What happened on July 17? There are more than 286 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About July 17
July 17 is the 199th day of the year 2024. There are 167 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday. This day falls under the 29th week of the year 2024.
On this day in Goetzville, Michigan 49736 sunrise will occur at 06:01 AM and sunset will occur at 09:24 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Cancer. The modern birthstone for this month is Ruby while the mystical birthstone is Ruby.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 196 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
Is your birthday coming up in two days? Are you not curious to find out who is sharing your special day? Discover all the April 29 famous birthdays. There are fun facts about that day that you must know. (Sponsored link)
Historical Events For July 17
- 180Twelve inhabitants of Scillium in North Africa are executed for being Christians. This is the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world.
- 1203The Fourth Crusade captures Constantinople by assault. The Byzantine emperor Alexius III Angelus flees from his capital into exile.
- 1402Zhu Di, better known by his era name as the Yongle Emperor, assumes the throne over the Ming Dynasty of China.
- 1453Hundred Years’ War: Battle of Castillon: The French under Jean Bureau defeat the English under the Earl of Shrewsbury, who is killed in the battle in Gascony.
- 1586A meeting takes place at Lüneburg between several Protestant powers in order to discuss the formation of an ‘evangelical’league of defence, called the 'Confederatio Militiae Evangelicae', against the Catholic League.
- 1717King George I of Great Britain sails down the River Thames with a barge of 50 musicians, where George Frideric Handel’s Water Music is premiered.
- 1762Catherine II becomes tsar of Russia upon the murder of Peter III of Russia.
- 1771Bloody Falls Massacre: Chipewyan chief Matonabbee, travelling as the guide to Samuel Hearne on his Arctic overland journey, massacres a group of unsuspecting Inuit.
- 1791Members of the French National Guard under the command of General Lafayette open fire on a crowd of radical Jacobins at the Champ de Mars, Paris, during the French Revolution, killing as many as 50 people.
- 1794The sixteen Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne are executed 10 days prior to the end of the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror.
- 1856The Great Train Wreck of 1856 in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, kills over 60 people.
- 1867Harvard School of Dental Medicine was established in Boston. It was the first dental school in the U.S.
- 1899NEC Corporation is organized as the first Japanese joint venture with foreign capital.
- 1917King 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.
- 1918On the orders of the Bolshevik Party carried out by Cheka, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his immediate family and retainers are murdered at the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, Russia.
- 1918The RMS Carpathia, the ship that rescued the 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic, is sunk off Ireland by the German SMU U-55; 5 lives are lost.
- 1932Altona Bloody Sunday.
- 1933After successfully crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the Lithuanian research aircraft Lituanica crashes in Europe under mysterious circumstances.
- 1936Spanish Civil War: An Armed Forces rebellion against the recently-elected leftist Popular Front government of Spain starts the civil war.
- 1938Douglas Corrigan takes off from Brooklyn to fly the “wrong way” to Ireland and becomes known as “Wrong Way” Corrigan.
- 1944Port Chicago disaster: Near the San Francisco Bay, two ships laden with ammunition for the war explode in Port Chicago, California, killing 320.
- 1944World War II: Napalm incendiary bombs are dropped for the first time by American P-38 pilots on a fuel depot at Coutances, near St. Lô, France.
- 1948The South Korean constitution is proclaimed.
- 1955Disneyland is dedicated and opened by Walt Disney in Anaheim, California.
- 1962Nuclear weapons testing: The “Small Boy” test shot Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada Test Site.
- 1968A revolution occurs in Iraq when Abdul Rahman Arif is overthrown and the Ba'ath Party is installed as the governing power in Iraq with Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr as the new Iraqi President.
- 1973King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan is deposed by his cousin Mohammed Daoud Khan while in Italy undergoing eye surgery.
- 1975Apollo-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.
- 1976History of East Timor: East Timor is annexed, and becomes the 27th province of Indonesia.
- 1976The opening of the Summer Olympics in Montreal is marred by 25 African teams boycotting the New Zealand team.
- 1979Nicaraguan president General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami, Florida.
