September 28 in History

September 28 spans 60 recorded events across recorded history, from 48 BC to 2023. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.

Holidays and observances on September 28

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American Revolution: Samuel Huntington is elected President of the Continental C

1779 — American Revolution: Samuel Huntington is elected President of the Continental Congress, succeeding John Jay.

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Historical Events 60 events 48 BC – 2023

More major events on September 28

The featured story and these ranked highlights form a quick summary. Every recorded event remains available in the chronology below.

  1. 1871 The Brazilian Parliament passes a law that frees all children thereafter born to slaves, and all government-owned slaves. Source
  2. 1821 The Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire is drafted. It will be made public on 13 October. Source

Did you know

In 1779, American Revolution: Samuel Huntington is elected President of the Continental Congress, succeeding John Jay. This featured entry focuses on the immediate decision and its direct historical impact.

Did you know

The American Revolution (1765–1789) was a political movement in the Thirteen Colonies of Great Britain. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.

Did you know

It began as a colonial rebellion and turned into a revolution eventually resulting into the creation of the United States, which was the outcome of the associated American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). This clarifies the institutional and public response around the event.

Did you know

The Second Continental Congress, as the provisional government, established the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander-in-chief in 1775. This shows how the event shaped policy and public communication in the same period.

Did you know

The following year, the Congress passed the Lee Resolution on July 2nd and unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4th. This helps explain why the event mattered beyond the initial announcement.


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Showing all 59 events

-48 Pompey

Pompey disembarks at Pelusium upon arriving in Egypt, whereupon he is assassinated by order of King Ptolemy XIII.

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a Roman general and statesman who was prominent in the final decades of the Roman Republic. As a young man, he was a partisan and protégé of the dictator Sulla, after whose death he achieved significant military and political success.
235 Pope Pontian

Pope Pontian resigns.

He is exiled to the mines of Sardinia, along with Hippolytus of Rome.
Pope Pontian (Latin: Pontianus; died October 235) was the bishop of Rome from 21 July 230 to 28 September 235. In 235, during the persecution of Christians in the reign of the Emperor Maximinus Thrax, Pontian was arrested and sent to the island of Sardinia. He abdicated to make the election of a new pope possible. Resigning on 28 September 235, he was the first pope to do so. This allowed an orderly transition in the Church of Rome and so ended a schism that had existed in the Church for eighteen years. Some accounts say he was beaten to death only weeks after his arrival on Sardinia. Pontian is venerated as a saint in both the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.
351

Constantius II defeats the usurper Magnentius.

The Battle of Mursa was fought on 28 September 351 between the eastern Roman armies led by the Emperor Constantius II and the western forces supporting the usurper Magnentius. It took place at Mursa, near the Via Militaris in the province of Pannonia (modern Osijek, Croatia). The battle, one of the bloodiest in Roman history, was a pyrrhic victory for Constantius.
365 AD_365

Roman usurper Procopius bribes two legions passing by Constantinople, and proclaims himself emperor.

Year 365 (CCCLXV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in the West as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Valens. The denomination 365 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
935 Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia

Duke Wenceslaus I of Bohemia is murdered by a group of nobles led by his brother Boleslaus I, who succeeds him.

Wenceslaus I (Czech: Václav [ˈvaːtslaf] ; c. 907 – 28 September 935), Wenceslas I or Václav the Good was the Prince (kníže) of Bohemia from 921 until his death, probably in 935. According to the legend, he was assassinated by his younger brother, Boleslaus the Cruel. His martyrdom and the popularity of several biographies gave rise to a reputation for heroic virtue that resulted in his sainthood. He was posthumously declared to be a king and patron saint of the Czech state. He is the subject of the well-known "Good King Wenceslas", a carol for Saint Stephen's Day.
995 Boleslaus II of Bohemia

Boleslaus II, Duke of Bohemia, kills most members of the rival Slavník dynasty.

Boleslaus II the Pious (Czech: Boleslav II. Pobožný, Polish: Bolesław II Pobożny; c. 932 – 7 February 999), a member of the Přemyslid dynasty, was Duke of Bohemia from 972 until his death in 999.
1066 William the Conqueror

William the Conqueror lands in England, beginning the Norman conquest.

