April 17
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Events


Pre-1600

* 1080Harald III of Denmark dies and is succeeded by Canute IV, who would later be the first Dane to be
canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of sa ...
. * 1349 – The rule of the Bavand dynasty in
Mazandaran Mazandaran Province (; ) is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. Its capital is the city of Sari, Iran, Sari. Located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the adjacent Central Alborz mountain range and Hyrcanian forests, it is border ...
is brought to an end by the murder of Hasan II. * 1362Kaunas Castle falls to the
Teutonic Order The Teutonic Order is a religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious institution founded as a military order (religious society), military society in Acre, Israel, Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Sa ...
after a month-long siege. *
1492 Year 1492 ( MCDXCII) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. 1492 is considered to be a significant year in the history of the West, Europe, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Spain, and the New World, among others, because of the ...
– Spain and
Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...
sign the
Capitulations of Santa Fe The Capitulations of Santa Fe between Christopher Columbus and the Catholic Monarchs, Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, were signed in Santa Fe, Granada on April 17, 1492. They granted Columbus the titles of admiral of t ...
for his voyage to Asia to acquire
spice In the culinary arts, a spice is any seed, fruit, root, Bark (botany), bark, or other plant substance in a form primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of pl ...
s. * 1521 – Trial of
Martin Luther Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...
over his teachings begins during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. Initially intimidated, he asks for time to reflect before answering and is given a stay of one day. * 1524Giovanni da Verrazzano reaches New York harbor.


1601–1900

* 1783
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
: Colbert's Raid: A Spanish
garrison A garrison is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters. A garrison is usually in a city ...
under Captain Jacobo du Breuil defeat
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
irregulars at
Arkansas Post The Arkansas Post (; ), officially the Arkansas Post National Memorial, was the first European colonization of the Americas, European settlement located along the Mississippi River, in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, and in the present-day U. ...
. * 1797 – Sir
Ralph Abercromby Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), Lieutenant-General Sir Ralph Abercromby, (7 October 173428 March 1801) was a British Army officer, politician and colonial administrator who served as the governor of Trinidad in 1797. Rising to the rank ...
attacks
San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...
, in what would be one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in the Americas. * 1797 – Citizens of
Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...
begin an unsuccessful eight-day rebellion against the French occupying forces. * 1861 – The state of
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
's secession convention votes to secede from the United States; Virginia later becomes the eighth state to join the
Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...
. *
1863 Events January * January 1 – Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation during the third year of the American Civil War, making the abolition of slavery in the Confederate States of America an official war goal. The signing ...
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
: Grierson's Raid begins: Troops under Union Army Colonel Benjamin Grierson attack central
Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...
. *
1864 Events January * January 13 – American songwriter Stephen Foster ("Oh! Susanna", "Old Folks at Home") dies aged 37 in New York City, leaving a scrap of paper reading "Dear friends and gentle hearts". His parlor song "Beautiful Dream ...
– American Civil War: The Battle of Plymouth begins: Confederate forces attack Plymouth, North Carolina. * 1869Morelos is admitted as the 27th state of
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
. *
1876 Events January * January 1 ** The Reichsbank opens in Berlin. ** The Bass Brewery Red Triangle becomes the world's first registered trademark symbol. *January 27 – The Northampton Bank robbery occurs in Massachusetts. February * Febr ...
Catalpa rescue: The rescue of six Fenian prisoners from Fremantle Prison in Western Australia. * 1895 – The Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan is signed. This marks the end of the
First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 189417 April 1895), or the First China–Japan War, was a conflict between the Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan primarily over influence in Joseon, Korea. In Chinese it is commonly known as th ...
, and the defeated
Qing Empire The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtian province,
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
and the
Penghu The Penghu ( , Hokkien Pe̍h-ōe-jī, POJ: ''Phîⁿ-ô͘''  or ''Phêⁿ-ô͘'' ) or Pescadores Islands are an archipelago of 90 islands and islets in the Taiwan Strait, about west of the main island of Taiwan across the Penghu Ch ...
to Japan.


