March 17 facts for kids

March 17 is the 76th day of the year (77th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 289 days remain until the end of the year.

This article tells you about important things that happened on March 17th throughout history, as well as famous people who were born or passed away on this day.

Events

Early History (Before 1600)

• 45 BC – The famous Roman leader Julius Caesar won his last battle! He defeated the forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda.
• 180 – At just eighteen years old, Commodus became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire after his father, Marcus Aurelius, died.
• 455 – Petronius Maximus became the emperor of the Western Roman Empire with the help of the Roman Senate.
• 1337 – Edward, the Black Prince was made the first Duke of Cornwall in England. This was a very important title!
• 1400 – The powerful Turko-Mongol emperor Timur took control of the city of Damascus.

From 1601 to 1900

• 1776 – During the American Revolution, the British Army left Boston. This ended the Siege of Boston after George Washington and Henry Knox cleverly placed cannons overlooking the city.
• 1805 – The Italian Republic, led by Napoleon, became the Kingdom of Italy, with Napoleon as its king.
• 1824 – The Anglo-Dutch Treaty was signed in London. This agreement divided the Malay archipelago, giving control of the Malay Peninsula to the British and Sumatra, Java, and nearby areas to the Dutch.
• 1842 – The Female Relief Society of Nauvoo was officially started, with Emma Smith as its first president.
• 1860 – The First Taranaki War began in Taranaki, New Zealand. This was a big part of the New Zealand Wars.
• 1861 – The Kingdom of Italy was officially announced.
• 1862 – Finland opened its first railway line between the cities of Helsinki and Hämeenlinna. It was called Päärata.
• 1891 – The ship SS Utopia crashed into another ship, HMS Anson, in the Bay of Gibraltar. It sank, and many people lost their lives.

From 1901 to Today

• 1921 – The Second Polish Republic adopted its new March Constitution.
• 1942 – During the Holocaust in World War II, Jewish people from the Lvov Ghetto were sent to the Belzec camp in what is now Poland.
• 1945 – The Ludendorff Bridge in Remagen, Germany, fell apart. This happened ten days after it was captured during World War II.
• 1948 – Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom signed the Treaty of Brussels. This was an important step towards creating NATO.
• 1950 – Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley announced they had created a new element, which they named "californium".
• 1957 – A plane crash in Cebu, Philippines, tragically killed Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 other people.
• 1958 – The United States launched Vanguard 1, the first satellite powered by solar energy. It was also the first satellite to stay in orbit for a very long time.
• 1960 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a plan for a secret operation against Cuba. This plan eventually led to the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
• 1963 – Mount Agung erupted on the island of Bali, causing the deaths of over 1,100 people.
• 1966 – The submarine DSV Alvin found a missing American hydrogen bomb off the coast of Spain.
• 1968 – The U.S. Army tested nerve gas in Skull Valley, Utah. This sadly resulted in the deaths of over 6,000 sheep.
• 1969 – Golda Meir became the first female Prime Minister of Israel.
• 1973 – The famous photograph Burst of Joy was taken. It showed a former prisoner of war reuniting with his family and became a symbol of the end of the Vietnam War for the United States.
• 1988 – A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashed into a mountain near the Venezuelan border, killing 143 people.
• 1988 – In the Eritrean War of Independence, the Ethiopian army's Nadew Command in Eritrea was attacked by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front at the start of the Battle of Afabet.
• 1992 – A car bomb attack happened at the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, causing many casualties.
• 1992 – A referendum was held in South Africa to end apartheid, a system of racial segregation. It passed with 68.7% of the votes.
• 2003 – Robin Cook, a British politician, resigned from the British Cabinet. He disagreed with the government's plans for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
• 2016 – During a conference in Rmelan, the Movement for a Democratic Society announced the creation of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.

Births

Early History (Before 1600)

• 763 – Harun al-Rashid, an important caliph (leader) of the Abbasid Caliphate.
• 1231 – Emperor Shijō of Japan.
• 1473 – James IV of Scotland, a king of Scotland.
• 1523 – Giovanni Francesco Commendone, a Catholic cardinal.
• 1537 – Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a powerful Japanese leader (daimyō).

