On this day: 17 May
Events, births and deaths on 17 May. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
Nothing recorded for that year.
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · Yūko Mizutani
100 years ago1926
- Births · Dietmar Schönherr
- Births · Franz Sondheimer
- Births · David Ogilvy, 13th Earl of Airlie
1000 years ago1026
Nothing recorded for that year.
Events · 25
- 1395Battle of Rovine — 1395 battle between the Ottomans and Wallachians
- 1639Treaty of Zuhab — Ottoman-Iran treaty
- 1642Montreal — largest city in Quebec, Canada
- 1648Battle of Zusmarshausen — 1648 battle of the thirty years' war
- 1756Seven Years' War — global war among European powers (1756–1763)
- 1792New York Stock Exchange — American stock exchange
- 1792Buttonwood Agreement — 1792 founding document of the New York Stock Exchange
- 1863Battle of Big Black River Bridge — 1863 battle of the American Civil War
- 1865International Telecommunication Union — specialized agency of the United Nations for information and communication technologies
- 1914Protocol of Corfu — 1914 agreement recognizing Northern Epirus
- 1954Brown v. Board of Education — 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case which declared school segregation unconstitutional
- 1974Dublin and Monaghan bombings — series of co-ordinated bombings in Dublin and Monaghan, Ireland
- 1977Chuck E. Cheese — American pizza restaurant chain
- 1980internal conflict in Peru — armed conflict in Peru during 1980-2000 of left insurgent groups (Shining Path and MRTA) against Peruvian governments and far-right death squats
- 1980Coup d'état of May Seventeenth — 1987 South Korean military coup that installed Chun Doo-hwan
- 1983
- 1987Iraqi attack on USS Stark — military incident between the United States and Iraq
- 1992Black May — 17–20 May 1992 popular protest in Bangkok against the government of General Suchinda Kraprayoon and the military crackdown that followed
- 19941994 Malawian general election — Election of Bakili Muluzi as President of Malawi
- 19951995 San Diego tank rampage — destruction wrought by stolen tank
- 1997Cyberjaya — town in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia
- 20002000 UEFA Cup final riots — series of riots in Copenhagen, Denmark
- 2010Pamir Airways Flight 112 — aviation accident
- 20142014 Lao People's Liberation Army Air Force An-74 crash — air crash in Laos
- 2019Act for Implementation of J.Y. Interpretation No. 748 — 2019 Taiwan statute
Births · 60
- 1490(Julian date)Albert, Duke in Prussia — Duke of Prussia from 1525 to 1568
- 1682Bartholomew Roberts — Welsh pirate (1682-1722)
- 1749Edward Jenner — English physician, scientist and pioneer of vaccination (1749–1823)
- 1768Caroline of Brunswick — Queen consort of the United Kingdom and Hanover from 1820 to 1821
- 1845Jacint Verdaguer — Catalan writer and poet (1845-1902)
- 1866Erik Satie — French composer and pianist (1866-1925)
- 1873Henri Barbusse — French author (1873-1935)
- 1886Alfonso XIII — King of Spain from 1886 to 1931 (1886–1941)
- 1889Alfonso Reyes — Mexican writer, philosopher and diplomat (1889-1959)
- 1889Dorothy Gibson — American silent film actress, singer, model (1889–1946)
- 1891Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife — British princess; elder daughter of Louise, Princess Royal, and Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife (1891-1959)
- 1897Odd Hassel — Norwegian physical chemist and Nobel Laureate (1897–1981)
- 1900Ruhollah Khomeini — Supreme Leader of Iran from 1979 to 1989
- 1911Maureen O'Sullivan — Irish-American actress (1911-1998)
- 1918Birgit Nilsson — Swedish opera singer (1918–2005)
- 1929Branko Zebec — Croatian footballer and manager (1929–1988)
- 1934
- 1936Dennis Hopper — American actor and film director (1936–2010)
- 1940Alan Kay — American computer scientist (born 1940)
- 1942Taj Mahal — American blues musician
- 1943Sirajuddin I of Perlis — raja of Perlis
- 1945Tony Roche — Australian tennis player
- 1946Udo Lindenberg — German rock musician and composer
- 1949Bill Bruford — English drummer
- 1950Janez Drnovšek — Slovenian politician (1950–2008)
Deaths · 60
- 1336(Julian date)Go-Fushimi — Emperor of Japan, reigned 1298–1301
- 1365(Julian date)Louis II, Elector of Brandenburg — Duke of Bavaria
- 1392(Julian date)Zhu Biao — Ming Dynasty prince
- 1395(Julian date)Mary I of Hungary — Queen of Hungary (1371-1395)
- 1510(Julian date)Sandro Botticelli — Italian painter (1445–1510)
- 1521(Julian date)Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham — English noble (1478-1521)
- 1536George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford — English courtier and nobleman (1504-1536); brother of Anne Boleyn
- 1551Shin Saimdang — calligraphist and noted poet (1504-1551)
- 1575(Julian date)Matthew Parker — Archbishop of Canterbury (1504-1575)
- 1606(Julian date)False Dmitriy I — Tsar of Russia (1605–1606)
- 1607Anna of Este — Duchess consort of Nemours (1531-1607)
- 1729Samuel Clarke — English philosopher and clergyman (*1675 – †1729)
- 1765Alexis Clairaut — French mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist (*1713 – †1765)
- 1797Michel-Jean Sedaine — French dramatist and librettist
- 1801William Heberden — English physician (1710–1801)
- 1809Leopold Auenbrugger — 18th-century Austrian physician
- 1818Inō Tadataka — Japanese surveyor and cartographer (1745-1818)
- 1822Armand-Emmanuel de Vignerot du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu — French politician (1766-1822)
- 1829John Jay — Founding Father, U.S. Chief Justice from 1789 to 1795
- 1838René Caillié — French explorer (1799–1838)
- 1839Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord — French diplomat (1754-1838)
- 1867Takasugi Shinsaku — samurai (1839-1867)
- 1868Kondō Isami — Japanese swordsman (1834–1868)
- 1875John C. Breckinridge — vice president of the United States from 1857 to 1861 (1821–1875)
- 1880Ziya Pasha — Ottoman writer and translator (1825-1880)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.