1901–present

* 1905 – The
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...
decides '' Lochner v. New York'', which holds that the " right to free contract" is implicit in the
due process clause A Due Process Clause is found in both the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, which prohibit the deprivation of "life, liberty, or property" by the federal and state governments, respectively, without due proces ...
of the
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Fourteenth Amendment (Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. Considered one of the most consequential amendments, it addresses Citizenship of the United States ...
. *
1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Moment magnitude scale, Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 9 – The "Mud March (suffragists), Mud March", the ...
– The
Ellis Island Ellis Island is an island in New York Harbor, within the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York (state), New York. Owned by the U.S. government, Ellis Island was once the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United State ...
immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day. *
1912 This year is notable for Sinking of the Titanic, the sinking of the ''Titanic'', which occurred on April 15. In Albania, this leap year runs with only 353 days as the country achieved switching from the Julian to Gregorian Calendar by skippin ...
Russian troops open fire on striking goldfield workers in northeast
Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
, killing at least 150. *
1925 Events January * January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...
– The Communist Party of Korea (CPK) was founded in Japanese-ruled Korea (Chōsen) in Keijō (now
Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...
) by Kim Yong-bom and Pak Hon-yong. * 1931 – After negotiations between Catalan and Spanish provisional governments, the Catalan Republic proclaimed in April 14 becomes the
Generalitat de Catalunya The Generalitat de Catalunya (; ; ), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia is self-governed as an autonomous community of Spain. It is made up of the Parliament of Catalonia, the President of the Govern ...
, the autonomous government of
Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...
within the Spanish Republic. * 1941
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
: The Axis powers invasion of Yugoslavia is completed when it signs an armistice with Germany and Italy. *
1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...
– French
prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Königstein Fortress. *
1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...
– Forces of the Communist-controlled Greek People's Liberation Army attack the smaller National and Social Liberation resistance group, which surrenders. Its leader Dimitrios Psarros is murdered. *
1945 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat. Events World War II will be ...
– World War II:
Montese Montese ( Frignanese: ) is a town in the province of Modena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. During World War II, the town was liberated by Brazilian forces on 17 April 1945 after the Battle of Montese. There are neighborhoods in the Brazilian cities o ...
, Italy, is liberated from
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
forces. * 1945 – Historian Tran Trong Kim is appointed the Prime Minister of the
Empire of Vietnam The Empire of Vietnam (; Literary Chinese and Japanese language, Contemporary Japanese: ; Japanese language, Modern Japanese: ) was a short-lived Japanese puppet state, puppet state of Empire of Japan, Imperial Japan between March 11 and Abdicat ...
. *
1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...
– The last French troops are withdrawn from
Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
. *
1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...
– The
Peak District The Peak District is an Highland, upland area in central-northern England, at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It is subdivi ...
becomes the United Kingdom's first
National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...
. * 1961
Bay of Pigs Invasion The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called or after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in April 1961 by the United States of America and the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front ...
: A group of Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting
Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...
. * 1964Jerrie Mock completes the first around-the-world airplane flight by a woman. Her solo flight in the '' Spirit of Columbus'', which took 29 1/2 days, took off and landed at the Port Columbus International Airport in Ohio. * 1969Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy. * 1969 –
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Com ...
chairman
Alexander Dubček Alexander Dubček (; 27 November 1921 – 7 November 1992) was a Slovaks, Slovak statesman who served as the First Secretary of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) (''de facto'' leader of Czech ...
is deposed. *
1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...
Apollo program The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...
: The damaged
Apollo 13 Apollo 13 (April 1117, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo program, Apollo space program and would have been the third Moon landing. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the landing was abort ...
spacecraft returns to
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
safely. *
1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...
– The Provisional Government of Bangladesh is formed. *
1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
– The
Cambodian Civil War The Cambodian Civil War (, Romanization of Khmer#UNGEGN, UNGEGN: ) was a civil war in Cambodia fought between the Communist Party of Kampuchea (known as the Khmer Rouge, supported by North Vietnam and China) against the government of the Ki ...
ends. The
Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), and by extension to Democratic Kampuchea, which ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by Norodom Sihano ...
captures the capital
Phnom Penh Phnom Penh is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Cambodia, most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since 1865 and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its political, economic, industr ...
and Cambodian government forces surrender. *
1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...
Mir Akbar Khyber is assassinated, provoking the
Saur Revolution The Saur Revolution (; ), also known as the April Revolution or the April Coup, was a violent coup d'état and uprising staged on 27–28 April 1978 (, ) by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), which overthrew President of Afghan ...
in
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
. * 1982
Constitution Act, 1982 The ''Constitution Act, 1982'' () is a part of the Constitution of Canada.Formally enacted as Schedule B of the '' Canada Act 1982'', enacted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Section 60 of the ''Constitution Act, 1982'' states that t ...
Patriation Patriation is the political process that led to full Canadian sovereignty, culminating with the '' Constitution Act, 1982''. The process was necessary because, at the time, under the '' Statute of Westminster, 1931'', and with Canada's agreemen ...
of the Canadian constitution in
Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
by
Proclamation A proclamation (Lat. ''proclamare'', to make public by announcement) is an official declaration issued by a person of authority to make certain announcements known. Proclamations are currently used within the governing framework of some nations ...
of
Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
, Queen of Canada. * 1986 – An alleged state of war lasting 335 years between the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
and the
Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly ( ; ) are a small archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, St Agnes, is over farther south than the most southerly point of the Great Britain, British mainla ...
declared peace bringing an end to any hypothetical war that may have been legally considered to exist. *
1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...
– The '' Katina P'' is deliberately run aground off
Maputo Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...
,
Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...
, and 60,000 tons of crude oil spill into the ocean. *
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' is launched on STS-90, the final
Spacelab Spacelab was a reusable laboratory developed by European Space Agency (ESA) and used on certain spaceflights flown by the Space Shuttle. The laboratory comprised multiple components, including a pressurized module, an unpressurized carrier, ...
mission. *
2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...
Anneli Jäätteenmäki takes office as the first female
prime minister of Finland The prime minister of Finland (; ) is the leader of the Finnish Government. The prime minister and his or her cabinet exercise executive authority in the state. The prime minister is formally ranked third in the protocol after the president ...
. *
2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...
– A Palestinian suicide bomber detonates an explosive device in a Tel Aviv restaurant, killing 11 people and injuring 70. *
2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
An explosion at a fertilizer plant in the city of West, Texas, kills 15 people and injures 160 others. *
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
's
Kepler space telescope The Kepler space telescope is a defunct space telescope launched by NASA in 2009 to discover Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars. Named after astronomer Johannes Kepler, the spacecraft was launched into an Earth-trailing heliocentric orb ...
confirms the discovery of the first Earth-size planet in the
habitable zone In astronomy and astrobiology, the habitable zone (HZ), or more precisely the circumstellar habitable zone (CHZ), is the range of orbits around a star within which a planetary surface can support liquid water given sufficient atmospheric pressu ...
of another star. *
2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
– The funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, takes place at
St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle St George's Chapel, formally titled The King's Free Chapel of the College of St George, Windsor Castle, at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is a Royal peculiar, Royal Peculia ...
.


Births


Pre-1600

*
1277 Year 1277 ( MCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * March 19 – Byzantine–Venetian Treaty: Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos concludes an agreement with the Re ...
Michael IX Palaiologos Michael IX Palaiologos or Palaeologus (; 17 April 1277 – 12 October 1320) was Byzantine emperor together with his father, Andronikos II Palaiologos, from 1294 until his death. Andronikos II and Michael IX ruled as equal co-rulers, both using the ...
, Byzantine emperor (died 1320) * 1455Andrea Gritti, Doge of Venice (died 1538) * 1497
Pedro de Valdivia Pedro Gutiérrez de Valdivia or Valdiva (; April 17, 1497 – December 25, 1553) was a Spanish ''conquistador'' and the first royal governor of Chile. After having served with the Spanish army in Italy and Flanders, he was sent to South America in ...
, Spanish conquistador, conquered northern Chile (died 1553) *
1573 Year 1573 (Roman numerals, MDLXXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events January–March * January 25 (22nd day of 12th month of Genki (era), Genki 3 – At the Battle of Mikatagahara in Japan, ...
Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria Maximilian I (17 April 157327 September 1651), occasionally called the Great, a member of the House of Wittelsbach, ruled as Duke of Bavaria from 1597. His reign was marked by the Thirty Years' War during which he obtained the title of a prince- ...
(died 1651) *
1586 Events January – March * January 3 – Augustus of Wettin, the Elector of Saxony, marries Agnes Hedwig of Anhalt, the 12-year-old daughter of Joachim Ernest, Prince of Anhalt. Augustus dies less than six weeks later. * January ...
John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), better known as John Ford, was an American film director and producer. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and w ...
, English poet and playwright (died 1639) * 1598
Giovanni Battista Riccioli Giovanni Battista Riccioli (17 April 1598 – 25 June 1671) was an Italian astronomer and a Catholic priest in the Jesuit order. He is known, among other things, for his experiments with pendulums and with falling bodies, for his discussion of ...
, Italian priest and astronomer (died 1671)


