December 17



Events

Up to 1900 
 497 BC - The first Saturnalia festival is first celebrated in Ancient Rome.
 546 - Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoths under King Totila plunder Rome, by bribing the Byzantine garrison.
 942 – William I of Normandy is assassinated.
 1538 – Pope Paul III excommunicates King Henry VIII of England.
 1577 - Francis Drake sails from Plymouth on a secret mission to explore the Pacific Ocean coasts of the Americas.
 1583 - Cologne War: Forces under Ernest of Bavaria defeat troops under Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg at the Siege of Godesberg.
 1586 - Emperor Go-Yozei of Japan becomes Emperor.
 1600 - Marriage of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici.
 1637 – In Japan, the Shimabara Rebellion led by Amakusa Shigeharu against daimyo Matsukura Shigeharu begins.
 1718 – Great Britain declares war on Spain.
 1777 - American Revolutionary War: France formally recognizes the United States as an independent country.
 1790 – The Aztec calendar stone Piedra del Sol is discovered during building work in Mexico City.
 1819 - Simon Bolivar declares the independence of Gran Colombia (present-day Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador) in Angostura, now Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela.
 1830 - Simon Bolivar dies at the age of 47.
 1835 - Great Fire of New York City: Fire levels Lower Manhattan.
 1837 - A fire rips through the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, killing 30 guards.
 1862 – Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order Number 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky.
 1865 – First performance of Franz Schubert's 'Unfinished' Symphony.
 1892 - The first issue of Vogue magazine is published.

1901  2000 
 1903 – The Wright Brothers make their first powered and heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
 1907 – Ugyen Wangchuck becomes the first King of Bhutan.
 1909 - Albert I of Belgium becomes King.
 1918 - Up to 1,000 demonstrators march on Government House in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
 1919 – Uruguay becomes a signatory of the Buenos Aires Convention.
 1922 - The last British troops leave the Irish Free State.
 1926 – Antanas Smetona becomes President of Lithuania.
 1938 - Otto Hahn discovers the nuclear fission of the heavy element uranium, the scientific and technological basis of nuclear energy.
 1939 - World War II: Battle of River Plate - The German Navy sinks its own ship Admiral Graf Spee outside Montevideo.
 1941 – World War II: Japanese forces land in northern Borneo.
 1960 - Haile Selassie is re-installed as Emperor of Ethiopia, after he had previously been removed by a coup, while he was in Brazil, on December 13.
 1960 - 1960 Munich Convair 340 crash: 20 people on board the aircraft and 32 on the ground are killed.
 1961 – The world's biggest circus tragedy occurs in Niteroi, Brazil when the circus is set on fire by angry workers, killing 323 people.
 1967 – Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt goes missing on a diving trip off the state of Victoria. He is declared dead two days later.
 1970 – The current flag of Oman comes into use.
 1973 – 30 passengers are killed in an attack by Palestinian terrorists at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci Airport.
 1981 – Senegal and Gambia form the Senegambia Confederation.
 1983 – An IRA bomb at a Harrods Department store in London kills 6 people.
 1989 – Fernando Collor de Mello is elected President of Brazil.
 1989 – The first full-length episode of The Simpsons airs.
 1997 – Oggy and the Cockroaches: The Movie releases in theaters by Warner Bros.

From 2001 
 2003 – The Soham murder trial ends with Ian Huntley being found guilty of the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman near Soham, Cambridgeshire, in 2002.
 2004 – Out of health and cultural reasons, Bhutan bans the sale of tobacco.
 2005 – King Jigme Singye Wangchuck of Bhutan decides to abdicate the throne.
 2010 – Arab Spring: Tunisian fruit seller Mohamed Bouazizi sets himself on fire in an act of protest. He dies as a result of this on January 4, 2011. Shortly after, Tunisia's President, Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali is overthrown, and this starts a series of uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East.
 2010 – Murder of Joanna Yeates: Vincent Tabak murders Joanna Yeates at her home in Clifton, Bristol. More than 10 months later, he is sentenced to life imprisonment.
 2011 – A typhoon hits the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, killing at least 400 people.
 2011 - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il dies. His son, Kim Jong-un, takes over from him.
 2014 - US President Barack Obama declares a normalization in US-Cuba relations for the first time in over 50 years, after the release of American Alan Gross, who was held in Cuba since December 2009.
 2017 - Sebastian Pinera is elected President of Chile for a second time.
 2019 - Fallon Sherrock becomes the first woman to win a match in a World Darts Championship.

