Today in History in 1636 Harvard University is founded; in 1886 The Statue of Liberty is dedicated by Grover Cleveland; and in 1954 Ernest Hemingway wins the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The On This Day In History archives at “Simple English Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia” contains over 200,000 events, birthdays and deaths from 6,000 years of history. Here is a roundup of a few of them:

October 28 is the 301st day of the year (302nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 64 days remaining until the end of the year.

EVENTS

306 – Maxentius is proclaimed Roman Emperor. Also on this day, in 312, he is defeated in battle and drowns in the River Tiber.

312 - Battle of Milvain Bridge: Constantine I defeats Maxentius to become Roman Emperor.

1344 - The lower town of Smyrna (Izmir), in present-day Turkey, is captured by Crusaders.

1420 - Beijing officially becomes the capital city of Ming Dynasty China.

1492 – Christopher Columbus reaches Cuba.

1516 - Battle of Yaunis Khan: Turkish forces under Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha defeat the Mameluks near Gaza.

1531 - Battle of Amba Sel: Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi defeats the army of Lebna Dengel, Emperor of Ethiopia. Imam Ahmad takes control of southern Ethiopia.

1628 - The Siege of La Rochelle, France, is ended through forces loyal to King Louis XIII of France, following the surrender of the mainly Huguenot challenge.

1636 – Harvard University is founded.

1644 - The Regiment that later becomes the Royal Marines is founded by the then-Duke of York, later King James II of England/VII of Scotland.

1707 - The Hoei earthquake causes over 5,000 deaths in Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu, Japan.

1746 - An earthquake of Lima, Peru, of estimated magnitude 8.4, kills around 18,000 people. The coastal city of Callao is almost completely destroyed.

1775 - American Revolutionary War: A British proclamation forbids residents to leave Boston, Massachusetts.

1776 - American Revolutionary War: British forces arrive at White Plains, New York and attack and capture Chatterton Hill from the Americans.

1834 - Battle of Pinjarra: In present-day Western Australia, British colonists kill between 14 and 40 Aborigines.

1835 - The United Tribes of New Zealand are founded, signed by 31 Maori chiefs.

1836 - The Peruvian-Bolivian Confederation is formed.

1848 – Spain's first railway line is opened.

1856 – Portugal's first railway line is completed.

1869 – Dmitri Mendeleev publishes the Periodic Table of the elements.

1886 – The Statue of Liberty is dedicated by Grover Cleveland.

1891 - An earthquake in Japan kills 7,273 people.

1900 - The 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris end after five months.

1904 - Panama and Uruguay start diplomatic relations.

1918 – Czechoslovakia becomes independent.

1918 - A new Polish government is created in Galicia.

1919 - United States Congress passes the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson's veto, paving the way for prohibition to begin in January 1920.

1922 – Fascists led by Benito Mussolini take over the Italian government.

1929 - Black Monday during the Wall Street Crash.

1940 - World War II: Italy invades Greece through Albania.

1942 – The Alaska Highway is completed.

1951 - Juan Manuel Fangio wins the Formula One championship.

1954 - Ernest Hemingway wins the Nobel Prize in Literature.

1954 – The Modern Kingdom of the Netherlands is re-founded as a federal monarchy.

1958 – Pope John XXIII becomes Pope.

1962 – The Cuban Missile Crisis ends.

1964 - Vietnam War: US officials deny involvement in the bombing of North Vietnam.

1965 - The Gateway Arch in Saint Louis, Missouri is completed.

1974 - In Woomera, South Australia, the British rocket Black Arrow is launched, along the satellite Prospero.

1981 – The band Metallica is founded.

1982 – Felipe González is elected Prime Minister of Spain.

1990 - The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic holds its first election involving more than one political party.

1995 – A train fire in the Baku Metro kills 289 people.

1995 - Antonio Guterres becomes Prime Minister of Portugal.

1998 - An Air China jetliner is hijacked by disgruntled pilot Yuan Bin and flown to Taiwan.

2005 - American politician Lewis Libby resigns over the Valerie Plame Affair.

2007 – Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is elected President of Argentina.

2009 - A bombing in Peshawar, Pakistan, kills 117 people and injures 213.

2009 - Angela Merkel begins her second term as Chancellor of Germany.

2012 - People along the east coast of the United States prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Sandy, which had already caused a lot of destruction in the Caribbean.

2013 - The St Jude Storm, also known as "Christian", "Carmen" and "Simone", hits the southern UK, northern France, the Low Countries, Germany, Denmark and southern Sweden. At least 15 people are killed, either from falling trees or getting swept out to sea, and transport is disrupted. Denmark records its highest wind-speed during this storm.

2017 - Two bomb attacks in Mogadishu, Somalia, kill at least 19 people, after a massive bomb attack in the city had killed over 350 people two weeks earlier.

2018 - Far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro is elected President of Brazil.