June 17

Historic Events

2021

Juneteenth National Independence Day is signed into law by President Joe Biden, to become the first federal holiday established since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983. ›

2017

A series of wildfires in central Portugal kill at least 64 people and injure 204 others. ›

2015

Nine people are killed in a mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. ›

1994

Following a televised low-speed highway chase, O. J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. ›

1992

A "joint understanding" agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. president George Bush and Russian president Boris Yeltsin (this would be later codified in START II). ›

1991

Apartheid: The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act which required racial classification of all South Africans at birth. ›

1989

Interflug Flight 102 crashes during a rejected takeoff from Berlin Schönefeld Airport, killing 21 people. ›

1987

With the death of the last individual of the species, the dusky seaside sparrow becomes extinct. ›

1985

Space Shuttle program: STS-51-G mission: Space Shuttle Discovery launches carrying Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a payload specialist. ›

1972

Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee during an attempt by members of the administration of President Richard M. Nixon to illegally wiretap the political opposition as part of a broader campaign to subvert the democratic process. ›

1971

U.S. president Richard Nixon in a televised press conference calls drug abuse "America's public enemy number one", starting the war on drugs. ›

1967

Nuclear weapons testing: China announces a successful test of its first thermonuclear weapon. ›

1963

The United States Supreme Court rules 8–1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against requiring the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord's Prayer in public schools. ›

1963

A day after South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem announced the Joint Communiqué to end the Buddhist crisis, a riot involving around 2,000 people breaks out. One person is killed. ›

1960

The Nez Perce tribe is awarded $4 million for 7 million acres (28,000 km2) of land undervalued at four cents/acre in the 1863 treaty. ›

1958

The Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, in the process of being built to connect Vancouver and North Vancouver (Canada), collapses into the Burrard Inlet killing 18 ironworkers and injuring others. ›

1953

Cold War: East Germany Workers Uprising: In East Germany, the Soviet Union orders a division of troops into East Berlin to quell a rebellion. ›

1952

Guatemala passes Decree 900, ordering the redistribution of uncultivated land. ›

1948

United Air Lines Flight 624, a Douglas DC-6, crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 people on board. ›

1944

Iceland declares independence from Denmark and becomes a republic. ›

1940

World War II: The British Army's 11th Hussars assault and take Fort Capuzzo in Libya from Italian forces. ›

1940

The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania fall under the occupation of the Soviet Union. ›

1939

Last public guillotining in France: Eugen Weidmann, a convicted murderer, is executed in Versailles outside the Saint-Pierre prison. ›

1933

Union Station massacre: In Kansas City, Missouri, four FBI agents and captured fugitive Frank Nash are gunned down by gangsters attempting to free Nash. ›

1932

Bonus Army: Around a thousand World War I veterans amass at the United States Capitol as the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would give them certain benefits. ›

1930

U.S. president Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act into law. ›

1929

The town of Murchison, New Zealand is rocked by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake killing 17. At the time it was New Zealand's worst natural disaster. ›

1922

Portuguese naval aviators Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral complete the first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic. ›

1910

Aurel Vlaicu pilots an A. Vlaicu nr. 1 on its first flight. ›

1901

The College Board introduces its first standardized test, the forerunner to the SAT. ›

1900

Boxer Rebellion: Western Allied and Japanese forces capture the Taku Forts in Tianjin, China. ›

1898

The United States Navy Hospital Corps is established. ›

1885

The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor. ›

1877

American Indian Wars: Battle of White Bird Canyon: The Nez Perce defeat the U.S. Cavalry at White Bird Canyon in the Idaho Territory. ›

1876

American Indian Wars: Battle of the Rosebud: One thousand five hundred Sioux and Cheyenne led by Crazy Horse beat back General George Crook's forces at Rosebud Creek in Montana Territory. ›

1863

American Civil War: Battle of Aldie in the Gettysburg campaign. ›

1861

American Civil War: Battle of Vienna, Virginia. ›

1843

The Wairau Affray, the first serious clash of arms between Māori and British settlers in the New Zealand Wars, takes place. ›

1839

In the Kingdom of Hawaii, Kamehameha III issues the edict of toleration which gives Roman Catholics the freedom to worship in the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaii Catholic Church and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace are established as a result. ›

1831

The steam locomotive Best Friend of Charleston causes the first boiler explosion caused by a steam locomotive. ›

1795

The burghers of Swellendam expel the Dutch East India Company magistrate and declare a republic. ›

1794

Foundation of Anglo-Corsican Kingdom. ›

1789

In France, the Third Estate declares itself the National Assembly. ›

1775

American Revolutionary War: Colonists inflict heavy casualties on British forces while losing the Battle of Bunker Hill. ›

1773

Cúcuta, Colombia, is founded by Juana Rangel de Cuéllar. ›

1767

Samuel Wallis, a British sea captain, sights Tahiti and is considered the first European to reach the island. ›

1673

French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet reach the Mississippi River and become the first Europeans to make a detailed account of its course. ›

1665

Battle of Montes Claros: Portugal definitively secures independence from Spain in the last battle of the Portuguese Restoration War. ›

1631

Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, will spend the next 17 years building her mausoleum, the Taj Mahal. ›

1596

The Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz discovers the Arctic archipelago of Spitsbergen. ›

1579

Sir Francis Drake claims a land he calls Nova Albion (modern California) for England. ›

1497

Battle of Deptford Bridge: Forces under King Henry VII defeat troops led by Michael An Gof. ›

1462

Vlad the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II (The Night Attack at Târgovişte), forcing him to retreat from Wallachia. ›

1397

The Kalmar Union is formed under the rule of Margaret I of Denmark. ›

1300

Turku Cathedral is consecrated by Bishop Magnus I in the city of Turku (Swedish: Åbo). ›

1242

Following the Disputation of Paris, twenty-four carriage loads of Jewish religious manuscripts are burnt in Paris. ›

1128

Former Empress Matilda, daughter and designated heiress of king Henry I of England, marries Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou. ›

656

After a prolonged siege by rebels who demand his abdication, caliph Uthman is assassinated as the rebels enter his palace. ›

653

Pope Martin I is arrested and taken to Constantinople, due to his opposition to monothelitism. ›