October 17Birthdays & History

On this day: October 17 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 690Empress Wu Zetian establishes the Zhou Dynasty of China.Asia
2. 1091London tornado of 1091: A tornado thought to be of strength T8/F4 strikes the heart of London.Europe
3. 1346The English capture King David II of Scotland at Neville's Cross and imprison him for eleven years.Europe
4. 1448An Ottoman army defeats a Hungarian army at the Second Battle of Kosovo.Middle EastEurope
5. 1456The University of Greifswald is established as the second oldest university in northern Europe.Europe
6. 1534Anti-Catholic posters appear in Paris and other cities supporting Huldrych Zwingli's position on the Mass.Europe
7. 1558Poczta Polska, the Polish postal service, is founded.Europe
8. 1604Kepler's Supernova is observed in the constellation of Ophiuchus.World
9. 1610French king Louis XIII is crowned in Reims Cathedral.Europe
10. 1660The nine regicides who signed the death warrant of Charles I of England are hanged, drawn and quartered.Europe
11. 1662Charles II of England sells Dunkirk to Louis XIV of France for 40,000 pounds.Europe
12. 1713Great Northern War: Russia defeats Sweden in the Battle of Kostianvirta in Pälkäne.Europe
13. 1771Premiere in Milan of the opera Ascanio in Alba, composed by Mozart at age 15.Europe
14. 1777American Revolutionary War: British General John Burgoyne surrenders his army at Saratoga, New York.North AmericaEurope
15. 1781American Revolutionary War: British General Charles, Earl Cornwallis surrenders at the Siege of Yorktown.North AmericaEurope
16. 1797Treaty of Campo Formio is signed between France and Austria, ending the War of the First Coalition.Europe
17. 1800War of the Second Coalition: Britain takes control of the Dutch colony of Curaçao.Europe
18. 1806Former leader of the Haitian Revolution, Emperor Jacques I, is assassinated after an oppressive rule.Latin America
19. 1811The silver deposits of Agua Amarga are discovered in Chile becoming in the following years instrumental for the Patriots to finance the Chilean War of Independence.Latin America
20. 1814Eight people die in the London Beer Flood.Europe
21. 1850Riots start, which lead to a massacre in Aleppo.Middle East
22. 1860First The Open Championship (referred to in North America as the British Open).North AmericaEurope
23. 1861Aboriginal Australians kill nineteen Europeans in the Cullin-la-ringo massacre.Oceania
24. 1907Marconi begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service.EuropeNorth America
25. 1912Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declare war on the Ottoman Empire, joining Montenegro in the First Balkan War.EuropeMiddle East
26. 1919Leeds United F.C. founded at Salem Chapel, Holbeck after the winding up of Leeds City F.C. for making illegal payments to players during World War IEurope
27. 1931Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion.North America
28. 1933Albert Einstein flees Nazi Germany and moves to the United States.EuropeNorth America
29. 1940The body of Communist propagandist Willi Münzenberg is found in South France, starting a never-resolved mystery.Europe
30. 1941World War II: The USS Kearny becomes the first U.S. Navy vessel to be torpedoed by a U-boat.North America
31. 1943Nazi Holocaust in Poland: Sobibór extermination camp is closed.Europe
32. 1943The Burma Railway (Burma–Thailand Railway) is completed.Asia
33. 1945A large demonstration in Buenos Aires, Argentina, demands Juan Perón's release.Latin America
34. 1952Indonesian Army elements surrounded the Merdeka Palace demanding President Sukarno disband the Provisional People's Representative Council.Asia
35. 1956The first commercial nuclear power station is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in Sellafield, England.Europe
36. 1961Directed by their chief Maurice Papon, Paris police massacre scores of Algerian protesters.EuropeAfrica
37. 1961The first attempt of the apartheid analogy by Ahmad Shukeiri.Middle East
38. 1965The 1964–65 New York World's Fair closes after two years and more than 51 million attendees.North America
39. 1966The 23rd Street Fire in New York City kills 12 firefighters.North America
40. 1969The Caravaggio painting Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence is stolen from the Oratory of Saint Lawrence in Palermo.Europe
41. 1970FLQ terrorists murder Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte.North America
42. 1973OPEC imposes an oil embargo against countries they deem to have helped Israel in the Yom Kippur War.Middle East
43. 1975'Salem's Lot, an American vampire novel by Stephen King, is published.North America
44. 1977The hijacked Lufthansa Flight 181 lands in Mogadishu. The remaining hostages are later rescued.AfricaEurope
45. 1979Mother Teresa is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.Asia
46. 1979The Department of Education Organization Act creates the U.S. Department of Education.North America
47. 1980As part of the Holy See–United Kingdom relations a British monarch makes the first state visit to the Vatican.Europe
48. 1988Uganda Airlines Flight 775 crashes at Rome–Fiumicino International Airport, in Rome, Italy, killing 33 people.AfricaEurope
49. 1989The 6.9 Mw Loma Prieta earthquake shakes the San Francisco Bay Area and the Central Coast, killing 63.North America
50. 1989The East German Politburo votes to remove Erich Honecker from his role as General Secretary.Europe
51. 1991Rudrapur bombings by Sikh separatists, who explode two bombs, during a Ramlila Hindu celebration in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand, killing 41 people.Asia
52. 1992Having gone to the wrong house, Japanese student Yoshihiro Hattori is killed by the homeowner in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.AsiaNorth America
53. 1994Russian journalist Dmitry Kholodov is assassinated while investigating corruption in the armed forces.Europe
54. 2000The Hatfield rail crash leads to the collapse of Railtrack.Europe
55. 2001Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi is assassinated by Hamdi Quran, a member of the PFLP, thus becoming the highest-ranking Israeli to be killed by a Palestinian.Middle East
56. 2004A fire that lasted over 15 hours destroyed almost one third of the East Tower of the Parque Central Urban Complex in Caracas, Venezuela.Latin America
57. 2017Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) capture the last foothold of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Raqqa, marking the end of the Battle of Raqqa.Middle East
58. 2018A mass shooting and bombing at Kerch Polytechnic College in Crimea kills 21 people including the attacker and injures 70 others.Europe
59. 2018The recreational use of cannabis is legalized in Canada.North America
60. 2019Drug dealers in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico force the government to back down on an arrest.Latin America
61. 2019The 17 October Revolution starts in Lebanon.Middle East
62. 2023An explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza kills hundreds of Palestinians during the Gaza war.Middle East

Source: Wikipedia "October 17" / CC BY-SA 4.0