Births

Up to 1900 
 1267 – Emperor Go-Uda, emperor of Japan (d. 1324)
 1554 - Ernest of Bavaria (d. 1612)
 1619 – Prince Rupert, Royalist commander in the English Civil War (d. 1682)
 1632 – Anthony Wood, English antiqurian (d. 1695)
 1638 - Anna Sophia II, Abbess of Quedlinburg (d. 1683)
 1685 – Thomas Tickell, English writer (d. 1740)
 1706 – Émilie du Châtelet, French mathematician and physicist (d. 1749)
 1734 – Maria I of Portugal (d. 1816)
 1749 – Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer (d. 1801)
 1758 – Nathaniel Macon, American politician (d. 1837)
 1778 – Humphrey Davy, English chemist (d. 1829)
 1789 - Clement Comer Clay, 8th Governor of Alabama (d. 1866)
 1796 – Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Canadian novelist (d. 1865)
 1797 - Joseph Henry, American physicist (d. 1878)
 1799 – Titian Peale, American artist (d. 1885)
 1807 – John Greenleaf Whittier, American poet and abolitionist (d. 1892)
 1824 - John Kerr, Scottish physicist (d. 1907)
 1830 – Jules de Goncourt, French publisher (d. 1870)
 1835 - Alexander Emanuel Agassiz, Swiss-American scientist (d. 1910)
 1842 – Sophus Lie, Norwegian mathematician (d. 1899)
 1853 – Herbert Beerbohm Tree, English actor (d. 1917)
 1866 - Kazys Grinius, 3rd President of Lithuania (d. 1950)
 1866 - Mario García Menocal, 3rd President of Cuba (d. 1941)
 1872 – Mistinguett, French actress and singer (d. 1956)
 1873 – Ford Madox Ford, English writer (d. 1939)
 1874 – William Lyon Mackenzie King, tenth Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1950)
 1884 - Alison Uttley, English writer (d. 1976)
 1887 - Hermine Reuss of Greiz, wife of Wilhelm II of Germany (d. 1947)
 1889 - Vaslav Nijinsky, Polish-Russian ballet dancer and choreographer (d. 1950)
 1892 – Sam Barry, American basketball coach (d. 1950)
 1893 – Erwin Piscator, German movie director (d. 1966)
 1894 - Willem Schermerhorn, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1977)
 1894 – Arthur Fiedler, American conductor (d. 1979)
 1898 - Loren Murchison, American athlete (d. 1979)
 1900 - Mary Cartwright, English mathematician (d. 1998)

1901  1950 
 1901 – Lee Strasberg, Austrian-born actor and director (d. 1982)
 1903 – Erskine Caldwell, American writer (d. 1987)
 1903 – Ray Noble, English musician {d. 1978}
 1905 – Simo Häyhä, Finnish soldier (d. 2002)
 1905 - Mohammad Hidayatullah, 11th Chief Justice of India (d. 1992)
 1905 - Jan Valtin, German writer (d. 1951)
 1908 – Willard Frank Libby, American physicist and chemist (d. 1980)
 1913 - Burt Baskin, American businessman (d. 1967)
 1915 – André Claveau, French singer (d. 2003)
 1915 - Robert A. Dahl, American political theorist (d. 2014)
 1916 – Penelope Fitzgerald, English writer (d. 2000)
 1919 - Tomas Spidlik, Czech cardinal (d. 2010)
 1920 - Kenneth E. Iverson, Canadian computer scientist (d. 2004)
 1922 - Mario Rigamonti, Italian footballer (d. 1949)
 1926 - Stephen Lewis, English actor (d. 2015)
 1926 - Patrice Wymore, American actress (d. 2014)
 1928 - Marilyn Beck, American columnist (d. 2014)
 1928 - George Lindsey, American actor (d. 2012)
 1929 – William Safire, American columnist (d. 2009)
 1929 – Jacqueline Hill, British actress (d. 1993)
 1930 – Bob Guccione, American magazine publisher (d. 2010)
 1930 – Armin Mueller-Stahl, German actor
 1931 - Dave Madden, Canadian-American actor (d. 2014)
 1934 - Ray Wilson, English footballer (d. 2018)
 1935 - Cal Ripken, Sr., American baseball player, coach and manager (d. 1999)
 1936 - Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires)
 1936 – Tommy Steele, English singer and actor
 1936 - Klaus Kinkel, German politician (d. 2019)
 1937 - John Kennedy Toole, American author (d. 1969)
 1937 - Art Neville, American singer and keyboardist (d. 2019)
 1937 - Kerry Packer, Australian businessman (d. 2005)
 1938 - Gilles Tremblay, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2014)
 1938 – Peter Snell, New Zealand athlete (d. 2019)
 1939 – Eddie Kendricks, American musician (d. 1992)
 1941 – Gene Clark, American musician (d. 1991)
 1941 - Dave Dee, English singer (d. 2009)
 1942 – Paul Butterfield, American musician (d. 1987)
 1942 - Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerian leader
 1943 - Christopher Cazenove, English actor (d. 2010)
 1943 – Ron Geesin, Scottish musician
 1943 – Lauren Hutton, American model and actress
 1944 – Jack L. Chalker, American novelist
 1944 – Lorne Michaels, Canadian television producer
 1944 – Bernard Hill, English actor
 1945 – Jacqueline Wilson, English writer
 1945 – Elvin Hayes, American basketball player
 1945 – Ernie Hudson, American actor
 1946 – Eugene Levy, Canadian actor
 1947 – Wes Studi, American actor
 1947 - Robert Dornhelm, Romanian-Austrian film and television director
 1948 - Valery Belousov, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
 1949 – Paul Rodgers, British singer (Free)