William the Conqueror (c. 1028 – 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was Duke of Normandy (as William II) from 1035 onward. By 1060, following a long struggle, his hold on Normandy was secure. In 1066, following the death of Edward the Confessor, William invaded England, leading a Franco-Norman army to victory over the Anglo-Saxon forces of Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings. He suppressed subsequent English revolts in what has become known as the Norman Conquest. The rest of his life was marked by struggles to consolidate his hold over England and his continental lands, and by difficulties with his eldest son, Robert Curthose. William was the son of the unmarried Duke Robert I of Normandy and his mistress Herleva. His illegitimate status and youth caused some difficulties for him after he succeeded his father, as did the anarchy which plagued the first years of his rule. During his childhood and adolescence, members of the Norman aristocracy battled each other, both for control of the child duke and for their own ends. In 1047, William quashed a rebellion and began to establish his authority over the duchy, a process that was not complete until about 1060. His marriage in the 1050s to Matilda of Flanders provided him with a powerful ally in the neighbouring county of Flanders. By the time of his marriage, William was able to arrange the appointment of his supporters as bishops and abbots in the Norman church. His consolidation of power allowed him to expand his horizons, and he secured control of the neighbouring county of Maine by 1062. In the 1050s and early 1060s, William became a contender for the throne of England held by the childless Edward the Confessor, his first cousin once removed. There were other potential claimants, including the powerful English earl Harold Godwinson, whom Edward named as king on his deathbed in January 1066. Arguing that Edward had previously promised the throne to him and that Harold had sworn to support his claim, William built a large fleet and invaded England in September 1066. He decisively defeated and killed Harold at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066. After further military efforts, William was crowned king on Christmas Day, 1066 in London. He made arrangements for the governance of England in early 1067 before returning to Normandy. Several unsuccessful rebellions followed, but William's hold on England was mostly secure by 1075, allowing him to spend the greater part of his reign in continental Europe. William's final years were marked by difficulties in his continental domains, troubles with his son, Robert, and threatened invasions of England by the Danes. In 1086, he ordered the compilation of the Domesday Book, a survey listing all of the land-holdings in England along with their pre-Conquest and current holders. He died in September 1087 while leading a campaign in northern France, and was buried in Caen. His reign in England was marked by the construction of castles, settling a new Norman nobility on the land, and a change in the composition of the English clergy. He did not try to integrate his domains into one empire but continued to administer each part separately. His lands were divided after his death: Normandy went to Robert, and England went to his second surviving son, William Rufus.
1106 Henry I of England

King Henry I of England defeats his brother Robert Curthose at the Battle of Tinchebray.

Henry I (c. 1068 – 1 December 1135), also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. On William's death in 1087, Henry's elder brothers Robert Curthose and William Rufus inherited Normandy and England, respectively, thereby leaving Henry landless. He subsequently purchased the County of Cotentin in western Normandy from Robert, but his brothers deposed him in 1091. He gradually rebuilt his power base in the Cotentin and allied himself with William Rufus against Robert. When William died in a hunting accident, Henry seized the English throne ahead of Robert, promising at his coronation to correct many of William's less popular policies. He married Matilda of Scotland and they had two surviving children, Empress Matilda and William Adelin. Robert disputed Henry's control of England and invaded from Normandy in 1101. The ensuing military campaign ended in a negotiated settlement that confirmed Henry as king. The peace was short-lived, however, and Henry invaded the Duchy of Normandy in 1105 and 1106, finally defeating Robert at the Battle of Tinchebray. Henry kept Robert imprisoned for the rest of Robert's life. Henry's control of Normandy was subsequently challenged by Louis VI of France, Baldwin VII of Flanders and Fulk V of Anjou, who promoted the rival claims of Robert's son, William Clito, and supported a major rebellion in the Duchy between 1116 and 1119. Following Henry's victory at the Battle of Brémule, a favourable peace settlement was agreed with Louis in 1120. Considered by contemporaries to be a harsh but effective ruler, Henry skilfully manipulated the barons in England and Normandy. In England, he drew on the existing Anglo-Saxon system of justice, local government and taxation, but also strengthened it with more institutions such as the royal exchequer and itinerant justices. Many of the officials who ran Henry's system were "new men" of obscure backgrounds, rather than from families of high status, who rose through the ranks as administrators. Henry encouraged ecclesiastical reform but became embroiled in a serious dispute in 1101 with Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury, which was resolved through a compromise solution in 1105. He supported the Cluniac order and played a major role in the selection of the senior clergy in England and Normandy. Henry's son William drowned in the White Ship disaster of 1120, throwing the royal succession into doubt. Henry took a second wife, Adeliza of Louvain, in the hope of having another son, but their marriage was childless. In response to this, he declared his daughter Matilda his heir and married her to Geoffrey of Anjou. The relationship between Henry and the couple became strained, and fighting broke out along the border with Anjou. Henry died on 1 December 1135 after a week of illness. Despite his plans for Matilda, the King was succeeded by his nephew Stephen of Blois, resulting in a period of civil war known as the Anarchy.
1213 Gertrude of Merania

Queen consort Gertrude of Merania is assassinated by a group of Hungarian lords.

Gertrude of Merania (c. 1185 – 28 September 1213) was Queen of Hungary as the first wife of Andrew II from 1205 until her assassination. She was regent during her husband's absence.
1238 James I of Aragon

King James I of Aragon conquers Valencia from the Moors.

