July 17

July 17 is the 198th day of the year (199th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 167 days remaining until the end of the year.

• 180 - 12 inhabitants of Scillium in North Africa are executed for being Christians.
• 1203 - The Fourth Crusade captures Constantinople by assault.
• 1402 – Yongle becomes Emperor of China.
• 1429 - Hundred Years' War: Charles VIII of France is crowned King.
• 1453 - Battle of Castillon: France defeats England in the last battle of the Hundred Years' War.
• 1717 - George Frideric Handel's Water Music is premiered, as King George I of Great Britain sails down the River Thames with a barge of 50 musicians.
• 1771 - Bloody Falls massacre: Chipewyan chef Matonabbee, travelling as the guide to Samuel Hearne on his Arctic overland expedition, massacres a group of unsuspecting Inuit.
• 1791 - Members of France's National Guard under control of Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette open fire on a crowd of radical Jacobins at the Champ de Mars, Paris, killing 50 people.
• 1821 – Florida goes into US control.
• 1863 - The New Zealand Wars resume as British forces in New Zealand led by Duncan Cameron begin their invasion at Waikato.
• 1897 – The Klondike Gold Rush begins in North-western Canada.

• 1917 – The British Royal Family changes its name to Windsor.
• 1918 – Nicholas II, the Czar of Russia, his wife, and their 5 children are executed by the Bolsheviks, under orders from Vladimir Lenin.
• 1936 – The Spanish Civil War begins.
• 1944 - Port Chicago disaster: At Port Chicago near San Francisco Bay, two ships carrying ammunition for the war explode, killing 320 people.
• 1944 - World War II: Napalm incendiary bombs are dropped for the first time by American P-38 pilots on a fuel depot at Coutances, France.
• 1945 - World War II: Allied leaders Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin meet in Potsdam to discuss the future of a defeated Germany.
• 1948 – The South Korean Constitution is proclaimed.
• 1955 – Disneyland opens in Anaheim, California.
• 1962 - Nuclear weapons testing: The Small Boy test shot Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric test detonation of the Nevada National Security Site.
• 1968 - A revolution in Iraq when Abdul Rahman Arif is overthrown and the Ba'ath Party is installed in power with Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr as new President.
• 1973 – Afghanistan: Mohammed Daoud Khan removes his cousin Mohammed Zahir Shah from power.
• 1976 – 25 African countries boycott the Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada.
• 1976 – Indonesia takes control of East Timor.
• 1979 – The Sandinistas start to govern Nicaragua, after Anastasio Somoza Debayle flees to Miami, Florida.
• 1981 - The Humber Bridge in England is opened by Queen Elizabeth II.
• 1981 - A structural failure leads to the collapse of a walkway at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, collapses, killing 114 people and injuring over 200.
• 1989 - Poland restores diplomatic relations with Vatican City.
• 1994 – Brazil wins the FIFA World Cup for a fourth time, after a penalty shootout win over Italy, which is remembered for Roberto Baggio's missed penalty kick.
• 1996 – A Boeing 747 airplane explodes near Long Island, New York, killing 230 people.
• 1998 - At a conference in Rome 120 countries vote to create the International Criminal Court.
• 1998 – An earthquake causes a tsunami, which destroys ten villages in Papua New Guinea, killing 3,183 people, and leaving more than 2,000 unaccounted for.
• 1998 - 80 years after being executed, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family are buried at the St. Catherine Chapel in St. Petersburg.

• 2001 - Concorde is brought back into service nearly a year a crash near Paris.
• 2006 – A tsunami south of Java kills around 300 people.
• 2007 – A plane crashes and bursts into flames at São Paulo International Airport in Brazil, killing all 187 people on board, and 12 on the ground.
• 2011 – Japan wins the FIFA Women's World Cup, defeating the United States in a penalty shoot-out.
• 2014 - Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, crashes in Eastern Ukraine near the border with Russia, having been reportedly shot down by a missile, killing all 298 people on board.
• 2014 - Israel-Gaza Strip Conflict: Israel launches a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.
• 2015 - Over 120 people are killed in a suicide bombing in Iraq.
• 2015 - Formula One racing driver Jules Bianchi dies of injuries sustained in a crash at the Japanese Grand Prix over nine months earlier, at the age of 25.
• 2018 - The European Union-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement is signed.
• 2019 - The Kivu Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organization.

