Title: May 17 Content: == Events == === Up to 1900 === * 1395 - In the Battle of Rovine, Wallachians defeat an invading Ottoman Empire army. * 1521 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham is executed for treason. * 1536 - George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford and four other men are executed for treason in England. * 1590 – Anne of Denmark is crowned Queen of Scotland. * 1642 – Paul Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve (1612 – 1676) founds the Ville Marie de Montréal. * 1673 – Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River. * 1697 - The Tre Kronor castle in Stockholm is almost completely destroyed by fire. * 1724 - The Krafla volcano in Iceland erupts, creating the Viti crater. * 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Continental Congress bans trade with Canada. * 1792 – The New York Stock Exchange is formed. * 1808 – Napoleon I of France orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire. * 1814 – Norway gets its own Constitution. * 1814 – Occupation of Monaco changes from French to Austrian. * 1846 – The saxophone is patented by Adolphe Sax. * 1849 - A large fire almost completely destroys Saint Louis, Missouri. * 1861 - Scottish scientist James Clerk Maxwell demonstrates the first color photograph, an image of a tartan ribbon. * 1863 – Rosalía de Castro publishes Cantares Gallegos, her first book in the Galician language. * 1865 – The International Telegraph Union (the later International Telecommunication Union) is established. * 1875 – Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby. * 1884 - The "Department of Alaska" is renamed "District of Alaska". * 1900 – Second Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking. === 1901 2000 === * 1902 – Archaeologist Spyridon Stais finds the Antikythera mechanism. * 1914 - The Protocol of Corfu is signed. * 1915 – The last British Liberal Party government (Herbert Henry Asquith) falls. * 1919 – Committee of One Thousand forms to oppose Winnipeg General Strike. * 1928 - The 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam begin. * 1933 – Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form Nasjonal Samling — the national-socialist party of Norway. * 1940 – World War II: Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium. * 1940 - World War II: The German Luftwaffe bombs the city of Middelburg, Zeeland, Netherlands. * 1943 – World War II: Surviving RAF Dam Busters return. * 1943 – The United States Army contracts with the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the ENIAC. * 1944 – Type IX U-boat: U-884 is launched. * 1954 – The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. * 1967 – Six-Day War: President Abdul Nasser of Egypt demands dismantling of the peace-keeping UN Emergency Force in Egypt. * 1969 – Venera program: Soviet Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere of Venus, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure. * 1970 – Thor Heyerdahl sets sail from Morocco on the papyrus boat Ra II to sail the Atlantic Ocean. * 1973 – Watergate scandal: Hearings begin in the United States Senate and are televised. * 1974 – Police in Los Angeles, California, raid the Symbionese Liberation Army's headquarters, killing six members, including Camilla Hall. * 1974 – Thirty-three people are killed by terrorist bombings in Dublin and Monaghan, Ireland. * 1980 – General Chun Doo-hwan of South Korea declares martial law in order to suppress student demonstrations. * 1980 - On the eve of Presidential elections, Maoist Guerrilla group Shining Path attacks a polling location in the town of Chuschi, Ayacucho, Peru, beginning the internal conflict in Peru. * 1983 – Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. * 1984 – Prince Charles calls a proposed addition to the National Gallery, London, a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend," sparking controversies on the proper role of the Royal Family and the course of modern architecture. * 1987 – Iran-Iraq War: The USS Stark (FFG-31) is