On this day in History - Nov. 28

• 1095 - On the last day of the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II appoints Bishop Adhemar of Le Puy and Count Raymond IV of Toulouse to lead the First Crusade to the Holy Land.
• 1443 - Skanderbeg and his forces liberate Kruja, in Middle Albania and raise the Albanian flag.
• 1489 - Margaret Tudor was born (d. 1541). Queen of James IV of Scotland.
• 1520 - Having sailed from the Atlantic Ocean through the passage that came to be known as the Straits of Magellan, three ships under the command of native Portuguese explorer Fernão de Magalhães entered "The Sea of the South" on November 28, 1520. Thus the first westward crossing of the Pacific Ocean was launched. Learn more about Fernão de Magalhães (Ferdinand Magellan). See also: Ferdinand Magellan and the First Circumnavigation of the World
• 1582 - William Shakespeare 18, got married ; Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway, 26, pay a 40-pound bond for their marriage license in Stratford-upon-Avon.
• 1598 - Hans Nansen was born (d. 1667). Danish statesman.
• 1632 - Jean-Baptiste Lully was born (d. 1687). French composer.
• 1660 - At Gresham College, 12 men, including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, and Sir Robert Moray decide to found what is later known as the Royal Society.
• 1729 - Natchez Indians massacre 138 Frenchmen, 35 French women, and 56 children at Fort Rosalie, near the site of modern-day Natchez.
• 1757 - William Blake, born (d. 12 Aug 1827). English poet, painter, and engraver; Author of the citation: "To generalize is to be an idiot". Guided and encouraged by his visitations from the spiritual world, he engraved and painted many illustrated books, his finest works adorn the National Gallery and many of his poems have been put to music including Jerusalem.
• 1785 - The Treaty of Hopewell is signed.
• 1805 - John Stephens was born (d. 1852). American archeologist.
• 1810 - William Froude was born (d. 1879). British engineer and naval architect.
• 1820 - Friedrich Engels was born. German social philosopher. Coauthor with Karl Marx of The Communist Manifesto (1848).
• 1821 - Official date of Independence of Panama from Spain
• 1821 - Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov was born (d. 1878). Russian poet.
• 1837 - John Wesley Hyatt was born (d. 1920). American inventor of celluloid.
• 1843 - Ka Lahui: Hawaiian Independence Day - The Kingdom of Hawaii is officially recognized by the United Kingdom and France as an independent nation.
• 1862 - American Civil War: In the Battle of Cane Hill, Union troops under General John Blunt defeat General John Marmaduke's Confederates.
• 1870 - Jean Frédéric Bazille dies (b. 06 Dec 1841). French Impressionist painter born.
• Wilhelm Reiss became the first climber to reach the top of Cotopaxi, the world's highest active volcano, in Ecuador.
• 1880 - Inauguration of the railway service between Temiya and Sapporo (Japan)
• 1881 - Stefan Zweig was born (d. 1942). Austrian writer.
• 1895 - The first American (gasoline-powered) automobile race takes place in Chicago. Learn more about automobiles.. . The winner, travelled at a speed of 7 and 1/2 miles per hour! It took him 7 hrs. 53 minutes to make the trek. He won $2,000 for the effort.
• 1905 - The Irish political party Sinn Fein was founded by Arthur Griffith in Dublin.
• 1907 - Alberto Moravia, born , Italian author
• 1908 - Claude Lévi-Strauss was born in Belgium. French social anthropologist, a leading exponent of structuralism.
• 1912 - Albania - Declaration of Independence and subsequent formation of a National Government headed by Ismail Qemali.Read "A brief constitucional history of Albania"
• 1919 - American-born Lady Astor (Nancy Astor) is the first woman in British history elected to a seat in Parliament.
• 1929 - Berry Gordy, Jr. was born. He founded the Motown Record Corporation in Detroit in 1959, through which he developed many great rhythm-and-blues performers, including Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, and Michael Jackson.
• 1941 - Laura Antonelli was born. Italian actress.
• 1941 - Benito de Paula was born. Brazilian actor and composer.
• 1942 - Nearly 500 people died in a fire that destroyed the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston.
• 1943 - The Tehran Conference, attended by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, at which Stalin pressed for an invasion of France, opened this day in 1943.
• 1949 - Alexander Godunov was born (d. 1995). Russian composer and ballet dancer.
• 1958 - Chad, the Republic of the Congo, and Gabon become autonomous republics within the French Community.
• 1958 - Olegário Mariano dies in Rio de Janeiro (b. 24 Mar 1889). Brazilian poet, in 1938 he won the title "Príncipe dos Poetas Brasileiros" (Prince of the Brazilian Poets).
• 1960 - Mauritania declared its independence and left the French Community.
• 1961 - Gridiron football player Ernie Davis of Syracuse University became the first African American to win the prestigious Heisman Trophy.
• 1967 - Anna Nicole Smith was born in Houston, Texas. American model and television personality.
• 1968 - Enid Blyton dies (b. 1897). British children's author.
• 1975 - East Timor declares its independence from Portugal.
• 1975 - Erico Verissimo dies (b. 1905). Brazilian writer.
• 1978 - Fernando Peyroteu dies. Portuguese football player.
• 1979 - The Mount Erebus disaster: an Air New Zealand DC-10 crashes into Mount Erebus on a sightseeing trip, killing all 257 people on board.
• 1987 - Civilian convoy is attacked by RENAMO in Mozambique, 60 killed.
• 1987 - Choh Hao Li dies (b. 1913). Chinese biochemist.
• 1994 - Voters in Norway reject European Union membership (see Norwegian EU referendum, 1994).
• 1998 - Albania - New Constitution adopted on Independence Day.
• 1999 - Jorge Batlle Ibáñez (Partido Colorado) wins Presidential elections in Uruguay
• 2000 - The parliament of The Netherlands passed a bill permitting euthanasia under specified conditions.
• 2000 - Ukrainian politician Oleksander Moroz begins the Cassette Scandal by publicly accusing President Leonid Kuchma of involvement in the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze.
• 2002 - 13 people are killed in a hotel bombing in Mombasa.
• 2004 - Presidential elections in Romania
• Bahá'í Faith: Holy Day - Ascension of `Abdu'l-Bahá
• Independence Day in Mauritania (1960)