• 1476 - Adrian Fortescue, English Roman Catholic martyr (d. 1539)
• 1487 - Ismail I of Persia (d. 1524)
• 1674 - Isaac Watts, English theologian and composer (d. 1748)
• 1698 - Pierre Louis Maupertuis, French mathematician and philosopher (d. 1759)
• 1714 - Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, German philosopher (d. 1762)
• 1744 – Elbridge Gerry, Vice President of the United States (d. 1814)
• 1745 - Timothy Pickering, 3rd United States Secretary of State (d. 1829)
• 1752 - Barnaba Oriani, Italian priest, astronomer and scientist (d. 1832)
• 1763 – John Jacob Astor, American businessman (d. 1848)
• 1797 - Paul Delaroche, French painter (d. 1856)
• 1831 – Xianfeng, Emperor of China (d. 1861)
• 1837 - Joseph-Alfred Mousseau, 6th Premier of Quebec (d. 1886)
• 1839 - Ephraim Shay, American engineer (d. 1916)
• 1843 - Julio Argentino Roca, President of Argentina (d. 1914)
• 1846 – Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay, Russian scientist, anthropologist and explorer of New Guinea (d. 1888)
• 1853 - Alexius Meinong, Austrian philosopher (d. 1920)
• 1860 – Clara Viebig, German writer (d. 1952)
• 1871 - Lyonel Feininger, German-American painter and illustrator (d. 1956)
• 1871 - J. M. Andrews, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 1956)
• 1879 - Jack Laviolette, Canadian ice hockey player, coach and manager (d. 1960)
• 1882 - James Somerville, English admiral (d. 1940)
• 1888 – Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israeli writer (d. 1970)
• 1889 – Erle Stanley Gardner, American writer (Perry Mason) (d. 1970)
• 1894 – Georges Lemaitre, Belgian priest and astrophysicist (d. 1966)
• 1898 – Berenice Abbott, American photographer (d. 1991)
• 1899 – James Cagney, American actor (d. 1986)
• 1900 - Marcel Dalio, French actor (d. 1983)

