June 17



Events

Up to 1900 
1462  Vlad III the Impaler attempts to kill Ottoman Empire Sultan Mehmed II forcing him to retreat to Wallachia.
1497  Battle of Deptford Bridge – Forces under King Henry VII soundly defeat troops led by Michael An Gof.
1565  Matsunaga Hisahide assassinates the 13th Ashikaga Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru.
1579  Sir Francis Drake claims a land he calls Nova Albion (modern California) for England.
1596  Willem Barents reaches Svalbard during his attempt to find the Northeast Passage.
1631  Mumtaz Mahal died during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, then spent more than 20 years having her tomb, the Taj Mahal, built.
1673  French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet reach the Mississippi River.
1775  American Revolutionary War: Battle of Bunker Hill – The British forces take Bunker Hill outside of Boston.
1789  In France, the Third Estate declares itself as a national assembly.
1839  In 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 is later established as a result.
1843  The Wairau Affray, the first serious clash of arms between Maori and British settlers in the New Zealand Land Wars, takes place.
1863  Battle of Aldie in the Gettysburg Campaign of the American Civil War
1876  American Indian Wars: Battle of the Rosebud – 1,500 Sioux and Cheyenne led by Crazy Horse beat back General George Crook forces at Rosebud Creek in Montana Territory.
1877  American Indian Wars: The Nez Perce defeat United States Cavalry in the Battle of White Bird Canyon, in what was then the Idaho Territory.
1885  The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor.
1898  The Navy Hospital Corps is established.
1900  Boxer Rebellion: Allied Japanese and Western forces capture Taku Forts, Tianjin, China.

1901  2000 
1911  The University of Iceland is founded.
1928  Aviator Amelia Earhart starts her attempt to become the first woman to fly in an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean. She was a passenger; Wilmer Stutz was pilot and Lou Gordon, mechanic.
1929  A magnitude 7.8 earthquake hits Murdison, New Zealand, killing 17 people. It was New Zealand's deadliest natural disaster at the time.
1930  U.S. President Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot-Hawley Tariff into law.
1930  Bonus Army: Around a thousand World War I veterans mass at the United States Capitol as the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would give them certain benefits.
1933  Union Station Massacre:  In Kansas City, Missouri, four FBI agents and captured fugitive Frank Nash were gunned down by gangsters attempting to free Nash.
1939  Convicted murderer Eugen Weidmann is executed in the last public guillotining in France.
1940  World War II:  Operation Ariel begins – Allied troops start to  evacuate France, following Germany's takeover of Paris and most of the nation.
1940  World War II:  Sinking of the RMS Lancastria by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France.
1940  The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania fall under the occupation of the Soviet Union.
1944  Iceland becomes independent from Denmark and forms a republic.
1948  A Douglas DC-6 carrying United Air Lines Flight 624 crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 people on board.
1953  Workers Uprising: In East Germany, the Soviet Union orders a division of troops into East Berlin to quell a rebellion.
1958  The Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, while being built to connect Vancouver to North Vancouver in Western Canada, collapses into the Burrard Inlet, killing many of the ironworkers and injuring others.
1961  The New Democratic Party of Canada is founded with the merger of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the Canadian Labour Congress.
1963  The United States Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against allowing the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord's Prayer in public schools.
1967  The People's Republic of China announces its first test of a thermonuclear weapon.
1969  Boris Spassky defeats Tigran Petrosian to become world chess champion.
1971  Representatives of Japan and the United States sign the Okinawa Reversion Agreement, setting out a plan where the U.S. would return control of Okinawa.
1971  Richard Nixon declares the US War on Drugs.
1972  Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for breaking in to the offices of the Democratic National Committee, in an attempt by the Republican party to illegally wiretap the opposition.
1974  The IRA carries an attack on the British Parliament in London.
1982  The body of "God's Banker", Roberto Calvi, is found hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London.
1985  Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on Mission STS-51-G. On board is Saudi Arabian Prince Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, the first Arab in space.
1987  The Dusky Seaside Sparrow becomes extinct.
1991  Apartheid: The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act, which had required all racial classification of all South Africans at birth.
1992  A 'Joint Understanding' agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin  (this would be later codified in START II).
1994  Following a televised highway chase and a failed attempt at suicide, O. J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