1951  1975 
 1951 – Ken Hitchcock, Canadian ice hockey coach
 1953 – Bill Pullman, American actor
 1953 - Sally Menke, American movie producer (d. 2010)
 1955 – Brad Davis, American basketball player
 1956 - Peter John Farrelly, American screenwriter and director
 1958 - Mike Mills, American musician in band R.E.M.
 1959 - Gregg Araki, American filmmaker
 1959 - Albert King, American basketball player
 1960 - Moreno Argentin, Italian cyclist
 1961 - Sara Dallin, English singer (Bananarama)
 1962 - Ari Folman, Israeli film director, screenwriter and film score composer
 1963 – Jón Kalman Stefánsson, Icelandic writer
 1966 – Kristiina Ojuland, Estonian politician
 1966 – Valery Liukin, Soviet gymnast
 1967 – Gigi D'Agostino, Italian musician and DJ
 1968 – Paul Tracy, Canadian race car driver
 1969 - Chris Mason, English darts player
 1970 - Sean Patrick Thomas, American actor
 1971 – Antoine Rigaudeau, French basketball player
 1973 – Paula Radcliffe, English runner
 1973 - Codrin Tapu, Romanian psychologist
 1974 - Sarah Paulson, American actress
 1974 - Giovanni Ribisi, American actor
 1974 - Marissa Ribisi, American actress and screenwriter
 1975 – Nick Dinsmore, American professional wrestler
 1975 – Milla Jovovich, Ukrainian-born actress and model

From 1976 
 1976 – Patrick Müller, Swiss footballer
 1976 – Takeo Spikes, American football player
 1976 - Andrew Simpson, English sailor (d. 2013)
 1977 – Liédson, Portuguese footballer
 1977 - Arnaud Clément, French tennis player
 1977 - Oxana Fedorova, Russian model, actress and singer
 1978 – Manny Pacquiao, Filipino boxer and politician
 1978 - Riteish Deshmukh, Indian actor
 1979 - Charlotte Edwards, English cricketer
 1979 – William Green, American football player
 1980 - Eli Pariser, American internet activist and computer programmer
 1981 – Tim Wiese, German footballer
 1982 - Dynamo, English magician
 1982 – Boubacar Sanogo, Ivory Coast footballer
 1982 - Craig Kielburger, Canadian author and activist
 1983 - Sébastien Ogier, French rally driver
 1983 - Chidi Odiah, Nigerian footballer
 1984 - Shannon Woodward, American actress
 1985 - Ryuichi Ogata, Japanese singer and actor
 1986 - Emma Bell, American actress
 1987 – Chelsea Manning, American soldier, leaked information on WikiLeaks
 1988 - David Rudisha, Kenyan athlete
 1989 – André Ayew, Ghanaian footballer
 1989 - Taylor York, American musician (Paramore)
 1991 - Tom Walker, Scottish singer
 1993 - Patricia Ku Flores, Peruvian tennis player
 1993 - Buddy Hield, Bahamian basketball player
 1994 - Nat Wolff, American actor, singer and musician
 1998 - Martin Odegaard, Norwegian footballer
 2007 – James, Viscount Severn, British royal and youngest grandchild of Elizabeth II

