October 28

Historic Events

2025

Hurricane Melissa makes landfall near Black River, Jamaica, killing over 30 people, as well as tying the 1935 Labor Day hurricane as the most intense landfall in the North Atlantic. ›

2023

The 2023 Rugby World Cup final is held at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France. It saw South Africa defeat New Zealand 12 to 11, claiming their fourth Webb Ellis Cup, becoming the first nation to do so. ›

2018

Jair Bolsonaro is elected president of Brazil with 57 million votes, with Workers' Party candidate Fernando Haddad as the runner-up. It is the first time in 16 years that a Workers' Party candidate is not elected president. ›

2014

A rocket carrying NASA's Cygnus CRS Orb-3 resupply mission to the International Space Station explodes seconds after taking off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Wallops Island, Virginia. ›

2013

Five people are killed and 38 are injured after a car crashes into barriers at Tiananmen Square in China. ›

2009

The 28 October 2009 Peshawar bombing kills 117 and wounds 213. ›

2009

NASA successfully launches the Ares I-X mission, the only rocket launch for its short-lived Constellation program. ›

2009

US President Barack Obama signs the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. ›

2007

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner becomes the first directly elected female President of Argentina. ›

2006

A funeral service takes place at the Bykivnia graves for Ukrainians who were killed by the Soviet secret police. ›

1995

The Baku Metro fire sees 289 people killed and 270 injured. ›

1990

Georgia holds its only free election under Soviet rule. ›

1989

Aloha Island Air Flight 1712, a Twin Otter 300, crashed into terrain at night in Hawaii killing all 20 occupants onboard. ›

1982

The Spanish general election begins fourteen years of rule by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. ›

1971

Prospero becomes the only British satellite to be launched by a British rocket. ›

1965

Pope Paul VI promulgates Nostra aetate, by which the Roman Catholic Church officially recognizes the legitimacy of non-Christian faiths. ›

1962

The Cuban Missile Crisis ends and Premier Nikita Khrushchev orders the removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba. ›

1958

John XXIII is elected Pope. ›

1956

Hungarian Revolution: A de facto ceasefire comes into effect between armed revolutionaries and Soviet troops, who begin to withdraw from Budapest. Communist officials and facilities come under attack by revolutionaries. ›

1954

Aeroflot Flight 136 crashes near Krasnoyarsk, killing 19. ›

1949

An Air France Lockheed Constellation crashes in the Azores, killing all 48 people on board. ›

1948

Paul Hermann Müller is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the insecticidal properties of DDT. ›

1948

Ecological disaster in Donora, Pennsylvania. ›

1942

The Alaska Highway first connects Alaska to the North American railway network at Dawson Creek in Canada. ›

1928

Indonesia Raya, now the national anthem of Indonesia, is first played during the Second Indonesian Youth Congress. ›

1922

Italian fascists led by Benito Mussolini march on Rome and take over the Italian government. ›

1919

The U.S. Congress passes the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson's veto, paving the way for Prohibition to begin the following January. ›

1918

World War I: A new Polish government in western Galicia is established, triggering the Polish–Ukrainian War. ›

1918

World War I: Czech politicians peacefully take over the city of Prague, thus establishing the First Czechoslovak Republic. ›

1893

Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Pathétique receives its première performance only nine days before the composer's death. ›

1891

The Mino–Owari earthquake, the largest inland earthquake in Japan's history, occurs. ›

1886

US president Grover Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty. ›

1864

American Civil War: A Union attack on the Confederate capital of Richmond is repulsed. ›

1835

The United Tribes of New Zealand are established with the signature of the Declaration of Independence. ›

1834

The Pinjarra massacre occurs in the Swan River Colony. An estimated 30 Noongar people are killed by British colonists. ›

1776

American Revolutionary War: British troops under General William Howe attack General George Washington's Continental Army and capture Chatterton Hill in the Battle of White Plains during the New York and New Jersey campaign. ›

1746

The 1746 Lima–Callao earthquake causes up to 6,000 deaths in Peru, the deadliest in its history up to that point. ›

1726

The novel Gulliver's Travels written by Jonathan Swift is published. ›

1707

The 1707 Hōei earthquake causes more than 5,000 deaths in Japan. ›

1664

The Duke of York and Albany's Maritime Regiment of Foot, later to be known as the Royal Marines, is established. ›

1640

The Treaty of Ripon is signed, ending the hostilities of the Second Bishops' War. ›

1636

The Massachusetts Bay Colony votes to establish a theological college, which would later become Harvard University. ›

1628

French Wars of Religion: The Siege of La Rochelle ends with the surrender of the Huguenots after fourteen months. ›

1538

The Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino is founded in what is now the Dominican Republic. ›

1531

Abyssinian–Adal war: The Adal Sultanate seizes southern Ethiopia. ›

1520

Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Pacific Ocean. ›

1516

Second Ottoman–Mamluk War: Mamluks fail to stop the Ottoman advance towards Egypt at the Battle of Yaunis Khan. ›

1492

Christopher Columbus lands in Cuba on his first voyage to the New World, surmising that it is Japan. ›

1453

Ladislaus the Posthumous is crowned king of Bohemia in Prague. ›

1449

Christian I is crowned king of Denmark. ›

1420

Beijing is officially designated the capital of the Ming dynasty when the Forbidden City is completed. ›

1344

The lower town of Smyrna is captured by Latin Christians in response to Aydınid piracy during the Smyrniote crusades. ›

969

The Byzantine Empire recovers Antioch from Arab rule. ›

312

Constantine I defeats Maxentius, becoming the sole Roman emperor in the West. ›

306

Maxentius is proclaimed Roman emperor. ›

97

Roman emperor Nerva is forced by the Praetorian Guard to adopt general Marcus Ulpius Trajanus as his heir and successor. ›