From 2001 
2012  Greece holds its second parliamentary election in the space of six weeks, with no party winning overall control.
2012  Egypt holds the second round of its first Presidential election since Hosni Mubarak left office following the 2011 Egyptian protests.
2013  Singapore is hit by the worst haze since 1997. The PSI levels reaches levels not seen since 2006, with a PSI of 155 recorded at 10pm, after air quality plummeted into the "Unhealthy" range at 2pm.
2015  Charleston church shooting: 9 people are killed in a shooting at a prayer meeting in Charleston, South Carolina. Local politician and pastor Clementa C. Pinckney is among those killed.
2017  The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup starts, with hosts Russia defeating New Zealand 2-0.
2017  Massive wildfires break out in central Portugal, killing at least 60 people.
2018  2018 FIFA World Cup: Mexico defeat defending champions Germany in both teams' first group match of the competition.
2019  Former President of Egypt Mohamed Morsi reportedly dies after fainting while on trial in Cairo.
2020  The English Premier League returns after being halted in March because of COVID-19.

Births

Up to 1900 
801  Drogo of Metz, son of Charlemagne (d. 855)
1239  King Edward I of England (d. 1307)
1530  François de Montmorency, French politician (d. 1579)
1603  Joseph of Cupertino, Italian saint (d. 1663)
1604  John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen (d. 1679)
1625  Peder Hansen Resen, Danish historian and legal scholar (d. 1688)
1631  Gauhara Begum, daughter of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal (d. 1706)
1658  Diogo de Medonca Corte-Real, Portuguese diplomat and statesman (d. 1736)
1682  King Charles XII of Sweden (d. 1718)
1691  Giovanni Paolo Pannini, Italian painter and architect (d. 1765)
1703  John Wesley, English theologian, founder of Methodism (d. 1791)
1714  César-François Cassini de Thury, French astronomer (d. 1784)
1808  Henrik Wergeland, Norwegian writer (d. 1845)
1810  Ferdinand Freiligrath, German writer (d. 1876)
1811  Jón Sigurðsson, Icelandic independence fighter (d. 1879)
1811  Adolphe d'Ennery, French writer (d. 1899)
1818  Charles Gounod, French composer (d. 1893)
1818  Sophie of Württemberg, Queen of the Netherlands (d. 1877)
1832  Sir William Crookes, physicist and chemist (d. 1919)
1835  Eugene Borel, Swiss politician (d. 1892)
1858  Ebenezer Sumner Draper, 44th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1914)
1861  Omar Bundy, American general (d. 1940)
1863  Charles Michael, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1934)
1867  Henry Lawson, Australian poet (d. 1922)
1867  John Robert Gregg, American educator, publisher and humanitarian (d. 1948)
1869  Aloys, Prince of Liechtenstein (d. 1955)
1880  Carl Van Vechten, American photographer (d. 1964)
1881  Tommy Burns, Canadian boxer  (d. 1955)
1882  Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer (d. 1971)
1882  Adolphus Frederick IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1918)
1884  Prince Wilhelm, Duke of Södermanland, Swedish royal (d. 1965)
1897  Maria Izilda de Castro Ribeiro, Brazilian saint (d. 1911)
1898  M. C. Escher, Dutch artist (d. 1972)
1898  Harry Patch, British World War I veteran and supercentenarian (d. 2009)
1898  Carl Hermann, German physicist (d. 1961)
1900  Martin Bormann, Nazi official (d. 1945)