1601–1900

* 1620Marguerite Bourgeoys, French-Canadian nun and saint, founded the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal (died 1700) * 1635
Edward Stillingfleet Edward Stillingfleet (17 April 1635 – 27 March 1699) was an English Christian theologian and scholar. Considered an outstanding preacher as well as a strong polemical writer defending Anglicanism, Stillingfleet was known as "the beauty of ho ...
, British theologian and scholar (died 1699) * 1683Johann David Heinichen, German composer and theorist (died 1729) * 1710Henry Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan, Scottish politician (died 1767) * 1734Taksin, King of Thailand (died 1782) *
1741 Events January–March * January 13 ** Lanesborough, Massachusetts is created as a township. ** Conventicle Act of 1741 is introduced in Denmark-Norway. *February 13 – Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister of Great Britain ...
Samuel Chase Samuel Chase (April 17, 1741 – June 19, 1811) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father of the United States, signer of the Continental Association and United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Maryla ...
, American lawyer and jurist (died 1811) * 1750François de Neufchâteau, French academic and politician, French Minister of the Interior (died 1828) *
1756 Events January–March * January 16 – The Anglo-Prussian alliance (1756)#Treaty, Treaty of Westminster is signed between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Prussia, guaranteeing the neutrality of the Electorate of Hanover, c ...
Dheeran Chinnamalai Dheeran Chinnamalai (17 April 1756 – 3 August 1805) was a chieftain who ruled the odanilai region of the present day western Tamil Nadu. He fought against the British East India Company, was later captured and hanged by the British. Early l ...
, Indian commander (died 1805) *
1766 Events January–March * January 1 – Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie") becomes the new House of Stuart, Stuart claimant to the throne of Great Britain, as King Charles III, and figurehead for Jacobitism. * Januar ...
Collin McKinney, American surveyor, merchant, and politician (died 1861) *
1794 Events January–March * January 1 – The Stibo Group is founded by Niels Lund as a printing company in Aarhus (Denmark). * January 13 – The U.S. Congress enacts a law providing for, effective May 1, 1795, a United St ...
Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius Carl Friedrich Philipp (Karl Friedrich Philipp) von Martius (17 April 1794 – 13 December 1868) was a German botany, botanist and explorer. Between 1817 and 1820, he travelled 10,000 km through Brazil while collecting botanical specimens. His m ...
, German botanist and explorer (died 1868) * 1798Étienne Bobillier, French mathematician and academic (died 1840) *
1799 Events January–March * January 9 – British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound, to raise funds for Great Britain's war effort in the French Revolutionary Wars. * January ...
Eliza Acton, English food writer and poet (died 1859) *
1814 Events January * January 1 – War of the Sixth Coalition – The Royal Prussian Army led by Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher crosses the Rhine. * January 3 ** War of the Sixth Coalition – Siege of Cattaro: French gar ...
Josif Pančić, Serbian botanist and academic (died 1888) * 1816Thomas Hazlehurst, English architect and philanthropist (died 1876) *
1820 Events January–March *January 1 – A constitutionalist military insurrection at Cádiz leads to the summoning of the Spanish Parliament to meet on March 7, becoming the nominal beginning of the "Trienio Liberal" in History of Spain (1 ...
Alexander Cartwright, American firefighter and (disputed) inventor of
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
(died 1892) *
1833 Events January–March * January 3 – The United Kingdom reasserts British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. * February 6 (January 25 on the Greek calendar) – Prince Otto Friedrich Ludwig of Bavaria arr ...
Jean-Baptiste Accolay, Belgian violinist, composer, and conductor (died 1900) * 1837
J. P. Morgan John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. As the head of the banking firm that ...
, American banker and financier, founded J.P. Morgan & Co. (died 1913) * 1842Maurice Rouvier, French businessman and politician, 53rd
Prime Minister of France The prime minister of France (), officially the prime minister of the French Republic (''Premier ministre de la République française''), is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of its Council of Ministers. The prime ...
(died 1911) *
1849 Events January–March * January 1 – France begins issue of the Ceres series (France), Ceres series, the nation's first postage stamps. * January 5 – Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Austrian army, led by Alfred I, Prince of Windisc ...
William R. Day, American jurist and politician, 36th
United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state (SecState) is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The secretary of state serves as the principal advisor to the ...
(died 1923) * 1852
Cap Anson Adrian Constantine Anson (April 17, 1852 – April 14, 1922), nicknamed "Cap" (for "Captain"), "Pop", and "Baby" (early in his career) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman. Including his time in the National Association ...
, American baseball player and manager (died 1922) *
1863 Events January * January 1 – Abraham Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation during the third year of the American Civil War, making the abolition of slavery in the Confederate States of America an official war goal. The signing ...
Augustus Edward Hough Love, English mathematician and theorist (died 1940) * 1865Ursula Ledóchowska, Polish-Austrian nun and saint, founded the Congregation of the Ursulines of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus (died 1939) *
1866 Events January * January 1 ** Fisk University, a historically black university, is established in Nashville, Tennessee. ** The last issue of the abolitionist magazine '' The Liberator'' is published. * January 6 – Ottoman troops clash ...
Ernest Starling, English physiologist and academic (died 1927) * 1875Aleksander Tõnisson, Estonian general and politician, 5th
Estonian Minister of War The Minister of Defence () is the senior government minister, minister at the Ministry of Defence (Estonia), Ministry of Defence () in the Council of Ministers of Estonia, Estonian Government. The minister is one of the most important members o ...
(died 1941) *
1877 Events January * January 1 – Queen Victoria is proclaimed Empress of India by the Royal Titles Act 1876, introduced by Benjamin Disraeli, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom . * January 8 – Great Sioux War of 1876: Batt ...
Matsudaira Tsuneo, Japanese diplomat (died 1949) *
1878 Events January * January 5 – Russo-Turkish War: Battle of Shipka Pass IV – Russian and Bulgarian forces defeat the Ottoman Empire. * January 9 – Umberto I becomes King of Italy. * January 17 – Russo-Turkish War: ...
Emil Fuchs, German-American lawyer and businessman (died 1961) * 1878 – Demetrios Petrokokkinos, Greek tennis player (died 1942) * 1879Henri Tauzin, French hurdler (died 1918) * 1882
Artur Schnabel Artur Schnabel (17 April 1882 – 15 August 1951) was an Austrian-born classical pianist, composer and Pedagogy, pedagogue. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura. Among the 20th ...
, Polish pianist and composer (died 1951) * 1888Herms Niel, German soldier, trombonist, and composer (died 1954) * 1891
George Adamski George Adamski (17 April 1891 – 23 April 1965) was a Polish people, Polish-Americans, American author who became widely known in ufology circles, and to some degree in popular culture, after he displayed numerous photographs in the 1940s and ...
, Polish-American ufologist and author (died 1965) * 1895Robert Dean Frisbie, American soldier and author (died 1948) * 1896Señor Wences, Spanish-American ventriloquist (died 1999) *
1897 Events January * January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City. * January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a punitive expedit ...
Nisargadatta Maharaj, Indian philosopher and educator (died 1981) * 1897 – Thornton Wilder, American novelist and playwright (died 1975) * 1897 – Edouard Wyss-Dunant, Swiss physician and mountaineer (died 1983) *
1899 Events January * January 1 ** Spanish rule formally ends in Cuba with the cession of Spanish sovereignty to the U.S., concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas.''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (February 1899), p ...
Aleksander Klumberg, Estonian decathlete and coach (died 1958)