struck by a missile from an Iraqi Mirage fighter killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew. * 1990 – The World Health Organization removed homosexuality from ICD - the origin of the International Day Against Homophobia. * 1992 – In Thailand, the so-called Black May begins. Thai police and protestors start attacking one another. By midnight, the current Thai government declares a state of emergency, and military troops with M-16 rifles open fire. * 1994 - The first multi-party elections in Malawi are held. * 1995 – After 18 years as the mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac takes office as President of France. * 1997 - Troops of Laurent Kabila enter Kinshasa. Zaire is officially renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo. * 1999 – Ehud Barak is elected Prime Minister of Israel. * 2000 - Arsenal FC and Galatasaray fans clash before the UEFA Cup final in Copenhagen. Galatasaray wins 4-1 to become the first Turkish football team to win a major European trophy. === From 2001 === * 2003 – Mozilla Firefox. Browser renamed from Phoenix to Firebird. * 2004 – Same-sex marriage becomes legal in Massachusetts. * 2005 – Reverend Clarence Silva of Oakland is appointed fifth Bishop of Honolulu, Hawaii. * 2006 - Aircraft carrier "USS Oriskany" is sunk off the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef. * 2007 - Trains from North and South Korea cross the 38th Parallel in a test-run agreed by both governments. * 2010 - Portugal legalizes same-sex marriage. * 2011 - Elizabeth II makes a historic state visit to the Republic of Ireland. * 2014 - Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia both declare a State of Emergency after experiencing their worst flooding in over 100 years, killing at least 25 people. * 2014 - A plane crash in Northern Laos kills 17 people. * 2015 - Nine people are killed in a shoot-out between two biker gangs in Waco, Texas. * 2016 - Christian Kern succeeds Werner Faymann as Chancellor of Austria. * 2018 - Quim Torra is sworn in as President of Catalonia. == Births == === Up to 1900 === * 1155 – Jien, Japanese poet and historian (d. 1225) * 1443 – Edmund, Earl of Rutland (d. 1460) * 1550 - Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Italian nobleman (d. 1540) * 1628 – Archduke Ferdinand Charles of Austria, Regent of the Tyrol and Further Austria * 1682 - Bartholomew Roberts, Welsh pirate (d. 1722) * 1732 – Francesco Pasquale Ricci, Italian composer and violinist (d. 1817) * 1743 – Seth Warner, American revolutionary leader (d. 1784) * 1749 – Edward Jenner, British inventor of the vaccine (d. 1823) * 1758 – John St Aubyn, British fossil collector (d. 1839) * 1763 - Pierre Adet, French physician and chemist (d. 1834) * 1768 – Caroline of Brunswick, Princess of Wales (d. 1821) * 1791 - Silas H. Jennison, Governor of Vermont (d. 1849) * 1794 – Anna Brownell Jameson, British writer (d. 1860) * 1821 – Sebastian Kneipp, naturopathist (d. 1897) * 1836 – Wilhelm Steinitz, chess player (d. 1900) * 1836 - Norman Lockyer, British scientist and astronomer (d. 1920) * 1842 – August Thyssen, German industrialist (d. 1926) * 1844 – Julius Wellhausen, German biblical scholar (d. 1918) * 1845 - Jacint Verdaguer, Catalan poet (d. 1902) * 1860 - Austin Lane Crothers, Governor of Maryland (d. 1912) * 1866 – Erik Satie, French composer (d. 1925) * 1868 - Horace Elgin Dodge, American automobile manufacturer (d. 1920) * 1873 – Henri Barbusse, French novelist and journalist (d. 1935) * 1873 – Dorothy Richardson, English feminist writer (d. 1957) * 1879 – Simon Petlyura, Ukrainian independence fighter (d. 1926) * 1886 – King Alfonso XIII of Spain (d. 1941) * 1888 – Tich Freeman, record-breaking Kent leg-spinner (d. 1965) * 1889 - Dorothy Gibson, American actress (d. 1946) * 1891 – Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife (d. 1959) * 1895 - Mary Josephine Ray, Canadian-American supercentenarian (d. 2010) * 1897 – Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist (d. 1981) * 1898 – Alfred Joseph Casson, painter (d. 1992) * 