May 17
Events
Pre-1600
- 1395 - Battle of Rovine: The Wallachians defeat an invading Ottoman army.
- 1521 - Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for treason.
- 1527 - Pánfilo de Narváez departs Spain to explore Florida with 600 men - by 1536 only four survive.
- 1536 - George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford and four other men are executed for treason.
- 1536 - Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's marriage is annulled.
- 1590 - Anne of Denmark is crowned Queen of Scotland.
1601–1900
- 1642 - Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve founds the Ville Marie de Montréal.
- 1648 - An allied French and Swedish army defeats Imperial and Bavarian forces in the Battle of Zusmarshausen.
- 1673 - Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River.
- 1756 - Seven Years' War formally begins when Great Britain declares war on France.
- 1760 - French forces besieging Quebec retreat after the Royal Navy arrives to relieve the British garrison.
- 1792 - The New York Stock Exchange is formed under the Buttonwood Agreement.
- 1805 - Muhammad Ali becomes Wāli of Egypt.
- 1809 - Emperor Napoleon I orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire.
- 1814 - Occupation of Monaco changes from French to Austrian.
- 1814 - The Constitution of Norway is signed and Crown Prince Christian Frederick of Denmark is elected King of Norway by the Norwegian Constituent Assembly.
- 1859 - Members of the Melbourne Football Club codified the first rules of Australian rules football.
- 1863 - Rosalía de Castro publishes Cantares Gallegos, the first book in the Galician language.
- 1863 - American Civil War: During the Vicksburg campaign, Union forces under John A. McClernand defeat a Confederate rearguard and capture around 1,700 men at the Battle of Big Black River Bridge.
- 1865 - The International Telegraph Union is established in Paris.
- 1875 - Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby with the jockey Oliver Lewis.
- 1900 - The children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, is first published in the United States. The first copy is given to the author's sister.
1901–present
- 1902 - Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer.
- 1914 - The Protocol of Corfu is signed, recognising full autonomy to Northern Epirus under nominal Albanian sovereignty.
- 1915 - The last British Liberal Party government falls.
- 1933 - Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form Nasjonal Samling — the national-socialist party of Norway.
- 1937 - Spanish Civil War: The Largo Caballero government resigns in the wake of the Barcelona May Days, leading Juan Negrín to form a government, without the anarcho-syndicalist CNT, in its stead.
- 1939 - The Columbia Lions and the Princeton Tigers play in the United States' first televised sporting event, a collegiate baseball game in New York City.
- 1940 - World War II: Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium.
- 1943 - World War II: Dambuster Raids commence by No. 617 Squadron RAF.
- 1953 - Delta Air Lines Flight 318 crashes near Marshall, Texas, killing 19.
- 1954 - The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, outlawing racial segregation in public schools.
- 1967 - Six-Day War: President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt demands dismantling of the peace-keeping UN Emergency Force in Egypt.
- 1969 - Venera program: Soviet Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere of Venus, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure.
- 1973 - Watergate scandal: Televised hearings begin in the United States Senate.
- 1974 - The Troubles: Thirty-three civilians are killed and 300 injured when the Ulster Volunteer Force detonates four car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan, Ireland.
- 1974 - Police in Los Angeles raid the Symbionese Liberation Army's headquarters, killing six members, including Camilla Hall.
- 1977 - Nolan Bushnell opened the first Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre in San Jose, California.
- 1980 - General Chun Doo-hwan of South Korea seizes control of the government and declares martial law in order to suppress student demonstrations.
- 1980 - On the eve of presidential elections, Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path attacks a polling location in Chuschi, starting the Internal conflict in Peru.
- 1983 - The U.S. Department of Energy declassifies documents showing world's largest mercury pollution event in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in response to the Appalachian Observer's Freedom of Information Act request.
- 1983 - Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
- 1984 - Prince Charles calls a proposed addition to the National Gallery, London, a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend", sparking controversies on the proper role of the Royal Family and the course of modern architecture.
- 1987 - Iran–Iraq War: An Iraqi Dassault Mirage F1 fighter jet fires two missiles into the U.S. Navy warship, killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew.
- 1990 - The General Assembly of the World Health Organization eliminates homosexuality from the list of psychiatric diseases.