• 1903 – Takeyama Michio, Japanese writer (d. 1984)
• 1911 - Lionel Ferbos, American jazz trumpeter (d. 2014)
• 1913 - Roger Garaudy, French philosopher and Holocaust denier (d. 2012)
• 1915 - Arthur Rothstein, American photographer (d. 1985)
• 1917 – Phyllis Diller, American actress and comedienne (d. 2012)
• 1917 - Kenan Evren, 7th President of Turkey (d. 2015)
• 1918 – Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio, President of Guatemala (d. 2003)
• 1920 – Gordon Gould, American, inventor of the laser (d. 2005)
• 1920 – Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish Olympic official (d. 2010)
• 1920 - Kenneth Wolstenholme, English sportscaster (d. 2002)
• 1921 - Louis Lachenal, French mountaineer (d. 1955)
• 1925 - Jimmy Scott, American jazz singer (d. 2014)
• 1926 - Willis Carto, American far-right politician (d. 2015)
• 1927 - Prosper Ego, Dutch activist (d. 2015)
• 1929 – Sergei K. Godunov, Russian mathematician
• 1930 - Sigvard Ericsson, Swedish speed skater (d. 2019)
• 1930 - Ray Galton, English screenwriter (d. 2018)
• 1931 - Caroline Graham, English writer
• 1932 - Wojciech Kilar, Polish composer (d. 2013)
• 1932 - Quino, Argentine artist and illustrator
• 1933 - Keiko Awaji, Japanese actress (d. 2014)
• 1933 - Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, 9th Prime Minister of Malta
• 1933 - Valentina Rastvorova, Soviet-Russian fencer (d. 2018)
• 1935 – Donald Sutherland, Canadian actor
• 1935 - Diahann Carroll, American actress and singer (d. 2019)
• 1939 - Milva, Italian singer and actress
• 1939 - Spencer Davis, British guitarist
• 1939 – Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran
• 1940 - Tim Brooke-Taylor, English actor and screenwriter
• 1940 - Francisco Toledo, Mexican painter (d. 2019)
• 1942 - Connie Hawkins, American basketball player and coach (d. 2017)
• 1942 - Peter Sissons, English journalist (d. 2019)
• 1944 – Carlos Alberto Torres, Brazilian footballer (d. 2016)
• 1945 - Alexander, Crown Prince of Yugoslavia
• 1945 - John Patten, Baron Patten, British politician, last British Governor of Hong Kong
• 1946 – Alun Armstrong, British actor
• 1947 – Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
• 1947 - Wolfgang Flür, German drummer (Kraftwerk)
• 1947 - Dorthe Kollo, Danish singer
• 1948 – Ron Asheton, American musician (d. 2009)
• 1948 - Luc Bondy, Swiss theatre and film director (d. 2015)
• 1949 - Wayne Sleep, English dancer, choreographer and actor
• 1949 - Geezer Butler, English bass player and politician
• 1950 - Derek de Lint, Dutch actor
• 1950 – Phoebe Snow, American singer-songwriter (d. 2011)

• 1951 – Lucie Arnaz, American actress
• 1952 - Thé Lau, Dutch musician and writer (d. 2015)
• 1952 – David Hasselhoff, American actor
• 1954 – Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
• 1954 – Edward Natapei, Prime Minister of Vanuatu (d. 2015)
• 1956 - Julie Bishop, Australian politician
• 1957 - Fern Britton, English television host
• 1958 - Thérèse Rein, Australian businesswoman, wife of Kevin Rudd
• 1960 - Jan Wouters, Dutch footballer and manager
• 1961 – Guru, American rapper (d. 2010)
• 1961 - Jeremy Hardy, English comedian (d. 2019)
• 1961 - António Costa, Prime Minister of Portugal
• 1963 - Regina Belle, American singer
• 1963 – Letsie III, King of Lesotho
• 1963 - Kim Shattuck, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2019)
• 1963 - John Ventimiglia, American actor
• 1963 - Matti Nykanen, Finnish ski jumper (d. 2019)
• 1964 - Heather Langenkamp, American actress
• 1965 - Santiago Segura, Spanish actor, screenwriter, producer and director
• 1965 - Alex Winter, English-American actor, director and screenwriter
• 1965 - Bastian Sick, German journalist, writer and entertainer
• 1971 - Calbert Cheaney, American basketball player and coach
• 1971 - Matthew Crompton, English actor
• 1971 - Cory Doctorow, Canadian writer and activist
• 1972 – Jaap Stam, Dutch footballer
• 1972 - Andy Whitfield, Welsh actor (d. 2011)
• 1974 - Laura Macdonald, Scottish saxophonist and composer
• 1975 - Konnie Huq, English television host
• 1975 - Elena Anaya, Spanish actress

