July 17

### Up to 1900

- 180 – 12 inhabitants of Scillium in North Africa are executed for being Christians.
- 1203 – The Fourth Crusade captures Constantinople by assault.
- 1402 – Yongle becomes Emperor of China.
- 1429 – Hundred Years' War: Charles VIII of France is crowned King.
- 1453 – Battle of Castillon: France defeats England in the last battle of the Hundred Years' War.
- 1717 – George Frideric Handel's Water Music is premiered, as King George I of Great Britain sails down the River Thames with a barge of 50 musicians.
- 1771 – Bloody Falls massacre: Chipewyan chef Matonabbee, travelling as the guide to Samuel Hearne on his Arctic overland expedition, massacres a group of unsuspecting Inuit.
- 1791 – Members of France's National Guard under control of Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette open fire on a crowd of radical Jacobins at the Champ de Mars, Paris, killing 50 people.
- 1821 – Florida goes into US control.
- 1863 – The New Zealand Wars resume as British forces in New Zealand led by Duncan Cameron begin their invasion at Waikato.
- 1897 – The Klondike Gold Rush begins in North–western Canada.

### 1901 – 2000

- 1917 – The British Royal Family changes its name to Windsor.
- 1918 – Nicholas II, the Czar of Russia, his wife, and their 5 children are executed by the Bolsheviks, under orders from Vladimir Lenin.
- 1936 – The Spanish Civil War begins.
- 1944 – Port Chicago disaster: At Port Chicago near San Francisco Bay, two ships carrying ammunition for the war explode, killing 320 people.
- 1944 – World War II: Napalm incendiary bombs are dropped for the first time by American P–38 pilots on a fuel depot at Coutances, France.
- 1945 – World War II: Allied leaders Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin meet in Potsdam to discuss the future of a defeated Germany.
- 1948 – The South Korean Constitution is proclaimed.
- 1955 – Disneyland opens in Anaheim, California.
- 1962 – Nuclear weapons testing: The Small Boy test shot Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric test detonation of the Nevada National Security Site.
- 1968 – A revolution in Iraq when Abdul Rahman Arif is overthrown and the Ba'ath Party is installed in power with Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr as new President.
- 1973 – Afghanistan: Mohammed Daoud Khan removes his cousin Mohammed Zahir Shah from power.
- 1976 – 25 African countries boycott the Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada.
- 1976 – Indonesia takes control of East Timor.
- 1979 – The Sandinistas start to govern Nicaragua, after Anastasio Somoza Debayle flees to Miami, Florida.
- 1981 – The Humber Bridge in England is opened by Queen Elizabeth II.
- 1981 – A structural failure leads to the collapse of a walkway at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, collapses, killing 114 people and injuring over 200.
- 1989 – Poland restores diplomatic relations with Vatican City.
- 1994 – Brazil wins the FIFA World Cup for a fourth time, after a penalty shootout win over Italy, which is remembered for Roberto Baggio's missed penalty kick.
- 1996 – A Boeing 747 airplane explodes near Long Island, New York, killing 230 people.
- 1998 – At a conference in Rome 120 countries vote to create the International Criminal Court.
- 1998 – An earthquake causes a tsunami, which destroys ten villages in Papua New Guinea, killing 3,183 people, and leaving more than 2,000 unaccounted for.
- 1998 – 80 years after being executed, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family are buried at the St. Catherine Chapel in St. Petersburg.

### From 2001

- 2001 – Concorde is brought back into service  nearly a year a crash near Paris.
- 2006 – A tsunami south of Java kills around 300 people.
- 2007 – A plane crashes and bursts into flames at São Paulo International Airport in Brazil, killing all 187 people on board, and 12 on the ground.
- 2011 – Japan wins the FIFA Women's World Cup, defeating the United States in a penalty shoot–out.
- 2014 – Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashes in Eastern Ukraine near the border with Russia, having been reportedly shot down by a missile, killing all 298 people on board.
- 2014 – Israel–Gaza Strip Conflict: Israel launches a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.
- 2015 – Over 120 people are killed in a suicide bombing in Iraq.
- 2015 – Formula One racing driver Jules Bianchi dies of injuries sustained in a crash at the Japanese Grand Prix over nine months earlier, at the age of 25.
- 2018 – The European Union–Japan Economic Partnership Agreement is signed.
- 2019 – The Kivu Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organization.