- 1981A structural failure leads to the collapse of a walkway at the Hyatt Regency in Kansas City, Missouri killing 114 people and injuring more than 200.
- 1981The opening of the Humber Bridge by HM The Queen in England.
- 1989First flight of the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber.
- 1996TWA Flight 800: Off the coast of Long Island, New York, a Paris-bound TWA Boeing 747 explodes, killing all 230 on board.
- 1998A diplomatic conference adopts the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, establishing a permanent international court to prosecute individuals for genocide, crime against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
- 1998Papua 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.
- 2007TAM Airlines (TAM Linhas Aéreas) Flight 3054 crashes upon landing during rain in São Paulo. This is Brazil’s deadliest aviation accident to date with an estimated 199 deaths.
- 2009Jakarta double bombings at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton Hotels killed 9 people including 4 foreigners.
Who Were Born On July 17?
- 1487Ismail I, Shah of Persia (d. 1524)
- 1674Isaac Watts, English hymnwriter (d. 1748)
- 1698Pierre Louis Maupertuis, French mathematician (d. 1759)
- 1744Elbridge Gerry, 5th Vice President of the United States (d. 1814)
- 1745Petr Alekseevich Pahlen, Russian general (d. 1826)
- 1763John Jacob Astor, American businessman (d. 1848)
- 1774John Wilbur, American religious leader, Quaker minister (d. 1856)
- 1797Hippolyte Delaroche, French painter (d. 1856)
- 1823Leander Clark, American businessman, legislator, Indian agent (d. 1910)
- 1831Xianfeng, Emperor of China (d. 1861)
- 1839Ephraim Shay, American inventor (d. 1916)
- 1853Alexius Meinong, Austrian philosopher (d. 1920)
- 1868Henri Nathansen, Danish writer and stage director (d. 1944)
- 1870Charles Davidson Dunbar, British military piper (d. 1939)
- 1871Lyonel Feininger, German-American painter and caricaturist (d. 1956)
- 1888Milán Füst, Hungarian writer, (d. 1967)
- 1888Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israeli writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
- 1889Erle Stanley Gardner, American lawyer and author (Perry Mason) (d. 1970)
- 1898Berenice Abbott, American photographer (d. 1991)
- 1898George Robert Vincent, American sound recording pioneer (d. 1985)
- 1898Osmond Borradaile, Canadian cinematographer (d. 1999)
- 1899James Cagney, American actor (d. 1986)
- 1900Marcel Dalio, French actor (d. 1983)
- 1901Bruno Jasieński, Polish poet (d. 1938)
- 1901Luigi Chinetti, Italian-American racecar driver and NART team owner (d. 1994)
- 1902Christina Stead, Australian novelist (d. 1983)
- 1910Barbara O'Neil, American actress, d. 1980
- 1911Ted Anderson, English footballer (d. 1979)
- 1912Art Linkletter, Canadian television host (d. 2010)
- 1912Erwin Bauer, German racing driver (d. 1958)
- 1913Bertrand Goldberg, American architect (d. 1997)
- 1915Fred Ball, American movie studio executive, actor, and the brother of comedienne Lucille Ball (d. 2007)
- 1917Lou Boudreau, Major League baseball player and manager (d. 2001)
- 1917Phyllis Diller, American comedienne
- 1917Red Sovine, American country music singer (d. 1980)
- 1918Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio, President of Guatemala (d. 2003)
- 1920Gordon Gould, inventor of the laser (d. 2005)
- 1920Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish chairman of the International Olympic Committee (d. 2010)