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 942 – William I of Normandy
 1187 – Pope Gregory VIII
 1195 – Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut (b. 1150)
 1273 – Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, Persian poet and mystic (b. 1207)
 1663 – Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba (b. 1583)
 1721 – Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough, English statesman (b. 1640)
 1830 – Simón Bolívar, Latin American politician and activist (b. 1783)
 1833 - Kaspar Hauser, German foundling (b. 1812)
 1847 - Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma (b. 1791)
 1857 - Hiram Runnels, Governor of Mississippi (b. 1796)
 1860 - Desirée Clary, French-born Queen Consort of Sweden (b. 1777)
 1881 - Isaac Israel Hayes, American physician and polar explorer (b. 1832)
 1881 - Lewis H. Morgan, American anthropologist (b. 1818)
 1897 – Alphonse Daudet, French writer (b. 1840)

1901  2000 
 1901 - Josep Manyanet i Vives, Catalan priest (b. 1833)
 1907 – William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Irish-born physicist (b. 1824)
 1909 – King Léopold II of Belgium (b. 1835)
 1917 – Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, English physician (b. 1836)
 1927 - Rajendra Lahiri, Indian activist (b. 1892)
 1929 - Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa, 10th President of Portugal (b. 1863)
 1933 – Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama (b. 1876)
 1934 - William L. Harding, 20th Governor of Iowa (b. 1877)
 1935 - Juan Vicente Gómez, President of Venezuela (b. 1857)
 1940 - Alicia Boole Stott, Irish-English mathematician (b. 1860)
 1957 – Dorothy L. Sayers, English writer (b. 1893)
 1962 - Thomas Mitchell, American actor (b. 1892)
 1964 – Victor Franz Hess, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1883)
 1967 – Harold Holt, Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1908)
 1969 - Artur da Costa e Silva, President of Brazil (b. 1899)
 1973 - Charles Greeley Abbott, American astrophysicist (b. 1872)
 1973 - Amleto Giovanni Cicognani, Italian cardinal (b. 1883)
 1978 - Josef Frings, German cardinal (b. 1887)
 1982 - Homer S. Ferguson, American politician (b. 1889)
 1987 – Irving Allen, American producer (b. 1916)
 1987 – Marguerite Yourcenar, Belgian novelist (b. 1903)
 1992 – Dana Andrews, American actor (b. 1909)
 1998 – Claudia Benton, Peruvian child psychologist (b. 1959)
 1999 – Grover Washington Jr., American musician (b. 1943)

From 2001 
 2003 – Ed Devereaux, Australian actor (b. 1925)
 2003 – Otto Graham, American football player (b. 1921)
 2009 – Jennifer Jones, American actress (b. 1919)
 2010 – Captain Beefheart, American musician (b. 1941)
 2011 – Cesaria Evora, Cape Verdean singer (b. 1941)
 2011 – Kim Jong-il, North Korean leader (b. 1941)
 2012 - Dina Manfredini, Italian-born American supercentenarian (b. 1897)
 2012 - Daniel Inouye, United States Senator from Hawaii (b. 1924)
 2013 - Janet Rowley, American cancer researcher (b. 1925)
 2014 - Dieter Grau, German-American rocket scientist (b. 1913)
 2014 - Richard C. Hottelet, American broadcast journalist (b. 1917)
 2014 - Oleh Lysheha, Ukrainian poet (b. 1949)
 2015 - Buckshot Hoffner, American politician (b. 1924)
 2016 - Henry Heimlich, American physician (b. 1920)
 2016 - Benjamin A. Gilman, American politician (b. 1922)
 2017 - Johnny Fox, American sword swallower (b. 1953)
 2017 - Bob Glidden, American drag racer (b. 1944)
 2017 - Kevin Mahogany, American jazz singer (b. 1958)
 2017 - Edward Rowny, American army officer (b. 1917)
 2017 - Terry Cavanagh, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1926)
 2018 - Jon Bluming, Dutch martial artist and actor (b. 1933)
 2018 - Penny Marshall, American actress (b. 1943)
 2018 - Amélie Mummendey, German social psychologist (b. 1944)
 2018 - Rona Ramon, Israeli educator and activist (b. 1964)
 2018 - Francis Roache, American police officer and politician (b. 1936)
 2019 - Karin Balzer, German hurdler (b. 1938)
 2019 - Hayden Fry, American football player (b. 1929)
 2019 - Bronco Horvath, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1930)
 2019 - Shriram Lagoo, Indian actor (b. 1927)

Observances 
 National Day of Bhutan

Days of the year