17 January History


Month:                           Date:     

  • 1601    -    The Treaty of Lyons ends a short war between France and Savoy.
  • 1746    -    Charles Edward Stuart, the young pretender, defeats the government forces at the battle of Falkirk in Scotland.
  • 1773    -    Captain James Cook becomes the first person to cross the Antarctic Circle.
  • 1819    -    Simon Bolivar the "liberator" proclaims Columbia a republic.
  • 1893    -    Queen Liliuokalani, the Hawaiian monarch, is overthrown by a group of American sugar planters led by Sanford Ballard Dole.
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  • 1852    -    At the Sand River Convention, the British recognize the independence of the Transvaal Board.
  • 1912    -    Robert Scott reaches the South Pole only a month after Roald Amundsen.
  • 1939    -    The Reich issues an order forbidding Jews to practice as dentists, veterinarians and chemists.
  • 1945    -    The Red army occupies Warsaw.
  • 1963    -    Soviet leader Khrushchev visits the Berlin Wall.
  • 1985    -    A jury in New Jersey rules that terminally ill patients have the right to starve themselves.
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  • 17 January Birthdays

  • 1504    -    Pius V, Pope 1566-1572.
  • 1706    -    Benjamin Franklin, statesman, diplomat, scientist and inventor who helped draft the Declaration of Independence and wrote Poor Richard's Almanac.
  • 1860    -    Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright and short story writer famous for The Seagull and Three Sisters.
  • 1863    -    David Lloyd George, British Prime Minister during World War I.
  • 1899    -    Al Capone, U.S. mobster known as "Scarface Al" who ran most of Chicago and the surrounding area.
  • 1942    -    Muhammad Ali [Cassius Clay], U.S. boxer, "The Greatest," who is the only three-time heavyweight champion.