Shortly thereafter, he proclaims himself king of Valencia.
James I the Conqueror (Catalan: Jaume I or Jaume el Conqueridor; Aragonese: Chaime I o Conqueridor; 2 February 1208 – 27 July 1276) was the 11th King of Aragon, 38th Count of Barcelona, and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 to 1276; King of Majorca from 1231 to 1276; and King of Valencia from 1238 to 1276. His long reign of 62 years is not only the longest of any Iberian monarch, but one of the longest monarchical reigns in history, ahead of Hirohito of Japan but remaining behind Elizabeth II of Britain, Queen Victoria of Britain, Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, and King Louis XIV of France. King James I saw the expansion of the Crown of Aragon in three directions: Languedoc to the north, the Balearic Islands to the southeast, and Valencia to the south. By a treaty with Louis IX of France, he achieved the renunciation of any possible claim of French suzerainty over the County of Barcelona and the other Catalan counties, while he renounced northward expansion and taking back the once Catalan territories in Occitania and vassal counties loyal to the County of Barcelona, lands that were lost by his father Peter II of Aragon in the Battle of Muret during the Albigensian Crusade and annexed by the Kingdom of France, and then decided to turn south. His great part in the Reconquista was similar in Mediterranean Spain to that of his contemporary Ferdinand III of Castile in Andalusia. One of the main reasons for this formal renunciation of most of the once Catalan territories in Languedoc and Occitania, and any expansion into them, is that he was raised by the Knights Templar Crusaders, who had defeated his father, who was fighting for the Pope alongside the French. It was thus effectively forbidden for him to try to maintain the traditional influence of the Count of Barcelona that previously existed in Occitania and Languedoc. As a legislator and organiser, he occupies a high place among the European kings. King James I compiled the Llibre del Consolat de Mar, which governed maritime trade and helped establish Aragonese supremacy in the western Mediterranean. He was an important figure in the development of the Catalan language, sponsoring Catalan literature and writing a quasi-autobiographical chronicle of his reign: the Llibre dels fets.
1322 Battle of Mühldorf

Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor, defeats Frederick I of Austria in the Battle of Mühldorf.

The Battle of Mühldorf (also known as the Battle of Ampfing) was fought near Mühldorf am Inn on September 28, 1322 between the Duchy of (Upper) Bavaria and the Archduchy of Austria. The Bavarians were led by German King Louis of Wittelsbach, while the Austrians were under the command of his cousin, Anti-king Frederick of Habsburg.
1538 Battle of Preveza

Ottoman–Venetian War: The Ottoman Navy scores a decisive victory over a Holy League fleet in the Battle of Preveza.

The Battle of Preveza (also known as Prevesa) was a naval engagement that occurred on 28 September 1538 near Preveza in the Ionian Sea in northwest Greece, in the same area as the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. The battle was between an Ottoman fleet, led by Kapudan Pasha Hayreddin Barbarossa, and a Holy League of Venetian and Hispano-Imperial composition, led by Genoese admiral Andrea Doria. It was part of both the Ottoman–Habsburg wars and the Ottoman Venetian War of 1537-1547. It ended with the Holy League defeated by the Ottomans despite its enormous advantage in numbers and tonnage. The course of the battle is uncertain; according to historian Roger Merriman, "accounts of it are so contradictory that it is almost impossible to reach the truth". Traditional historiography, aligned with Venetian sources, holds the Holy Fleet was undone by an inexplicable lack of initiative by Doria, who might have had secret incentives to throw the battle. The Genoese were long time rivals to the Venetians, while Barbarossa was in midst of negotiations with Doria for a possible change of sides. Conversely, Imperial sources blame the defeat on the Venetians, who would have refused to follow Doria's orders in a decisive moment out of the same enmity. The battle was amongst the three largest in the Mediterranean in the sixteenth century, alongside the Battle of Djerba and the Battle of Lepanto. In contrast, it was relatively uneventful, although it still resulted in a rupture between the Christian navies. This marked the beginning of the Ottoman Empire as the first naval power in the Mediterranean, which lasted thirty years until their loss in Lepanto in 1571.
1542 Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo

Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo of Portugal arrives at what is now San Diego, California.

He is the first European in California.
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo (Portuguese: João Rodrigues Cabrilho; c. 1497 – January 3, 1543) was a Portuguese maritime explorer best known for investigations of the west coast of North America, undertaken on behalf of the Spanish Empire. He was the first European to explore present-day Alta California, navigating along the coast of California in 1542–1543 on his voyage from New Spain (modern Mexico).
1644 Navy_of_the_Order_of_Saint_John

A Hospitaller galley squadron defeats an Ottoman convoy in the action of 28 September 1644.

The navy of the Order of Saint John, also known as the Maltese Navy, was the navy of the Knights Hospitaller. Established in the Middle Ages during the 12th century, it moved to Hospitaller Malta in 1530 and reached its peak in the 1680s under the direction of Grand Master Gregorio Carafa.
1781 American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War: French and American forces backed by a French fleet begin the siege of Yorktown.