• 1976 – Anders Svensson, Swedish footballer
• 1976 - Marcos Senna, Brazilian-Spanish footballer
• 1976 - Luke Bryan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1976 - Gino D'Acampo, Italian-English chef and writer
• 1977 – M.I.A., British singer
• 1978 - Line Daugaard, Danish handball player
• 1979 - Rudi Skácel, Czech footballer
• 1982 – Natasha Hamilton, British singer (Atomic Kitten)
• 1982 - Bobby Reynolds, American tennis player
• 1982 - René Herms, German athlete (d. 2009)
• 1983 - Christian Grindheim, Norwegian footballer
• 1983 - Sarah Jones, American actress
• 1984 – Asami Kimura, Japanese singer
• 1985 – Tom Fletcher, English singer (McFly)
• 1985 - Neil McGregor, Scottish footballer
• 1986 - Dana, South Korean singer, dancer and actress
• 1988 - Gao Yue, Chinese table tennis player
• 1990 – Mattie Stepanek, American poet (d. 2004)
• 1992 - Billie Lourd, American actress
• 1992 - Taavi Rand, Estonian ice dancer
• 1993 - Ai Okawa, Japanese model and actress
• 1998 - Felipe de Marichalar y Borbón, Spanish royal
• 2000 - Maria Aragon, Canadian singer
• 2004 - Lindokuhle Modi, South African actor and podcaster

• 521 - Magnus Felix Ennodius, Latin bishop and saint (b. 474)
• 924 – Edward the Elder, King of England is killed in battle (b. c. 874)
• 1070 – Baldwin VI, Count of Flanders (b. 1030)
• 1399 - Jadwiga of Poland (b. 1373)
• 1531 - Hosokawa Takakuni, Japanese commander (b. 1484)
• 1566 - Bartolomeu Dias, Portuguese monk (b. 1484)
• 1571 – Georg Fabricius, German poet and historian (b. 1516)
• 1588 - Mimar Sinan, Ottoman architect and engineer (b. 1489)
• 1704 - Pierre-Charles Le Sueur, French-American fur trader
• 1762 – Tsar Peter III of Russia (b. 1728)
• 1790 – Adam Smith, Scottish economist (b. 1723)
• 1793 – Charlotte Corday, French aristocrat (b. 1768)
• 1845 – Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1764)
• 1859 – Stephanie of Hohenzollern, Queen Consort of Portugal (b. 1837)
• 1878 – Aleardo Aleardi, Italian poet (b. 1812)
• 1883 - Te Duc, Emperor of Vietnam
• 1887 – Dorothea Dix, American social activist (b. 1802)
• 1893 - Frederick A. Johnson, American banker and politician (b. 1833)
• 1894 - Leconte de Lisle, French poet (b. 1818)

• 1906 - Carlos Pellegrini, President of Argentina (b. 1846)
• 1912 – Henri Poincaré, French mathematician (b. 1854)
• 1918 - Russian Tsarist Family executed by the Bolsheviks:
  • Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (Gregorian calendar date) (b. 1868)
  • Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia (b. 1895)
  • Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia (b. 1897)
  • Tsarevich Alexei of Russia (b. 1904)
  • Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (b. 1899)
  • Alexandra Fyodorovna, Tsarina of Russia (b. 1872)
  • Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (b. 1901)
• 1925 - Lovis Corinth, German artist and sculptor (b. 1858)
• 1928 – Giovanni Giolitti, five-times Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1842)
• 1928 - Alvaro Obregon, 39th President of Mexico (b. 1880)
• 1944 - William James Sidis, American mathematician (b. 1898)
• 1950 - Evangeline Booth, 4th General of the Salvation Army (b. 1865)
• 1953 - Maude Adams, American actress (b. 1872)
• 1959 – Billie Holiday, singer (b. 1915)
• 1959 – Eugene Meyer, American businessman and newspaper publisher (The Washington Post) (b. 1875)
• 1961 – Ty Cobb, American Baseball Hall of Famer (b. 1886)
• 1967 – John Coltrane, American jazz musician (b. 1926)
• 1974 - Dizzy Dean, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1910)
• 1975 – Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian writer and public benefactor (b. 1893)
• 1980 – Boris Delaunay, Soviet/Russian mathematician (b. 1890)
• 1994 - Jean Borotra, French tennis player (b. 1898)
• 1995 – Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1911)
• 1996 - Victims of TWA Flight 800:
  • Michael Breistorff, French ice hockey player (b. 1971)
  • Marcel Dadi, Tunisian-French guitarist (b. 1951)
  • David Hogan, American composer (b. 1949)
  • Jed Johnson, American interior designer and director (b. 1948)
  • Pam Lynchner, American real estate agent and activist (b. 1959)
• 1996 - Chas Chandler, American bass player and producer (The Animals) (b. 1938)

