September 17

Events

Pre-1600

* 1111 – Highest Galician nobility led by Pedro Fróilaz de Traba and the bishop Diego Gelmírez crown Alfonso VII as "King of Galicia".
* 1176 – The Battle of Myriokephalon is the last attempt by the Byzantine Empire to recover central Anatolia from the Seljuk Turks.
* 1382 – Louis the Great's daughter, Mary, is crowned "king" of Hungary.
* 1462 – Thirteen Years' War: A Polish army under Piotr Dunin decisively defeats the Teutonic Order at the Battle of Świecino.
* 1577 – The Treaty of Bergerac is signed between King Henry III of France and the Huguenots.

1601–1900

*1620 – Polish–Ottoman War: The Ottoman Empire defeats the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Battle of Cecora.
* 1631 – Sweden wins a major victory at the Battle of Breitenfeld against the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.
* 1658 – The Battle of Vilanova is fought between Portugal and Spain during the Portuguese Restoration War.
* 1683 – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek writes a letter to the Royal Society describing "animalcules", later known as protozoa.
* 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The invasion of Canada begins with the Siege of Fort St. Jean.
* 1776 – The Presidio of San Francisco is founded in New Spain.
* 1778 – The Treaty of Fort Pitt is signed. It is the first formal treaty between the United States and a Native American tribe.
* 1787 – The United States Constitution is signed in Philadelphia.
* 1793 – War of the Pyrenees: France defeats a Spanish force at the Battle of Peyrestortes.
* 1794 – Flanders Campaign: France completes its conquest of the Austrian Netherlands at the Battle of Sprimont.
* 1809 – Peace between Sweden and Russia in the Finnish War; the territory that will become Finland is ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Fredrikshamn.
* 1849 – American abolitionist Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery.
* 1859 – Joshua A. Norton declares himself "Norton I, Emperor of the United States."
* 1861 – Argentine Civil Wars: The State of Buenos Aires defeats the Argentine Confederation at the Battle of Pavón.
*1862 – American Civil War: George B. McClellan halts the northward drive of Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army in the single-day Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in American military history.
* 1862 – American Civil War: The Allegheny Arsenal explosion results in the single largest civilian disaster during the war.
* 1894 – Battle of the Yalu River, the largest naval engagement of the First Sino-Japanese War.
* 1900 – Philippine–American War: Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat Americans under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham Jr. at Mabitac.