- 1920Kenneth Wolstenholme, English sports commentator (d. 2002)
- 1921František Zvarík, Slovakian actor (d. 2008)
- 1921Louis Lachenal, French alpinist, one of the first two mountaineers to climb a summit of more than 8,000 meters.(d. 1955)
- 1923John Cooper, English race car designer (d. 2000)
- 1925Jimmy Scott, American jazz singer
- 1926Édouard Carpentier, French-born professional wrestler (d. 2010)
- 1926Charles Champlin, American film critic and writer
- 1928Vince Guaraldi, American musician and composer (d. 1976)
- 1929Sergei K. Godunov, Russian mathematician
- 1932Hal Riney, American advertising executive (d. 2008)
- 1932Johnny “Red” Kerr, American basketball player, coach, and longtime Chicago Bulls color commentator (d. 2009)
- 1932Quino, Argentine cartoonist and comic strip artist (Mafalda)
- 1933Tony Pithey, South African Cricketer (d. 2006)
- 1935Diahann Carroll, American actor
- 1935Donald Sutherland, Canadian actor
- 1935Peter Schickele, American author, composer and radio host
- 1938Hermann Huppen, Belgian comic book artist (Bernard Prince, Comanche, Jeremiah)
- 1939Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran
- 1939Andrée Champagne, French Canadian actress and politician
- 1939Spencer Davis, British singer and guitarist (Spencer Davis Group)
- 1940Tim Brooke-Taylor, English comedian
- 1941Achim Warmbold, German rally driver
- 1941Bob Taylor, English Cricketer
- 1941Daryle Lamonica, American football player
- 1942Connie Hawkins, American basketball player
- 1942Don Kessinger, American baseball player
- 1942Gale Garnett, Canadian singer
- 1942Peter Sissons, British newsreader
- 1944Carlos Alberto, Brazilian football player
- 1944Catherine Schell, Hungarian born British actress
- 1944Mark Burgess, New Zealand Cricketer
- 1945Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia
- 1946Alun Armstrong, English actor
- 1947Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
- 1947Wolfgang Flür, German musician (Kraftwerk)
- 1948Jan Gangelhoff, American whistleblower (d. 2005)
- 1948Luc Bondy, Swiss theatre and opera director
- 1948Ron Asheton, American musician and composer (Iggy Pop & The Stooges) (d. 2009)
- 1949Charlie Steiner, American sports broadcaster
- 1949Terence “Geezer” Butler, British musician and lyricist (Black Sabbath)
- 1950Derek de Lint, Dutch actor
- 1950P.J. Soles, German-born American actress
- 1950Phoebe Snow, American singer/songwriter (d. 2011)
- 1951Lucie Arnaz, American actress
- 1952David Hasselhoff, American actor and musician
- 1952Nicolette Larson, American singer (d. 1997)
- 1954Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
- 1954J. Michael Straczynski, American author
- 1955Christopher Chappell, Canadian Cricketer
- 1955Paul Stamets, American mycologist and environmentalist
- 1956Bryan Trottier, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1956Robert Romanus, American actor
- 1957Fern Britton, British television presenter
- 1958Wong Kar-wai, Chinese film director
- 1960Dawn Upshaw, American soprano
- 1960Jan Wouters, Dutch football player and manager
- 1960Kim Barnett, English cricketer
- 1960Mark Burnett, English-born television producer
- 1960Nancy Giles, American actress
- 1960Robin Shou, Hong Kong actor
- 1961Jeremy Hardy, British comedian
- 1961Jonathan Potts, Canadian actor
- 1961Roy Pienaar, South African cricketer
- 1962Bill Sage, American actor
- 1963John Ventimiglia, American actor
- 1963Letsie III, King of Lesotho
- 1963Matti Nykänen, Finnish ski jumper
