July 17
is the 198th day (199th in
leap years) of the year in the
Gregorian calendar, with 167 days remaining.
*
180 - Twelve inhabitants of
Scillium in North Africa executed for being Christians. This is the earliest record of
Christianity in that part of the world.
*
1048 -
Damasus II appointed
Pope.
*
1203 -
Fourth Crusade captures
Constantinople by assault; the
Byzantine emperor Alexius III Angelus flees from his capital into exile.
*
1453 -
Hundred Years' War:
Battle of Castillon - The French under
Jean Bureau utterly defeat the English under the
Earl of Shrewsbury, who is killed in the battle in
Gascony*
1762 -
Catherine II becomes
tzar of Russia upon the accidental murder of
Peter III of Russia.
*
1771 -
Massacre at Bloody Falls:
Chipewyan chief
Matonabbee traveling as the guide to
Samuel Hearne on his arctic overland journey, massacre a group of unsuspecting
Inuit.
*
1791 - Massacre at the
Champ de Mars, Paris, during the
French Revolution. 1200-1500 people were killed, including women and children.
*
1815 -
Napoleonic Wars: In
France,
Napoleon surrenders at
Rochefort, Charente-Maritime to
British forces.
*
1816 - The
French passenger ship
Medusa runs aground off the coast of
Senegal.
*
1821 -
Spain ceded
Florida to the
United States*
1858 - Salving of the
Lutine bell. The bell is subsequently hung in
Lloyd's of London.
*
1897 -
Klondike gold rush begins when first successful prospectors arrive in
Seattle, Washington.
*
1898 -
Spanish-American War:
Battle of Santiago Bay - Troops under
United States General
William R. Shafter take the city of
Santiago de Cuba from the
Spanish.
*
1899 -
NEC Corporation is organized as the first
Japanese joint venture with foreign capital.
*
1917 - King
George V of the United Kingdom issues a Proclamation stating that the male line descendants of the
British royal family will bear the surname
Windsor.
*
1918 - By order of the
Bolshevik Party and carried out by
Cheka,
Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, his immediate family, and retainers were murdered at the Ipatiev House in
Ekaterinburg, Russia.
*
1933 - After successfully crossing the Atlantic ocean, the Lithuanian research aircraft
Lituanica crashes in Europe under mysterious circumstances.
*
1936 -
Spanish Civil War: An Armed Forces rebellion against the recently-elected leftist
Popular Front government of
Spain starts the
Spanish civil war.
*
1941 -
Joe DiMaggio's
baseball hitting streak ends at 56 games, by
Cleveland Indian pitchers, Al Smith & Jim Bagby.
*
1944 -
Port Chicago disaster: Near the
San Francisco Bay, two ships laden with
ammunition for the war explode in
Port Chicago, California, killing 320.
* 1944 -
World War II: The largest convoy of the war embarks from
Halifax, Nova Scotia under
Royal Canadian Navy protection.
*
1945 - World War II:
Potsdam Conference - At
Potsdam,
President Harry S. Truman,
Soviet leader
Joseph Stalin, and
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the three main
Allied leaders, begin their final summit of the war. The meeting will end on
August 2.
*
1955 -
Disneyland televises its grand opening in
Anaheim, California.
*
1962 -
Nuclear testing: The "Small Boy" test shot
Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric test detonation at the
Nevada Test Site.
*
1975 -
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project: An American
Apollo and a Soviet
Soyuz spacecraft dock with each other in
orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations.
*
1976 -
History of East Timor:
East Timor was
annexed, and became the 27th
province of
Indonesia.
* 1976 - The opening of the
Summer Olympics is marred by 25
African teams boycotting the
New Zealand team
*
1979 -
Nicaraguan president General
Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to
Miami.
*
1981 -
Hyatt Regency walkway collapse: Two skywalks filled with people at the
Hyatt Regency Hotel in
Kansas City, Missouri collapse into a crowded atrium lobby during a "
tea dance," killing 114.
*
1987 - The
Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 2,500 mark for the first time at 2510.04.
*
1995 - The
Midwestern heat wave in the
United States reaches its peak.
Chicago, Illinois and
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, among other cities, set all-time high temperature records. The heat claims over 400 lives on this day alone.
* 1995 - The
Nasdaq stock index closes above the 1,000 mark for the first time.
*
1996 - Off the coast of
Long Island, New York, a
Paris-bound
Boeing 747 carrying
TWA flight 800 explodes, killing all 230 on board.
*
1997 - The
F.W. Woolworth Company closes after 117 years in business.
*
1998 - In
St. Petersburg,
Nicholas II of Russia and his family are buried in St. Catherine Chapel 80 years after he and his family were killed by
Bolsheviks.
* 1998 - A
tsunami triggered by an undersea
earthquake destroys 10 villages in
Papua New Guinea killing an estimated 1,500, leaving 2,000 more unaccounted for and thousands more homeless.
