What happened today in history
June
What happened on June 17
On June 17 history recorded 60 notable events. 160 people who left a mark were born on this day, and 103 died. Here is the full almanac.
- 60events
- 160births
- 103deaths
- 15observances
Highlights
Highlights
653Pope Martin I (pictured) was arrested in the Lateran Palace, Rome, and taken to Constantinople.
Pope Martin I, also known as Martin the Confessor, was the bishop of Rome from 21 July 649 to 653 or 654. He had served as Pope Theodore I's ambassador to Constantinople, and was elected to succeed him as pope. He was the only pope when Constantinople controll
1397The kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway formed the Kalmar Union, a personal union under Eric of Pomerania.
The Kalmar Union was a personal union in Scandinavia, agreed at Kalmar in Sweden as designed by Queen Margaret of Denmark. From 1397 to 1523, it joined under a single monarch the three kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, together with Norway's maritime co
1462Hungarian–Ottoman Wars: Wallachian forces led by Vlad Dracula attacked an Ottoman camp at night in an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate Sultan Mehmed II.
The Hungarian–Ottoman wars were a series of battles between the Ottoman Empire and the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. Following the Byzantine Civil War, the Ottoman capture of Gallipoli, and the inconclusive Battle of Kosovo in 1389, the Ottoman Empire was poise
June 17
On this day
VII century
- 653
653Pope Martin I is arrested and taken to Constantinople, due to his opposition to monothelitism. - 656
656After a prolonged siege by rebels who demand his abdication, caliph Uthman is assassinated as the rebels enter his palace.
XII century
XIII century
XIV century
XV century
XVI century
XVII century
- 1631
1631Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, will spend the next 17 years building her mausoleum, the Taj Mahal. - 1665
1665Battle of Montes Claros: Portugal definitively secures independence from Spain in the last battle of the Portuguese Restoration War. - 1673
1673French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet reach the Mississippi River and become the first Europeans to make a detailed account of its course.
XVIII century
- 1767
1767Samuel Wallis, a British sea captain, sights Tahiti and is considered the first European to reach the island. - 1773
1773Cúcuta, Colombia, is founded by Juana Rangel de Cuéllar. - 1775
1775American Revolutionary War: Colonists inflict heavy casualties on British forces while losing the Battle of Bunker Hill. - 1789
1789In France, the Third Estate declares itself the National Assembly. - 1794
1794Foundation of Anglo-Corsican Kingdom. - 1795
1795The burghers of Swellendam expel the Dutch East India Company magistrate and declare a republic.
XIX century
- 1831
1831The steam locomotive Best Friend of Charleston causes the first boiler explosion caused by a steam locomotive. - 1839
1839In the Kingdom of Hawaii, Kamehameha III issues the edict of toleration which gives Roman Catholics the freedom to worship in the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaii Catholic Church and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace are established as a result. - 1843
1843The Wairau Affray, the first serious clash of arms between Māori and British settlers in the New Zealand Wars, takes place. - 1861
1861American Civil War: Battle of Vienna, Virginia. - 1863
1863American Civil War: Battle of Aldie in the Gettysburg campaign. - 1876
1876American Indian Wars: Battle of the Rosebud: One thousand five hundred Sioux and Cheyenne led by Crazy Horse beat back General George Crook's forces at Rosebud Creek in Montana Territory. - 1877
1877American Indian Wars: Battle of White Bird Canyon: The Nez Perce defeat the U.S. Cavalry at White Bird Canyon in the Idaho Territory. - 1885
1885The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor. - 1898
1898The United States Navy Hospital Corps is established. - 1900
1900Boxer Rebellion: Western Allied and Japanese forces capture the Taku Forts in Tianjin, China.