1901–present

* 1903Nicolas Nabokov, Russian-American composer and educator (died 1978) * 1903 – Gregor Piatigorsky, Ukrainian-American cellist and educator (died 1976) * 1903 – Morgan Taylor, American hurdler and coach (died 1975) * 1905Louis Jean Heydt, American journalist and actor (died 1960) * 1905 – Arthur Lake, American actor (died 1987) *
1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...
Sidney Garfield, American physician, co-founded
Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente (; KP) is an American integrated delivery system, integrated managed care consortium headquartered in Oakland, California. Founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield, Sidney R. Garfield, the ...
(died 1984) * 1909Alain Poher, French politician,
President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the po ...
(died 1996) * 1910Evangelos Averoff, Greek historian and politician, Greek Minister of Defence (died 1990) * 1910 – Ivan Goff, Australian screenwriter and producer (died 1999) * 1910 –
Helenio Herrera Helenio Herrera Gavilán (; 10 April 1910 – 9 November 1997) was an Argentina, Argentine and naturalised France, French association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. He is best remembered for his success ...
, French footballer and manager (died 1997) *
1911 Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * January 3 ** 1911 Kebin earthquake: An earthquake of 7.7 m ...
Hervé Bazin Hervé Bazin (; 17 April 191117 February 1996) was a French writer, whose best-known novels covered semi-autobiographical topics of teenage rebellion and dysfunctional families. Biography Bazin, born Jean-Pierre Hervé-Bazin in Angers, Maine ...
, French author and poet (died 1996) * 1911 – Lester Rodney, American soldier and journalist (died 2009) *
1912 This year is notable for Sinking of the Titanic, the sinking of the ''Titanic'', which occurred on April 15. In Albania, this leap year runs with only 353 days as the country achieved switching from the Julian to Gregorian Calendar by skippin ...
Marta Eggerth Marta Eggerth (17 April 1912 – 26 December 2013) was a Hungarian actress and singer from "The Silver Age of Operetta". Many of the 20th century's most famous operetta composers, including Franz Lehár, Fritz Kreisler, Robert Stolz, Oscar ...
, Hungarian-American actress and singer (died 2013) *
1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as the First World War, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip ...
George Davis, American art director (died 1984) * 1914 – Mac Raboy, American illustrator (died 1967) * 1915Martin Clemens, Scottish soldier (died 2009) * 1915 – Joe Foss, American general and politician, 20th Governor of South Dakota (died 2003) * 1915 – Regina Ghazaryan, Armenian painter (died 1999) * 1916Win Maung, 3rd President of Union of Myanmar (died 1989) * 1916 – A. Thiagarajah, Sri Lankan educator and politician (died 1981) * 1916 –
Sirimavo Bandaranaike Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike (; ; ; 17 April 1916 – 10 October 2000), commonly known as Sirimavo Bandaranaike, was a Sri Lankan politician. She was the List of elected and appointed female heads of state and government, world's first fe ...
, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, world's first female prime minister (died 2000) *
1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...
William Holden William Franklin Holden (né Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film '' Stalag 17'' (1953) and the Pri ...
, American actor (died 1981) * 1919Gilles Lamontagne, Canadian lieutenant and politician, 24th
Lieutenant Governor of Quebec The lieutenant governor of Quebec (; , ) is the representative in Quebec of the monarch, who Monarchy in Quebec, operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the Canadian federalism, ten other jurisdictions of Canada. T ...
(died 2016) * 1919 – Chavela Vargas, Costa Rican-Mexican singer-songwriter and actress (died 2012) * 1920Edmonde Charles-Roux, French journalist and author (died 2016) *
1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...
Lindsay Anderson, English actor, director, and screenwriter (died 1994) * 1923 – Solly Hemus, American baseball player, coach, and manager (died 2017) * 1923 – Neville McNamara, Australian air marshal (died 2014) * 1923 – Gianni Raimondi, Italian lyric tenor (died 2008) * 1923 –
Harry Reasoner Harry Reasoner (April 17, 1923 – August 6, 1991) was an American journalist for CBS and American Broadcasting Company, ABC ABC News (United States), News, known for his adroit use of language as a television commentator and as one of the origin ...
, American soldier and journalist (died 1991) * 1924Kenneth Norman Jones, Australian public servant (died 2022) * 1924 – Donald Richie, American-Japanese author and critic (died 2013) *
1925 Events January * January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...
René Moawad, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 13th President of Lebanon (died 1989) *
1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...
Joan Lorring, British actress (died 2014) * 1926 – Gerry McNeil, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (died 2004) *
1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the BBC, British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith, 1st Baron Reith, John Reith becomes the first ...
Margot Honecker, East German politician and First Lady (died 2016) *
1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...
Victor Lownes, American businessman (died 2017) * 1928 – Cynthia Ozick, American short story writer, novelist, and essayist * 1928 – Heinz Putzl, Austrian fencer * 1928 – Fabien Roy, Canadian accountant and politician (died 2023) * 1929James Last, German-American bassist, composer, and bandleader (died 2015) * 1930
Chris Barber Donald Christopher Barber (17 April 1930 – 2 March 2021) was an English jazz musician, best known as a bandleader and Trombone, trombonist. He helped many musicians with their careers and had a UK top twenty trad jazz hit with "Petite Fleur ...
, English trombonist and bandleader (died 2021) * 1931John Barrett, English tennis player and sportscaster * 1931 – Malcolm Browne, American journalist and photographer (died 2012) *
1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...
Don Kirshner Donald Kirshner (April 17, 1934 – January 17, 2011) was an American music publisher, music consultant, rock music producer, talent manager, and songwriter. Dubbed "the Man with the Golden Ear" by ''Time'', he was best known for managin ...
, American songwriter and producer (died 2011) * 1934 – Peter Morris, Australian-English surgeon and academic (died 2022) *
1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...
Bud Paxson, American broadcaster, founded