1901  1950 
1903  Ruth Graves Wakefield, American inventor of the chocolate-chip cookie (d. 1977)
1904  Ralph Bellamy, American actor and comedian (d. 1987)
1907  Charles Eames, American designer and architect (d. 1978)
1907  Maurice Cloche, French director and screenwriter (d. 1990)
1909  Elmer L. Andersen, Governor of Minnesota (d. 2004)
1910  Red Foley, American country musician (d. 1968)
1914  John Hersey, American writer (d. 1993)
1914  Julian Marias, Spanish philosopher (d. 2005)
1915  Karl Targownik, psychiatrist (d. 1996)
1915  David "Stringbean" Akeman, American banjo player and actor  (d. 1973)
1915  Mario Echandi Jiménez, President of Costa Rica (d. 2011)
1916  Terry Gilkyson, American singer, songwriter, guitarist and composer (d. 1999)
1917  Atle Selberg, Norwegian mathematician
1917  Dufferin Roblin, Premier of Manitoba (d. 2010)
1919  Beryl Reid, English actress (d. 1996)
1920  François Jacob, French biologist and Nobel Prize winner (d. 2013)
1920  Setsuko Hara, Japanese actress (d. 2015)
1922  John Amis, British journalist and critic (d. 2013)
1923  Elroy 'Crazylegs' Hirsch, American football player (d. 2004)
1923  Anthony Bevilacqua, American cardinal (d. 2012)
1923  Larry Kwong, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2019)
1924  William MacDonald, English-Australian serial killer (d. 2014)
1925  Alexander Shulgin, American pharmacologist and chemist (d. 2014)
1928  Juan María Bordaberry, President of Uruguay (d. 2011)
1928  Peter Shirayanagi, Japanese cardinal (d. 2009)
1929  Tigran Petrosian, Armenian chess player (d. 1984)
1929  James Shigeta, American actor (d. 2014)
1930  Princess Lalla Aicha of Morocco (d. 2011)
1930  Brian Statham, English cricketer (d. 2000)
1931  John Baldessari, American painter (d. 2020)
1932  Derek Ibbotson, English runner
1932  Peter Lupus, American actor
1932  John Murtha, American politician (d. 2010)
1933  Harry Browne, American actor
1933  Christian Ferras, French violinist (d. 1982)
1936  Ken Loach, British movie director
1937  Clodovil Hernandes, Brazilian entertainer (d. 2009)
1937  Ted Nelson, American sociologist and philosopher
1938  Grethe Ingmann, Danish singer (d. 1990)
1939  Krzysztof Zanussi, Polish film and theatre director
1940  George Akerlof, American economist
1942  Roger Steffens, American actor, author, photographer and producer
1942  Mohamed ElBaradei, Egyptian International Atomic Energy Agency Director
1943  Newt Gingrich, American politician
1943  Barry Manilow, American musician
1944  Chris Spedding, British guitarist
1945  Ken Livingstone, British politician, former Mayor of London
1945  Eddy Merckx, Belgian cyclist
1945  Frank Ashmore, American actor
1946  Eduardo Camaño, Argentine politician
1946  Peter Rosei, Austrian writer
1947  Linda Chavez, American writer
1947  George S. Clinton, American composer, songwriter and musician
1948  Hrafn Gunnlaugsson, Icelandic movie director
1948  Joaquín Almunia, Spanish politician
1949  Tom Corbett, American politician, 46th Governor of Pennsylvania
1949  Snakefinger, British musician, singer and songwriter (d. 1987)
1949  John Craven, English economist and academic

1951  1975 
1951  John Garrett, Canadian ice hockey player
1951  Paul McGuinness, manager of U2
1951  Starhawk, American author and activist
1952  Estelle Morris, Baroness Morris of Yardley, English politician
1952  Judith Macgregor, English diplomat
1952  Sergio Marchionne, Italian-Canadian businessman (d. 2018)
1952  Mike Milbury, American ice hockey player, coach and manager
1954  Mark Linn-Baker, American actor and director
1957  Phil Chevron, Irish musician, singer and songwriter (d. 2013)
1957  Jon Gries, American actor
1958  Jello Biafra, American musician, politician
1959  Nikos Stavropoulos, Greek basketball player
1959  Baltazar Maria de Morais Junior, Brazilian footballer
1960  Thomas Haden Church, American actor
1963  Christophe Barratier, French film producer, director and screenwriter
1963  Greg Kinnear, American actor
1964  Michael Gross, swimmer
1966  Jason Patric, American actor
1966  Tory Burch, American fashion designer, businesswoman and philanthropist
1967  Eric Stefani, American musician (No Doubt)
1968  Minoru Suzuki, Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial arts artist
1969  Paul Tergat, Kenyan runner
1969  Ilya Tsymbalar, Russian footballer (d. 2013)
1970  Michael Showalter, American actor, writer and director
1971  Paulina Rubio, Mexican singer
1972  Sebastian White, English musician (Oasis)
1973  Leander Paes, Indian tennis player
1975  Chloe Jones, American pornographic actress (d. 2005)
1975  Joshua Leonard, American actor
1975  Néstor Pitana, Argentine football referee

