On This Day — 17 June

2021

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

Juneteenth

2017

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

June 2017 Portugal wildfires

2015

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

Charleston church shooting

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.

O. J. Simpson

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).

George H. W. Bush

1991

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

Apartheid

1989

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

Interflug Flight 102

1987

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

Dusky seaside sparrow

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.

Space Shuttle program

1971

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

Richard Nixon

1967

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

Nuclear weapons testing

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.

Supreme Court of the United States

1963

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

List of leaders of South Vietnam

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.

Nez Perce

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.

Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing

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.

Cold War

1952

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

Decree 900

1948

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

United Air Lines Flight 624

1944

Iceland declares independence from Denmark and becomes a republic.

Iceland

1940

World War II: RMS Lancastria is attacked and sunk by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France. At least 3,000 are killed in Britain's worst maritime disaster.

World War II

1940

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

11th Hussars

1940

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

Baltic states

1939

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

Eugen Weidmann

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.

Kansas City massacre

1930

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

Herbert Hoover

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.

Murchison, New Zealand

1922

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

Portuguese Naval Aviation

1910

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

Aurel Vlaicu

1901

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

College Board

1900

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

Boxer Rebellion

1898

The United States Navy Hospital Corps is established.

Hospital corpsman

1885

The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor.

Statue of Liberty

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.

Battle of White Bird Canyon

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.

American Indian Wars

1863

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

Battle of Aldie

1861

American Civil War: Battle of Vienna, Virginia.

American Civil War

1843

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

Wairau Affray

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.

Hawaiian Kingdom

1831

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

Best Friend of Charleston

1795

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

Swellendam

1794

Foundation of Anglo-Corsican Kingdom.

Anglo-Corsican Kingdom

1789

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

France

1775

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

American Revolutionary War

1773

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

Cúcuta

1767

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

Samuel Wallis

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.

French people

1665

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

Battle of Montes Claros

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.

Mumtaz Mahal

1596

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

Willem Barentsz

1579

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

Francis Drake

1497

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

Cornish rebellion of 1497

1462

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

Vlad the Impaler

1397

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

Kalmar Union

1300

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

Turku Cathedral

1242

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

Disputation of Paris

653

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

Pope Martin I