On this day: 17 April
Events, births and deaths on 17 April. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
Nothing recorded for that year.
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · Chyna
- Deaths · Doris Roberts
100 years ago1926
- Births · Joan Lorring
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 1080 · Deaths · Harald III of Denmark
- 1111 · Deaths · Robert of Molesme
- 1071 · Deaths · Manuel Komnenos
Events · 17
- 1492(Julian date)Capitulations of Santa Fe — signed document between Christopher Columbus and the rulers of Spain
- 1783Colbert raid — 1783 battle of the American Revolutionary War
- 1797Veronese Easters — Veronese rebellion against French occupation
- 1876Catalpa rescue — escape of six Irish Fenian prisoners from the colony of Western Australia
- 1888English Football League — league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales
- 1895Treaty of Shimonoseki — treaty signed at the Shunpanrō hall, Shimonoseki, Japan on April 17, 1895, between the Empire of Japan and the Qing Empire, ending the First Sino-Japanese War.
- 1897Aurora, Texas, UFO incident — The Aurora, Texas, UFO incident happened, at the United States of America on the 17th day of April 1897.
- 1961Bay of Pigs invasion — failed landing operation of Cuba in 1961
- 1971Provisional Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh — 1971-72 government-in-exile of Bangladesh after declaring independence from Pakistan
- 1975Cambodian genocide — genocide of as many as 3,000,000 Cambodians by communist Khmer Rogue in 1975–79
- 1975Fall of Phnom Penh — fall of Cambodian capital
- 1982Patriation — political process that led to full Canadian sovereignty from the UK
- 1984Murder of Yvonne Fletcher — 1984 shooting of a British police officer
- 20062006 Tel Aviv shawarma restaurant bombing — 2006 terrorist attack by Palestinian militants in Tel Aviv, Israel
- 2013West Fertilizer Company explosion — explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas
- 2013death and funeral of Margaret Thatcher — death and funeral proceedings of Margaret Thatcher
- 2021death and funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh — death and funeral proceedings of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Births · 60
- 1277(Julian date)Michael IX Palaiologos — Byzantine co-emperor
- 1455(Julian date)Andrea Gritti — Doge of Venice (1455-1539)
- 1497(Julian date)Pedro de Valdivia — Spanish conquistador, first royal governor of Chile (1497–1553)
- 1573(Julian date)Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria — Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria and prince-elector (Kurfürst) of the Holy Roman Empire (1573–1651)
- 1598Giovanni Battista Riccioli — 16th century Italian theologian and astronomer
- 1734Taksin — King of Siam
- 1794Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius — German botanist (1794-1868)
- 1814Josif Pančić — botanist (1814-1888)
- 1837J. P. Morgan — American financier, banker, and art collector (1837–1913)
- 1854(Julian date)Paul von Rennenkampf — Russian Tsarist general of Baltic German descent (1854-1918)
- 1882Artur Schnabel — Austrian pianist (1882-1951)
- 1885Karen Blixen — Danish writer (1885-1962)
- 1897Thornton Wilder — American playwright and novelist (1897–1975)
- 1897Nisargadatta Maharaj — Indian guru (1897-1981)
- 1899Aleksander Klumberg — Estonian athletics competitor, coach and sportsperson (1899-1958)
- 1909Alain Poher — French politician (1909-1996)
- 1911Hervé Bazin — French writer (1911–1996)
- 1912Marta Eggerth — American actress, singer
- 1916Sirimavo Bandaranaike — Prime Minister of Ceylon (later Sri Lanka) from 1960–65, 1970–77, 1994–2000
- 1918William Holden — American actor (1918–1981)
- 1919Chavela Vargas — Mexican singer (1919–2012)
- 1920Edmonde Charles-Roux — French writer (1920–2016)
- 1923Lindsay Anderson — British feature-film, theatre and documentary director and film critic (1923-1994)
- 1927Chandra Shekhar — Prime Minister of India (1990-1991)
- 1927Margot Honecker — East German politician (1927-2016)
Deaths · 60
- 485(Julian date)Proclus — 5th-century Greek Neoplatonist philosopher
- 818(Julian date)Bernard of Italy — Illegitimate son of Pepin of Italy
- 858(Julian date)Benedict III — pope (810-858)
- 1080Harald III of Denmark — 11th-century King of Denmark
- 1111(Julian date)Robert of Molesme — Cistercian abbot (1024–1111)
- 1355(Julian date)Marino Faliero — Doge of Venice
- 1427(Julian date)John IV — Duke of Brabant, Lothier and Limburg and Count of Hainaut, Holland and Zeeland (1403-1427)
- 1539George, Duke of Saxony — Duke of Saxony (1471-1539)
- 1574(Julian date)Joachim Camerarius — German humanist, polymath and poet (1500-1574)
- 1669Antonio Bertali — Austrian composer and violinist of Italian birth (1605-1669)
- 1680Kateri Tekakwitha — 17th‑century Mohawk Catholic saint, first Indigenous saint of North America (1656–1680)
- 1695Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz — Mexican writer, philosopher, playwright and poet
- 1696Madame de Sévigné — French noble and epistolarian writer (1626–1696)
- 1711Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor — Emperor from 1705 till his death in 1711
- 1764Johann Mattheson — German composer and theorist (1681-1764)
- 1790Benjamin Franklin — American polymath and statesman (1706–1790)
- 1892Alexander Mackenzie — 2nd Prime Minister of Canada (1822-1892)
- 1925Wong Fei-hung — Chinese martial artist and physician (1847-1924)
- 1930Aleksandr Golovin — Russian artist and stage designer (1863-1930)
- 1933Kote Marjanishvili — Georgian theatre and film director (1872–1933)
- 1936Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck — Dutch politician (1873-1936)
- 1942Jean-Baptiste Perrin — French physicist (1870–1942)
- 1946Juan Bautista Sacasa — President of Nicaragua (1874-1946)
- 1948Kantarō Suzuki — 29th Prime Minister of Japan (1868-1948)
- 1954Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu — Romanian politician (1900-1954)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.