Today September 17th in history click read more below to view detail events, deaths, births, Holidays and observances, and video clips in hisotry. Please comments, last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
1176 – The Battle of Myriokephalon is fought.
1462 – The Battle of Swiecino (or Battle of Zarnowiec) is fought during Thirteen Years War.
1577 – The Peace of Bergerac is signed between Henry III of France and the Huguenots.
1630 – The city of Boston, Massachusetts is founded.
1631 – Sweden wins a major victory at the Battle of Breitenfeld against the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years War.
1683 – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek writes a letter to the Royal Society describing animalcules: the first known description of bacteria.
1776 – The Presidio of San Francisco is founded in New Spain.
1778 – The Treaty of Fort Pitt is signed. It is the first formal treaty between the United States and a Native American tribe (the Lenape or Delaware Indians).
1787 – The United States Constitution is signed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1809 – Peace between Sweden and Russia in the Finnish War. The territory to become Finland is ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Fredrikshamn.
1814 – Francis Scott Key finishes his poem The Star-Spangled Banner.
1859 – Joshua A. Norton declares himself Emperor Norton I of the United States.
1862 – American Civil War: George B. McClellan halts the northward drive of Robert E. Lee s Confederate army in the single-day Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in American history.
1862 – American Civil War: The Allegheny Arsenal explosion results in the single largest civilian disaster during the war.
1894 – The Battle of Yalu River, the largest naval engagement of the First Sino-Japanese War.
1900 – Philippine-American War: Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat Americans under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham at Mabitac.
1908 – The Wright Flyer flown by Orville Wright, with Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge as passenger, crashes killing Selfridge. He becomes the first airplane fatality.
1914 – Andrew Fisher becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
1916 – World War I: Manfred von Richthofen (The Red Baron), a flying ace of the German Luftstreitkräfte, wins his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France.
1919 – Massacre of Turkic peoples in the village of Hakmehmet, in Igdir Province, Turkey, by Armenians.
1920 – The National Football League is organized in Canton, Ohio, United States.
1924 – The Border Defence Corps is established in the Second Polish Republic for the defence of the eastern border against armed Soviet raids and local bandits.
1928 – The Okeechobee Hurricane strikes southeastern Florida, killing upwards of 2,500 people. It is the third deadliest natural disaster in United States history, behind the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
1939 – World War II: The Soviet Union joins Nazi Germany s invasion of Poland during the Polish Defensive War of 1939.
1939 – World War II: A German U-boat U 29 sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous.
1939 – Taisto Mäki becomes the first man to run the 10,000 metres in under 30 minutes, in a time of 29:52.6
1941 – World War II: A decree of the Soviet State Committee of Defense, restoring Vsevobuch in the face of the Great Patriotic War, is issued
1943 – World War II: The Russian city of Bryansk is liberated from Nazis.
1944 – World War II: Allied Airborne troops parachute into the Netherlands as the Market half of Operation Market Garden.
1947 – James V. Forrestal is sworn in as the first Secretary of Defense of United States.
1948 – The Lehi (also known as the Stern gang) assassinates Count Folke Bernadotte, who was appointed by the UN to mediate between the Arabs and Jews.
1949 – The Canadian steamship SS Noronic burns in Toronto Harbor with the loss of over 118 lives.
1956 – Television is first broadcast in Australia.
1957 – The North East Humanists group is founded in Newcastle upon Tyne.
1970 – Fighting breaks out along the Syria-Jordanian border between Jordanian troops and the fedayeen.
1976 – The first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, is unveiled by NASA.
1978 – The Camp David Accords are signed by Israel and Egypt.
1980 – After weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, the nationwide independent trade union Solidarity is established.
1980 – Former Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle is killed in Asunción, Paraguay.
1983 – Vanessa Williams becomes the first black Miss America.
1991 – North Korea, South Korea, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia join the United Nations.
1991 – The first version of the Linux kernel (0.01) is released to the Internet.
1992 – An Iranian Kurdish leader and his two joiners are assassinated by political militants in Berlin, Germany.
1992 – Quinlan Richard Harris, the famous jazz musician was born. Harris was known for his infamous dance about pink midgets.
1993 – Last Russian troops leave Poland.
