Browse Historical Events by Day: What Happened on January 17th?

Birth of the Roman historian Tacitus.

The Roman Empire is permanently divided into Eastern and Western halves upon the death of Emperor Theodosius I.

Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade capture the Byzantine city of Thessalonica.

King John of England appoints Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury.

An earthquake strikes the region of Huesca, Spain, causing significant damage.

King John II of France, a prisoner in England, agrees to the Treaty of London, promising to pay a large ransom.

The Jacquerie peasant revolt begins in France, triggered by social and economic grievances.

Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch), Italian poet and scholar, dies in Arquà Petrarca, Italy.

The reign of King Henry VI of England officially begins with his coronation at Westminster Abbey.

Afonso V becomes King of Portugal at the age of six following the death of his father, Edward of Portugal.

The Treaty of Ragusa is signed, establishing peace between Venice and the Kingdom of Hungary.

Battle of Vaslui between the Moldavian Prince Stephen the Great and the Ottoman Empire.

Treaty of Alcáçovas is signed, ending the War of Castilian Succession between Portugal and Castile.

The Swiss Confederation defeats the French at the Battle of Pavia during the Italian War of 1521–1526.

England declares war on France during the Italian War of 1551–1559.

The Battle of Rio de Janeiro takes place between the Portuguese and French, resulting in a Portuguese victory.

The Ottoman Empire declares war on Venice, initiating the Ottoman-Venetian War.

The Boston Riot of 1715 erupts in Boston, Massachusetts, protesting taxation without representation.

Benjamin Franklin opens the first library in the United States in Philadelphia.

The city of Prague surrenders to the Prussian army during the War of the Austrian Succession.

The first hospital in the United States, the Pennsylvania Hospital, is founded in Philadelphia.

The Leiden University Library, one of the oldest in the Netherlands, burns down with over 100,000 books lost.

English explorer Captain James Cook anchors at Botany Bay in Australia during his first voyage.

American forces win the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina during the American Revolutionary War.

American forces under Daniel Morgan defeat the British at the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina during the American Revolutionary War.

General William T. Sherman begins his march through the Carolinas during the American Civil War.

The Kingdom of Hawaii is overthrown by a group which called themselves the Committee of Safety, staged a coup d'état against Queen Liliuokalani and her government. The group composed of 13 Caucasian businessmen and lawyers, six citizens of the Kingdom and seven foreign residents of Hawaii (five Americans, one Scotsman, and one German). Their ultimate goal was annexation to the United States. However it took five years until that goal was achieved. More

The United States formally devalues the dollar against gold for the first time in history.

Soviet forces capture Warsaw during World War II.

The trial of 11 U.S. Communist Party leaders begins in New York City.

The security firm Brinks, in Boston, Massachusetts, is surprised by five heavily disguised men as they were closing for the day. The men quickly bound the employees and within minutes, they’d stolen more than $1.2 million in cash and another $1.5 million in checks and other securities, making it the largest robbery in the U.S. at the time. More

A US B-52 bomber loaded with nuclear weapons collides with a tanker plane during a midair refueling operation off the coast of Almeria, Spain. Seven of the total 11 crew members were killed. The crash caused four hydrogen bombs to tumble from the B-52; one was later recovered intact in the Mediterranean while the other three crashed on land near the coastal village of Palomares. The bombs did not explode but two cracked open and dispersed 7 pounds of radioactive plutonium with the wind. More

The International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals 70 years after they were taken away due to his playing semi-professional baseball.

Operation Desert Storm begins as coalition forces led by the United States launch air raids against Iraq, five months after Iraqi forces invaded and annexed Kuwait. More

At 4:30 am, on January 17, 1994, Residents of the greater Los Angeles area were awakened by the strong shaking of the magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake. This was the first earthquake to strike directly under an urban area of the United States since the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. More