### Up to 1900

- 1476 – Adrian Fortescue, English Roman Catholic martyr (d. 1539)
- 1487 – Ismail I of Persia (d. 1524)
- 1674 – Isaac Watts, English theologian and composer (d. 1748)
- 1698 – Pierre Louis Maupertuis, French mathematician and philosopher (d. 1759)
- 1714 – Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, German philosopher (d. 1762)
- 1744 – Elbridge Gerry, Vice President of the United States (d. 1814)
- 1745 – Timothy Pickering, 3rd United States Secretary of State (d. 1829)
- 1752 – Barnaba Oriani, Italian priest, astronomer and scientist (d. 1832)
- 1763 – John Jacob Astor, American businessman (d. 1848)
- 1797 – Paul Delaroche, French painter (d. 1856)
- 1831 – Xianfeng, Emperor of China (d. 1861)
- 1837 – Joseph-Alfred Mousseau, 6th Premier of Quebec (d. 1886)
- 1839 – Ephraim Shay, American engineer (d. 1916)
- 1843 – Julio Argentino Roca, President of Argentina (d. 1914)
- 1846 – Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay, Russian scientist, anthropologist and explorer of New Guinea (d. 1888)
- 1853 – Alexius Meinong, Austrian philosopher (d. 1920)
- 1860 – Clara Viebig, German writer (d. 1952)
- 1871 – Lyonel Feininger, German–American painter and illustrator (d. 1956)
- 1871 – J. M. Andrews, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 1956)
- 1879 – Jack Laviolette, Canadian ice hockey player, coach and manager (d. 1960)
- 1882 – James Somerville, English admiral (d. 1940)
- 1888 – Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israeli writer (d. 1970)
- 1889 – Erle Stanley Gardner, American writer (Perry Mason) (d. 1970)
- 1894 – Georges Lemaitre, Belgian priest and astrophysicist (d. 1966)
- 1898 – Berenice Abbott, American photographer (d. 1991)
- 1899 – James Cagney, American actor (d. 1986)
- 1900 – Marcel Dalio, French actor (d. 1983)