1900 – Ruhollah Khomeini, Supreme Leader of Iran (d. 1989) === 1901 1950 === * 1901 – Werner Egk, German composer (d. 1983) * 1902 - Khuang Abhaiwongse, Thai politician (d. 1968) * 1903 – Cool Papa Bell, American baseball player (d. 1991) * 1904 – Jean Gabin, actor (d. 1976) * 1906 – Zinka Milanov, Croatian opera soprano (d. 1989) * 1911 – Lisa Fonssagrives, Swedish-born supermodel (d. 1992) * 1911 – Maureen O'Sullivan, actress (d. 1998) * 1912 - Archibald Cox, American lawyer and politician (d. 2004) * 1912 - Ace Parker, American football player (d. 2013) * 1912 - Percy Young, British composer (d. 2004) * 1913 - Hans Ruesch, Swiss racing driver (d. 2007) * 1913 - Waldemar de Brito, Brazilian footballer (d. 1979) * 1914 - Chang Ch'ung-ho, Chinese-American poet, educator and singer (d. 2015) * 1917 - Boris Schnaiderman, Ukrainian-Brazilian translator, writer and essayist (d. 2016) * 1918 – Birgit Nilsson, Swedish soprano (d. 2005) * 1919 – Merle Miller, Presidential biographer (d. 1986) * 1919 - Antonio Aguilar, Mexican singer, actor, movie producer and screenwriter (d. 2007) * 1921 - Bob Merrill, American composer and lyricist (d. 2003) * 1921 – Dennis Brain, English French horn player (d. 1957) * 1922 – Antje Weisgerber, German actress (d. 2004) * 1924 – Hannes Messemer, actor (d. 1991) * 1925 - Michel de Certeau, French Jesuit and scholar (d. 1986) * 1926 - David Ogilvy, 13th Earl of Airlie, Scottish peer * 1926 - Dietmar Schönherr, Austrian actor (d. 2014) * 1931 – Marshall Applewhite, American cult leader, Heaven's Gate (d. 1997) * 1932 - Rodric Braithwaite, English diplomat * 1932 - Miloslav Vlk, Czech cardinal (d. 2017) * 1933 - Thérèse Steinmetz, Dutch singer and painter * 1934 – Ronald Wayne, American Apple Inc. co-founder * 1934 - Friedrich-Wilhelm Kiel, German politician * 1934 - Earl Morrall, American baseball player (d. 2014) * 1935 – Dennis Potter, English writer (d. 1994) * 1936 – Dennis Hopper, American actor, director (d. 2010) * 1936 - Philippe Boesmans, Belgian composer * 1936 - Lars Gustafsson, Swedish writer and philosopher (d. 2016) * 1937 – Hazel R. O'Leary, United States Secretary of Energy * 1940 – Alan Kay, American computer scientist * 1941 – Ben Nelson, 40th Governor of Nebraska * 1941 – Grace Zabriskie, American actress * 1942 – Taj Mahal, American singer and guitarist * 1943 - Alexander Lenkov, Russian actor (d. 2014) * 1944 - Jesse Winchester, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2014) * 1944 - David Kelly, British weapons expert (d. 2003) * 1945 – Tony Roche, Australian tennis player * 1945 - B. S. Chandrasekhar, Indian cricketer * 1946 – Udo Lindenberg, German musician * 1948 - Dick Gaughan, Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist and composer * 1948 - Winfried Kretschmann, German politician * 1949 - Andrew Latimer, British musician * 1949 - Bill Bruford, British drummer and songwriter * 1950 – Janez Drnovšek, Slovene politician (d. 2008) * 1950 – Alan Johnson, British politician * 1950 - Howard Ashman, American playwright and lyricist (d. 1991) * 1950 - Valeriya Novodvorskaya, Russian politician (d. 2014) === 1951 1975 === * 1951 – Simon Hughes, British politician * 1953 - Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Kazakhstan * 1953 - Luca Prodan, Italian- Argentine singer-songwriter * 1954 - Dame Patsy Reddy, 21st Governor-General of New Zealand * 1954 - David Zippel, American lyricist * 1955 – Bill Paxton, American actor (d. 2017) * 1956 – Sugar Ray Leonard, American boxer * 1956 - Annise Parker, American politician * 1956 – Bob Saget, actor (d. 2022) * 1957 - Peter Hoeg, Danish writer * 1958 – Paul Di'Anno, English singer * 1958 - Paul Whitehouse, Welsh actor, writer and comedian * 1958 - Ivor Bolton, British conductor * 1959 – Jim Nantz, American broadcaster * 1960 - Lou DiBella, American boxing promoter, actor and producer * 1960 - Simon Fuller, Cypriot-English talent manager and producer * 1961 – Enya, Irish singer * 1962 – Lise Lyng Falkenberg, Danish writer * 1962 - Craig Ferguson, Scottish- American comedian, actor