Historical Events on 17 Dec

Historical Events on 17 Dec

1398 - Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud's armies in Delhi are defeated by Timur.
1531 - Pope Clement VII establishes a parallel body to the Inquisition in Lisbon, Portugal.
1538 - Pope Paul III excommunicates Henry VIII of England.
1577 - Francis Drake sets sail from Plymouth, England, on a secret mission to explore the Pacific Coast of the Americas for English Queen Elizabeth I.
1586 - Emperor Go-Yozei becomes Emperor of Japan.
1600 - Marriage of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici.
1637 - Shimabara Rebellion: Japanese peasants led by Amakusa Shiro rise against daimyo Matsukura Shigeharu.
1718 - Great Britain declares war on Spain.
1807 - France issues the Milan Decree, which confirms the Continental System.
1819 - Simón Bolívar declares the independence of the Republic of Gran Colombia in Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar in Venezuela).
1834 - The Dublin and Kingstown Railway the first public railway on the island of Ireland, opens in Ireland.
1862 - American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky.
1903 - The Wright Brothers make their first powered and heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
1919 - Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1926 - Antanas Smetona assumes power in Lithuania as the ‎1926 coup d'état‎ is successful.
1935 - First flight of the Douglas DC-3 airplane.
1939 - World War II: Battle of the River Plate - The Admiral Graf Spee is scuttled by Captain Hans Langsdorff outside Montevideo.
1941 - World War II: Japanese forces land in Northern Borneo.
1941 - World War II: Beginning of the Siege of Sebastopol.
1944 - World War II: Battle of the Bulge - Malmedy massacre - American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Peiper.
1957 - The United States successfully launched the first Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
1961 - History of Goa: Operation Vijay - India seizes Goa from Portugal.
1967 - Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt disappears while swimming near Portsea, Victoria and was presumed drowned.
1969 - Project Blue Book: The USAF closes its study of UFOs, stating that sightings were generated as a result of "A mild form of mass hysteria, Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or seek publicity, psychopathological persons, and miside
1969 - The SALT I talks begin.
1970 - Polish 1970 protests: In Gdynia, soldiers fire at workers emerging from trains, killing dozens.
1973 - Terrorism: 30 passengers are killed in an attack by Palestinian terrorists on Rome's Leonardo da Vinci Airport.
1978 - The Workers Party of Jamaica is founded by Trevor Munroe.
1981 - The Senegambia Confederation is founded.
1981 - Brigadier General James L. Dozier is abducted by the Red Brigade in Verona, Italy.
1983 - The IRA bombs Harrods Department Store in London, killing six people.
1989 - Romanian Revolution: Protests continue in TimiÅŸoara with rioters breaking into the Romanian Communist Party's District Committee building and attempting to set it on fire.
1989 - First free elections in Brazil in 25 years.
1989 - The longest-running American sitcom The Simpsons had its debut.
1999 - The United Nations General Assembly passes resolution 54/134 designating November 25 as the annual International Day to Eliminate Violence Against Women.
2002 - Second Congo War: The Congolese parties of the Inter Congolese Dialogue sign a peace accord which makes provision for transitional governance and legislative and presidential elections within two years.
2003 - SpaceShipOne flight 11P, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes its first supersonic flight.
2003 - The Soham murder trial ends at the Old Bailey in London, with Ian Huntley found guilty of two counts of murder. His girlfriend Maxine Carr is found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
2005 - Anti-WTO protesters riot in Wan Chai, Hong Kong
2007 - Republic of Lakotah asserts independence from the United States
546 - Gothic War (535-554): The Ostrogoths of King Totila conquer Rome by bribing the Byzantine garrison.
920 - Romanos I is crowned as co-emperor of the underage Emperor Constantine VII.
942 - Assassination of William I of Normandy.