The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence or simply the American Revolution, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which American Patriot forces organized as the Continental Army and, commanded by George Washington, defeated the British Army. The conflict was fought in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. The war's outcome seemed uncertain for most of the war, but Washington and the Continental Army's decisive victory in the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 had led King George III and much of the Kingdom of Great Britain to negotiate an end to the war. In 1783, in the Treaty of Paris, the British monarchy acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, leading to the establishment of the United States as an independent and sovereign nation. In 1763, after the British Empire gained dominance in North America following its victory over the French colonial Empire in the Seven Years' War, tensions and disputes began escalating between the British and the Thirteen Colonies, especially following passage of the Stamp and Townshend Acts. The British Army responded by seeking to occupy Boston militarily, leading to the Boston Massacre in a panic, on March 5, 1770. In mid-1774, with tensions escalating even further between the British Army and the Continental army, the British Parliament imposed the Intolerable Acts, an attempt to disarm British-American colonists, leading to the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the first battles of the Revolutionary War. In June 1775, the Second Continental Congress voted to incorporate colonial-based Patriot militias into a central military, the Continental Army, and unanimously appointed Washington its commander-in-chief. Two months later, in August 1775, George III declared the colonies to be in a state of rebellion. In July 1776, the Second Continental Congress formalized the war, passing the Lee Resolution on July 2, and, two days later, unanimously adopting the Declaration of Independence, on July 4. In March 1776, in an early win for the newly-formed Continental Army under Washington's command, following a successful siege of Boston, the Continental Army successfully drove the British Army out of Boston. British commander in chief William Howe responded by launching the New York and New Jersey campaign, which resulted in Howe's capture of New York City in November. Washington responded by clandestinely crossing the Delaware River and winning small but pretty significant victories at Trenton and Princeton. In the summer of 1777, as Howe was poised to capture Philadelphia, the Continental Congress fled to Baltimore. In October 1777, a separate northern British armed force led under the command of John Burgoyne was forced to surrender at Saratoga in an American victory that also proved a crucial role in convincing France and Spain that an independent United States was a viable possibility. France signed a commercial agreement with the revolutionaries, followed by a Treaty of Alliance in February 1778. In 1779, the Sullivan Expedition undertook a scorched earth campaign against British-allied factions of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (also Iroquois). American Indian raids on the American frontier, however, continued to be a problem. Also, in 1779, Spain allied with France against Great Britain in the Treaty of Aranjuez, though Spain did not formally ally with the Americans. Howe's replacement Henry Clinton intended to take the war against the British American colonists into the Southern Colonies. Despite some initial success, British General Cornwallis was besieged by a Franco-American army in Yorktown, Virginia, in September and October 1781. The French navy cut off Cornwallis's escape and he was forced to surrender in October. The British wars with France and Spain continued for another two years, but fighting largely ceased in North America. In the Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, Great Britain acknowledged the sovereignty and independence of the United States, bringing the American Revolutionary War to an end. The Treaties of Versailles resolved Great Britain's conflicts with France and Spain, and forced Great Britain to cede Tobago, Senegal, and small territories in India to France, and Menorca, West Florida, and East Florida to Spain.
1787 History of the United States Constitution

The Congress of the Confederation votes to send the newly written United States Constitution to the state legislatures for approval.

The United States Constitution has served as the supreme law of the United States since taking effect in 1789. The document was written at the 1787 Philadelphia Convention and was ratified through a series of state conventions held in 1787 and 1788. Since 1789, the Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times; particularly important amendments include the ten amendments of the United States Bill of Rights, the three Reconstruction Amendments, and the Nineteenth Amendment. The Constitution grew out of efforts to reform the Articles of Confederation, an earlier constitution which provided for a loose alliance of states with a weak central government. From May 1787 through September 1787, delegates from twelve of the thirteen states convened in Philadelphia, where they wrote a new constitution. Two alternative plans were developed at the convention. The nationalist majority, soon to be called "Federalists", put forth the Virginia Plan, a consolidated government based on proportional representation among the states by population. The "old patriots", later called "Anti-Federalists", advocated the New Jersey Plan, a purely federal proposal, based on providing each state with equal representation. The Connecticut Compromise allowed for both plans to work together. Other controversies developed regarding slavery and a Bill of Rights in the original document. The drafted Constitution was submitted to the Congress of the Confederation in September 1787; that same month it approved the forwarding of the Constitution as drafted to the states, each of which would hold a ratification convention. The Federalist Papers, were published in newspapers while the states were debating ratification, which provided background and justification for the Constitution. Some states agreed to ratify the Constitution only if the amendments that were to become the Bill of Rights would be taken up immediately by the new government. In September 1788, the Congress of the Confederation certified that eleven states had ratified the new Constitution, and chose dates for federal elections and the transition to the new constitution on March 4, 1789. The new government began on March 4, 1789, with eleven states assembled in New York City. North Carolina waited to ratify the Constitution until after the Bill of Rights was passed by the new Congress, and Rhode Island's ratification would only come after a threatened trade embargo. In 1791, the states ratified the Bill of Rights, which established protections for various civil liberties. The Bill of Rights initially only applied to the federal government, but following a process of incorporation most protections of the Bill of Rights now apply to state governments. Further amendments to the Constitution have addressed federal relationships, election procedures, terms of office, expanding the electorate, financing the federal government, consumption of alcohol, and congressional pay. Between 1865 and 1870, the states ratified the Reconstruction Amendments, which abolished slavery, guaranteed equal protection of the law, and implemented prohibitions on the restriction of voter rights. The meaning of the Constitution is interpreted by judicial review in the federal courts. The original parchment copies are on display at the National Archives Building.
1821 Declaration of Independence (Mexico)

The Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire is drafted.

It will be made public on 13 October.
The Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire (Spanish: Acta de Independencia del Imperio Mexicano) is the document by which Mexico declared independence from the Spanish Empire. This founding document of the Mexican nation was drafted in the National Palace in Mexico City on 28 September 1821, by Juan José Espinosa de los Monteros, secretary of the Provisional Governmental Board. Three copies of the act were executed. One was destroyed in a fire in 1909. The other two copies are in the Museo Histórico de Acapulco Fuerte de San Diego in Acapulco and in the General Archive of the Nation in Mexico City. The document is 52.9 centimeters (20.8 in) wide and 71.8 centimeters (28.3 in) high.
1844 Oscar I of Sweden

Oscar I of Sweden–Norway is crowned king of Sweden.