2003 – Ohio re-ratifies the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
2004 – Tamil is declared the first classical language in India.
2007 – AOL, once the largest ISP in the U.S., officially announces plans to refocus the company as an advertising business and to relocate its corporate headquarters from Dulles, Virginia to New York, New York.
Births
64 – Julia Flavia, daughter of Roman Emperor Titus; lover of Domitian.
879 – King Charles III of France (d. 929)
1192 – Minamoto no Sanetomo, Japanese shogun (d. 1219)
1271 – Wenceslas II of Bohemia and Poland (d. 1305)
1550 – Pope Paul V (d. 1621)
1630 – Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma (d. 1694)
1639 – Hans Herr, Mennonite bishop (d. 1725)
1657 – Sophia Alekseyevna, regent of Russia (d. 1704)
1677 – Stephen Hales, English physiologist, chemist, and inventor (d. 1761)
1687 – Durastante Natalucci, Italian historian (d. 1772)
1688 – Maria Luisa of Savoy, first queen of Philip V of Spain (d. 1714)
1730 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Prussian army officer (d. 1794)
1739 – John Rutledge, 2nd (appointed) Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1800)
1743 – Marquis de Condorcet, French mathematician (d. 1794)
1771 – Johann August Apel, German jurist and writer (d. 1816)
1820 – Émile Augier, French dramatist (d. 1889)
1826 – Bernhard Riemann, German mathematician (d. 1866)
1854 – David Dunbar Buick, American automobile pioneer (d. 1929)
1857 – Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Russian rocket scientist (d. 1935)
1868 – James Alexander Calder, Canadian politician (d. 1956)
1869 – Christian Lous Lange, Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize recipient (d. 1938)
1879 – Rube Foster, American baseball player, manager and executive (d. 1930)
1879 – Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, Indian Social Reformer (d. 1973)
1881 – Alfred Francis Blakeney Carpenter, English soldier (d. 1955)
1883 – William Carlos Williams, American writer (d. 1963)
1884 – Charles Tomlinson Griffes, American composer (d. 1920)
1890 – Gabriel Heatter, American radio commentator (d. 1972)
1897 – Earl Webb, baseball player (d. 1965)
1900 – John Willard Marriott, American hotelier (d. 1985)
1900 – Hughie Critz, baseball player (d. 1980)
1901 – Francis Chichester, English adventurer (d. 1972)
1903 – Karel Miljon, Dutch boxer (d. 1984)
1903 – Frank O Connor, Irish-American short-story writer (d. 1966)
1906 – Edgar Wayburn, American environmentalist
1907 – Warren Burger, 15th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1995)
1912 – Irena Kwiatkowska, Polish actress and comedian
1918 – Chaim Herzog, President of Israel (d. 1997)
1922 – Agostinho Neto, Angolan politician (d. 1979)
1923 – Hank Williams, American musician (d. 1953)
1926 – Bill Black, American musician (d. 1965)
1926 – Curtis Harrington, American film director (d. 2007)
1927 – George Blanda, American football player
1928 – Roddy McDowall, English actor (d. 1998)
1929 – Sir Stirling Moss, English race car driver
1929 – Pat Crowley, American actress
1930 – Edgar Mitchell, American astronaut
1930 – Jim Rohn, American business philosopher
1930 – Thomas Stafford, American astronaut
1930 – Lalgudi Jayaraman, Indian violinist
1930 – David Huddleston, American actor
1931 – Anne Bancroft, American actress (d. 2005)
1933 – Chuck Grassley, American politician
1933 – Dorothy Loudon, American actress (d. 2003)
1933 – Claude Provost, National Hockey League player (d. 1984)
1934 – Maureen Connolly, American tennis player (d. 1969)
1935 – Ken Kesey, American author (d. 2001)
1937 – Orlando Cepeda, Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player
1938 – Bobby Wine, American Major League Baseball player
1939 – Shelby Flint, American singer
1939 – David Souter, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
