Nov. 17 (UPI) -- On this date in history: In 1558, the Elizabethan Age begins when Britain's Queen Elizabeth I ascended to the throne upon her half-sister, Queen Mary's death. In 1800, the U.S. Congress convened at the Capitol in Washington for the first time. In 1869, the Suez Canal in Egypt was opened, linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. File Photo by Jim Hampshire/U.S. Navy In 1871, the National Rifle Association was founded by a journalist and a lawyer with a mission to improve its