On This Day — 28 May

2017

Former Formula One driver Takuma Sato wins his first Indianapolis 500, the first Japanese and Asian driver to do so. Double world champion Fernando Alonso retires from an engine issue in his first entry of the event.

Formula One

2016

Harambe, a gorilla, is shot to death after grabbing a three-year-old boy in his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, resulting in widespread criticism and sparking various internet memes.

Harambe

2012

The Arkankergen massacre in Kazakhstan's Alakol District kills 15 people.

Arkankergen massacre

2011

Malta votes on the introduction of divorce; the proposal was approved by 53% of voters, resulting in a law allowing divorce under certain conditions being enacted later in the year.

Malta

2010

In West Bengal, India, the Jnaneswari Express train derailment and subsequent collision kills 148 passengers.

West Bengal

2008

The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty.

Nepal

2004

The Iraqi Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, as prime minister of Iraq's interim government.

Iraqi Governing Council

2003

Peter Hollingworth resigns as Governor-General of Australia following criticism of his handling of child sexual abuse allegations during his tenure as Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane.

Peter Hollingworth

2002

The last steel girder is removed from the original World Trade Center site. Cleanup duties officially end with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan, New York City.

World Trade Center site

1999

In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece The Last Supper is put back on display.

Milan

1998

Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of nuclear tests by India with five of its own codenamed Chagai-I, prompting the United States, Japan, and other nations to impose economic sanctions. Pakistan celebrates Youm-e-Takbir annually.

Nuclear weapons testing

1996

U.S. President Bill Clinton's former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, Jim McDougal and Susan McDougal, and the Governor of Arkansas, Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud.

Bill Clinton

1995

The 7.0 Mw  Neftegorsk earthquake shakes the former Russian settlement of Neftegorsk with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Total damage was $64.1–300 million, with 1,989 deaths and 750 injured. The settlement was not rebuilt.

1995 Neftegorsk earthquake

1991

The capital city of Addis Ababa falls to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War.

Addis Ababa

1987

An 18-year-old West German pilot, Mathias Rust, evades Soviet Union air defences and lands a private plane in Red Square in Moscow, Russia.

Mathias Rust

1979

Konstantinos Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community.

Konstantinos Karamanlis

1977

The Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky, is engulfed by fire, killing 165 people inside.

Beverly Hills Supper Club fire

1975

Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.

West Africa

1975

At Brampton Centennial Secondary School, student Michael Slobodian kills two people and injures 13 others before committing suicide.

Brampton Centennial Secondary School

1974

Northern Ireland's power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapses following a general strike by loyalists.

Northern Ireland

1968

Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892 crashes near Nala Sopara in India, killing 30.

Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892

1964

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is founded, with Yasser Arafat elected as its first leader.

Palestine Liberation Organization

1962

The Soviet Kosmos 5 satellite is launched.

Kosmos 5

1961

Peter Benenson's article The Forgotten Prisoners is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.

Peter Benenson

1958

Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement, heavily reinforced by Frank Pais Militia, overwhelm an army post in El Uvero.

Cuban Revolution

1948

Daniel François Malan is elected as Prime Minister of South Africa. He later goes on to implement Apartheid.

D. F. Malan

1940

World War II: Belgium surrenders to Nazi Germany to end the Battle of Belgium.

World War II

1940

World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik in Norway. This is the first Allied infantry victory of the War.

Battles of Narvik

1937

Volkswagen, the German automobile manufacturer, is founded.

Volkswagen

1936

Alan Turing submits On Computable Numbers for publication.

Alan Turing

1934

Near Callander, Ontario, Canada, the Dionne quintuplets are born to Oliva and Elzire Dionne; they will be the first quintuplets to survive infancy.

Callander, Ontario

1932

In the Netherlands, construction of the Afsluitdijk is completed and the Zuiderzee bay is converted to the freshwater IJsselmeer.

Afsluitdijk

1926

The 28 May 1926 coup d'état: Ditadura Nacional is established in Portugal to suppress the unrest of the First Republic.

28 May 1926 coup d'état

1918

The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the First Republic of Armenia declare their independence.

Azerbaijan Democratic Republic

1907

The first Isle of Man TT race is held.

Isle of Man TT

1905

Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō and the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Russo-Japanese War

1892

In San Francisco, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club.

San Francisco

1871

The Paris Commune falls after two months.

Paris Commune

1830

U.S. President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act which denies Native Americans their land rights and forcibly relocates them.

President of the United States

1802

In Guadeloupe, 400 rebellious slaves, led by Louis Delgrès, blow themselves up rather than submit to Napoleon's troops.

Guadeloupe

1754

French and Indian War: In the first engagement of the war, Virginia militia under the 22-year-old Lieutenant colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania.

French and Indian War

1644

English Civil War: Bolton Massacre by Royalist troops under the command of James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby.

English Civil War

1588

The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, heading for the English Channel. (It will take until May 30 for all ships to leave port.)

Spanish Armada

1533

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declares the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn valid.

Archbishop of Canterbury

1347

Marriage of Byzantine Emperor John V Palaiologos and Helena Kantakouzene.

List of Byzantine emperors

1242

Avignonet massacre: A group of Cathars, with the probable connivance of Count Raymond VII of Toulouse, murdered the inquisitor William Arnaud and eleven of his companions.

Avignonet massacre

934

English king Æthelstan begins his invasion of Scotland with.

List of English monarchs

621

Battle of Hulao: Li Shimin, the son of the Chinese emperor Gaozu, defeats the numerically superior forces of Dou Jiande near the Hulao Pass (Henan). This victory decides the outcome of the civil war that followed the Sui dynasty's collapse in favour of the Tang dynasty.

Battle of Hulao

-585

A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by the Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of the Eclipse, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated. It is also the earliest event of which the precise date is known.

Eclipse of Thales