- 1778 – Captain James Cook becomes the first European to visit Maui in the Hawaiian Islands.
- 1789 – A national Thanksgiving Day is observed in the U.S. as proclaimed by President George Washington.
- 1863 – President Abraham Lincoln proclaims November 26 as a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated annually on the final Thursday of November.
- 1922 – Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon become the first people to enter the tomb of King Tutankhamen in over 3000 years.
- 1948 – The first commercial Polaroid camera was sold.
- 2000 – George W. Bush is certified the winner of Florida’s electoral votes by Katherine Harris, going on to win the presidential election despite losing in the national popular vote.