* 1998 - Biologists report in the journal
Science how they sequenced the
genome of the
bacterium that causes
syphilis,
Treponema pallidum.
*
2004 - Ninety children die in a fire at a private school in
Kumbakonam,
Tamil Nadu,
India.
*
2006 - A magnitude 7.7 earthquake in the Indian Ocean causes a tsunami, damaging the southern part of the Indonesian island of Java
*
1487 -
Ismail I,
Shah of Persia (d.
1524)
*
1674 -
Isaac Watts, English hymnwriter (d.
1748)
*
1698 -
Pierre Louis Maupertuis, French mathematician (d.
1759)
*
1744 -
Elbridge Gerry, 5th
Vice President of the United States (d.
1814)
*
1745 -
Petr Alekseevich Pahlen, Russian general (d.
1826)
*
1797 -
Hippolyte Delaroche, French painter (d.
1856)
*
1831 -
Xianfeng, Emperor of China (d.
1861)
*
1839 -
Ephraim Shay, American inventor (d.
1916)
*
1888 -
Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israeli writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1970)
*
1889 -
Erle Stanley Gardner, American lawyer and author (
Perry Mason) (d.
1970)
*
1893 -
Marvin Pierce, Women's magazine publisher (d.
1969)
*
1899 -
James Cagney, American actor (d.
1986)
*
1901 -
Bruno Jasieński, Polish poet (d.
1938)
*
1902 -
Christina Stead, Australian novelist (d.
1983)
*
1911 -
Ted Anderson, English footballer (d.
1979)
*
1913 -
Bertrand Goldberg, American architect (d.
1997)
*
1912 -
Art Linkletter, Canadian television host
*
1917 -
Phyllis Diller, American comedian
* 1917 -
Red Sovine, American country music singer (d.
1980)
* 1917 -
Lou Boudreau,
Major League baseball player and manager (d.
2001)
*
1918 -
Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio,
President of Guatemala (d.
2003)
*
1920 -
Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish chairman of the International Olympic Committee
* 1920 -
Kenneth Wolstenholme, English sports commentator (d.
2002)
*
1921 -
František Zvarík, Slovakian actor
*
1928 -
Vince Guaraldi, American musician and composer (d.
1976)
*
1935 -
Diahann Carroll, American actor
* 1935 -
Peter Schickele, American composer, author, and radio host
* 1935 -
Donald Sutherland, Canadian actor
*
1941 -
Spencer Davis, British singer and guitarist (
Spencer Davis Group)
* 1941 -
Jürgen Flimm, German theatre director and manager
*
1942 -
Tim Brooke-Taylor, English comedian
* 1942 -
Don Kessinger, baseball player
*
1944 -
Carlos Alberto, Brazilian football player
*
1944 -
Catherine Schell, Hungarian born British actress
*
1945 -
Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia*
1947 -
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall*
1948 -
Ron Asheton, American musician and composer (
Iggy Pop & The Stooges)
*
1949 -
Terence "Geezer" Butler, British musician and lyricist (
Black Sabbath)
* 1949 -
Snyder Rini,
Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands for eight days
* 1949 -
Charlie Steiner, American sports broadcaster
*
1951 -
Lucie Arnaz, American actress
*
1952 -
David Hasselhoff, American actor and musician
* 1952 -
Phoebe Snow, singer and songwriter
* 1952 -
Nicolette Larson, American singer (d.
1997)
*
1954 -
Angela Merkel,
Chancellor of Germany* 1954 -
J. Michael Straczynski, American author
*
1955 -
Paul Stamets, American mycologist and environmentalist
*
1956 -
Bryan Trottier, Canadian
ice hockey player
*
1957 -
Fern Britton, British television presenter
*
1958 -
Wong Kar-wai, Chinese film director
*
1960 -
Mark Burnett, English-born television producer
* 1960 -
Jan Wouters, Dutch football player and manager
*
1963 -
Matti Nykänen, Finnish ski jumper
*
1963 -
Letsie III, King of
Lesotho*
1965 -
Craig Morgan, American singer
*
1968 -
Bitty Schram, American actress
*
1971 -
Jarrett Cordes, American Hip-hip artist (
P.M. Dawn)
* 1971 -
Cory Doctorow, Canadian author and activist
*
1973 -
Eric Moulds, American football player
*
1975 -
Konnie Huq, English television presenter
* 1975 -
Cécile De France, Belgian actress
*
1977 -
M.I.A., British rapper
*
1978 -
Mike Hettinga, American professional wrestler
*
1980 -
Ryan Miller, American hockey player
*
1982 -
Natasha Hamilton, British singer (
Atomic Kitten)
*
1983 -
Ryan Guettler, professional Australian BMX rider
*
1985 -
Tom Fletcher, British singer (McFly)
*
521 -
Magnus Felix Ennodius, bishop and Latin poet (b.
