Historical events on January 17
JANUARY 17, 1893
Lorrin A. Thurston and the Citizens' Committee of Public Safety led the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the government of Queen Liliʻuokalani (pictured).
Lorrin Andrews Thurston was a Hawaiian citizen lawyer, politician, and businessman. Thurston played a prominent role in the revolution that overthrew the
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JANUARY 17, 1961
Patrice Lumumba (pictured), a former prime minister of Congo-Léopoldville, was murdered in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the Belgian and US governments.
Patrice Émery Lumumba was a Congolese politician and independence leader who served as the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of
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JANUARY 17, 1999
In Little Saigon, California, a series of protests began when the owner of a video rental store displayed an image of Ho Chi Minh.
The Little Saigon district straddling the cities of Garden Grove and Westminster in Orange County, California is the largest Little Saigon in
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JANUARY 17, 1945
World War II: Australian troops advanced along the northern part of Bougainville Island (in present-day Papua New Guinea) and began fighting Japanese forces in the Battle of Tsimba Ridge.
World War II or the Second World War was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all
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JANUARY 17, 1966
A U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress collided with a KC-135 Stratotanker during aerial refueling over the Mediterranean Sea, dropping three hydrogen bombs on land near Palomares, Spain, and a fourth one into the sea.
The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has
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JANUARY 17, 1562
Representatives of Catherine de' Medici, the regent of France, drew up the Edict of Saint-Germain, providing limited tolerance to the Protestant Huguenots.
Catherine de' Medici was an Italian (Florentine) noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559
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JANUARY 17, 1945
Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who had saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust, was taken into Soviet custody during the Siege of Budapest and was never seen in public again.
Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg was a Swedish architect, businessman, diplomat, and humanitarian. He saved thousands of Jews in German-occupied Hungary during the Holocaust
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JANUARY 17, 1948
Indonesian National Revolution: The Renville Agreement between the Netherlands and Indonesian republicans was ratified, in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to resolve disputes arising from the Linggadjati Agreement of 1946.
The Indonesian National Revolution, also known as the Indonesian War of Independence, was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic
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JANUARY 17, 1989
Patrick Purdy opened fire in an elementary school in Stockton, California, killing 5 and wounding 32 others.
The Stockton schoolyard shooting was an act of mass murder which occurred at Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, California, on January 17,
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JANUARY 17, 1773
On James Cook's second voyage, his vessel HMS Resolution became the first vessel to cross the Antarctic Circle.
Captain James Cook was a British explorer, cartographer, and naval officer famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 to the
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JANUARY 17, 1912
Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition reached the South Pole, only to find that Roald Amundsen's team had beaten them by 33 days.
Captain Robert Falcon Scott was a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery
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JANUARY 17, 1920
The Volstead Act went into effect, beginning the prohibition of alcohol in the United States.
The National Prohibition Act, known informally as the Volstead Act, was an act of the 66th United States Congress designed to execute
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JANUARY 17, 2002
Mount Nyiragongo, a volcano in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, began an eruption that killed hundreds and left about 120,000 people homeless in the nearby town of Goma.
Mount Nyiragongo is an active stratovolcano with an elevation of 3,470 m (11,385 ft) in the Virunga Mountains associated with the Albertine Rift. It
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JANUARY 17, 2010
The first spate of violence between Muslims and Christians began in Jos, Nigeria, and would end in more than 200 deaths.
The 2010 Jos riots were clashes between Muslim and Christian ethnic groups in central Nigeria in and near the city of Jos.
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JANUARY 17, 1377
Gregory XI, the last Avignon pope, entered Rome after a four-month journey from Avignon, returning the papacy to its original city.
Pope Gregory XI was head of the Catholic Church from 30 December 1370 to his death, in March 1378. He was the
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JANUARY 17, 1961
Three days before leaving office, U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered a farewell speech to the nation, in which he warned about the dangers of the military–industrial complex.
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he
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