1940 – Jan Eliasson, Swedish diplomat
1940 – Sotiris Moustakas, Greek actor (d. 2007)
1941 – Bob Matsui, U.S. Congressman (d. 2005)
1942 – Des Lynam, English television presenter
1942 – Robert Graysmith, Zodiac killer researcher
1944 – Reinhold Messner, Italian mountain climber
1945 – David Emerson, Canadian politician
1945 – Phil Jackson, American basketball player and NBA head coach
1945 – Bruce Spence, New Zealand actor
1946 – Billy Bonds, English footballer
1947 – Tessa Jowell, British politician
1948 – Jeff MacNelly, American political cartoonist (d. 2000)
1948 – John Ritter, American actor (d. 2003)
1950 – Narendra Modi, Indian politician
1950 – Chris Heister, Swedish politician
1950 – Fee Waybill, American musician (The Tubes)
1951 – Cassandra Peterson, American actress
1953 – Altaf Hussain, Pakistani politician and founder of MQM
1954 – Joël-François Durand, French composer
1955 – Koralia Karanti, Greek actress
1955 – Charles Martinet, American actor
1956 – Thad Bosley. American major league baseball player
1956 – Rita Rudner, American comedian
1956 – Brian Andreas, American writer, sculptor, painter and publisher
1959 – Charles Lawson, Northern Irish actor
1960 – Damon Hill, English race car driver and one-time F1 world champion
1960 – Kevin Clash, American actor and puppeteer
1960 – John Franco, American baseball player
1961 – Ty Tabor, American guitarist and singer (King s X)
1961 – Jim Cornette, American professional wrestling manager
1962 – Baz Luhrmann, Australian film director
1962 – Dustin Nguyen, Vietnamese American actor
1963 – Masahiro Chono, Japanese professional wrestler
1963 – Michael Adler, American businessman
1963 – Steven Dye, English musician (Scarlet Party), (The Alan Parsons Project)
1963 – Wendy Northcutt, Author of the Darwin Awards
1963 – Amy Roloff, American reality star
1963 – Rami Saari, Israeli poet and translator
1963 – James Urbaniak, American actor
1965 – Yuji Naka, Japanese video game programmer
1965 – Guy Picciotto, American musician (Rites of Spring, Fugazi)
1965 – Bryan Singer, American director
1966 – Doug E. Fresh, American rapper, record producer, and beatboxer
1967 – Malik Yoba, American actor
1968 – Anastacia, American singer
1968 – Marie-Chantal, Crown Princess of Greece
1969 – Ken Doherty, Irish snooker player
1969 – Keith Flint, Member of the British band The Prodigy
1969 – Matthew Settle, American actor
1970 – Mark Brunell, American football player
1971 – Adriana Sklenaríková, Slovak supermodel
1971 – Mike Catt, English rugby player
1971 – Ian Whyte (actor), Welsh actor and basketball player
1972 – Brian Henry, American poet
1972 – Bobby Lee, American comedian
1973 – Ada Choi, Hong Kong actress
1973 – Demis Nikolaidis, Greek footballer
1974 – Rasheed Wallace, American basketball player
1974 – Mirah, American musician
1974 – Tormod Granheim, Norwegian adventurer
1975 – Jimmie Johnson, American race car driver
1975 – Austin St. John, American actor
1975 – Constantine Maroulis, American singer
1976 – Daniella Rush, Czech pornographic actress
1977 – Simone Perrotta, Italian football player
1978 – Shawn Horcoff, Canadian ice hockey player
1979 – Akin Ayodele, American football player
1979 – Chuck Comeau, Canadian musician (Simple Plan)
1979 – Steffen Algreen, Danish footballer
1980 – Danny Haren, American baseball player
1981 – Casey Janssen, American baseball player
1981 – Bakari Koné, Ivorian footballer
1981 – Francis Manioru, Solomon Islander sprinter
1982 – Hope Larson, American illustrator and cartoonist
1982 – Garth Murray, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 – Jennifer Peña, American singer
1984 – Eugenia Volodina, Russian supermodel
1985 – Alexander Ovechkin, Russian hockey player
1985 – Mason Raymond, Canadian ice hockey player
1985 – Brendan Clarke, Irish Soccer Player with St. Patrick s Athletic