Home Shopping Network HSN, Inc. an initialism of its former name Home Shopping Network, is an American free-to-air television network owned by the QVC Group (formerly Qurate Retail Group), which also owns Catalog merchant, catalog company Cornerstone Brands. It is ...
and
Pax TV Ion Television (referred to on-air as simply Ion) is an American terrestrial television, broadcast television network and Free ad-supported streaming television, FAST television channel owned by the Scripps Networks subsidiary of the E. W. Scri ...
(died 2015) *
1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...
Urs Wild, Swiss chemist (died 2022) * 1937
Ronald Hamowy Ronald Hamowy (; April 17, 1937 – September 8, 2012) was a Canadian academic, known primarily for his contributions to political and social academic fields. At the time of his death, he was professor emeritus of intellectual history at the Uni ...
, Canadian historian and academic (died 2012) * 1937 – Ferdinand Piëch, Austrian-German engineer and businessman (died 2019) *
1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...
Ben Barnes, American businessman and politician, 36th Lieutenant Governor of Texas * 1938 – Doug Lewis, Canadian lawyer and politician, 41st Canadian Minister of Justice * 1938 – Ronald H. Miller, American theologian, author, and academic (died 2011) * 1938 –
Kerry Wendell Thornley Kerry Wendell Thornley (April 17, 1938 – November 28, 1998) was an American author. He is known as the co-founder (along with childhood friend Greg Hill) of Discordianism, in which context he is usually known as Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst or si ...
, American theorist and author (died 1988) *
1939 This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...
Robert Miller, American art dealer (died 2011) *
1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, events related to World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *Janu ...
Eric Dancer, English businessman and politician,
Lord Lieutenant of Devon The Office of the Lord Lieutenant was created during the reign of Henry VIII (1509–1547), taking over the military duties of the Sheriffs and control of the military forces of the Crown. From 1569 there was provision for the appointment of Dep ...
* 1940 – Billy Fury, English singer-songwriter (died 1983) * 1940 – John McCririck, English journalist (died 2019) * 1940 – Chuck Menville, American animator and screenwriter (died 1992) * 1940 – Anja Silja, German soprano and actress * 1940 – Agostino Vallini, Italian cardinal and vicar general of Rome * 1941Lagle Parek, Estonian architect and politician, Estonian Minister of the Interior *
1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...
Buster Williams Charles Anthony "Buster" Williams (born April 17, 1942) is an American jazz bassist. Williams is known for his membership in pianist Herbie Hancock's early 1970s group, as well as working with guitarist Larry Coryell, the Thelonious Monk reperto ...
, American jazz bassist * 1942 – Dnyaneshwar Agashe, Indian businessman and cricketer (died 2009) *
1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 ...
Richard Allen Epstein, American lawyer, author, and academic *
1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...
Clare Francis, English sailor and author *
1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...
Nigel Emslie, Lord Emslie, Scottish lawyer and judge * 1947 – Richard Field, English lawyer and judge * 1947 – Sherrie Levine, American photographer * 1947 – Tsutomu Wakamatsu, Japanese baseball player, coach, and manager *
1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...
Jan Hammer Jan Hammer () (born 17 April 1948) is a Czech-American musician, composer, and record producer. He rose to prominence while playing keyboards with the Mahavishnu Orchestra during the early 1970s, as well as with his film scores for television an ...
, Czech pianist, composer, and producer * 1948 – Alice Harden, American educator and politician (died 2012) * 1948 – Pekka Vasala, Finnish runner *
1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...
Olivia Hussey, Argentinian-English actress (died 2024) * 1951 – Börje Salming, Swedish ice hockey player and businessman (died 2022) *
1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...
Joe Alaskey, American voice actor (died 2016) * 1952 – Pierre Guité, Canadian ice hockey player * 1952 – John McColl, English general and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Jersey * 1952 – Željko Ražnatović, Serbian commander "Arkan" (died 2000) * 1952 – John Robertson, Scottish businessman and politician *
1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...
Riccardo Patrese, Italian race car driver * 1954 –
Roddy Piper Roderick George Toombs (April 17, 1954 – July 31, 2015), better known as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, was a Canadian professional wrestler and actor. In professional wrestling, Piper was best known to international audiences for his work with the Wo ...
, Canadian professional wrestler and actor (died 2015) * 1954 – Michael Sembello, American singer-songwriter and guitarist * 1955Todd Lickliter, American basketball player and coach * 1955 – Pete Shelley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2018) * 1955 – Mike Stroud, English physician and explorer *
1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...
Colin Tyre, Lord Tyre, Scottish lawyer and judge *
1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...
Teri Austin, Canadian actress * 1957 – Afrika Bambaataa, American disc jockey * 1957 – Dwane Casey, American basketball coach * 1957 – Nick Hornby, English novelist, essayist, lyricist, and screenwriter * 1957 – Julia Macur, English lawyer and judge * 1957 – Frank McDonough, British historian * 1958Laslo Babits, Canadian javelin thrower (died 2013) *
1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...
Sean Bean Sean Bean (born Shaun Mark Bean; 17 April 1959) is an English actor. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he made his professional debut in a production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in 1983 at The Watermill Theatre. Retaining his ...
, English actor * 1959 – Jimmy Mann, Canadian ice hockey player * 1959 – Li Meisu, Chinese shot putter * 1960Vladimir Polyakov, Russian pole vaulter * 1961 – Norman Cowans, Jamaican-English cricketer * 1961 – Boomer Esiason, American football player and sportscaster * 1961 – Bella Freud, English fashion designer *
1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...
Paul Nicholls, English jockey and trainer * 1964Ken Daneyko, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster * 1964 –
Maynard James Keenan Maynard James Keenan (born James Herbert Keenan; April 17, 1964) is an American singer, songwriter, philanthropist, record producer, and winemaker. He is best known as the singer and primary lyricist of the rock bands Tool (band), Tool, A Perfe ...
, American singer-songwriter and producer * 1964 – Rachel Notley, Canadian politician * 1964 –
