What Happened on April 17th in History
30 historical events on this date
The Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan is signed. This marks the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, and the defeated Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtian province, Taiwan and the Penghu to Japan.
The Treaty of Shimonoseki , also known as the Treaty of Maguan in China or the Treaty of Bakan in Japan, was signed in Shimonoseki, Japan, on April 17, 1895, between the Empire of Japan and the...
The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York, which holds that the "right to free contract" is implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
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 U.S. federal court cases, and over...
The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day.
Ellis Island is an island in New York Harbor, within the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York. Owned by the U.S. government, Ellis Island was once the busiest immigrant inspection and processing...
Russian troops open fire on striking goldfield workers in northeast Siberia, killing at least 150.
The Russian Empire was the final period of the Russian monarchy, spanning most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September...
The Communist Party of Korea (CPK) was founded in Japanese-ruled Korea (Chōsen) in Keijō (now Seoul) by Kim Yong-bom and Pak Hon-yong.
The Communist Party of Korea was a communist party in Korea founded during a secret meeting in Seoul in 1925. The Governor-General of Korea had banned communist and socialist parties under the Peace...
After negotiations between Catalan and Spanish provisional governments, the Catalan Republic proclaimed in April 14 becomes the Generalitat de Catalunya, the autonomous government of Catalonia within the Spanish Republic.
The Catalan Republic was a state proclaimed in 1931 by Francesc Macià as the "Catalan Republic within the Iberian Federation", in the context of the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic. It...
World War II: The Axis powers invasion of Yugoslavia is completed when it signs an armistice with Germany and Italy.
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major...
World War II: French prisoner of war General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Königstein Fortress.
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.
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.
The Greek People's Liberation Army was the military arm of the left-wing National Liberation Front (EAM) during the period of the Greek resistance until February 1945, when, following the...
World War II: Montese, Italy, is liberated from Nazi forces.
Montese is a town and comune (municipality) in the Province of Modena, Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy. It is located in the Modenese Apennines, south of Modena, in a mountain area overlooking the...
Historian Tran Trong Kim is appointed the Prime Minister of the Empire of Vietnam.
Trần Trọng Kim (Vietnamese: [t͡ɕən˨˩ t͡ɕawŋ͡m˧˨ʔ kim˧˧]; chữ Hán: 陳仲金, Kanji pronunciation: Chin Jūkin; Japanese: チャン・チョン・キム, romanized: Chan Chon Kimu; 1883 – December 2, 1953; courtesy name Lệ...
The last French troops are withdrawn from Syria.
Independence Day is Syria's National Day commemorating the evacuation of the last French soldier at the end of the French mandate of Syria on 17 April 1946 after Syria's proclamation of full...
The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park.
The Peak District is an upland area in central-northern England, at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West...
Bay of Pigs Invasion: 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.
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in April 1961 by the United States and the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front (DRF), consisting...
Jerrie 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.
Geraldine "Jerrie" Fredritz Mock was an American pilot and the first woman to fly solo around the world. She flew a single-engine Cessna 180 christened the Spirit of Columbus and nicknamed...
Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.
Sirhan Bishara Sirhan is a Palestinian-Jordanian man who assassinated U.S. senator Robert F. Kennedy, the younger brother of U.S. president John F. Kennedy and a candidate for the Democratic...
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia chairman Alexander Dubček is deposed.
The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Comintern. Between 1929 and...
Apollo program: The damaged Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.
The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo was conceived in 1960 in the...
The Provisional Government of Bangladesh is formed.
The Provisional Government of Bangladesh, popularly known as the Mujibnagar Government and also known as the Bangladeshi government-in-exile, was the first and founding government of Bangladesh that...
The Cambodian Civil War ends and the Cambodian Genocide begins. The Khmer Rouge captures the capital Phnom Penh and Cambodian government forces surrender.
The Cambodian Civil War was a civil war in Cambodia fought between the Khmer Rouge, supported by North Vietnam and China, against the government of the Kingdom of Cambodia and, after October 1970,...
Mir Akbar Khyber is assassinated, provoking the Saur Revolution in Afghanistan.
Mir Akbar Khyber was an Afghan left-wing intellectual and a leader of the Parcham faction of People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). His assassination by an unidentified person or people...
Constitution Act, 1982 Patriation of the Canadian constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation of Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada.
The Constitution Act, 1982 is a part of the Constitution of Canada. The Act was introduced as part of Canada's process of patriating the constitution, introducing several amendments to the British...
An alleged state of war lasting 335 years between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly is declared over.
The Three Hundred and Thirty-Five Years' War was an alleged state of war between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly. It is said to have been extended by the lack of a peace treaty for 335 years...
The Katina P is deliberately run aground off Maputo, Mozambique, and 60,000 tons of crude oil spill into the ocean.
Katina P was a Greek oil tanker carrying 72,000 tonnes of oil which sank off the coast of Mozambique on 26 April 1992.
Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-90, the final Spacelab mission.
Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102) was a Space Shuttle orbiter manufactured by Rockwell International and operated by NASA. Named after the first American ship to circumnavigate the globe, and the...
Anneli Jäätteenmäki takes office as the first female prime minister of Finland.
Anneli Tuulikki Jäätteenmäki is a Finnish politician who was the first female and 39th prime minister of Finland from 17 April 2003 to 24 June 2003. From 2004 until 2019, she served as a Member of...
A Palestinian suicide bomber detonates an explosive device in a Tel Aviv restaurant, killing 11 people and injuring 70.
Palestinians are an Arab national group native to the region of Palestine, descended from those who have inhabited the area over the millennia. They represent a highly homogenized community who...
An explosion at a fertilizer plant in the city of West, Texas, kills 15 people and injures 160 others.
On April 17, 2013, an ammonium nitrate explosion occurred at the West Fertilizer Company storage and distribution facility in West, Texas, United States, while emergency services personnel were...
NASA's Kepler space telescope confirms the discovery of the first Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of another star.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the United States' civil space program and for research in aeronautics and...
The funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, takes place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
On 9 April 2021, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, and the longest-serving royal consort in history, died...