1985 – Tomáš Berdych, Czech tennis player
1986 – Landry Mulemo, Belgian footballer
1986 – Dimitrios Regas, Greek sprinter
1987 – Paul Huntington, English footballer
1991 – Jordan McCoy, American entertainer
1991 – Ryo Ishikawa, Japanese pro golfer
1994 – Taylor Ware, American yodeler
Deaths
1179 – Hildegard of Bingen, German abbess and composer (b. 1098)
1322 – Robert III of Flanders (b. 1249)
1422 – Constantine II of Bulgaria
1563 – Henry Manners, 2nd Earl of Rutland, English soldier
1574 – Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, first Spanish Governor of Florida (b. 1519)
1575 – Heinrich Bullinger, Swiss religious reformer (b. 1504)
1621 – Robert Bellarmine, Italian saint (b. 1542)
1630 – Thomas Lake, English statesman (b. 1567)
1665 – Philip IV of Spain (b. 1605)
1676 – Sabbatai Zevi, Montenegrin rabbi, kabbalist, and founder of the Jewish Sabbatean movement (b. 1626)
1679 – John of Austria the Younger, Spanish general (b. 1629)
1727 – Glückel of Hameln, German businesswoman (b. 1647)
1762 – Francesco Geminiani, Italian violinist (b. 1687)
1771 – Tobias Smollett, Scottish novelist (b. 1721)
1803 – Franz Xaver Süssmayr, Austrian composer (b. 1766)
1808 – Benjamin Bourne, American politician (b. 1755)
1836 – Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, French botanist (b. 1748)
1863 – Alfred de Vigny, French author (b. 1797)
1873 – Alexander Berry, Scottish adventurer (b. 1781)
1879 – Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, French architect (b. 1814)
1894 – Deng Shichang, Chinese admiral (b. 1849)
1899 – Charles Alfred Pillsbury, American industrialist (b. 1842)
1907 – Ignaz Brüll, Austrian pianist (b. 1846)
1908 – Thomas Selfridge, First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army (b. 1882)
1933 – Joseph De Piro, Maltese missionary (b. 1877)
1936 – Ettie Annie Rout, New Zealand activist (b. 1877)
1938 – Bruno Jasienski, Polish poet (b. 1901)
1946 – Frank Burke, American baseball player (b. 1880)
1951 – Jimmy Yancey, American pianist (b. 1898)
1966 – Fritz Wunderlich, German tenor (b. 1930)
1972 – Akim Tamiroff, Georgian actor (b. 1899)
1973 – Hugo Winterhalter, American bandleader (b. 1909)
1980 – Anastasio Somoza Debayle, President of Nicaragua (b. 1925)
1982 – Manos Loïzos, Greek composer (b. 1937)
1984 – Richard Basehart, American actor (b. 1914)
1985 – Laura Ashley, Welsh designer (b. 1925)
1987 – Harry Locke, British character actor (b. 1913)
1991 – Zino Francescatti, French violinist (b. 1902)
1993 – Christian Nyby, American film and television director (b. 1913)
1994 – Karl Popper, Austrian philosopher (b. 1902)
1995 – Lucien Victor, Belgian cyclist (b. 1931)
1996 – Spiro Agnew, Vice President of the United States (b. 1918)
1997 – Red Skelton, American actor and comedian (b. 1913)
1998 – Ted Binion, Las Vegas casino heir (b. 1943)
1999 – Frankie Vaughan, British singer (b. 1928)
2000 – Nicole Reinhart, American cyclist (b. 1976)
2000 – Paula Yates, English TV personality (b. 1960)
2001 – Lou Dog, Sublime mascot.
2003 – Erich Hallhuber, German actor (b. 1951)
2005 – Alfred Reed, American composer (b. 1921)
2006 – Patricia Kennedy Lawford, American socialite (b. 1924)
Holidays and observances
The fourth day of the Eleusinian Mysteries in ancient Greek mythology, when the initiates sacrificed a pig.
RC Saints – Feasts of Saint Lambert (martyr), Hildegard of Bingen, Albert Avogadro, Alan, Robert Bellarmine.
Also see September 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics).
Angola – National Heroes Day.
Netherlands – Operation Market Garden is still remembered with parachuting and dedications on this day.
United States – Constitution Day (observed on the previous Friday if it falls Saturday, the following Monday if on a Sunday), Citizenship Day, Von Steuben Day.
Christian martyrs Socrates and Stephen