Lela Rochon Lela Rochon Fuqua (born Lela Rochon Staples; April 17, 1964) is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as Robin Stokes in the 1995 romantic drama film ''Waiting to Exhale''. Rochon also had roles in the films ''Harlem Nights' ...
, American actress *
1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...
Vikram, Indian actor and singer *
1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...
Henry Ian Cusick, Peruvian-Scottish actor * 1967 – Kimberly Elise, American actress * 1967 –
Marquis Grissom Marquis Deon Grissom (born April 17, 1967) is an American former professional baseball center fielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Montreal Expos, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and ...
, American baseball player and coach * 1967 – Ian Jones, New Zealand rugby player * 1967 –
Barnaby Joyce Barnaby Thomas Gerard Joyce (born 17 April 1967) is an Australian politician who was the leader of the National Party of Australia from 2016 to 2018 and again from 2021 to 2022. Joyce was the 17th deputy prime minister of Australia during both ...
, Australian politician, 17th
Deputy Prime Minister of Australia The deputy prime minister of Australia is the deputy Chief executive officer, chief executive and the Deputy prime minister, second highest ranking officer of the Australian Government. The office of deputy prime minister was officially creat ...
* 1967 –
Liz Phair Elizabeth Clark Phair (born April 17, 1967) is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Phair was raised primarily in the Chicago area. After graduating from Oberlin College in 1990, she attempted to sta ...
, American singer-songwriter and guitarist *
1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...
Julie Fagerholt, Danish fashion designer * 1968 – Phil Henderson, American basketball player and coach (died 2013) * 1968 – Eric Lamaze, Canadian jockey * 1968 – Roger Twose, New Zealand cricketer * 1968 – Richie Woodhall, English boxer and trainer *
1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...
Redman, American rapper, producer, and actor *
1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...
Claire Sweeney, English actress *
1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...
Gary Bennett, American baseball player * 1972 – Tony Boselli, American football player and sportscaster * 1972 – Jennifer Garner, American actress * 1972 –
Muttiah Muralitharan Deshabandu Muttiah Muralitharan (born 1972) is a Sri Lankan cricket coach, businessman and former professional cricketer. Averaging over six wickets per Test match, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the ...
, Sri Lankan cricketer * 1972 – Yuichi Nishimura, Japanese footballer and referee * 1972 – Terran Sandwith, Canadian ice hockey player *
1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...
Katrin Koov, Estonian architect * 1973 – Brett Maher, Australian basketball player and sportscaster * 1973 – Theo Ratliff, American basketball player * 1974Mikael Åkerfeldt, Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer * 1974 –
Victoria Beckham Victoria Caroline, Lady Beckham (; born 17 April 1974) is an English fashion designer, singer, and television personality. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed Posh Spic ...
, English singer and fashion designer *
1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
Heidi Alexander, English politician * 1975 – Travis Roy, American ice hockey player (died 2020) *
1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...
Maurice Wignall, Jamaican hurdler and long jumper *
1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...
Chad Hedrick, American speed skater * 1977 – Frederik Magle, Danish composer, organist, and pianist *
1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...
Monika Bergmann-Schmuderer, German skier * 1978 – Lindsay Hartley, American actress * 1978 – Jason White, Scottish rugby player *
1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
Eric Brewer, Canadian ice hockey player * 1979 – Marija Šestak, Serbian-Slovenian triple jumper *
1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...
Fabián Vargas, Colombian footballer * 1980 – Curtis Woodhouse, English footballer, boxer, and manager *
1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...
Jenny Meadows, English runner * 1981 – Hanna Pakarinen, Finnish singer-songwriter * 1981 – Ryan Raburn, American baseball player * 1981 – Chris Thompson, English runner * 1981 – Zhang Yaokun, Chinese footballer * 1982Brad Boyes, Canadian ice hockey player * 1982 – Chuck Kobasew, Canadian ice hockey player * 1982 – Tyron Woodley, American mixed martial artist *
1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...
Stanislav Chistov, Russian ice hockey player * 1983 – Roberto Jiménez, Peruvian footballer * 1983 – Andrea Marcato, Italian rugby player *
1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...
Pablo Sebastián Álvarez, Argentinian footballer * 1984 – Jed Lowrie, American baseball player * 1984 – Raffaele Palladino, Italian footballer *
1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...
Rooney Mara, American actress * 1985 – Luke Mitchell, Australian actor and model * 1985 –
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (; born 17 April 1985) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 5 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2012. Tsonga won 18 singles titles on th ...
, French tennis player * 1986Romain Grosjean, French race car driver * 1988Takahiro Moriuchi, Japanese singer-songwriter *
1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...
Paraskevi Papachristou Paraskevi "Voula" Papachristou ( ; born 17 April 1989) is a former Greek triple jumper and long jumper. She won two gold medals at the European Athletics U23 Championships and took the third place at the 2016 World indoor Championships. She wa ...
, Greek triple jumper * 1989 – Avi Kaplan, singer and songwriter * 1990Jonathan Brown, Welsh footballer *
1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...
Lachlan Maranta, Australian rugby league footballer *1992 – Jo Jinho, South Korean singer *
1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
Alanna Goldie, Canadian fencer *1994 – Yang Hongseok, South Korean singer and actor *
1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...
Jung Wheein, South Korean singer *
1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
Lorna Fitzgerald, British actress * 1996 – Caitlin Parker, Australian boxer * 1996 – Helene Spilling, Norwegian dancer *
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
Suppapong Udomkaewkanjana (Saint), Thai actor and singer *
2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
Shin Ryujin, South Korean rapper, singer and dancer *
2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
Antonio Nusa, Norwegian footballer


