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This day in history

This day in history: 17 November

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Events58

Born on this day · Died on this day247 · 118

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Key facts

423 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 17 November.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2019: The first known case of COVID-19 is traced to a 55-year-old man who had visited a market in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.

Holidays and observances

Athens Polytechnic Uprising Remembrance Day (Greece)

Christian feast days: Acisclus

Christian feast days: Aignan of Orleans

Christian feast days: Elizabeth of Hungary

Christian feast days: Gennadius of Constantinople (Greek Orthodox Church)

Christian feast days: Gregory of Tours (Roman Catholic Church)

Christian feast days: Gregory Thaumaturgus

Christian feast days: Hilda of Whitby

Christian feast days: Hugh of Lincoln

Christian feast days: November 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

International Students' Day

Martyrs' Day (Odisha, India)

Events

2019The first known case of COVID-19 is traced to a 55-year-old man who had visited a market in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.

2013A rare late-season tornado outbreak strikes the Midwest. Illinois and Indiana are most affected with tornado reports as far north as lower Michigan. In all around six dozen tornadoes touch down in approximately an 11-hour time period, inclu

2013Fifty people are killed when Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363 crashes at Kazan Airport, Russia.

2012At least 50 schoolchildren are killed in an accident at a railway crossing near Manfalut, Egypt.

2003Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger's tenure as the governor of California begins.

2000A catastrophic landslide in Log pod Mangartom, Slovenia, kills seven, and causes millions of SIT of damage. It is one of the worst catastrophes in Slovenia in the past 100 years.

2000Alberto Fujimori is removed from office as president of Peru.

1997In Luxor, Egypt, 62 people are killed by six Islamic militants outside the Temple of Hatshepsut, known as Luxor massacre.

1993In Nigeria, General Sani Abacha ousts the government of Ernest Shonekan in a military coup.

1993United States House of Representatives passes a resolution to establish the North American Free Trade Agreement.

1990Fugendake, part of the Mount Unzen volcanic complex, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, becomes active again and erupts.

1989Cold War: Velvet Revolution begins: In Czechoslovakia, a student demonstration in Prague is quelled by riot police. This sparks an uprising aimed at overthrowing the communist government (it succeeds on December 29).

1986The flight crew of Japan Airlines Flight 1628 are involved in a UFO sighting incident while flying over Alaska.

1983The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is founded in Mexico.

1973The Athens Polytechnic uprising against the military regime ends in a bloodshed in the Greek capital.

1973Watergate scandal: In Orlando, Florida, U.S. President Richard Nixon tells 400 Associated Press managing editors "I am not a crook."

1970Luna programme: The Soviet Union lands Lunokhod 1 on Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) on the Moon. This is the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another world and is released by the orbiting Luna 17 spacecraft.

1970Vietnam War: Lieutenant William Calley goes on trial for the My Lai Massacre.

1969Cold War: Negotiators from the Soviet Union and the United States meet in Helsinki, Finland to begin SALT I negotiations aimed at limiting the number of strategic weapons on both sides.

1968British European Airways introduces the BAC One-Eleven into commercial service.

1968Viewers of the Raiders–Jets football game in the eastern United States are denied the opportunity to watch its exciting finish when NBC broadcasts Heidi instead, prompting changes to sports broadcasting in the U.S.

1967Vietnam War: Acting on optimistic reports that he had been given on November 13, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson tells the nation that, while much remained to be done, "We are inflicting greater losses than we're taking...We are making pro

1962President John F. Kennedy dedicates Washington Dulles International Airport, serving the Washington, D.C., region.

1957Vickers Viscount G-AOHP of British European Airways crashes at Ballerup after the failure of three engines on approach to Copenhagen Airport. The cause is a malfunction of the anti-icing system on the aircraft. There are no fatalities.

1953The remaining human inhabitants of the Blasket Islands, County Kerry, Ireland, are evacuated to the mainland.

1950Lhamo Dondrub is officially named the 14th Dalai Lama.

1950United Nations Security Council Resolution 89 relating to the Palestine Question is adopted.

1947American scientists John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain observe the basic principles of the transistor, a key element for the electronics revolution of the 20th century.

1947The Screen Actors Guild implements an anti-Communist loyalty oath.

1940The Tartu Art Museum is established in Tartu, Estonia.

1939Nine Czech students are executed as a response to anti-Nazi demonstrations prompted by the death of Jan Opletal. All Czech universities are shut down and more than 1,200 students sent to concentration camps. Since this event, International

1903The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party splits into two groups: The Bolsheviks (Russian for "majority") and Mensheviks (Russian for "minority").

1896The Western Pennsylvania Hockey League, which later became the first ice hockey league to openly trade and hire players, began play at Pittsburgh's Schenley Park Casino.