- 1963Regina Belle, Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter
- 1965Alex Winter, English film director
- 1965Craig Morgan, American singer
- 1965Santiago Segura, Spanish film director and actor
- 1966Keith “Guru” Elam, American rapper (Gang Starr) (d. 2010)
- 1966Lou Barlow, American alternative rock singer and musician (Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh)
- 1966Sten Tolgfors, Swedish politician
- 1967Susan Ashton, Christian singer
- 1968Andre Royo, American actor
- 1968Beth Littleford, American comedian
- 1968Bitty Schram, American actress
- 1969F. Gary Gray, American music video and film director
- 1969Scott Johnson (cartoonist), American Cartoonist
- 1970Mandy Smith, English model and singer
- 1971Calbert Cheaney, American basketball player
- 1971Cory Doctorow, Canadian author and activist
- 1971Nico Mattan, Belgian cyclist
- 1972Donny Marshall, American basketball player
- 1972Eric Williams, American basketball player
- 1972Jaap Stam, Dutch footballer
- 1972Jason Rullo, American drummer (Symphony X, Redemption)
- 1973Eric Moulds, American football player
- 1973Liam Kyle Sullivan, American comedian and actor
- 1973Tony Dovolani, Albanian ballroom dancer
- 1974Andy Whitfield, Welsh actor (d. 2011)
- 1974Laura Macdonald, Scottish jazz musician
- 1975Andre Adams, New Zealand Cricketer
- 1975Cécile de France, Belgian actress
- 1975Darude, Finnish trance DJ
- 1975Elena Anaya, Spanish actress
- 1975Harlette, British Fashion Designer lingerie
- 1975Konnie Huq, English television presenter
- 1975Paul Hinojos, American guitarist (At the Drive-In, The Mars Volta)
- 1975Terence Tao, Australian-Chinese mathematician
- 1976Dagmara Dominczyk, Polish actress
- 1976Eric Winter, American actor
- 1976Gino D'Acampo, Italian celebrity chef
- 1976Luke Bryan, American musician
- 1976Matthew Holmes, Australian actor
- 1977Lehmber Hussainpuri, Famous Indian Singer
- 1977Leif Hoste, Belgian cyclist
- 1977Marc Savard, Canadian hockey player
- 1977Tiffany Taylor, American model
- 1978Émilie Simon, French singer
- 1978Katharine Towne, American actress
- 1978Mike Hettinga, American professional wrestler
- 1978Noah Lennox, American musician
- 1978Ricardo Arona, Brazilian mixed martial artist
- 1979Mike Vogel, American actor
- 1980Javier Camuñas, Spanish footballer
- 1980Ryan Miller, American hockey player
- 1981Elpida Romantzi, Greek archer
- 1981Hely Ollarves, Venezuelan track and field athlete
- 1982Natasha Hamilton, British singer (Atomic Kitten)
- 1982Omari Banks, West Indian Cricketer
- 1983Adam Lind, American baseball player
- 1983Brooke Kinsella, British actress
- 1983Jessi Cruickshank, Canadian television presenter
- 1983Ryan Guettler, professional Australian BMX rider
- 1983Sarah Jones, American actress
- 1984Asami Kimura, Japanese singer (Country Musume)
- 1984Sotiris Leontiou, Greek footballer
- 1985Neil McGregor, Scottish footballer
- 1985Tom Fletcher, British singer (McFly)
- 1986Brando Eaton, American actor
- 1986Dana, Korean singer and actress (TSZX)
- 1986DeAngelo Smith, American football player
- 1986Lacey Von Erich, Professional wrestler
- 1987Darius Boyd, Australian rugby player
- 1987Jan Charouz, Czech racing driver
- 1987Jeremih Felton, R&B singer
- 1988Summer Bishil, American actress
- 1998Felipe Juan Froilán de Marichalar y de Borbón, Spanish royal
Who Died On July 17?
- 521Magnus Felix Ennodius, bishop and Latin poet (b. 474)
- 656Uthman ibn Affan, Third Caliph, assassinated.