Deaths


Pre-1600

* 485
Proclus Proclus Lycius (; 8 February 412 – 17 April 485), called Proclus the Successor (, ''Próklos ho Diádokhos''), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophers of late antiquity. He set forth one of th ...
, Greek mathematician and philosopher (born 412) * 617Donnán of Eigg, Irish priest and saint * 648Xiao, empress of the
Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty ( ) was a short-lived Dynasties of China, Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 581 to 618. The re-unification of China proper under the Sui brought the Northern and Southern dynasties era to a close, ending a prolonged peri ...
* 744Al-Walid II,
Umayyad The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a membe ...
caliph (born 706) *
818 __NOTOC__ Year 818 ( DCCCXVIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Vikings known as Rus' (Norsemen) plunder the north coast of Anatolia (modern Turkey), marking the first re ...
Bernard of Italy Bernard (797 – 17 April 818) was the King of Italy, from 810 to 817, within the Carolingian Empire. He was an illegitimate son and successor of King Pepin of Italy. He plotted against his uncle, Emperor Louis the Pious, when the latter's ''Ord ...
, Frankish king (born 797) * 858Benedict III, pope of the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
* 1071Manuel Komnenos, Byzantine military commander (born c. 1045) * 1080Harald III of Denmark (born 1041) * 1111Robert of Molesme, Christian saint and abbot (born 1027) * 1298Árni Þorláksson, Icelandic bishop (born 1237) * 1321Infanta Branca of Portugal, daughter of King
Afonso III of Portugal Afonso IIIrare English alternatives: ''Alphonzo'' or ''Alphonse'', or ''Affonso'' (Archaic Portuguese), ''Alfonso'' or ''Alphonso'' (Portuguese-Galician languages, Portuguese-Galician) or ''Alphonsus'' (Latin). (; 5 May 121016 February 1279), ca ...
(born 1259) * 1331Robert de Vere, 6th Earl of Oxford, English nobleman (born 1257) *
1344 Year 1344 (Roman numerals, MCCCXLIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events January–December * March 26 – ''Reconquista'': The Siege of Algeciras (1342–44), one of the first European military eng ...
Constantine II, King of Armenia Constantine II (), (also Constantine IV; Western Armenian transliteration: ''Gosdantin''; died 17 April 1344), born Guy de Lusignan, was elected the first Latin Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, King of Armenian Cilicia of the Poitiers-Lusignan dyn ...
*
1355 Year 1355 (Roman numerals, MCCCLV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events * January 6 – Charles IV of Bohemia is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy as King of Italy in Milan. * January 7 – King ...
Marin Falier,
Doge of Venice The Doge of Venice ( ) – in Italian, was the doge or highest role of authority within the Republic of Venice (697–1797). The word derives from the Latin , meaning 'leader', and Venetian Italian dialect for 'duke', highest official of the ...
(born 1285) * 1427John IV, Duke of Brabant (born 1403) *
1539 __NOTOC__ Year 1539 ( MDXXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. Events January–March * January 4 – Giannandrea Giustiniani Longo is elected two a two year term as Doge of the Republic of Genoa ...
George, Duke of Saxony (born 1471) * 1574Joachim Camerarius, German scholar and translator (born 1500)


1601–1900

* 1669Antonio Bertali, Italian violinist and composer (born 1605) * 1680Kateri Tekakwitha, Mohawk-born Native American saint (born 1656) * 1695Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican poet and scholar (born 1651) * 1696Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, French author (born 1626) * 1711Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1678) *
1713 Events January–March * January 17 – Tuscarora War: Colonel James Moore leads the Carolina militia out of Albemarle County, North Carolina, in a second offensive against the Tuscarora. Heavy snows force the troops to take ...
David Hollatz, Polish pastor and theologian (born 1648) *
1764 Events January–June * January 7 – The Siculicidium is carried out as hundreds of the Székely minority in Transylvania are massacred by the Austrian Army at Madéfalva. * January 19 – John Wilkes is expelled from th ...
Johann Mattheson Johann Mattheson (28 September 1681 – 17 April 1764) was a German composer, critic, lexicographer and music theorist. His writings on the late Baroque and early Classical period were highly influential, specifically, "his biographical and the ...
, German lexicographer and composer (born 1681) * 1790
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...
, American inventor, publisher, and politician, 6th President of Pennsylvania (born 1706) *
1799 Events January–March * January 9 – British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound, to raise funds for Great Britain's war effort in the French Revolutionary Wars. * January ...
Richard Jupp, English surveyor and architect (born 1728) *
1840 Events January–March * January 3 – One of the predecessor papers of the ''Herald Sun'' of Melbourne, Australia, ''The Port Phillip Herald'', is founded. * January 10 – Uniform Penny Post is introduced in the United Kingdom. * Janu ...
Hannah Webster Foster, American journalist and author (born 1758) *
1843 Events January–March * January 3 – The '' Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms'' (海國圖志, ''Hǎiguó Túzhì'') compiled by Wei Yuan and others, the first significant Chinese work on the West, is published in China. * J ...
Samuel Morey, American engineer (born 1762) * 1882George Jennings, English engineer and plumber, invented the flush toilet (born 1810) * 1888E. G. Squier, American archaeologist and journalist (born 1821) * 1892Alexander Mackenzie, Scottish-Canadian politician, 2nd
Prime Minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada () is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the Confidence and supply, confidence of a majority of the elected House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons ...
(born 1822)


