17 January History
- 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.
- 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.
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.