### 1901 – 1950

- 1903 – Takeyama Michio, Japanese writer (d. 1984)
- 1911 – Lionel Ferbos, American jazz trumpeter (d. 2014)
- 1913 – Roger Garaudy, French philosopher and Holocaust denier (d. 2012)
- 1915 – Arthur Rothstein, American photographer (d. 1985)
- 1917 – Phyllis Diller, American actress and comedienne (d. 2012)
- 1917 – Kenan Evren, 7th President of Turkey (d. 2015)
- 1918 – Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio, President of Guatemala (d. 2003)
- 1920 – Gordon Gould, American, inventor of the laser (d. 2005)
- 1920 – Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish Olympic official (d. 2010)
- 1920 – Kenneth Wolstenholme, English sportscaster (d. 2002)
- 1921 – Louis Lachenal, French mountaineer (d. 1955)
- 1925 – Jimmy Scott, American jazz singer (d. 2014)
- 1926 – Willis Carto, American far–right politician (d. 2015)
- 1927 – Prosper Ego, Dutch activist (d. 2015)
- 1929 – Sergei K. Godunov, Russian mathematician
- 1930 – Sigvard Ericsson, Swedish speed skater (d. 2019)
- 1930 – Ray Galton, English screenwriter (d. 2018)
- 1931 – Caroline Graham, English writer
- 1932 – Wojciech Kilar, Polish composer (d. 2013)
- 1932 – Quino, Argentine artist and illustrator
- 1933 – Keiko Awaji, Japanese actress (d. 2014)
- 1933 – Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, 9th Prime Minister of Malta
- 1933 – Valentina Rastvorova, Soviet–Russian fencer (d. 2018)
- 1935 – Donald Sutherland, Canadian actor
- 1935 – Diahann Carroll, American actress and singer (d. 2019)
- 1939 – Milva, Italian singer and actress
- 1939 – Spencer Davis, British guitarist
- 1939 – Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran
- 1940 – Tim Brooke-Taylor, English actor and screenwriter
- 1940 – Francisco Toledo, Mexican painter (d. 2019)
- 1942 – Connie Hawkins, American basketball player and coach (d. 2017)
- 1942 – Peter Sissons, English journalist (d. 2019)
- 1944 – Carlos Alberto Torres, Brazilian footballer (d. 2016)
- 1945 – Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia
- 1945 – John Patten, Baron Patten, British politician, last British Governor of Hong Kong
- 1946 – Alun Armstrong, British actor
- 1947 – Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
- 1947 – Wolfgang Flür, German drummer (Kraftwerk)
- 1947 – Dorthe Kollo, Danish singer
- 1948 – Ron Asheton, American musician (d. 2009)
- 1948 – Luc Bondy, Swiss theatre and film director (d. 2015)
- 1949 – Wayne Sleep, English dancer, choreographer and actor
- 1949 – Geezer Butler, English bass player and politician
- 1950 – Derek de Lint, Dutch actor
- 1950 – Phoebe Snow, American singer-songwriter (d. 2011)

### 1951 – 1975

- 1951 – Lucie Arnaz, American actress
- 1952 – Thé Lau, Dutch musician and writer (d. 2015)
- 1952 – David Hasselhoff, American actor
- 1954 – Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
- 1954 – Edward Natapei, Prime Minister of Vanuatu (d. 2015)
- 1956 – Julie Bishop, Australian politician
- 1957 – Fern Britton, English television host
- 1958 – Thérèse Rein, Australian businesswoman, wife of Kevin Rudd
- 1960 – Jan Wouters, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1961 – Guru, American rapper (d. 2010)
- 1961 – Jeremy Hardy, English comedian (d. 2019)
- 1961 – António Costa, Prime Minister of Portugal
- 1963 – Regina Belle, American singer
- 1963 – Letsie III, King of Lesotho
- 1963 – Kim Shattuck, American singer–songwriter and guitarist (d. 2019)
- 1963 – John Ventimiglia, American actor
- 1963 – Matti Nykanen, Finnish ski jumper (d. 2019)
- 1964 – Heather Langenkamp, American actress
- 1965 – Santiago Segura, Spanish actor, screenwriter, producer and director
- 1965 – Alex Winter, English–American actor, director and screenwriter
- 1965 – Bastian Sick, German journalist, writer and entertainer
- 1971 – Calbert Cheaney, American basketball player and coach
- 1971 – Matthew Crompton, English actor
- 1971 – Cory Doctorow, Canadian writer and activist
- 1972 – Jaap Stam, Dutch footballer
- 1972 – Andy Whitfield, Welsh actor (d. 2011)
- 1974 – Laura Macdonald, Scottish saxophonist and composer
- 1975 – Konnie Huq, English television host
- 1975 – Elena Anaya, Spanish actress