From 1976 
1976  Scott Adkins, English actor and martial artist
1976  Peter Svidler, Russian chess player
1978  Isabelle Delobel, French ice dancer
1979  Nick Rimando, footballer
1979  Young Maylay, American rapper
1980  Venus Williams, American tennis player
1980  Kimeru, Japanese singer and actor
1981  Shane Watson, Australian cricketer
1982  Arthur Darvill, English actor
1982  Alex Rodrigo Dias da Costa, Brazilian footballer
1983  Connie Fisher, British stage actress
1983  Lee Ryan, British singer (Blue)
1983  Kazunari Ninomiya, Japanese actor
1985  Marcos Baghdatis, Cypriot tennis player
1985  Rafael Sobis, Brazilian footballer
1986  Apoula Edel, American footballer
1986  Helen Glover, British rower
1987  Nozomi Tsuji, Japanese singer 
1987  Kendrick Lamar, American rapper
1987  L'ubos Kamenar, Slovakian footballer
1988  Andrew Ogilvy, Australian basketball player
1988  Stephanie Rice, Australian swimmer
1989  Simone Battle, American actress and singer (d. 2014)
1990  Alan Dzagoev, Russian footballer
1990  Joel Robles, Spanish footballer
1990  Jordan Henderson, English footballer
1990  Laura Wright, English singer
1993  Jean Marie Froget, Mauritian swimmer
1995  Arkadiusz Reca, Polish footballer

Deaths

Up to 1900 
676  Pope Adeodatus II
850  Tachibana no Kachiko, Japanese Empress (b. 786)
924  Edward the Elder, Saxon King of England (b. 874)
1025  Boleslaw I the Brave, King of Poland (b. 967)
1091  Dirk V, Count of Holland (b. 1052)
1463  Princess Catherine of Portugal (b. 1436)
1501  John I Albert, King of Poland (b. 1459)
1565  Ashikaga Yoshiteru, Ashikaga shogun (b. 1536)
1631  Mumtaz Mahal, wife of Shah Jahan, inspiration for the Taj Mahal (b. 1593)
1694  Philip Howard, English cardinal (b. 1629)
1696  John III Sobieski, King of Poland (b. 1629)
1719  Joseph Addison, English politician and writer (b. 1672)
1734  Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars, Marshal of France (b. 1653)
1740  William Wyndham, 3rd Baronet, British politician (b. 1687)
1775  John Pitcairn, British military officer (b. 1722)
1775  Joseph Warren, American soldier (b. 1741)
1797  Agha Muhammad Khan, Persian Shah of Qajar dynasty (b. 1742)
1813  Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, Scottish-English admiral and politician (b. 1726)
1839  Lord William Bentinck, British Governor-General of India (b. 1774)
1842  Arthur Conolly, British traveler, military and diplomat (b. 1807)
1858  Rani Lakshmibai, Indian political figure (b. 1828)
1866  Lewis Cass, American politician (b. 1782)
1898  Edward Burne-Jones, English artist (b. 1833)

1901  2000 
1904  Nikolai Bobrikov, Russian politician (b. 1839)
1917  José Manuel Pando, Bolivian politician (b. 1848) 
1936  Henri Louis Le Chatelier, French chemist and physicist (b. 1850)
1936  Julius Seljamaa, Estonian politician, diplomat and journalist (b. 1883) 
1939  Eugen Weidmann, last public guillotine execution in France (b. 1908)
1940  Arthur Harden, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
1941  Johan Wagenaar, Dutch composer and organist (b. 1862)
1956  Paul Rostock, German doctor (b. 1892)
1957  Dorothy Richardson, English feminist writer (b. 1873)
1960  Pierre Reverdy, French writer (b. 1889)
1961  Jeff Chandler, actor (b. 1918)
1963  Aleksander Kesküla, Estonian politician (b. 1882)
1968  José Nasazzi, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1901)
1968  A. M. Cassandre, Ukrainian-French artist (b. 1901)
1979  Duffy Lewis, Major League Baseball player (b. 1888)
1982  Roberto Calvi, Italian banker (b. 1920)
1986  Kate Smith, American singer (b. 1907)
1987  Dick Howser, American baseball player and manager (b. 1936)
1996  Thomas Kuhn, American philosopher of science (b. 1922)
1998  John Carberry, American cardinal (b. 1904)
1999  Basil Hume, English Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1931)
2000  Ismail Mahomed, 17th Chief Justice of South Africa (b. 1931)

