Today In History, November 28 • 1520 - Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic after passing through a South American strait now bearing his name. He was the first European to sail the Pacific from the east. • 1663 - The first report of giraffes in South Africa by a European is made by Jonas de la Guerre, whose expedition to Namaqualand finds them at Spoegrivier, some 190 km south of the Orange River. • 1757 - English poet, painter and engraver William Blake is born. Two of his best known works are Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. • 1821 - Panama declares itself independent of Spain and joins the Republic of Colombia. • 1885 - South Africa: The railway line from Cape Town is completed up to Kimberley. • 1897 - Germany occupies Kiao-Chow in northern China, where German missionaries were slain. • 1899 - Anglo-Boer War 2: The Battle of Modder River or Tweerivieren takes place, in which both General Methuen and General de la Rey are wounded. De la Reys son, Adriaan, is fatally wounded. 1900 – 1950 • 1904 – Namibia: Lidfontein, south of Hoachanas, is attacked during the German-Nama war of 1903-1908. • 1904 – Emily Chinea becomes the first woman in South Africa to be officially executed after being found guilty of murdering her husband. • 1905 - Sinn Fein Party, part of the Irish Republican movement, is founded in Dublin, Ireland. • 1907 – Namibia: Post offices are opened at Richthofen and Osona. • 1907 - King Leopold II of Belgium hands the administration of the Congo to the Belgium parliament. • 1916 - German planes make their first raid on London, already subject to Zeppelin bombardments. • 1919 - Lady Astor is elected first woman member of Britains Parliament. • 1922 - Six former ministers of Greece are executed.• 1934 - US bank robber George Baby Face Nelson is killed by FBI agents in Illinois. • 1937 - General Francisco Franco begins naval blockade of Spanish coast. • 1944 - Albania is liberated from German occupation. 1950 – 1990 • 1953 - New York City begins 11 days without newspapers because of a strike by photo engravers. • 1958 - Chad became an autonomous republic within the French community. • 1960 - Mauritania achieves independence from France. • 1966 - Michel Micombero proclaims Burundi a republic following the overthrow of King Ntare V. • 1971 - Jordans Prime Minister Wasfi Tell is assassinated while attending an Arab conference in Cairo, Egypt. • 1978 - The Iranian government bans religious marches. • 1980 - Haitian police arrest some 200 journalists, politicians, human rights activists, doctors and teachers for alleged communist-inspired agitation and criticising the governments economic policies. • 1980 - South Africa: Nelson Mandela receives the Jawaharlal Nehru Award. • 1987 - A South African Airways Boeing 747 crashed into the Indian Ocean. All 159 people aboard were killed. • 1989 - Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci arrived in New York after escaping her homeland through Hungary. • 1989 – Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi resigns after election defeat. 1990 – 2000 • 1990 - Singapores Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yew steps down after 31 years in power. • 1990 - Margaret Thatcher resigns as prime minister of Britain. • 1992 - In King Williams Town, South Africa, black militant gunmen attack a country club killing four people and injuring 20. • 1992 - Thousands peacefully demonstrate in at least 20 German cities protesting anti-foreigner violence by youth groups. • 1994 - Convicted US serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is clubbed to death in a Wisconsin prison by a fellow inmate. • 1997 - Fighting breaks out among President Laurent Kabilas soldiers in Kinshasa, Congo, when he orders the arrest of one of his aides. Eighteen people are killed. • 1998 - Congo reaches a ceasefire agreement in Paris with Uganda and Rwanda, which support rebels in Congo, but the rebel groups themselves are not consulted and vow to battle on. • 1999 - Hsing-Hsing, the only panda at the Washington National Zoo in the US capital, is put to sleep after months of failing health. 2000 – 2011 • 2001 - Enron Corp, the largest US energy-trading concern, collapses after its credit is downgraded to junk-bond status and its smaller rival, Dynegy Inc, backs out of a US$9 billion deal to buy the troubled company. • 2005 - A toxic chemical spill in China winds its way downriver from a major northeastern Chinese city, forcing authorities to cut off water supplies to communities along its banks. • 2007 - President Pervez Musharraf steps down from his powerful post as Pakistans military commander, a day before he is to be sworn in as a civilian president in a long-delayed pledge not to hold both jobs. • 2008 - Somali pirates hijack a chemical tanker with dozens of Indian crew members in the Gulf of Aden. • 2010 - WikiLeaks makes public more than 250 000 US diplomatic cables. About 100 000 were marked secret or confidential. • 2011 - European leaders rush to stop a rampaging debt crisis that threatens to shatter their 12-year-old experiment in a common currency and devastate the world economy as a result. – Today In History, On This day In History
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 12:30:43 +0000
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