and television host * 1962 – Alan Johnston, Scottish journalist * 1963 - Jon Koncak, American basketball player * 1963 - Taimo Toonast, Estonian opera singer * 1965 – Jeremy Vine, British broadcaster * 1965 – Trent Reznor, American singer, songwriter ("Nine Inch Nails") * 1966 – Qusay Hussein, son of Saddam Hussein (d. 2003) * 1966 - Hill Harper, American actor * 1967 - Joseph M. Acaba, American astronaut * 1967 - Paul D'Amour, American bass player and author * 1967 - Mohamed Nasheed, former President of the Maldives * 1970 - Jordan Knight, American singer-songwriter * 1970 - Angelica Agurbash, Belarussian singer * 1970 - Jeremy Browne, English politician * 1971 – Maxima Zorreguieta Cerruti, Queen Consort of the Netherlands * 1971 – Shaun Hart, Australian rules footballer * 1971 - Gina Raimondo, American politician, 75th Governor of Rhode Island * 1973 - Sasha Alexander, American actress * 1974 – Andrea Corr, Irish singer (The Corrs) * 1974 – Sendhil Ramamurthy, American actor * 1975 – Jonti Picking, internet cartoonist * 1975 – Laura Voutilainen, Finnish singer === From 1976 === * 1976 - Leehom Wang, American-Taiwanese singer-songwriter, actor, producer and director * 1978 – Paddy Kenny, Irish footballer * 1979 - David Jarolim, Czech footballer * 1979 - Jimmie Akesson, Swedish politician * 1980 - Juan Arango, Venezuelan footballer * 1980 - Dallas Taylor, American singer, songwriter and musician * 1981 - Cosma Shiva Hagen, German actress * 1981 – Leon Osman, English footballer * 1982 – Tony Parker, French-American basketball player * 1982 - Clarence Goodson, American soccer player * 1982 – Chloe Smith, British politician * 1982 – Matt Cassel, American football player * 1982 – Reiko Nakamura, Japanese swimmer * 1983 – Channing Frye, American basketball player * 1984 - Christine Ohuruogu, English athlete * 1984 - Passenger, English singer and composer * 1984 - Igor Denisov, Russian footballer * 1984 - Teófilo Gutiérrez, Colombian footballer * 1986 - Amy Gumenick, Swedish-born American actress * 1986 - Bojan Jokic, Slovenian footballer * 1986 - Jodie Taylor, English footballer * 1987 - Evald Boasson Hagen, Norwegian cyclist * 1987 - Ott Lepland, Estonian singer * 1988 - Nikki Reed, American actress * 1989 – Tessa Virtue, Canadian ice dancer * 1989 - Sarah Hargreaves, Danish-British handball player * 1990 – Leven Rambin, American actress * 1991 - Johanna Konta, Australian-born British tennis player * 1991 - Daniel Curtis Lee, American actor * 1996 - Ryan Ochoa, American actor == Deaths == === Up to 1900 === * 290 – Emperor Wu of Jin of China (b. 236) * 1189 - Minamoto no Yoshitsune, Japanese general (b. 1159) * 1336 – Emperor Go-Fushimi of Japan (b. 1288) * 1365 - Louis VI the Roman, Duke of Bavaria and Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1328) * 1510 – Sandro Botticelli, Italian painter (b. 1445) * 1521 - Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, English politician (b. 1748) * 1536 - George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford * 1551 - Shin Saimdang, Korean writer, artist and poet (b. 1504) * 1575 – Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1504) * 1626 – Juan Pujol, Catalan composer (b. 1570) * 1643 - Giovanni Picchi, Italian organist and composer (b. 1571) * 1727 – Catherine I of Russia (b. 1683 or 1684) * 1729 – Samuel Clarke, English philosopher (b. 1675) * 1765 – Alexis Claude Clairault, French mathematician (b. 1713) * 1809 – Leon Auenbrugger, Austrian physician (b. 1722) * 1822 – Armand-Emmanuel du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu, French-Russian statesman (b. 1766) * 1829 – John Jay, first Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1745) * 1838 – Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, French diplomat (b. 1754) * 1838 - René Caillié, French explorer (b. 1799) * 1839 – Archibald Alison, Scottish writer (b. 1757) * 1860 – Martin Kukučín, Slovak writer (b. 1757) * 1870 - David Octavius Hill, Scottish artist and photographer (b. 1802) * 1875 – John C. Breckinridge, Vice President of the United