- 1992 - Three days of popular protests against the government of Prime Minister of Thailand Suchinda Kraprayoon begin in Bangkok, leading to a military crackdown that results in 52 officially confirmed deaths, hundreds of injuries, many disappearances, and more than 3,500 arrests.
- 1994 - Malawi holds its first multi-party elections.
- 1995 - Shawn Nelson steals an M60 tank from the California Army National Guard Armory in San Diego and proceeds to go on a rampage.
- 1997 - Troops of Laurent-Désiré Kabila march into Kinshasa. Zaire is officially renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- 2000 - Arsenal and Galatasaray fans clash in the 2000 UEFA Cup Final riots in Copenhagen
- 2004 - The first legal same-sex marriages in the U.S. are performed in the state of Massachusetts.
- 2006 - The aircraft carrier is sunk in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef.
- 2007 - Trains from North and South Korea cross the 38th Parallel in a test-run agreed by both governments. This is the first time that trains have crossed the Demilitarized Zone since 1953.
- 2010 - Pamir Airways Flight 112 crashes in Afghanistan's Shakardara District, killing 44.
- 2014 - A military plane crash in northern Laos kills 17 people.
Births
Pre-1600
- 1155 - Jien, Japanese monk, poet, and historian
- 1443 - Edmund, Earl of Rutland
- 1451 - Engelbert II of Nassau, Count of Nassau-Vianden and Lord of Breda
- 1490 - Albert, Duke of Prussia, last Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights
- 1500 - Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua
- 1551 - Martin Delrio, Belgian occultist and theologian
- 1568 - Anna Vasa of Sweden, Swedish princess
1601–1900
- 1610 - Stefano della Bella, Italian engraver and etcher
- 1628 - Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria
- 1636 - Edward Colman, English Catholic courtier under Charles II
- 1682 - Bartholomew Roberts, Welsh pirate
- 1698 - Gio Nicola Buhagiar, Maltese painter
- 1706 - Andreas Felix von Oefele, German historian and librarian
- 1718 - Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, English politician and diplomat, Secretary of State for the Southern Department
- 1732 - Francesco Pasquale Ricci, Italian violinist and composer
- 1743 - Seth Warner, American colonel
- 1749 - Edward Jenner, English physician and microbiologist
- 1758 - Sir John St Aubyn, 5th Baronet, English politician
- 1768 - Caroline of Brunswick
- 1768 - Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
- 1794 - Anna Brownell Jameson, Irish-English author
- 1818 - Ezra Otis Kendall, American professor, astronomer and mathematician
- 1821 - Sebastian Kneipp, German priest and therapist
- 1835 - Thomas McIlwraith, Scottish-Australian politician, 8th Premier of Queensland
- 1836 - Virginie Loveling, Belgian author and poet
- 1845 - Jacint Verdaguer, Catalan priest and poet
- 1860 - Martin Kukučín, Slovak author and playwright
- 1860 - Charlotte Barnum, American mathematician and social activist
- 1863 - Léon Gérin, Canadian lawyer, sociologist, and civil servant
- 1864 - Louis Richardet, Swiss target shooter
- 1864 - Ante Trumbić, Croatian lawyer and politician, 27th Mayor of Split
- 1866 - Erik Satie, French pianist and composer
- 1868 - Horace Elgin Dodge, American businessman, co-founded Dodge
- 1868 - Panagis Tsaldaris, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece
- 1870 - Newton Moore, Australian politician, 8th Premier of Western Australia
- 1873 - Henri Barbusse, French author and journalist
- 1873 - Dorothy Richardson, English author and journalist
- 1874 - George Sheldon, American diver
- 1882 - Karl Burman, Estonian architect and painter
- 1886 - Alfonso XIII of Spain, Spanish monarch
- 1888 - Tich Freeman, English cricketer
- 1889 - Dorothy Gibson, American actress and singer
- 1889 - Alfonso Reyes, Mexican author
- 1891 - Napoleon Zervas, Greek general and politician
- 1893 - Frederick McKinley Jones, American inventor and entrepreneur
- 1895 - Saul Adler, Belarusian-English captain and parasitologist
- 1895 - Reinhold Saulmann, Estonian sprinter and bandy player
- 1897 - Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1898 - A. J. Casson, Canadian painter
- 1899 - Carmen de Icaza, Spanish writer