Oscar I (born Joseph François Oscar Bernadotte; 4 July 1799 – 8 July 1859) was King of Sweden and Norway from 8 March 1844 until his death in 1859. He was the second monarch of the House of Bernadotte. The only child of King Charles XIV John, Oscar inherited the thrones upon the death of his father. Throughout his reign he would pursue a liberal course in politics in contrast to Charles XIV John, instituting reforms and improving ties between Sweden and Norway. In an address to him in 1857, the Riksdag declared that he had promoted the material prosperity of the kingdom more than any of his predecessors.
1867 History_of_Toronto

Toronto becomes the capital of Ontario, having also been the capital of Ontario's predecessors since 1796.

Toronto, Canada's largest city, was founded as the Town of York and capital of Upper Canada in 1793 after the Mississaugas sold the land to the British in the Toronto Purchase. For over 12,000 years, Indigenous People have lived in the Toronto area. The ancestors of the Huron-Wendat were the first known groups to establish agricultural villages in the area about 1,600 years ago.
1868 Battle of Alcolea (1868)

The Battle of Alcolea causes Queen Isabella II of Spain to flee to France.

The Battle of Alcolea took place on 28 September 1868, over a bridge above Guadalquivir river in the town of Alcolea, Córdoba, Spain. In this battle, revolutionary forces led by General Francisco Serrano y Domínguez defeated Queen Isabella II of Spain's governmental forces commanded by general Manuel Pavía, forcing her to leave Spain and be exiled in France.
1871 Rio Branco Law

The Brazilian Parliament passes a law that frees all children thereafter born to slaves, and all government-owned slaves.

The Rio Branco law (Portuguese: Lei Rio Branco), also known as the Law of Free Birth (Lei do Ventre Livre), named after its champion, prime minister José Paranhos, Viscount of Rio Branco, was passed by the General Assembly of the Empire of Brazil on 28 September 1871. It was intended to grant freedom to all newborn children of slaves, and slaves of the state or crown. Political scientist Luis Schenoni, situates the law within a broader program of centralized state-building reforms under Rio Branco, whose government also established a state fund for the emancipation of enslaved adults. However, children of enslaved women in Brazil were obligated to serve their mother's owners until the age of 21, a condition that was often more or less that of slavery. The law did not define the exact legal status of enslaved women's wombs; this was negotiated by enslaved people afterwards, with women at the forefront. The law was the beginning of an abolition movement in Brazil, but it turned out to be more of a legal loophole than a radical measure that led to viable progress. Only a few people were freed under the law, while more than one million people continued to be held as slaves throughout Brazil. This law had more of an influence in the northern part of the country, which was leaning further toward wage rather than slave labor. Many of those freed under the Rio Branco law migrated to the north to work for wages on the plantations. The Rio Branco law was the first step toward abolition of slavery in Brazil. It was ultimately abolished on 13 May 1888 with the adoption of the Lei Áurea.
1889

The General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) defines the length of a metre.

The General Conference on Weights and Measures is the supreme authority of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), the intergovernmental organization established in 1875 under the terms of the Metre Convention through which member states act together on matters related to measurement science and measurement standards. The CGPM is made up of delegates of the governments of the member states and observers from the Associates of the CGPM. It elects the International Committee for Weights and Measures as the supervisory board of the BIPM to direct and supervise it.
1892

The first night game for American football takes place in a contest between Wyoming Seminary and Mansfield State Normal.

The 1892 Wyoming Seminary vs. Mansfield Normal football game, played September 28, 1892, was the first-ever American football game played at night. The game was played between Wyoming Seminary (a private college preparatory school located in the Wyoming Valley of Northeastern Pennsylvania) and Mansfield Normal School in Mansfield, Pennsylvania. During the time period, it was common for a college and high school to play each other in football—a practice that has long since been discontinued.
1901 Philippine–American_War

Philippine–American War: Filipino guerrillas kill more than forty American soldiers while losing 28 of their own.

The Philippine–American War, known alternatively as the Filipino–American War, Philippine Insurrection, or Tagalog Insurgency, emerged in early 1899 following the United States' annexation of the former Spanish colony of the Philippine Islands under the terms of the December 1898 Treaty of Paris following the Spanish–American War. Philippine nationalists had proclaimed independence in June 1898 and constituted the First Philippine Republic in January 1899. The United States did not recognize either event as legitimate, and tensions escalated until fighting commenced on February 4, 1899, in the Battle of Manila.
1912 Ulster Covenant

The Ulster Covenant is signed by some 500,000 Ulster Unionists in opposition to the Third Irish Home Rule Bill.

Ulster's Solemn League and Covenant, commonly known as the Ulster Covenant, was signed by nearly 500,000 people on and before 28 September 1912, in protest against the Third Home Rule Bill for Ireland introduced by the British Government in the same year. Today, the date is marked as a commemorative and celebratory event in Northern Ireland, known by its name sake "Ulster Day", or the Ulster Covenant Festival, with the Orange Order and Apprentice Boys taking part in parades and other activities as a part of Orange Heritage Week.
1912 Frank S. Scott

Corporal Frank S.

Scott of the United States Army becomes the first enlisted man to die in an airplane crash.
Frank S. Scott (2 December 1883 – 28 September 1912) was a United States Army corporal who died during his second enlistment, aged 28, in an aircraft crash. As the first enlisted American to die in an aircraft incident, Scott was memorialized multiple times.
1918 World_War_I

World War I: The Fifth Battle of Ypres begins.