### From 1976

- 1976 – Anders Svensson, Swedish footballer
- 1976 – Marcos Senna, Brazilian–Spanish footballer
- 1976 – Luke Bryan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1976 – Gino D'Acampo, Italian–English chef and writer
- 1977 – M.I.A., British singer
- 1978 – Line Daugaard, Danish handball player
- 1979 – Rudi Skácel, Czech footballer
- 1982 – Natasha Hamilton, British singer (Atomic Kitten)
- 1982 – Bobby Reynolds, American tennis player
- 1982 – René Herms, German athlete (d. 2009)
- 1983 – Christian Grindheim, Norwegian footballer
- 1983 – Sarah Jones, American actress
- 1984 – Asami Kimura, Japanese singer
- 1985 – Tom Fletcher, English singer (McFly)
- 1985 – Neil McGregor, Scottish footballer
- 1986 – Dana, South Korean singer, dancer and actress
- 1988 – Gao Yue, Chinese table tennis player
- 1990 – Mattie Stepanek, American poet (d. 2004)
- 1992 – Billie Lourd, American actress
- 1992 – Taavi Rand, Estonian ice dancer
- 1993 – Ai Okawa, Japanese model and actress
- 1998 – Felipe de Marichalar y Borbón, Spanish royal
- 2000 – Maria Aragon, Canadian singer
- 2004 – Lindokuhle Modi, South African actor and podcaster

### Up to 1900

- 521 – Magnus Felix Ennodius, Latin bishop and saint (b. 474)
- 924 – Edward the Elder, King of England is killed in battle (b. c. 874)
- 1070 – Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders (b. 1030)
- 1399 – Jadwiga of Poland (b. 1373)
- 1531 – Hosokawa Takakuni, Japanese commander (b. 1484)
- 1566 – Bartolomeu Dias, Portuguese monk (b. 1484)
- 1571 – Georg Fabricius, German poet and historian (b. 1516)
- 1588 – Mimar Sinan, Ottoman architect and engineer (b. 1489)
- 1704 – Pierre-Charles Le Sueur, French–American fur trader
- 1762 – Tsar Peter III of Russia (b. 1728)
- 1790 – Adam Smith, Scottish economist (b. 1723)
- 1793 – Charlotte Corday, French aristocrat (b. 1768)
- 1845 – Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1764)
- 1859 – Stephanie of Hohenzollern, Queen Consort of Portugal (b. 1837)
- 1878 – Aleardo Aleardi, Italian poet (b. 1812)
- 1883 – Te Duc, Emperor of Vietnam
- 1887 – Dorothea Dix, American social activist (b. 1802)
- 1893 – Frederick A. Johnson, American banker and politician (b. 1833)
- 1894 – Leconte de Lisle, French poet (b. 1818)

### 1901 – 2000

- 1906 – Carlos Pellegrini, President of Argentina (b. 1846)
- 1912 – Henri Poincaré, French mathematician (b. 1854)
- 1918 – Russian Tsarist Family executed by the Bolsheviks:
    - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (Gregorian calendar date) (b. 1868)
    - Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia (b. 1895)
    - Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia (b. 1897)
    - Tsarevich Alexei of Russia (b. 1904)
    - Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (b. 1899)
    - Alexandra Fyodorovna, Tsarina of Russia (b. 1872)
    - Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (b. 1901)
- 1925 – Lovis Corinth, German artist and sculptor (b. 1858)
- 1928 – Giovanni Giolitti, five–times Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1842)
- 1928 – Alvaro Obregon, 39th President of Mexico (b. 1880)
- 1944 – William James Sidis, American mathematician (b. 1898)
- 1950 – Evangeline Booth, 4th General of the Salvation Army (b. 1865)
- 1953 – Maude Adams, American actress (b. 1872)
- 1959 – Billie Holiday, singer (b. 1915)
- 1959 – Eugene Meyer, American businessman and newspaper publisher (_The Washington Post_) (b. 1875)
- 1961 – Ty Cobb, American Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1886)
- 1967 – John Coltrane, American jazz musician (b. 1926)
- 1974 – Dizzy Dean, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1910)
- 1975 – Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian writer and public benefactor (b. 1893)
- 1980 – Boris Delaunay, Soviet/Russian mathematician (b. 1890)
- 1994 – Jean Borotra, French tennis player (b. 1898)
- 1995 – Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1911)
- 1996 – Victims of TWA Flight 800:
    - Michael Breistorff, French ice hockey player (b. 1971)
    - Marcel Dadi, Tunisian–French guitarist (b. 1951)
    - David Hogan, American composer (b. 1949)
    - Jed Johnson, American interior designer and director (b. 1948)
    - Pam Lynchner, American real estate agent and activist (b. 1959)
- 1996 – Chas Chandler, American bass player and producer (The Animals) (b. 1938)

