November 28 Birthday
November 28, 1520: Ferdinand Magellan's fleet entered the Pacific Ocean through the strait that now bears his name. The passage took 38 days. Magellan was not the first European to see the Pacific — Vasco Núñez de Balboa had walked across Panama and seen it in 1513 — but Magellan was the first to enter it from the Atlantic. He named it "Mar Pacifico" (Peaceful Sea) because the waters were calm when he entered. Magellan died in the Philippines. Only one of his five ships completed the circumnavigation. People born on November 28 fall under the zodiac sign of Sagittarius. The birthstone is Topaz and the birth flower is Chrysanthemum. Historical events on November 28 include 1520: Magellan enters Pacific Ocean, 1895: First auto race in America, 1943: Tehran Conference begins. Famous people born on November 28 include William Blake (1757), Friedrich Engels (1820), Jon Stewart (1962).