November 21

Today in History
• 1492 - Pinta under Martin A Pinzon separates from Columbus' fleet
• 1654 - Richard Johnson, a free black, granted 550 acres in Virginia
• 1783 - Pilatre de Rozier and Marquis d'Arlandes make 1st free balloon flight
• 1789 - North Carolina ratifies constitution, becomes 12th US state
• 1794 - Honolulu Harbor discovered
• 1806 - Decree of Berlin: Emperor Napoleon I bans all trade with England
• 1817 - US soldiers attack Miccosukee Tribe village of Fowltown, starting the First Seminole War
• 1824 - 1st Jewish Reform congregation forms, Charleston, SC


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• Alascattalo Day
• False Confession Day
• National Gingerbread Cookie Day
• National Red Mitten Day
• National Stuffing Day
• World Fisheries Day
• World Hello Day
• World Television Day

Birthdays
• 1567 - Anne de Xainctonge, saint and founder of the Society of the Sisters of Saint Ursula
• 1694 - Voltaire, Francois-Marie Arouet, France, thinker, Candide
• 1729 - Josiah Bartlett, U.S. physician/judge/signer Declaration of Independence
• 1787 - Samuel Cunard, founder, 1st regular Atlantic steamship line
• 1824 - Hieronymus Theodor Richter, mineralogist and co-discoverer of the element indium
• 1840 - Victoria, Empress of Germany and Queen of Prussia
• 1853 - Hussein Kamel, Sultan of Egypt (1914-17)
• 1857 - Manuel Estrada Cabrera, 13th President of Guatemala (1898-1920)