World War I, or the First World War, also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Central Powers. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, World War I caused 15 to 22 million deaths, including those resulting from war crimes and genocides. The war also contributed to the spread of the Spanish flu pandemic. The conflict saw important developments in weaponry, including machine guns, artillery, aircraft, chemical weapons, and tanks.
1919 Omaha race riot of 1919

Race riots begin in Omaha, Nebraska, United States.

The Omaha Race Riot occurred in Omaha, Nebraska, September 28–29, 1919. The race riot resulted in the lynching of Will Brown, a black civilian; the death of two white rioters; the injuries of many Omaha Police Department officers and civilians, including the attempted hanging of Mayor Edward Parsons Smith; and a public rampage by thousands of white rioters who set fire to the Douglas County Courthouse in downtown Omaha. It followed more than 20 race riots that occurred in major industrial cities and certain rural areas of the United States during the Red Summer of 1919.
1924 First aerial circumnavigation

The first aerial circumnavigation is completed by a team from the US Army.

The first aerial circumnavigation of the world was completed in 1924 by four aviators from an eight-man team of the United States Army Air Service, the precursor of the United States Air Force. The 175-day journey from April to September covered over 26,345 miles (42,398 km). The team generally traveled east to west, around the northern Pacific Rim, through to South Asia and Europe and back to Seattle's Sand Point Airfield in the United States. Airmen Lowell H. Smith, Leslie P. Arnold, Erik H. Nelson, and John Harding Jr. made the trip in two single-engined open-cockpit Douglas World Cruisers (DWC) configured as floatplanes for most of the journey. Lead aircraft Chicago, and the New Orleans completed the expedition. Four more flyers in two additional DWC began the journey but their aircraft crashed or were forced down. All airmen survived. They were awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, and the flight won the Mackay Trophy aviation award for 1924.
1928 Alexander Fleming

Alexander Fleming notices a bacteria-killing mold growing in his laboratory, discovering what later became known as penicillin.

Sir Alexander Fleming (6 August 1881 – 11 March 1955) was a Scottish physician and microbiologist. He shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Howard Florey and Ernst Chain "for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases". This was the first antibiotic substance discovered. His discovery in 1928 of what was later named benzylpenicillin (or penicillin G) from the mould Penicillium rubens has been described as the "single greatest victory ever achieved over disease". He also discovered the enzyme lysozyme from his nasal discharge in 1922, and along with it a bacterium he named Micrococcus lysodeikticus, later renamed Micrococcus luteus. Fleming was knighted for his scientific achievements in 1944. In 1999, he was named in Time magazine's list of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th century. In 2002, he was included in the BBC's television poll of the 100 Greatest Britons, and in 2009, he was also voted third "greatest Scot" in an opinion poll conducted by STV, behind only Robert Burns and William Wallace.
1939 World_War_II

World War II: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agree on a division of Poland.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many engaging in total war on an unprecedented scale. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the deaths of 60 to 75 million people, a majority of whom were civilians. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides, including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.
1939 Siege_of_Warsaw_(1939)

World War II: The siege of Warsaw comes to an end.

The Siege of Warsaw was fought between the Polish Warsaw Army garrisoned and entrenched in Warsaw and the invading German Army.
1941 Drama_uprising

World War II: The Drama uprising against the Bulgarian occupation in northern Greece begins.

The Drama uprising was an uprising of the population of the northern Greek city of Drama and the surrounding villages on 28–29 September 1941 against the Bulgarian occupation regime. The revolt lacked organization or military resources; the Bulgarian Army swiftly suppressed it, with massive reprisals. The revolt had guidance from the Communist Party of Greece (KKE).
1941 Ted_Williams

Ted Williams achieves a .406 batting average for the season, and becomes the last major league baseball player to bat .400 or better.

Theodore Samuel Williams was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, primarily as a left fielder, for the Boston Red Sox from 1939 to 1960; his career was interrupted by military service during World War II and the Korean War. Nicknamed "Teddy Ballgame", "the Kid", "the Splendid Splinter", and "the Thumper", Williams is widely regarded as one of the greatest hitters in baseball history.
1944 Klooga_concentration_camp

World War II: Soviet Army troops liberate Klooga concentration camp in Estonia.

Klooga concentration camp was a Nazi forced labor subcamp of the Vaivara concentration camp complex established in September 1943 in Harju County, during World War II, in German-occupied Estonia near the village of Klooga. The Vaivara camp complex was commanded by German officers Hans Aumeier, Otto Brennais and Franz von Bodmann and consisted of 20 field camps, some of which existed only for short periods.
1951 Color_television

CBS makes the first color televisions available for sale to the general public, but the product is discontinued less than a month later.

Color television or colour television is a television transmission technology that also includes color information for the picture, so the video image can be displayed in color on the television set. It improves on the monochrome (black-and-white) television technology, which displays the image in shades of gray (grayscale). Television broadcasting stations and networks in most parts of the world transitioned from black-and-white to color broadcasting between the 1960s and the 1980s. The invention of color television standards was an important part of the history and technology of television.
1958

Fernando Rios, a Mexican tour guide in New Orleans, dies of injuries sustained in an incident of gay bashing.