1894H. H. Holmes, one of the first modern serial killers, is arrested in Boston, Massachusetts.

1885Serbo-Bulgarian War: The decisive Battle of Slivnitsa begins.

1878First assassination attempt against Umberto I of Italy by anarchist Giovanni Passannante, who was armed with a dagger. The King survived with a slight wound in an arm. Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli blocked the aggressor, receiving an inj

1869In Egypt, the Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, is inaugurated.

1863American Civil War: Siege of Knoxville begins: During the Knoxville campaign, Confederate forces under General James Longstreet besiege the city of Knoxville, Tennessee and its Union defenders led by General Ambrose Burnside.

1858Modified Julian Day zero.

1858The city of Denver, Colorado is founded.

Born on this day

2005Anna Tanaka, Japanese singer and model

2004Linda Nosková, Czech tennis player

2001Kate Douglass, American swimmer

2000Joanne Züger, Swiss tennis player

1999Gabi Gonçalves, Brazilian politician

1997Dragan Bender, Croatian basketball player

1997Julian Ryerson, Norwegian footballer

1997Yugyeom, South Korean singer

1996Jamayne Taunoa-Brown, Australian rugby league player

1996Minkah Fitzpatrick, American football player

1996Roope Hintz, Finnish ice hockey player

1995Elise Mertens, Belgian tennis player

1995Panashe Muzambe, Scottish rugby union player

1994Raquel Castro, American actress and singer

1994Rose Ayling-Ellis, British actress

1993Taylor Gold, American snowboarder

1992Damiris Dantas, Brazilian basketball player

1992Danielle Kettlewell, Australian synchronised swimmer

1992Katarzyna Kawa, Polish tennis player

1990Elías Díaz, Venezuelan baseball player

1989Roman Zozulya, Ukrainian footballer

1989Ryan Griffin, American football player

1989Seth Lugo, American baseball player

1988Justin Cooper, American actor

1987Craig Noone, English footballer

1987Gemma Spofforth, English swimmer

1987Justine Michelle Cain, English actress

1986Aaron Finch, Australian cricketer

1986Everth Cabrera, Nicaraguan baseball player

1986Fabio Concas, Italian footballer

1986Greg Rutherford, English long jumper

1986Nani, Portuguese footballer

1985Carolina Neurath, Swedish journalist

1985Luis Aguiar, Uruguayan footballer

1985Sékou Camara, Malian footballer (died 2013)

1984Amanda Evora, American figure skater

1984Park Han-byul, South Korean model and actress

1983Christopher Paolini, American author

1983Harry Lloyd, English actor, producer, and screenwriter

1983Ioannis Bourousis, Greek basketball player

Died on this day

2024Macoto Takahashi, Japanese manga artist (born 1934)

2021Young Dolph, American rapper (born 1985)

2019Tuka Rocha, Brazilian race car driver (born 1982)

2015John Leahy, English lawyer and diplomat, High Commissioner to Australia (born 1928)

2015Rahim Moeini Kermanshahi, Iranian poet and songwriter (born 1926)

2014Bill Frenzel, American lieutenant and politician (born 1928)

2014John T. Downey, American CIA agent and judge (born 1930)

2014Patrick Suppes, American psychologist and philosopher (born 1922)

2014Ray Sadecki, American baseball player (born 1940)

2013Alex Marques, Portuguese footballer (born 1993)

2013Alfred Blake, English colonel and lawyer (born 1915)

2013Doris Lessing, British novelist, poet, playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1919)

2013Mary Nesbitt Wisham, American baseball player (born 1925)

2013Syd Field, American screenwriter and producer (born 1935)

2013Zeke Bella, American baseball player (born 1930)

2012Armand Desmet, Belgian cyclist (born 1931)

2012Bal Thackeray, Indian cartoonist and politician (born 1926)

2012Billy Scott, American singer-songwriter (born 1942)

2012Freddy Schmidt, American baseball player (born 1916)

2012Lea Gottlieb, Hungarian-Israeli fashion designer, founded the Gottex Company (born 1918)

2012Margaret Yorke, English author (born 1924)

2012Ponty Chadha, Indian businessman and philanthropist (born 1957)

2011Kurt Budke, American basketball player and coach (born 1961)

2008George Stephen Morrison, American admiral (born 1919)

2008Pete Newell, American basketball player and coach (born 1915)

2007Aarne Hermlin, Estonian chess player (born 1940)

2006Bo Schembechler, American football player and coach (born 1929)

2006Ferenc Puskás, Hungarian footballer and manager (born 1927)

2006Ruth Brown, American singer-songwriter and actress (born 1928)

2005Marek Perepeczko, Polish actor and director (born 1942)

Quote of the day

“Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.”

Lao Tzu

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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