1901–present

* 1919Svetozar Ćorović, Serbian novelist (born 1875)Svetozar Corovic (in Serbian)
Serbian Forum. Retrieved on 2 August 2014.
*
1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...
Manwel Dimech, Maltese journalist, author, and philosopher (born 1860) *
1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...
Laurence Ginnell Laurence Ginnell (baptised 9 April 1852 – 17 April 1923) was an Irish nationalist politician, lawyer and Member of Parliament (MP) of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as member of the Irish Parliamentary ...
, Irish lawyer and politician (born 1852) * 1930Alexander Golovin, Russian painter and stage designer (born 1863) *
1933 Events January * January 11 – Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independen ...
Kote Marjanishvili, Georgian director and playwright (born 1872) *
1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...
Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck, Dutch lawyer and politician, 28th Prime Minister of the Netherlands (born 1873) *
1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...
Jean Baptiste Perrin, French-American physicist and chemist,
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
laureate (born 1870) *
1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...
J. T. Hearne, English cricketer and coach (born 1867) * 1944 – Dimitrios Psarros, Greek lieutenant, founded the National and Social Liberation (born 1893) *
1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...
Juan Bautista Sacasa, Nicaraguan medical doctor, politician and 20th
President of Nicaragua The co-presidents of Nicaragua (), officially known as the presidency of the Republic of Nicaragua (), are the heads of state and head of government, government of Nicaragua. The office was created in the Constitution of 1854. From 1825 until ...
(born 1874) *
1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...
Kantarō Suzuki, Japanese admiral and politician, 42nd
Prime Minister of Japan The is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its ministers of state. The prime minister also serves as the commander-in-chief of the Japan Self-Defense Force ...
(born 1868) *
1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...
Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, Romanian lawyer and politician, Romanian Minister of Justice (born 1900) * 1960Eddie Cochran, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1938) * 1961Elda Anderson, American physicist and health researcher (born 1899) *
1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...
Red Allen, American singer and trumpet player (born 1908) *
1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian philosopher and politician, 2nd
President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...
(born 1888) *
1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...
Henrik Dam Carl Peter Henrik Dam (21 February 1895 – 17 April 1976) was a Danish biochemist and physiologist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1943 for joint work with Edward Doisy in discovering vitamin K and its role in human physiolo ...
, Danish biochemist and physiologist,
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
laureate (born 1895) *
1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...
William Conway, Irish cardinal (born 1913) *
1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...
Felix Pappalardi, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (born 1939) *
1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...
Claude Provost, Canadian-American ice hockey player (born 1933) * 1986Marcel Dassault, French businessman, founded Dassault Aviation (born 1892) *
1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...
Cecil Harmsworth King, English publisher (born 1901) * 1987 – Dick Shawn, American actor (born 1923) * 1988Louise Nevelson, Ukrainian-American sculptor and educator (born 1900) * 1990Ralph Abernathy, American minister and activist (born 1936) *
1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...
Turgut Özal, Turkish engineer and politician, 8th
president of Turkey The president of Turkey, officially the president of the Republic of Türkiye (), is the head of state and head of government of Turkey. The president directs the executive branch of the national government and is the commander-in-chief of the ...
(born 1927) * 1993 – Gamal Hamdan, Egyptian scholar and geographer (born 1928) *
1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
Roger Wolcott Sperry, American psychologist and biologist,
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
laureate (born 1913) *
1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...
Frank E. Resnik, American sergeant and businessman (born 1928) *
1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
Piet Hein, Danish poet and mathematician (born 1905) *
1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...
Chaim Herzog, Israeli general, lawyer, and politician, 6th
President of Israel The president of the State of Israel (, or ) is the head of state of Israel. The president is mostly, though not entirely, ceremonial; actual executive power is vested in the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet led by the Prime Minister of Israel, pr ...
(born 1918) *
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
Linda McCartney Linda Louise, Lady McCartney ( Eastman; September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998) was an American photographer, musician, cookbook author, and activist. She was the keyboardist and harmony vocalist in the band Paul McCartney and Wings, Wings tha ...
, American photographer, activist, and musician (born 1941) *
2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...
Robert Atkins, American physician and cardiologist, created the
Atkins diet The Atkins diet is a low-carbohydrate fad diet devised by Robert Atkins in the 1970s, marketed with claims that carbohydrate restriction is crucial to weight loss and that the diet offered "a high calorie way to stay thin forever". The diet be ...
(born 1930) * 2003 – H. B. Bailey, American race car driver (born 1936) * 2003 – John Paul Getty Jr., American-English philanthropist (born 1932) * 2003 – Earl King, American blues singer, guitarist and songwriter (born 1934) * 2003 –
Yiannis Latsis Ioannis "Yiannis" Latsis (; 14 September 1910 – 17 April 2003), also known as John Spyridon Latsis, was a Greek shipping multi-billionaire business magnate notable for his great wealth, influential friends, and charitable activities. The year ...
, Greek businessman (born 1910) *
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
Edmond Pidoux, Swiss author and poet (born 1908) *
2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...
Jean Bernard, French physician and haematologist (born 1907) * 2006 – Scott Brazil, American director and producer (born 1955) * 2006 – Henderson Forsythe, American actor (born 1917) *
2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
Kitty Carlisle, American actress, singer, socialite and game show panelist (born 1910) *
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
Aimé Césaire Aimé Fernand David Césaire (; ; 26 June 1913 – 17 April 2008) was a French poet, author, and politician from Martinique. He was "one of the founders of the Négritude movement in Francophone literature" and coined the word in French. He ...
, Caribbean-French poet and politician (born 1913) * 2008 – Danny Federici, American organist and accordion player (born 1950) *
2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
Eric Gross, Austrian-Australian pianist and composer (born 1926) * 2011 – Michael Sarrazin, Canadian actor (born 1940) * 2011 – Robert Vickrey, American artist and author (born 1926) *
2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
Leila Berg, English journalist and author (born 1917) * 2012 – J. Quinn Brisben, American educator and politician (born 1934) * 2012 – Dimitris Mitropanos, Greek singer (born 1948) * 2012 – Nityananda Mohapatra, Indian journalist, poet, and politician (born 1912) * 2012 –
Jonathan V. Plaut Jonathan V. Plaut (October 7, 1942 – April 17, 2012) was an American Reform Judaism, Reform rabbi and author. Plaut was the rabbi of Temple Beth Israel (Jackson, Michigan), Temple Beth Israel in Jackson, MI. Biography He was born in Chic ...
, American rabbi and author (born 1942) * 2012 – Stanley Rogers Resor, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 9th
United States Secretary of the Army The secretary of the Army (SA or SECARMY) is a senior civilian official within the United States Department of Defense, with statutory responsibility for all matters relating to the United States Army: manpower, personnel, reserve affairs, insta ...
(born 1917) *
2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
Carlos Graça, São Toméan politician, Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe (born 1931) * 2013 – Bi Kidude,
Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
n Taarab singer (born ≈1910) * 2013 – Yngve Moe, Norwegian bass player and songwriter (born 1957) * 2013 – V. S. Ramadevi, Indian politician, 13th Governor of Karnataka (born 1934) *
2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian journalist and author,
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
laureate (born 1927) * 2014 – Bernat Klein, Serbian-Scottish fashion designer and painter (born 1922) * 2014 – Wojciech Leśnikowski, Polish–American architect and academic (born 1938) * 2014 – Karpal Singh, Malaysian lawyer and politician (born 1940) *
2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...
Robert P. Griffin, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (born 1923) * 2015 – Scotty Probasco, American businessman and philanthropist (born 1928) * 2015 – Jeremiah J. Rodell, American general (born 1921) * 2015 – A. Alfred Taubman, American businessman and philanthropist (born 1924) *
2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
Chyna, American wrestler (born 1969) * 2016 – Doris Roberts, American actress (born 1925) *
2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
Barbara Bush, American political matriarch and literacy advocate,
First Lady of the United States First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is a title typically held by the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never been Code of law, codified or offici ...
(1989–1993), and Second Lady of the United States (1981–1989) (born 1925) * 2018 – Carl Kasell, American radio personality (born 1934) *
2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...
Alan García, Peruvian lawyer and politician, 61st and 64th
President of Peru The president of Peru (), officially the constitutional president of the Republic of Peru (), is the head of state and head of government of Peru. The president is the head of the executive branch and is the supreme head of the Peruvian Armed ...
(born 1949) *
2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
Radu Lupu Radu Lupu (30 November 1945 – 17 April 2022) was a Romanian pianist. He was widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of his time. Born in Galați, Romania, Lupu began studying piano at the age of six. Two of his major piano teache ...
, Romanian pianist (born 1945)


Holidays and observances

*Christian
feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...
: ** Donnán of Eigg ** Henry Heath ** Kateri Tekakwitha (
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
) ** Robert of Molesme ** Shemon bar Sabbae ** April 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) * Evacuation Day (Syria), celebrates the recognition of the independence of Syria from France in 1946. * FAO Day (
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
) * Flag Day (American Samoa) * Malbec World Day * Women's Day (
Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...
) * World Hemophilia Day


References


External links


BBC: On This Day
*
Historical Events on April 17
{{months Days of April