On September 28, 1958, Fernando Rios, a 26-year-old Mexican tour guide and gay man, died due to injuries sustained during an assault he experienced the previous night in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The assault was perpetrated by John Farrell, a 20-year-old student at Tulane University, who was accompanied by fellow students Alberto Calvo and David Drennan.
1961 1961_Syrian_coup_d'état

A military coup in Damascus effectively ends the United Arab Republic, the union between Egypt and Syria.

The Syrian coup d'état of 1961 was an uprising by disgruntled Syrian Army officers on 28 September 1961, that resulted in the break-up of the United Arab Republic and the restoration of an independent Syrian Republic.
1970 Gamal_Abdel_Nasser

Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser dies of a heart attack in Cairo.

Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-reaching land reforms the following year. Following a 1954 assassination attempt by a Muslim Brotherhood member, he cracked down on the organization, put President Mohamed Naguib under house arrest and assumed executive office. He was formally elected president in June 1956.
1973 ITT_Inc.

The ITT Building in New York City is bombed in protest at ITT's alleged involvement in the coup d'état in Chile.

ITT Inc., formerly ITT Corporation, is an American manufacturing company based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company produces specialty components for the aerospace, transportation, energy, and industrial markets. ITT's three business units are Industrial Process, Motion Technologies, and Connect and Control Technologies.
1975 Spaghetti_House_siege

The Spaghetti House siege, in which nine people are taken hostage, takes place in London.

The Spaghetti House siege took place between 28 September and 3 October 1975. An attempted robbery of the Spaghetti House restaurant in Knightsbridge, London, went wrong and the police were quickly on the scene. The three robbers took the staff down into a storeroom and barricaded themselves in. They released all the hostages unharmed after six days. Two of the gunmen gave themselves up; the ringleader, Franklin Davies, shot himself in the stomach. All three were later imprisoned, as were two of their accomplices.
1983 Death_of_John_Pat

John Pat, a 16-year old Aboriginal Australian boy, dies of injuries inflicted by four off-duty police officers in Roebourne, a catalyst to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

John Peter Pat was an Aboriginal Australian boy who, at the age of 16, died while in the custody of Western Australia Police.
1986 Democratic_Progressive_Party

The Democratic Progressive Party becomes the first opposition party in Taiwan.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a Taiwanese nationalist political party in Taiwan. As the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition, one of the two main political camps in Taiwan, the DPP is currently the ruling party in Taiwan, leading a minority government that controls the presidency and the central government.
1992 Pakistan_International_Airlines_Flight_268

A Pakistan International Airlines flight crashes into a hill in Nepal, killing all 167 passengers and crew.

Pakistan International Airlines Flight 268 was an Airbus A300, registration AP-BCP, which crashed while approaching Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport on 28 September 1992. All 167 people on board were killed. Flight 268 is the worst accident in the history of Pakistan International Airlines, and the worst ever to occur in Nepal.
1994 MS_Estonia

The cruise ferry MS Estonia sinks in the Baltic Sea, killing 852 people.

MS Estonia was a car-passenger ferry built in 1980 for the Finnish shipping company Rederi Ab Sally by Meyer Werft, in Papenburg, West Germany. She was deployed on ferry routes between Finland and Sweden by various companies until the end of January 1993, when she was sold to Nordström & Thulin for use on Estline's Tallinn–Stockholm route. The ship's sinking on 28 September 1994, in the Baltic Sea between Sweden, Finland and Estonia, was one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters of the 20th century, claiming 852 lives. An official inquiry found that failure of the locks on the bow visor allowed water to flood the car deck and quickly capsize the ship. The report also noted a lack of crew action. A 2023 investigation noted additional construction flaws in the bow visor.
1995 Bob_Denard

Bob Denard and a group of mercenaries take the islands of the Comoros in a coup.

Robert Denard was a French mercenary. He served as the de facto military leader of the Comoros twice, first from 13 May 1978 to 15 December 1989 and again briefly from 28 September to 5 October in 1995. Sometimes known under the aliases Gilbert Bourgeaud and Saïd Mustapha Mhadjou, he was known for having performed various jobs in support of Françafrique—France's sphere of influence in its former colonies in Africa—for Jacques Foccart, co-ordinator of President Charles de Gaulle's African policy.
1995 Yitzhak_Rabin

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat sign the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Yitzhak Rabin was an Israeli statesman and general who was the prime minister of Israel, having served from 1974 to 1977 and again from 1992 until his assassination in 1995. He was the first prime minister to have been born in the region of Palestine, at the time under British control.
2000 Second_Intifada

Al-Aqsa Intifada: Ariel Sharon visits Al-Aqsa Mosque known to Jews as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

The Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its occupation from 2000. Initially sparked by civilian protests by Arab residents in East Jerusalem and areas within Israel proper, the uprising escalated into a prolonged period of heightened violence in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This violence, which included shootings, suicide bombings, and military operations, continued until the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit of 2005, which ended hostilities.
2006 Typhoon_Xangsane

Typhoon Xangsane passes over Manila after impacting parts of Southern Luzon and Eastern Visayas, becoming the strongest to affect the Philippine capital in 11 years.

Typhoon Xangsane, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Milenyo, was a strong and deadly typhoon that affected the Philippines, and Indochina during the 2006 Pacific typhoon season.
2008 Falcon_1

Falcon 1 becomes the first privately developed liquid-fuel ground-launched vehicle to put a payload into orbit by the RatSat mission.