From 2001 
2001  Donald J. Cram, American chemist (b. 1919)
2001  Thomas Joseph Winning, Archbishop of Glasgow (b. 1925)
2002  Willie Davenport, athlete (b. 1943)
2002  Fritz Walter, German footballer (b. 1920)
2004  Gerry McNeil, hockey player (b. 1926)
2004  Sara Lidman, Swedish writer (b. 1923)
2006  Arthur Franz, American actor (b. 1920)
2007  Angelo Felici, Italian cardinal (b. 1919)
2008  Tsutomu Miyazaki, Japanese serial killer (b. 1962)
2008  Cyd Charisse, American dancer and actress (b. 1921)
2009  Ralf Dahrendorf, German-born sociologist and politician (b. 1929)
2012  Rodney King, American victim of police brutality (b. 1965)
2013  James Holshouser, 68th Governor of North Carolina (b. 1934)
2014  Jorge Romo, Mexican footballer (b. 1924)
2014  Larry Zeidel, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1928)
2014  Patsy Byrne, English actress (b. 1933)
2015  Ron Clarke, Australian athlete and former Mayor of Gold Coast, Queensland (b. 1937)
2015  Süleyman Demirel, 9th President of Turkey (b. 1924)
2015  Jeralean Talley, American supercentenarian (b. 1899)
2015  Roberto M. Levingston, Argentine general and politician (b. 1920)
2015  Clementa C. Pinckney, American politician and pastor (b. 1973)
2015  Nelson Doubleday, Jr., American publisher (b. 1933)
2015  John David Crow, American football player (b. 1935)
2015  Nicola Badalucco, Italian screenwriter and journalist (b. 1929)
2015  Chang Ch'ung-ho, Chinese-American poet, calligrapher and opera singer (b. 1914)
2016  Rubén Aguirre, Mexican actor (b. 1934)
2016  Attrell Cordes, American singer (P.M. Dawn) (b. 1970)
2016  Ron Lester, American actor (b. 1970)
2016  David Morgenthaler, American businessman (b. 1919)
2017  Baldwin Lonsdale, President of Vanuatu (b. 1950)
2017  Luis Lusquiños, Argentine politician (b. 1951)
2017  Venus Ramey, American beauty pageant contestant (b. 1924)
2017  Leopoldo S. Tumulak, Filipino Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1944)
2017  Elias Burstein, American physicist (b. 1917)
2017  Pierre Imhasly, Swiss author and poet (b. 1939)
2017  Emil Wojtaszek, Polish politician (b. 1927)
2018  Elizabeth Brackett, American journalist (b. 1941)
2018  Zhao Nanqi, Korean-born Chinese general and politician (b. 1927)
2018  Igor Muradyan, Armenian political activist (b. 1957)
2019  Philipp Bobkov, Russian intelligence officer (b. 1925)
2019  Darwin Hindman, American politician (b. 1933)
2019  Mohamed Morsi, 5th President of Egypt (b. 1951)
2019  Salvatore Senese, Italian magistrate and politician (b. 1935)
2019  Gloria Vanderbilt, American socialite, fashion designer and artist (b. 1924)
2020  Marlene Ahrens, Chilean athlete (b. 1933)
2020  Tariq Aziz, Pakistani actor and television host (b. 1936)
2020  William C. Dement, American sleep researcher (b. 1928)
2020  Terry Dicks, British politician (b. 1937)
2020  György Kárpáti, Hungarian water polo player (b. 1935)
2020  Petr Král, Czech writer (b. 1941) 
2020  Jean Kennedy Smith, American diplomat (b. 1928)
2020  Willie Thorne, British snooker player (b. 1954)
2020  Vatanyar Yagyua, Russian politician (b. 1938)

Observances 
 Independence Day (Iceland)
 Day of German Unity, observed on June 17 in West Germany until 1990, to commemorate East Germany's Workers' Uprising in 1953
 Soviet occupation Day (Latvia)
 Father's Day (El Salvador, Guatemala)
 Bunker Hill Day (Sussex County, Massachusetts)
 World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought

Days of the year