17th May

Events

• 1590 - Anne of Denmark is crowned queen of Scotland.
• 1642 - Sieur de Maisonneuve founds the Ville Marie de Montréal.
• 1673 - Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River.
• 1775 - American Revolutionary War: The Continental Congress bans trade with Canada.
• 1792 - The New York Stock Exchange is formed.
• 1809 - Napoleon I of France orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French empire.
• 1814 - Norway gets its own constitution
• 1814 - Occupation of Monaco changes from the hands of the French to Austrian
• 1846 - The Saxophone is patented by Adolphe Sax
• 1875 - Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby
• 1900 - Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking
• 1902 - Archaeologist Spyridon Stais finds the Antikythera mechanism
• 1919 - Committee of One Thousand forms to oppose Winnipeg General Strike
• 1915 - The last British Liberal Party government (Herbert Henry Asquith) falls.
• 1933 - Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form Nasjonal Samling - the national-socialist party of Norway.
• 1940 - World War II: Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium
• 1943 - World War II: Surviving RAF Dam Busters return.
• 1943 - The United States Army contracts with the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the ENIAC.
• 1944 - Type IX U-boat: U-884 is launched
• 1954 - The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
• 1967 - Six-Day War: President Abdul Nasser of Egypt demands dismantling of the peace-keeping UN Emergency Force in Israel.
• 1969 - Venera program: Soviet Venera 6 begins to descend into Venus', atmosphere sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure.
• 1970 - Thor Heyerdahl sets sail from Morocco on the papyrus boat Ra II to sail the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1973 - Watergate scandal: Hearings begin in the United States Senate and are televised.
• 1974 - Los Angeles, California police raid Symbionese Liberation Army headquarters, killing six members, including Camilla Hall
• 1974 - Thirty-three people die from bombings in Dublin and Monaghan, Ireland.
• 1983 - Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
• 1987 - Iran-Iraq War: The USS Stark (FFG-31) is struck by a missile from an Iraqi Mirage fighter killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew.
• 1995 - Jacques Chirac assumes the presidency of France
• 1999 - Ehud Barak is elected prime minister of Israel.

Births

• 1749 - Edward Jenner, inventor of the vaccine (+ 1823)
• 1768 - Caroline of Brunswick, Princess of Wales (+ 1821)
• 1794 - Anna Brownell Jameson, British writer (+ 1860)
• 1821 - Sebastian Kneipp, naturopathist (+ 1897)
• 1842 - August Thyssen, industrialist (+ 1926)
• 1844 - Julius Wellhausen, German biblical scholar (+ 1918)
• 1866 - Erik Satie, French composer (+ 1925)
• 1873 - Henri Barbusse, French novelist and journalist (+ 1935)
• 1873 - Dorothy Richardson, writer (+ 1957)
• 1879 - Simon Petlyura, Ukrainian independence fighter (+ 1926)
• 1886 - Alfonso XIII of Spain (+ 1941)
• 1898 - Alfred Joseph Casson painter (+ 1992)
• 1900 - Ruhollah Khomeini, (+ 1981)
• 1901 - Werner Egk, composer (+ 1983)
• 1903 - Cool Papa Bell, baseball player (+ 1991)
• 1904 - Jean Gabin, actor (+ 1976)
• 1906 - Zinka Milanov, Croatian opera soprano (+ 1989)
• 1911 - Maureen O'Sullivan, actress (+ 1998)
• 1922 - Dennis Brain, French horn player (+ 1957)
• 1922 - Antje Weisgerber, actress
• 1924 - Hannes Messemer, actor (+ 1991)
• 1935 - Dennis Potter, writer (+ 1994)
• 1936 - Dennis Hopper, actor, director
• 1937 - Hazel R. O'Leary, United States Secretary of Energy
• 1942 - Taj Mahal, singer, guitarist
• 1946 - Udo Lindenberg, musician
• 1948 - William Bruford, drummer, songwriter
• 1950 - Janez Drnovsek, Slovene politician
• 1955 - Bill Paxton, actor
• 1956 - Sugar Ray Leonard, boxer
• 1956 - Bob Saget, actor
• 1959 - Paul Di'Anno, singer
• 1961 - Enya, singer, songwriter
• 1965 - Trent Reznor, singer, songwriter ("Nine Inch Nails")
• 1966 - Qusay Hussein, son of Saddam Hussein (? 2003)
• 1971 - Maxima Zorreguieta Cerruti, wife of Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands

Deaths

• 1510 - Sandro Botticelli, painter of The birth of Venus
• 1575 - Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1727 - Catherine I of Russia
• 1729 - Samuel Clarke, English philosopher
• 1765 - Alexis Claude Clairault, French mathematician
• 1829 - John Jay, first Chief Justice of the United States
• 1838 - Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, French diplomat
• 1839 - Archibald Alison, Scottish author
• 1875 - John C. Breckinridge, Vice President of the United States
• 1917 - Charles Anthoni Johnson Brooke, ruler of Sarawak
• 1935 - Paul Dukas, composer
• 1947 - George William Forbes, Prime Minister of New Zealand
• 1956 - Austin Osman Spare, magician
• 1985 - Abe Burrows, songwriter, composer, writer
• 1992 - Lawrence Welk, musician
• 2002 - Dave Berg, cartoonist for Mad magazine

Holidays and Observances

• National holiday of Norway (Constitution Day)
• Bahá'í Faith - Feast of 'Azaamat (Grandeur) - First day of the fourth month of the Bahá'í Calendar

May 16 - May 18 - April 17 - June 17 -- listing of all days

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