474)
*
924 - King
Edward the Elder of England
*
1070 -
Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders (b.
1030)
*
1086 - King
Canute IV of Denmark*
1105 -
Rashi, French rabbi and commentator (b.
1040)
*
1453 -
John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, English military leader
*
1531 -
Hosokawa Takakuni, Japanese military commander (b.
1484)
*
1566 -
Bartolomé de Las Casas, Spanish priest (b.
1484)
*
1571 -
Georg Fabricius, German poet and historian (b.
1516)
*
1588 -
Sinan, Ottoman architect (b.
1489)
*
1645 -
Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, Scottish politician
*
1704 -
Pierre-Charles Le Sueur, French fur trader and explorer
*
1709 -
Robert Bolling, English settler in Virginia (b.
1646)
*
1790 -
Adam Smith, Scottish economist and philosopher (b.
1723)
*
1791 -
Martin Dobrizhoffer, Austrian Jesuit missionary (b.
1717)
*
1793 -
Charlotte Corday, French aristocrat and murderer (b.
1768)
*
1794 -
John Roebuck, British inventor (b.
1718)
*
1878 -
Aleardo Aleardi, Italian poet (b.
1812)
*
1881 -
Jim Bridger, American Mountain man, Indian fighter, and explorer (b.
1804)
*
1885 -
Jean-Charles Chapais, politician,
Father of Canadian Confederation (b.
1811)
*
1887 -
Dorothea Dix, American social activist (b.
1802)
*
1894 -
Josef Hyrtl, Austrian anatomist, (b.
1810)
* 1894 -
Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle, French poet (b.
1818)
*
1912 -
Henri Poincaré, French mathematician (b.
1854)
*
1917 -
Hector Malot, French writer (b.
1830)
*
1918 (N.S.) - Family of Tsar
Nicholas II of Russia (b.
1868)
**
Tsaritsa Alexandra Fyodorovna (b.
1872)
**
Grand Duchess Olga (b.
1895)
**
Grand Duchess Tatiana (b.
1897)
**
Grand Duchess Maria (b.
1899)
**
Grand Duchess Anastasia (b.
1901)
**
Tsarevich Alexei (b.
1904)
*
1928 -
Giovanni Giolitti, Italian statesman (b.
1842)
*
1935 -
George William Russell, Irish nationalist, poet and artist (b.
1867)
*
1944 -
William James Sidis, gifted mathematician and child prodigy (b.
1898)
*
1945 -
Ernst Busch, German field marshal (b.
1885)
*
1946 - General
Dragoljub Mihailović, commandant of the
Yugoslav Royal Army in the Fatherland (b.
1893)
*
1950 -
Evangeline Booth, the 4th General of
The Salvation Army (b.
1865)
*
1959 -
Billie Holiday, American singer (b.
1915)
*1959 -
Eugene Meyer, American businessman and newspaper publisher (b.
1875)
*
1961 -
Ty Cobb, baseball player (b.
1886)
*
1967 -
John Coltrane, American musician (b.
1926)
*
1974 -
Dizzy Dean,
Major League baseball pitcher (b.
1910)
*
1975 -
Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian writer and public benefactor (b.
1893)
*
1980 -
Boris Delaunay, Russian mathematician (b.
1890)
*
1987 -
Yujiro Ishihara, Japanese actor (b.
1934)
*
1988 -
Bruiser Brody, Professional wrestler (b.
1946)
*
1995 -
Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentinian race car driver (b.
1911)
*
1996 -
Chas Chandler, bass guitarist (
The Animals), record producer and manager (b.
1938)
*
2001 -
Katharine Graham, American publisher (b.
1917)
*
2003 -
David Kelly, Welsh UN weapons inspector (b.
1944)
*2003 -
Rosalyn Tureck, American pianist and harpsichordist (b.
1914)
*
2004 -
Pat Roach, British professional wrestler and actor (b.
1937)
*
2005 -
Laurel Aitken, Jamaican singer (b.
1927)
*2005 - Sir
Edward Heath, former
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b.
1916)
*2005 -
Joe Vialls, Australian writer (b.
1944)
*
2006 -
Sam Myers, American musician and songwriter (b.
1936)
*2006 -
Mickey Spillane, American author (b.
1918)
*
Iraq -
Ba'ath Revolution Day.
*
Puerto Rico -
Luis Muñoz Rivera's Birthday.
*
South Korea -
Constitution Day.
*Various
mathematics departments -
Yellow Pig's Day.
*
Kyoto,
Japan -
Gion Matsuri.
*Feast Day of
St Cynllo.
*
Fife,
Scotland -
Burntiland Highland Games.
*
Apple -
iCal Day.
*
BBC: On This Day*
The New York Times: On This Day*
On This Day in Canada*
Epic Idiot: On This DayJuly 16 -
July 18 -
June 17 -
August 17 --
listing of all days