### 2001 – 2010

- 2001 – Katharine Graham, _Washington Post_ publisher (b. 1917)
- 2002 – Joseph Luns, NATO Secretary–General (b. 1910)
- 2003 – Hans Abich, German TV producer (b. 1918)
- 2003 – Rosalyn Tureck, American pianist and harpsichordist (b. 1914)
- 2003 – Dr. David Kelly, UN weapons inspector (b. 1944)
- 2003 – Walter Zapp, German inventor (b. 1905)
- 2004 – Pat Roach, American wrestler and actor (b. 1937)
- 2005 – Edward Heath, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1916)
- 2005 – Geraldine Fitzgerald, Irish–American actress (b. 1913)
- 2006 – Mickey Spillane, American writer (b. 1918)
- 2008 – Larry Haines, American actor (b. 1918)
- 2009 – Walter Cronkite, American broadcast journalist (b. 1916)
- 2009 – Leszek Kolakowski, Polish philosopher (b. 1927)
- 2009 – Meir Amit, Israeli general and politician (b. 1921)
- 2010 – Bernard Giraudeau, French actor and director (b. 1947)

### From 2011

- 2011 – Juan María Bordaberry, President of Uruguay (b. 1928)
- 2011 – Takaji Mori, Japanese footballer (b. 1943)
- 2013 – Vincenzo Cerami, Italian screenwriter and producer (b. 1940)
- 2014 – John Walton, Australian actor (b. 1952)
- 2014 – Ross Burden, New Zealand chef (b. 1968)
- 2014 – Andries P Putter, South African naval officer (b. 1935)
- 2014 – Elaine Stritch, American actress (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Otto Piene, German artist (b. 1928)
- 2014 – Henry Hartsfield, American astronaut (b. 1933)
- 2014 – On board Malaysia Airlines Flight 17:
    - Liam Davison, Australian writer (b. 1957)
    - Shuba Jay, Malaysian actress (b. 1976)
    - Pim de Kuijer, Dutch columnist and lobbyist (b. 1981)
    - Joep Lange, Dutch physician (b. 1954)
    - Willem Witteveen, Dutch legal scholar and politician (b. 1952)
- 2015 – Owen Chadwick, English rugby player, historian, writer and theologian (b. 1916)
- 2015 – John H. Gibbons, American scientist (b. 1929)
- 2015 – Van Miller, American football announcer (b. 1927)
- 2015 – John Taylor, English jazz pianist (b. 1947)
- 2015 – Jules Bianchi, French racing driver (b. 1989)
- 2016 – Wendell Anderson, American politician, Governor of Minnesota (b. 1933)
- 2016 – Gary S. Paxton, American record producer and singer–songwriter (b. 1939)
- 2017 – Harvey Atkin, Canadian actor (b. 1942)
- 2017 – Raymond Sackler, American physician and philanthropist (b. 1920)
- 2018 – Gary Beach, American actor (b. 1947)
- 2018 – Rita Bhaduri, Indian actress (b. 1955)
- 2018 – Yvonne Blake, British–Spanish costume designer (b. 1940)
- 2019 – Andrea Camilleri, Italian writer (b. 1925)
- 2019 – Pumpsie Green, American baseball player (b. 1933)
- 2019 – Wesley Pruden, American journalist (b. 1935)

## Observances

- Constitution Day (South Korea)
- Independence Day (Slovakia)
- King's birthday (Lesotho)
- World Day for International Justice (After the day when the Rome Statute to International Criminal Court is adopted)
- World Emoji Day