- 924King Edward the Elder of England
- 1070Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders (b. 1030)
- 1453Dmitry Shemyaka, Grand Prince of Moscow 1445, 1446-1447, poisoned in Veliky Novgorod by Vasily Tyomny’s agents
- 1453John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, English military leader
- 1531Hosokawa Takakuni, Japanese military commander (b. 1484)
- 1566Bartolomé de Las Casas, Spanish priest (b. 1484)
- 1571Georg Fabricius, German poet and historian (b. 1516)
- 1588Mimar Sinan, Ottoman architect (b. 1489)
- 1645Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, Scottish politician
- 1704Pierre-Charles Le Sueur, French fur trader and explorer
- 1709Robert Bolling, English settler in Virginia (b. 1646)
- 1790Adam Smith, Scottish economist and philosopher (b. 1723)
- 1791Martin Dobrizhoffer, Austrian Jesuit missionary (b. 1717)
- 1793Charlotte Corday, French aristocrat and murderer (b. 1768)
- 1794John Roebuck, British inventor (b. 1718)
- 1845Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1764)
- 1878Aleardo Aleardi, Italian poet (b. 1812)
- 1879Maurycy Gottlieb, Ukrainian painter (b. 1856)
- 1881Jim Bridger, American mountain man, Indian fighter, and explorer (b. 1804)
- 1883Tu Duc, emperor of the Nguyễn Dynasty of Vietnam
- 1885Jean-Charles Chapais, Canadian politician (b. 1811)
- 1887Dorothea Dix, American social activist (b. 1802)
- 1893Frederick A. Johnson, American politician (b. 1833)
- 1894Charles-Marie-René Leconte de Lisle, French poet (b. 1818)
- 1894Josef Hyrtl, Austrian anatomist (b. 1810)
- 1907Hector Malot, French writer (b. 1830)
- 1912Henri Poincaré, French mathematician (b. 1854)
- 1918Family of Emperor Nicholas II Alexandrovich (b. 1868): Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna (b. 1872)
- 1918Family of Emperor Nicholas II Alexandrovich (b. 1868): Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna (b. 1901)
- 1918Family of Emperor Nicholas II Alexandrovich (b. 1868): Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna (b. 1899)
- 1918Family of Emperor Nicholas II Alexandrovich (b. 1868): Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna (b. 1895)
- 1918Family of Emperor Nicholas II Alexandrovich (b. 1868): Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna (b. 1897)
- 1918Family of Emperor Nicholas II Alexandrovich (b. 1868): Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich (b. 1904)
- 1928Giovanni Giolitti, Italian statesman (b. 1842)
- 1935George William Russell, Irish nationalist, poet and artist (b. 1867)
- 1944William James Sidis, gifted mathematician and child prodigy (b. 1898)
- 1945Ernst Busch, German field marshal (b. 1885)
- 1946General Dragoljub Mihailović, commandant of the Yugoslav Royal Army in the Fatherland (b. 1893)
- 1950Evangeline Booth, the 4th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1865)
- 1959Billie Holiday, American singer (b. 1915)
- 1959Eugene Meyer, American businessman and newspaper publisher (b. 1875)
- 1961Ty Cobb, baseball player (b. 1886)
- 1967John Coltrane, American musician (b. 1926)
- 1974Dizzy Dean, Major League baseball pitcher (b. 1910)
- 1975Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian writer and public benefactor (b. 1893)
- 1980Boris Delaunay, Russian mathematician (b. 1890)
- 1987Yujiro Ishihara, Japanese actor (b. 1934)
- 1988Frank Goodish, professional wrestler (b. 1946)
- 1989Itubwa Amram, Nauruan pastor and politician (b. 1922)
- 1995Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1911)
- 1996Chas Chandler, bass guitarist (The Animals), record producer and manager (b. 1938)
- 2001Katharine Graham, American publisher (b. 1917)
- 2003David Kelly, Welsh UN weapons inspector (b. 1944)
- 2003Rosalyn Tureck, American pianist and harpsichordist (b. 1914)
- 2004Pat Roach, British professional wrestler and actor (b. 1937)
- 2005Edward Heath, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1916)
- 2005Gavin Lambert, British-born screenwriter (b. 1924)
- 2005Geraldine Fitzgerald, Irish-born actress (b. 1913)
- 2005Joe Vialls, Australian writer (b. 1944)
- 2005Laurel Aitken, Jamaican singer (b. 1927)
- 2006Mickey Spillane, American author (b. 1918)
- 2006Sam Myers, American musician and songwriter (b. 1936)
- 2007Júlio Redecker, Brazilian politician (b. 1956)
- 2008Larry Haines, American actor (b. 1918)
- 2009Leszek Kołakowski, Polish philosopher (b. 1927)
- 2009Walter Cronkite, American broadcast journalist (b. 1916)
- 2011David Ngoombujarra, Australian actor (b. 1967)
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