July 17
| Template:JulyCalendar |
| Template:ThisDateInRecentYears2006Rev |
July 17 is the 198th day of the year (199th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 167 days remain until the end of the year.
Events
- 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 - Bloody Falls Massacre: 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 cedes Florida to the United States
- 1831 - Mormonism founder Joseph Smith, Jr. receives a revelation in Jackson County, Missouri on plural marriage that introduces polygamy in Mormonism.
- 1841 - The first issue of the magazine Punch is published in London
- 1856 - The Great Train Wreck of 1856, occurs in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania killing over 60 people.
- 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.
- 1944 - Napalm incendiary bombs were dropped for the first time by American P-38 pilots on a fuel depot at Coutances, near St. Lô, France
- 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.
- 1948 - Establishment of Constitution in South Korea
- 1951 - Western New England College in Springfield, Massachusetts is chartered.
- 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.
- 1964 - British speed pioneer Sir Donald Campbell sets a new land speed world record of 429mph in his car, Bluebird.
- 1968 - The date of the July 17th Revolution in Iraq when Abdul Rahman Arif was overthrown and the Ba'ath Party installed as the governing power in Iraq with Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr as the new Iraqi President.
- 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.
- 1989 - First flight of the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber.
- 1995 - The Midwestern heat wave in the United States reaches its peak. Chicago 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 at about 20:31 EDT (00:31, July 18 UTC), killing all 230 on board.
- 1997 - The F.W. Woolworth Company closes after 117 years in business.
- 1997 - Daniel Komen breaks the 2 mile world record in a time of 7:58.61.
- 1998 - In St. Petersburg, Nicholas II of Russia and his family are buried in St. Catherine Chapel exactly 80 years after he and his family were killed by Bolsheviks.
- 1998 - Papua New Guinea earthquake: A tsunami triggered by an undersea earthquake destroys 10 villages in Papua New Guinea killing an estimated 3,183, 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.
Births
- 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)
- 1898 - George Robert Vincent, American sound recording pioneer (d. 1985)
- 1889 - Erle Stanley Gardner, American lawyer and author (Perry Mason) (d. 1970)
- 1893 - Marvin Pierce, women's magazine publisher (d. 1969)
- 1898 - Osmond Borradaile, WW1 veteran and Canadian cinematographer (d. 1999)
- 1899 - James Cagney, American actor (d. 1986)
- 1900 - Marcel Dalio, French actor (d. 1983)
- 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)
- 1920 - Gordon Gould, inventor of the laser (d. 2005)
- 1921 - František Zvarík, Slovakian actor
- 1926 - Édouard Carpentier, French-born professional wrestler
- 1928 - Vince Guaraldi, American musician and composer (d. 1976)
- 1929 - Sergei K. Godunov, Russian mathematician
- 1935 - Diahann Carroll, American actor
- 1935 - Peter Schickele, American composer, author, and radio host
- 1935 - Donald Sutherland, Canadian actor
- 1939 - Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran
- 1939 - Andrée Champagne, French Canadian actress and politician
- 1940 - Tim Brooke-Taylor, English comedian
- 1941 - Spencer Davis, British singer and guitarist (Spencer Davis Group)
- 1941 - Jürgen Flimm, German theatre director and manager
- 1941 - Daryle Lamonica, American football player
- 1942 - Don Kessinger, baseball player
- 1944 - Carlos Alberto, Brazilian football player
- 1944 - Catherine Schell, Hungarian born British actress
- 1945 - Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia
- 1946 - Alun Armstrong, English actor
- 1947 - Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
- 1948 - Ron Asheton, American musician and composer (Iggy Pop & The Stooges)
- 1948 - Luc Bondy, Swiss theatre and opera director
- 1949 - Terence "Geezer" Butler, British musician and lyricist (Black Sabbath)
- 1949 - John Wetton, British musician (King Crimson)
- 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 - Robin Shou, Hong Kong actor
- 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
- 1966 - Sten Tolgfors, Swedish politician
- 1968 - Bitty Schram, American actress
- 1971 - Jarrett Cordes, American hip-hip artist (P.M. Dawn)
- 1971 - Cory Doctorow, Canadian author and activist
- 1972 - Jason Rullo, American drummer (Symphony X and formerly Redemption)
- 1972 - Jaap Stam, Dutch footballer
- 1973 - Eric Moulds, American football player
- 1973 - Tony Dovolani, Albanian ballroom dancer
- 1974 - Laura Macdonald, Scottish jazz musician
- 1975 - Konnie Huq, English television presenter
- 1975 - Cécile de France, Belgian actress
- 1975 - Terence Tao, Australian Chinese mathematician
- 1977 - M.I.A., British rapper
- 1977 - Marc Savard, Canadian hockey player
- 1978 - Mike Hettinga, American professional wrestler
- 1980 - Ryan Miller, NHL hockey player
- 1980 - Craig Hughes, minor Welsh rugby player
- 1980 - Javier Camuñas, Spanish footballer
- 1981 - Elpida Romantzi, Greek archer
- 1982 - Natasha Hamilton, British singer (Atomic Kitten)
- 1983 - Ryan Guettler, professional Australian BMX rider
- 1983 - Adam Lind, American baseball player
- 1984 - Sotiris Leontiou, Greek footballer
- 1985 - Neil McGregor, Scottish footballer
- 1985 - Tom Fletcher, British singer (McFly)
- 1986 - Dana, Korean singer/dancer/actress (TSZX)
- 1988 - Kat DeLuna, Spanish-American singer
- 1989 - Marko Todorović, Swiss swimmer
- 1998 - Felipe Juan Froilán de Marichalar y de Borbón, Spanish royal
Deaths
- 521 - Magnus Felix Ennodius, bishop and Latin poet (b. 474)
- 656 - Uthman ibn Affan, Third Caliph, assassinated.
- 924 - King Edward the Elder of England
- 1070 - Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders (b. 1030)
- 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)
- 1845 - Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1764)
- 1878 - Aleardo Aleardi, Italian poet (b. 1812)
- 1881 - Jim Bridger, American mountain man, Indian fighter, and explorer (b. 1804)
- 1885 - Jean-Charles Chapais, Canadian politician (b. 1811)
- 1887 - Dorothea Dix, American social activist (b. 1802)
- 1893 - Frederick A. Johnson, American politician (b. 1833)
- 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 - Geraldine Fitzgerald, Irish-born actress (b. 1913)
- 2005 - Edward Heath, 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)
Holidays and observances
Liturgical feasts
- Saint Alexius, confessor [common; in red]
- Saint Andrew and Benedict, martyrs [ Hungary]
- Holy Carmelite Nuns of Compiegne, martyrs
- Saint Cynllo
- Saint Ennodius, bishop of Pavia
- Saint Fredegaudus, bishop, confessor [Liège]
- Saint Kenelmus, king, martyr [England]
- Saint Marcellina, virgin
- Translation of Saint Marina virgin, martyr [Venice]
- Saints Quiricus and Julitta, martyrs [Augsburg]
- Saint Piatus, bishop of Tournai [Paris]
- Saint Speratus and companions 'the Sicilian Martyrs' [Paderborn, Verdun, France]
- Saint Theodosius, bishop of Auxerre [Auxerre]
- Saint Turninus, monk
- Blessed Charlotte and companions (died 1794).