States (b. 1821) * 1880 - Ziya Pasha, Ottoman writer and translator (b. 1826) * 1886 - John Deere, American blacksmith and manufacturer (b. 1804) * 1888 - Giacomo Zanella, Italian poet (b. 1820) === 1901 2000 === * 1911 - Frederick August Otto Schwarz, German-American businessman (b. 1836) * 1916 - Boris Borisovich Galitzine, Russian physicist (b. 1862) * 1917 – Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke, ruler of Sarawak (b. 1829) * 1919 – Guido von List, German occultist and writer (b. 1848) * 1923 - Thomas Scott Baldwin, American balloonist and aviation pioneer (b. 1854) * 1935 – Paul Dukas, French composer (b.1865) * 1936 - Panagis Tsaldaris, 124th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1868) * 1943 - Johanna Elberskirchen, German activist (b. 1864) * 1946 – William Jefferson Blythe III, father of U.S. President Bill Clinton (b. 1918) * 1947 – George William Forbes, Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1869) * 1947 – Zhang Lingfu, Chinese general (b. 1903) * 1963 - John Wilce, American football player (b. 1888) * 1966 – Randy Turpin, English boxer (b. 1928) * 1969 - Josef Beran, Czech cardinal (b. 1888) * 1985 – Abe Burrows, songwriter, composer, and writer * 1987 – Gunnar Myrdal, Swedish economist (b. 1898) * 1992 – Lawrence Welk, American musician (b. 1903) * 1995 - Joe Blake, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1912) * 1999 - Lembit Oll, Estonian chess player (b. 1966) * 2000 – Donald Coggan, 101st Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1909) === From 2001 === * 2002 – Dave Berg, cartoonist (b. 1920) * 2002 – Sharon Sheeley, songwriter (b. 1940) * 2002 – Davey Boy Smith, American professional wrestler (b. 1962) * 2004 – Tony Randall, American actor (b. 1920) * 2004 – Jørgen Nash, artist (b. 1920) * 2004 – Ezzedine Salim, leader of Iraqi Governing Council * 2005 – Frank Gorshin, actor (b. 1934) * 2007 – Lloyd Alexander, American writer (b. 1924) * 2009 – Mario Benedetti, Uruguayan writer (b. 1920) * 2010 – Khattiya Sawasdipol, Thai general (b. 1951) * 2010 – Bobbejaan Schoepen, Belgian singer (b. 1925) * 2010 – Yvonne Loriod, French pianist (b. 1924) * 2011 – Harmon Killebrew, American baseball player (b. 1936) * 2012 - Gideon Ezra, Israeli politician (b. 1937) * 2012 – Donna Summer, American disco singer (b. 1948) * 2013 - Jorge Rafael Videla, Argentine military leader (b. 1925) * 2013 - Alan O'Day, American singer- songwriter (b. 1940) * 2013 - Philippe Gaumont, French cyclist (b. 1973) * 2013 - Peter Schulz, German politician, Mayor of Hamburg (b. 1930) * 2014 - Gerald Edelman, American biologist and immunologist (b. 1929) * 2014 - Miss Beazley, pet dog of George W. Bush (b. 2004) * 2015 - Chinx, American rapper (b. 1983) * 2015 - Margaret Dunning, American philanthropist (b. 1910) * 2015 - Michael Alfred Peszke, Polish-born American psychiatrist and historian (b. 1932) * 2016 - Guy Clark, American folk singer-songwriter (b. 1941) * 2016 - Benjamin de Roo, Dutch-Australian gymnast (b. 1940) * 2017 - Viktor Gorbatko, Russian cosmonaut (b. 1934) * 2017 - Roxcy Bolton, American activist (b. 1926) * 2017 - Rhodri Morgan, Welsh politician, First Minister of Wales (b. 1939) * 2017 - Chris Cornell, American guitarist, singer and songwriter (b. 1964) * 2018 - Nicole Fontaine, French lawyer and politician (b. 1942) * 2018 - Richard Pipes, Polish-American academic and political expert (b. 1923) * 2018 - Mehdi Tabatabaei, Iranian politician (b. 1936) * 2019 - Rallapalli, Indian actor (b. 1945) * 2019 - Eduardo A. Roca, Argentine diplomat (b. 1921) * 2019 - Kadavoor Sivadasan, Indian politician and trade unionist (b. 1932) * 2019 - Herman Wouk, American author (b. 1915) == Observances == * Constitution Day, National Day of Norway * Constitution Day (Nauru) * Liberation Day (Democratic Republic of the Congo) * Navy Day (Argentina) * International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia * National Famine Memorial Day (Republic of Ireland) * World Information Society Day * Galician Literature Day Category:Days of the year