XX century
- 1901
1901The College Board introduces its first standardized test, the forerunner to the SAT. - 1910
1910Aurel Vlaicu pilots an A. Vlaicu nr. 1 on its first flight. - 1922
1922Portuguese naval aviators Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral complete the first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic. - 1929
1929The town of Murchison, New Zealand is rocked by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake killing 17. At the time it was New Zealand's worst natural disaster. - 1930
1930U.S. president Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act into law. - 1932
1932Bonus Army: Around a thousand World War I veterans amass at the United States Capitol as the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would give them certain benefits. - 1933
1933Union Station massacre: In Kansas City, Missouri, four FBI agents and captured fugitive Frank Nash are gunned down by gangsters attempting to free Nash. - 1939
1939Last public guillotining in France: Eugen Weidmann, a convicted murderer, is executed in Versailles outside the Saint-Pierre prison. - 1940
1940World War II: RMS Lancastria is attacked and sunk by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France. At least 3,000 are killed in Britain's worst maritime disaster. - 1940
1940World War II: The British Army's 11th Hussars assault and take Fort Capuzzo in Libya from Italian forces. - 1940
1940The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania fall under the occupation of the Soviet Union. - 1944
1944Iceland declares independence from Denmark and becomes a republic. - 1948
1948United Air Lines Flight 624, a Douglas DC-6, crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 people on board. - 1952
1952Guatemala passes Decree 900, ordering the redistribution of uncultivated land. - 1953
1953Cold War: East Germany Workers Uprising: In East Germany, the Soviet Union orders a division of troops into East Berlin to quell a rebellion. - 1958
1958The Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, in the process of being built to connect Vancouver and North Vancouver (Canada), collapses into the Burrard Inlet killing 18 ironworkers and injuring others. - 1960
1960The Nez Perce tribe is awarded $4 million for 7 million acres (28,000 km2) of land undervalued at four cents/acre in the 1863 treaty. - 1963
1963The United States Supreme Court rules 8–1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against requiring the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord's Prayer in public schools. - 1963
1963A day after South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem announced the Joint Communiqué to end the Buddhist crisis, a riot involving around 2,000 people breaks out. One person is killed. - 1967
1967Nuclear weapons testing: China announces a successful test of its first thermonuclear weapon. - 1971
1971U.S. president Richard Nixon in a televised press conference calls drug abuse "America's public enemy number one", starting the war on drugs. - 1972
1972Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee during an attempt by members of the administration of President Richard M. Nixon to illegally wiretap the political opposition as part of a broader campaign to subvert the democratic process. - 1985
1985Space Shuttle program: STS-51-G mission: Space Shuttle Discovery launches carrying Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a payload specialist. - 1987
1987With the death of the last individual of the species, the dusky seaside sparrow becomes extinct. - 1989
1989Interflug Flight 102 crashes during a rejected takeoff from Berlin Schönefeld Airport, killing 21 people. - 1991
1991Apartheid: The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act which required racial classification of all South Africans at birth. - 1992
1992A "joint understanding" agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. president George Bush and Russian president Boris Yeltsin (this would be later codified in START II). - 1994
1994Following a televised low-speed highway chase, O. J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.
XXI century
- 2015
2015Nine people are killed in a mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. - 2017
2017A series of wildfires in central Portugal kill at least 64 people and injure 204 others. - 2021
2021Juneteenth National Independence Day is signed into law by President Joe Biden, to become the first federal holiday established since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.
Best known
Born on June 17
Best known
Died on June 17
656Uthman
Rashidun caliph from 644 to 656
676Pope Adeodatus II
Head of the Catholic Church from 672 to 676
811Sakanoue no Tamuramaro
Japanese general and shogun
850Tachibana no Kachiko
Empress consort of Japan
900Fulk (archbishop of Reims)
Roman Catholic archbishop
1025Bolesław I the Brave
Duke and King of Poland (r. 992–1025)
Holidays and observances
- Christian feast day: Albert Chmielowski
- Christian feast day: Botolph (England and Scandinavia)
- Christian feast day: Gondulphus of Berry
- Christian feast day: Hervé
- Christian feast day: Hypatius of Bithynia (Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Churches)
- Christian feast day: Rainerius
- Christian feast day: Samuel and Henrietta Barnett (Church of England)
- Christian feast day: Theresa of Portugal
- Christian feast day: June 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Father's Day (El Salvador, Guatemala)
- Icelandic National Day, celebrates the independence of Iceland from Kingdom of Denmark in 1944.
- National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Forest Fires (Portugal)
- Occupation of the Latvian Republic Day (Latvia)
- World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (international)
Frequently asked questions
What happened on June 17?
60 documented historical events happened on June 17, from antiquity to the present day. The best known is this: Pope Martin I (pictured) was arrested in the Lateran Palace, Rome, and taken to Constantinople. On the same day, in another year: The kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway formed the Kalmar Union, a personal union under Eric of Pomerania. On Almanaccolo every event is listed in chronological order, grouped by century, and links to the Wikipedia article it comes from, so you can always read further or check the source. Alongside the events you find who was born and who died on this date, and which observances are celebrated around the world.
Who was born on June 17?
160 people with a Wikipedia article were born on June 17, including Juan María Bordaberry, Bud Collins, Tigran Petrosian. The list spans every era and every field — art, science, politics, sport, entertainment — ordered by year of birth, from the earliest to the most recent. The six featured people are those most has been written about: the ordering uses the length of their Wikipedia article as an indicator of prominence. For each one you find their occupation, year of birth and a link to the full biography.
Who died on June 17?
103 people with a Wikipedia article died on June 17, including Uthman, Pope Adeodatus II, Sakanoue no Tamuramaro. The list is in chronological order by year of death and spans all of documented history, from antiquity to the present day. For each person you find their occupation, the year and a link to the Wikipedia biography, where the full story and its sources can be read.
What is celebrated on June 17?
15 observances are celebrated on June 17 around the world: Christian feast day: Albert Chmielowski, Christian feast day: Botolph (England and Scandinavia), Christian feast day: Gondulphus of Berry, Christian feast day: Hervé, Christian feast day: Hypatius of Bithynia (Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Churches), Christian feast day: Rainerius. The list gathers national holidays, international days and religious or civil observances falling on this date in different countries, as recorded on Wikipedia. Some are fixed and recur on the same day every year; others depend on the local calendar. Each links to the article explaining its origin and meaning.
Keep exploring
Free app
Every day’s history, in your pocket
Almanaccolo greets you each morning with the almanac of the day, sunrise and sunset times and your saved events.
- Today’s almanac, every morning
- Save the events that strike you
- Sunrise, sunset and weather for your city
- Free, no account required
Source: Wikipedia · Calendar