History Events on June 17

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

#Francis_Drake

Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee, in an attempt by some members of the Republican party to illegally wiretap the opposition.

#Watergate_scandal

American Indian Wars: Battle of White Bird Canyon: The Nez Perce defeat the U.S. Cavalry at White Bird Canyon in the Idaho Territory.

#American_Indian_Wars

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

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

#Apartheid

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

#France

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

#Eugen_Weidmann

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

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

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

#Baltic_states

Bonus Army: Around a thousand World War I veterans amass at the United States Capitol as the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would give them certain benefits.

#Bonus_Army

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

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

#June_2017_Portugal_wildfires

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

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

#Swellendam

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

#American_Revolutionary_War

The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor.

#Statue_of_Liberty

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

#Disputation_of_Paris

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

Nuclear weapons testing: The People's Republic of China announces a successful test of its first thermonuclear weapon.

#Nuclear_weapons_testing

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

#Boxer_Rebellion

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_people

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

#Dusky_seaside_sparrow

Iceland declares independence from Denmark and becomes a republic.

#Iceland

A day after South Vietnamese President Ngô ?ình Di?m announced the Joint Communiqué to end the Buddhist crisis, a riot involving around 2,000 people breaks out. One person is killed.

#Leaders_of_South_Vietnam

Foundation of Anglo-Corsican Kingdom.

#Anglo-Corsican_Kingdom

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

#Wairau_Affray

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

#Cúcuta

Matsunaga Hisahide assassinates the 13th Ashikaga sh?gun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru.

#Matsunaga_Hisahide

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

#Charleston_church_shooting

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

#Samuel_Wallis

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

#Battle_of_Aldie

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

#Kalmar_Union

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

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

#Douglas_DC-6

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

#Portuguese_Naval_Aviation

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

#Battle_of_Montes_Claros

American Civil War: Battle of Vienna, Virginia.

#American_Civil_War

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

#Aurel_Vlaicu

U.S. President Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act into law.

#Herbert_Hoover

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

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 many of the ironworkers and injuring others.

#Ironworkers_Memorial_Second_Narrows_Crossing

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

#Willem_Barentsz

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

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

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.

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

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

The United States Navy Hospital Corps is established.

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.

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

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

Pope Martin I is arrested in the Lateran Palace before being taken to Constantinople and tried for high treason.