October 17

October 17 is the 290th day of the year (291st in Leap years). There are 75 days remaining.

Events:

• 1469: Ferdinand of Aragon marries Isabella of Castile. Their marriage leads to a unification of Aragon and Castile in a single country, Spain.
• 1492: Christopher Columbus first sees land in the New World, an unknown Bahaman island he calls San Salvador.
• 1777: American troops defeat the British in Saratoga, New York
• 1800: England takes control of the Dutch colony of Curaçao.
• 1815: Napoleon arrives at Saint Helena.
• 1860: First British golf open.
• 1912: Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declare war on Turkey, joining Montenegro in the First Balkan War.
• 1917: First British bombing of Germany in World War I.
• 1918: Yugoslavia declared a republic.
• 1931: Al Capone convicted for income tax evasion.
• 1933: Albert Einstein, fleeing Nazi Germany, moves to the US.
• 1941: For the first time in World War II, a German submarine attacks an American ship.
• 1945: After a coup, Juan Peron becomes dictator of Argentina.
• 1961: 200 Algerian protesters are massacred by the Paris police.
• 1967: Premiere of the musical Hair at Broadway.
• 1970: Anwar Sadat becomes president of Egypt.
• 1973: The OPEC starts an oil embargo against a number of western countries, considered to have helped Israel in its war against Syria. Beginning of the oil crisis.
• 1977: West German commandos storm and capture a hijacked plane in Mogadishu, Somalia.
• 1979: The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to Mother Theresa.
• 1989: A major earthquake (7.1 on the Richter scale) hit the San Francisco Bay Area at 5:04pm for 20 seconds. The epicenter was at Loma Prieta. The aftermath was extensively televised.
• 1994: Draft peace treaty between Israel and Jordan.
• 1994: Peace treaty between the government of Angola and UNITA rebels.

Births:

• 1563: Jodocus Hondius, Dutch cartographer
• 1711: Jupiter Hammond, poet
• 1782: Niccolò Paganini, Italian violin player and composer
• 1898: Simon Vestdijk, Dutch writer
• 1912: Pope John Paul I
• 1915: Arthur Miller, American playwright
• 1918: Rita Hayworth, American actress
• 1968: Ziggy Marley, Jamaican reggae musician

Deaths:

Holidays and observances:

• United States: Black Poetry Day (1711)
• Alaska: Alaska Day (1867)

---

See Also: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

October 16 - October 18 - September 17 - November 17    - Historical anniversaries -      (Please read this before editing or creating a date page)