• 2001 – Katharine Graham, Washington Post publisher (b. 1917)
• 2002 – Joseph Luns, NATO Secretary-General (b. 1910)
• 2003 – Hans Abich, German TV producer (b. 1918)
• 2003 – Rosalyn Tureck, American pianist and harpsichordist (b. 1914)
• 2003 – Dr. David Kelly, UN weapons inspector (b. 1944)
• 2003 - Walter Zapp, German inventor (b. 1905)
• 2004 – Pat Roach, American wrestler and actor (b. 1937)
• 2005 – Edward Heath, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1916)
• 2005 - Geraldine Fitzgerald, Irish-American actress (b. 1913)
• 2006 – Mickey Spillane, American writer (b. 1918)
• 2008 - Larry Haines, American actor (b. 1918)
• 2009 – Walter Cronkite, American broadcast journalist (b. 1916)
• 2009 – Leszek Kolakowski, Polish philosopher (b. 1927)
• 2009 – Meir Amit, Israeli general and politician (b. 1921)
• 2010 – Bernard Giraudeau, French actor and director (b. 1947)

• 2011 – Juan María Bordaberry, President of Uruguay (b. 1928)
• 2011 - Takaji Mori, Japanese footballer (b. 1943)
• 2013 - Vincenzo Cerami, Italian screenwriter and producer (b. 1940)
• 2014 - John Walton, Australian actor (b. 1952)
• 2014 - Ross Burden, New Zealand chef (b. 1968)
• 2014 - Andries P Putter, South African naval officer (b. 1935)
• 2014 - Elaine Stritch, American actress (b. 1925)
• 2014 - Otto Piene, German artist (b. 1928)
• 2014 - Henry Hartsfield, American astronaut (b. 1933)
• 2014 - On board Malaysia Airlines Flight 17:
  • Liam Davison, Australian writer (b. 1957)
  • Shuba Jay, Malaysian actress (b. 1976)
  • Pim de Kuijer, Dutch columnist and lobbyist (b. 1981)
  • Joep Lange, Dutch physician (b. 1954)
  • Willem Witteveen, Dutch legal scholar and politician (b. 1952)
• 2015 - Owen Chadwick, English rugby player, historian, writer and theologian (b. 1916)
• 2015 - John H. Gibbons, American scientist (b. 1929)
• 2015 - Van Miller, American football announcer (b. 1927)
• 2015 - John Taylor, English jazz pianist (b. 1947)
• 2015 - Jules Bianchi, French racing driver (b. 1989)
• 2016 - Wendell Anderson, American politician, Governor of Minnesota (b. 1933)
• 2016 - Gary S. Paxton, American record producer and singer-songwriter (b. 1939)
• 2017 - Harvey Atkin, Canadian actor (b. 1942)
• 2017 - Raymond Sackler, American physician and philanthropist (b. 1920)
• 2018 - Gary Beach, American actor (b. 1947)
• 2018 - Rita Bhaduri, Indian actress (b. 1955)
• 2018 - Yvonne Blake, British-Spanish costume designer (b. 1940)
• 2019 - Andrea Camilleri, Italian writer (b. 1925)
• 2019 - Pumpsie Green, American baseball player (b. 1933)
• 2019 - Wesley Pruden, American journalist (b. 1935)

• Constitution Day (South Korea)
• Independence Day (Slovakia)
• King's birthday (Lesotho)
• World Day for International Justice (After the day when the Rome Statute to International Criminal Court is adopted)
• World Emoji Day