1901–present

* 1901 – Second Boer War: A Boer column defeats a British force at the Battle of Blood River Poort.
* 1901 – Second Boer War: Boers capture a squadron of the 17th Lancers at the Battle of Elands River.
* 1908 – The Wright Flyer flown by Orville Wright, with Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge as passenger, crashes, killing Selfridge, who becomes the first airplane fatality.
* 1914 – Andrew Fisher becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
* 1914 – World War I: The Race to the Sea begins.
* 1916 – World War I: Manfred von Richthofen ("The Red Baron"), a flying ace of the German Luftstreitkräfte, wins his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France.
*1920 – The National Football League is organized as the American Professional Football Association in Canton, Ohio.
*1924 – The Border Protection Corps is established in the Second Polish Republic for the defence of the eastern border against armed Soviet raids and local bandits.
*1928 – The Okeechobee hurricane strikes southeastern Florida, killing more than 2,500 people.
* 1930 – The Kurdish Ararat rebellion is suppressed by the Turks.
*1932 – A speech by Laureano Gómez leads to the escalation of the Leticia Incident.
*1935 – The Niagara Gorge Railroad ceases operations after a rockslide.
*1939 – World War II: The Soviet invasion of Poland begins.
* 1939 – World War II: sinks the British aircraft carrier .
* 1940 – World War II: Due to setbacks in the Battle of Britain and approaching autumn weather, Hitler postpones Operation Sea Lion.
*1941 – World War II: A decree of the Soviet State Committee of Defense restores compulsory military training.
* 1941 – World War II: Soviet forces enter Tehran during the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran.
*1944 – World War II: Allied airborne troops parachute into the Netherlands as the "Market" half of Operation Market Garden.
* 1944 – World War II: Soviet troops launch the Tallinn Offensive against Germany and pro-independence Estonian units.
* 1944 – World War II: German forces are attacked by the Allies in the Battle of San Marino.
*1948 – The Lehi (also known as the Stern gang) assassinates Count Folke Bernadotte, who was appointed by the United Nations to mediate between the Arab nations and Israel.
* 1948 – The Nizam of Hyderabad surrenders his sovereignty over the Hyderabad State and joins the Indian Union.
*1949 – The Canadian steamship burns in Toronto Harbour with the loss of over 118 lives.
*1961 – The world's first retractable roof stadium, the Civic Arena, opens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
* 1961 – Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 706 crashes during takeoff from O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, killing all 37 people on board.
*1965 – The Battle of Chawinda is fought between Pakistan and India.
*1974 – Bangladesh, Grenada and Guinea-Bissau join the United Nations.
* 1976 – The Space Shuttle ''Enterprise'' is unveiled by NASA.
*1978 – The Camp David Accords are signed by Israel and Egypt.
*1980 – After weeks of strikes at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, the nationwide independent trade union Solidarity is established.
* 1980 – Former Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle is killed in Asunción, Paraguay.
* 1983 – Vanessa Williams becomes the first black Miss America.
* 1991 – Estonia, North Korea, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia join the United Nations.
* 1991 – The first version of the Linux kernel (0.01) is released to the Internet.
*1992 – An Iranian Kurdish leader and his two joiners are assassinated by political militants in Berlin.
*2001 – The New York Stock Exchange reopens for trading after the September 11 attacks, the longest closure since the Great Depression.
*2006 – Fourpeaked Mountain in Alaska erupts, marking the first eruption for the volcano in at least 10,000 years.
* 2006 – An audio tape of a private speech by Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány is leaked to the public, in which he confessed that his Hungarian Socialist Party had lied to win the 2006 election, sparking widespread protests across the country.
*2011 – Occupy Wall Street movement begins in Zuccotti Park, New York City.
*2013 – ''Grand Theft Auto V'' earns more than half a billion dollars on its first day of release.
* 2016 – Two bombs explode in Seaside Park, New Jersey, and Manhattan. Thirty-one people are injured in the Manhattan bombing.
*2018 – A Russian reconnaissance aircraft carrying 15 people on board is brought down by a Syrian surface-to-air missile over the Mediterranean Sea.

Births

Pre-1600

* 879 – Charles the Simple, Frankish king (d. 929)
* 1433 – James of Portugal, Portuguese prince and cardinal (d. 1459)
* 1479 – Celio Calcagnini, Italian astronomer (d. 1541)
*1550 – Paul V, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1621)
* 1565 – Edward Fortunatus, German nobleman (d. 1600)
*1578 – John Prideaux, English administrator and bishop (d. 1650)

