress (d. 1916)
• 1870 (N.S.) - Vladimir Lenin, Russian revolutionary (d. 1924)
• 1873 - Ellen Glasgow, American author (d. 1945)
• 1876 - Robert Bárány, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1936)
• 1876 - Georg Lurich, Estonian wrestler (d. 1920)
• 1881 - Alexander Kerensky, Russian politician (d. 1970)
• 1884 - Otto Rank, Austrian psychologist (d. 1939)
• 1891 - Harold Jeffreys, English astronomer (d. 1989)
• 1899 - Vladimir Nabokov, Russian writer (d. 1977)
• 1904 - Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist (d. 1967)
• 1906 - Eddie Albert, American actor (d. 2005)
• 1906 - Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Westrobothnia, second in line to the Swedish throne (d. 1946)
• 1907 - Ivan Efremov, Russian paleontologist and author (d. 1972)
• 1909 - Rita Levi-Montalcini, Italian neurologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• 1910 - Norman Steenrod, American mathematician (d. 1971)
• 1912 - Kathleen Ferrier, British contralto (d. 1953)
• 1914 - Jan de Hartog, Dutch writer (d. 2002)
• 1916 - Yehudi Menuhin, American-born violinist (d. 1999)
• 1918 - Mickey Vernon, baseball player
• 1919 - Donald J. Cram, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2001)
• 1922 - Charles Mingus, American musician (d. 1979)
• 1922 - Wolf V. Vishniac, American microbiologist (d. 1973)
• 1923 - Bettie Page, American model
• 1923 - Aaron Spelling, American television producer and writer
• 1926 - Charlotte Rae, American actress
• 1926 - James Stirling, British architect (d. 1992)
• 1935 - Paul Chambers, American jazz bassist (d. 1969)
• 1936 - Glen Campbell, American musician
• 1937 - Jack Nicholson, American actor
• 1937 - Jack Nitzsche, American composer and arranger (d. 2000)
• 1939 - Jason Miller, American actor (d. 2001)
• 1943 - Louise Glück, American poet
• 1944 - Steve Fossett, American adventurer
• 1946 - John Waters, American film writer and director
• 1950 - Peter Frampton, British musician
• 1950 - Zygi Wilf, owner of the Minnesota Vikings
• 1952 - Marilyn Chambers, American actress
• 1958 - Ken Olandt, American actor
• 1959 - Catherine Mary Stewart, Canadian actress
• 1959 - Ryan Stiles, Canadian-born actor and comedian
• 1962 - Jeff Minter, British video game programmer
• 1965 - Peter Zezel, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1967 - Sheryl Lee, American actress
• 1967 - Harvey Williams, American football player
• 1968 - Zarley Zalapski, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1970 - Andrea Giani, Italian volleyball player
• 1972 - Owen Finegan, Australian International Rugby Union
• 1974 - Shavo Odadjian, Armenian-born bassist (System of a Down)
• 1975 - Greg Moore, Canadian race car driver (d. 1999)
• 1977 - Andruw Jones, baseball player
• 1979 - Daniel Johns, lead singer of Australian band Silverchair
• 1981 - Ken Dorsey, American football player
• 1982 - Kaká, Brazilian footballer
• 1983 - Matt Jones, American football player
• 1983 - Kevin Wilson, Singer/songwriter

• 296 - Pope Caius
• 536 - Pope Agapetus I
• 1592 - Bartolomeo Ammanati, Italian architect and sculptor (b. 1511)
• 1672 - Georg Stiernhielm, Swedish poet (b. 1598)
• 1699 - Hans Erasmus Aßmann, Freiherr von Abschatz, German statesman and poet (b. 1646)
• 1758 - Antoine de Jussieu, French naturalist (b. 1686)
• 1778 - James Hargreaves, English weaver, carpenter, and inventor (b. 1720)
• 1806 - Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, French admiral (stabbed) (b. 1763)
• 1833 - Richard Trevithick, English inventor (b. 1771)
• 1892 - Edouard Lalo, French composer (b. 1823)
• 1896 - Thomas Meik, British civil engineer (b. 1812)
• 1908 - Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1836)
• 1925 - André Caplet, French composer (b. 1878)
• 1930 - Jeppe Aakjaer, Danish poet and novelist {b. 1866)
• 1945 - Käthe Kollwitz, German artist (b. 1867)
• 1946 - Harlan F. Stone, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (b. 1872)
• 1951 - Horace Donisthorpe, British entomologist (b. 1870)
• 1968 - Stephen H. Sholes, American recording executive (b. 1911)
• 1978 - Will Geer, American actor and activist (b. 1902)
• 1980 - Jane Froman, American actor and singer (b. 1907)
• 1980 - Fritz Strassmann, German physicist (b. 1902)
• 1983 - Earl "Fatha" Hines, British jazz pianist (b. 1903)
• 1984 - Ansel Adams, American photographer (b. 1902)
• 1985 - Paul H. Emmett, American chemical engineer (b. 1900)
• 1986 - Mircea Eliade, Romanian writer and philosopher (b. 1907)
• 1994 - Richard Nixon, President of the United States (b. 1913)
• 1995 - Maggie Kuhn, American activist (b. 1905)
• 1996 - Erma Bombeck, American humorist and writer (b. 1927)
• 2002 - Linda Lovelace, American actress (b. 1949)
• 2003 - Martha Griffiths, U.S. Congresswoman (b. 1912)
• 2003 - Michael Larrabee, American athlete (b. 1933)
• 2004 - Pat Tillman, American football player and U.S. Army Ranger (killed in action) (b. 1976)
• 2005 - Philip Morrison, American physicist (b. 1915)

• Earth Day
• Brazil - Discovery Day

• BBC: On This Day

April 21 - April 23 - March 22 - May 22 – listing of all days