Falcon 1 was a two-stage small-lift launch vehicle that was operated from 2006 to 2009 by SpaceX, an American aerospace manufacturer. On September 28, 2008, Falcon 1 became the first privately developed fully liquid-fueled launch vehicle to successfully reach orbit.
2008 2008_Singapore_Grand_Prix

The Singapore Grand Prix is held as Formula One's inaugural night race, with Fernando Alonso winning the event.

Almost a year later it was revealed that Alonso's team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr. had been ordered to crash his car to help bring out the safety car and give Alonso the advantage and win.
The 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, formally known as the 2008 Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, was a Formula One race held on 28 September 2008 at 20:00 SST at the newly built Marina Bay Street Circuit in Marina Bay, Singapore. It was the 15th race of the 2008 Formula One World Championship, the 800th Formula One World Championship race overall, and the first ever Formula One race held at night. This was also the first time Singapore hosted a Formula One race, as the last Singapore Grand Prix was a Formula Libre event in 1973.
2009

The military junta leading Guinea attacks a protest rally, killing or wounding 1,400 people.

The 2009 Guinean protests were an opposition rally in Conakry, Guinea on 28 September 2009, with about 50,000 participants demonstrating against the junta government that came to power after the 2008 Guinean coup d'état in December. The protest march was fueled by the indication of junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara that he would break his pledge to not run in the next presidential vote, due in January 2010. The government had already banned any form of protests until 2 October. When the demonstrators gathered in a large stadium, the security forces opened fire on them. At least 157 demonstrators were killed, 1,253 were injured, and 30—including Cellou Dalein Diallo, the leader of the opposition Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UDFG)—were arrested and taken away in lorries.
2012 Battle_of_Kismayo_(2012)

Somali and African Union forces launch a coordinated assault on the Somali port of Kismayo to take back the city from al-Shabaab militants.

The Battle of Kismayo was an offensive led by the Kenya Defence Forces, under the codename Operation Sledge Hammer, to seize the port city of Kismayo, Somalia, from Al-Shabaab from 28 September 2012. Members of the Raskamboni movement militia were part of the amphibious force.
2012 Sita_Air_Flight_601

Sita Air Flight 601 crashes in Madhyapur Thimi, Nepal, killing all 19 passengers and crew.

Sita Air Flight 601 (ST601/STA601) was a Nepalese domestic passenger flight, operated by Sita Air from Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepal's capital Kathmandu to Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla. On 28 September 2012, the Dornier 228 serving the route crashed while attempting an emergency landing at Kathmandu shortly after takeoff, killing all 19 people on board.
2014 2014_Hong_Kong_protests

The 2014 Hong Kong protests begin in response to restrictive political reforms imposed by the NPC in Beijing.

A series of sit-in street protests, often called the Umbrella Revolution and sometimes used interchangeably with Umbrella Movement, or Occupy Movement, occurred in Hong Kong from 26 September to 15 December 2014.
2016

The 2016 South Australian blackout occurs, lasting up to three days in some areas.

The South Australian blackout of 2016 was a widespread power outage in South Australia that occurred as a result of storm damage to electricity transmission infrastructure on 28 September 2016. The cascading failure of the electricity transmission network resulted in almost the entire state losing its electricity supply, affecting 850,000 SA customers. Kangaroo Island did not lose its supply, as the Kangaroo Island power station had been built to supply the island for the contingency of a failure in the power cable under the Backstairs Passage.
2018 2018_Sulawesi_earthquake_and_tsunami

The 7.5 Mw 2018 Sulawesi earthquake, which triggered a large tsunami, leaves 4,340 dead and 10,679 injured.

On 28 September 2018, a shallow, large earthquake struck in the neck of the Minahasa Peninsula, Indonesia, with its epicentre located in the mountainous Donggala Regency, Central Sulawesi. The magnitude 7.5–7.6 quake was located 70 km (43 mi) away from the provincial capital Palu and was felt as far away as Samarinda on East Kalimantan and also in Tawau, Malaysia. This event was preceded by a sequence of foreshocks, the largest of which was a magnitude 6.1 tremor that occurred earlier that day.
2022 Hurricane_Ian

Hurricane Ian makes landfall in Cayo Costa State Park, Florida as a category four hurricane, killing 169 and doing $113 billion in damage, becoming Florida's costliest hurricane and the deadliest in 89 years.

Hurricane Ian was a large and catastrophic tropical cyclone that became the third costliest weather disaster on record worldwide. It was also the deadliest hurricane to strike the state of Florida since the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, and the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Florida since Michael in 2018. Ian caused widespread damage across western Cuba, Florida, and the Carolinas. The ninth named storm, fourth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, Ian was the first Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic since Lorenzo in 2019.
2023 2023_Rotterdam_shootings

The 2023 Rotterdam shootings occurred, during which two people were killed in a shooting and arson incident at a residence in Delfshaven, Rotterdam.

Additionally, one person lost their life in a classroom at the Erasmus University Medical Center.
On 28 September 2023, two shootings occurred in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The first, in which two people were killed, was at a residence on Heiman Dullaertplein, followed by a second, in which one person was killed, in a classroom at the Erasmus University Medical Center. The perpetrator, identified as medical student Fouad Lakhlili was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2025.

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