1601–1900

* 1605 – Francesco Sacrati, Italian composer (d. 1650)
* 1630 – Ranuccio II Farnese, duke of Parma (d. 1694)
* 1639 – Hans Herr, Swiss bishop (d. 1725)
*1688 – Maria Luisa of Savoy, queen consort of Spain (d. 1714)
* 1730 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, Prussian-American general (d. 1794)
* 1739 – John Rutledge, American judge and politician, 2nd Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1800)
* 1743 – Marquis de Condorcet, French mathematician and political scientist (d. 1794)
* 1771 – Johann August Apel, German jurist and author (d. 1816)
* 1773 – Jonathan Alder, American captain and farmer (d. 1849)
* 1783 – Nadezhda Durova, Russian soldier (d. 1866)
* 1797 – Heinrich Kuhl, German naturalist and zoologist (d. 1821)
* 1817 – Herman Adolfovich Trautscohold, German geologist and paleontologist (d. 1902)
* 1819 – Marthinus Wessel Pretorius, South African general and politician, 1st President of the South African Republic (d. 1901)
* 1820 – Émile Augier, French playwright (d. 1889)
* 1820 – Earl Van Dorn, Confederate general (d. 1863)
* 1821 – Arthur Saint-Léon, French choreographer (d. 1870)
* 1825 – Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar II, American jurist and politician, 16th United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 1893)
* 1826 – Bernhard Riemann, German-Italian mathematician and academic (d. 1866)
*1850 – Guerra Junqueiro, Portuguese journalist, lawyer, and politician (d. 1923)
*1853 – Frederick Corbett, British officer and Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1912)
* 1854 – David Dunbar Buick, Scottish-American businessman, founded Buick Motor Company (d. 1929)
*1857 – Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Russian scientist and engineer (d. 1935)
* 1859 – Frank Dawson Adams, Canadian geologist and academic (d. 1942)
* 1859 – Billy the Kid, American gunman (d. 1881)
* 1859 – I. L. Patterson, American politician, 18th Governor of Oregon (d. 1929)
*1860 – Mihkel Martna, Estonian journalist and politician (d. 1934)
*1864 – Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky, Ukrainian writer (d. 1913)
* 1864 – James Tancred, English admiral (d. 1943)
*1865 – William Murray McPherson, Australian politician, 31st Premier of Victoria (d. 1932)
* 1867 – Vera Yevstafievna Popova, Russian chemist (d. 1896)
* 1868 – James Alexander Calder, Canadian educator and politician, Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence (d. 1956)
* 1869 – Christian Lous Lange, Norwegian political scientist, historian, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1938)
*1874 – Walter Murdoch, Australian author and academic (d. 1970)
* 1878 – Vincenzo Tommasini, Italian composer (d. 1950)
*1879 – Rube Foster, American baseball player and manager (d. 1930)
* 1879 – Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, Indian businessman, social activist, and politician (d. 1973)
* 1881 – Alfred Carpenter, English admiral, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1955)
*1883 – William Carlos Williams, American poet, short story writer, and essayist (d. 1963)
* 1884 – Charles Griffes, American pianist and composer (d. 1920)
* 1886 – Anton Irv, Estonian captain (d. 1919)
* 1897 – Earl Webb, American baseball player and coach (d. 1965)
* 1900 – Hughie Critz, American baseball player (d. 1980)
* 1900 – Lena Frances Edwards, African-American physician, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (d. 1986)
* 1900 – J. Willard Marriott, American businessman, founded the Marriott Corporation (d. 1985)
* 1900 – Martha Ostenso, Canadian screenwriter and novelist (d. 1963)
* 1900 – Hedwig Ross, New Zealand-born educator and political activist, founding member of the Communist Party of New Zealand (d. 1971)

1901–present

* 1901 – Francis Chichester, English pilot and sailor (d. 1972)
* 1902 – Bea Miles, Australian author (d. 1973)
* 1903 – Karel Miljon, Dutch boxer (d. 1984)
* 1903 – Frank O'Connor, Irish short story writer, novelist, and poet (d. 1966)
* 1903 – Minanogawa Tōzō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 34th Yokozuna (d. 1971)
* 1905 – Tshekedi Khama, regent of the Bamangwato tribe (d. 1959)
* 1906 – J. R. Jayewardene, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 2nd President of Sri Lanka (d. 1996)
* 1906 – Edgar Wayburn, American physician and environmentalist (d. 2010)
* 1907 – Warren E. Burger, American lawyer and judge, 15th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1995)
* 1908 – John Creasey, English author and politician (d. 1973)
* 1908 – Rafael Israelyan, Armenian architect and educator, designed the Sardarapat Memorial and St. Vartan Cathedral (d. 1973)
* 1909 – Elizabeth Enright, American author and illustrator (d. 1968)
*1912 – Irena Kwiatkowska, Polish actress (d. 2011)
* 1912 – Maksim Tank, Belarusian poet, journalist, and translator (d. 1995)
* 1914 – Thomas J. Bata, Czech-Canadian businessman (d. 2008)
* 1914 – William Grut