From 1601 to 1900

• 1665 – Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, a French musician and composer.
• 1725 – Lachlan McIntosh, a Scottish-American general and politician.
• 1777 – Patrick Brontë, an Irish-English priest and author, father of the famous Brontë sisters.
• 1777 – Roger B. Taney, an American politician and the 5th Chief Justice of the United States.
• 1804 – Jim Bridger, a famous American fur trader and explorer.
• 1806 – Norbert Rillieux, an African American inventor and chemical engineer.
• 1834 – Gottlieb Daimler, a German engineer and businessman who helped start Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft, known for cars.
• 1846 – Kate Greenaway, an English author and illustrator.
• 1849 – Charles F. Brush, an American businessman who helped invent the Arc lamp.
• 1849 – Cornelia Clapp, an American marine biologist.
• 1862 – Silvio Gesell, a Belgian merchant and economist.
• 1881 – Walter Rudolf Hess, a Swiss scientist who won the Nobel Prize.
• 1886 – Princess Patricia of Connaught.
• 1900 – Alfred Newman, an American composer and conductor.

From 1901 to Today

• 1902 – Bobby Jones, a famous American golfer and lawyer.
• 1907 – Takeo Miki, the 41st Prime Minister of Japan.
• 1919 – Nat King Cole, a beloved American singer, pianist, and television host.
• 1920 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first President of Bangladesh.
• 1930 – James Irwin, an American astronaut who walked on the Moon.
• 1933 – Penelope Lively, an English author.
• 1938 – Rudolf Nureyev, a famous Russian-French dancer and choreographer.
• 1939 – Robin Knox-Johnston, an English sailor who was the first person to sail around the world alone without stopping.
• 1941 &Paul Kantner, an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.
• 1944 – Pattie Boyd, an English model, author, and photographer.
• 1948 – William Gibson, an American-Canadian author known for science fiction.
• 1951 – Scott Gorham, an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.
• 1959 – Danny Ainge, an American baseball and basketball player.
• 1962 – Janet Gardner, an American singer and guitarist.
• 1969 – Alexander McQueen, a famous English fashion designer.
• 1975 – Justin Hawkins, an English singer-songwriter.
• 1976 – Stephen Gately, an Irish singer-songwriter and actor.
• 1981 – Nicky Jam, a Puerto Rican singer-songwriter.
• 1986 – Edin Džeko, a Bosnian footballer.
• 1988 – Grimes, a Canadian musician and singer-songwriter.
• 1989 – Shinji Kagawa, a Japanese footballer.
• 1989 – Harry Melling, an English actor.
• 1990 – Hozier, an Irish musician.
• 1992 – John Boyega, a British actor and producer.
• 1997 – Katie Ledecky, a very successful American swimmer.

Deaths

Early History (Before 1600)

• 45 BC – Titus Labienus, a Roman general.
• 180 – Marcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor.
• 659 – Gertrude of Nivelles, a Frankish abbess (leader of a convent).
• 1040 – Harold Harefoot, a king of England.
• 1058 – Lulach, a king of Scotland.
• 1406 – Ibn Khaldun, a famous Tunisian sociologist, historian, and scholar.
• 1516 – Giuliano de' Medici, an Italian nobleman.

From 1601 to 1900

• 1640 – Philip Massinger, an English playwright.
• 1680 – François de La Rochefoucauld, a French author.
• 1782 – Daniel Bernoulli, a Dutch-Swiss mathematician and physicist.
• 1846 – Friedrich Bessel, a German astronomer, mathematician, and physicist.
• 1849 – William II, a Dutch king.
• 1853 – Christian Doppler, an Austrian physicist and mathematician, known for the Doppler effect.
• 1893 – Jules Ferry, a French lawyer and politician who served as Prime Minister of France.

From 1901 to Today

• 1902 – John Houlding, an English businessman who founded Liverpool Football Club.
• 1917 – Franz Brentano, a German philosopher and psychologist.
• 1926 – Aleksei Brusilov, a Georgian-Russian general.
• 1956 – Fred Allen, an American actor and comedian.
• 1956 – Irène Joliot-Curie, a French physicist and chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
• 1957 – Ramon Magsaysay, the 7th President of the Philippines.
• 1965 – Amos Alonzo Stagg, an American football player and coach.
• 1974 – Louis Kahn, a famous American architect.
• 1976 – Luchino Visconti, an Italian director and screenwriter.
• 1983 – Haldan Keffer Hartline, an American physiologist who won the Nobel Prize.
• 1993 – Helen Hayes, a famous American actress.
• 1994 – Charlotte Auerbach, a German-Jewish Scottish geneticist.
• 1996 – René Clément, a French director and screenwriter.
• 2005 – George F. Kennan, an American historian and diplomat.
• 2007 – John Backus, an American computer scientist who designed Fortran.
• 2011 – Michael Gough, an English actor.
• 2012 – Shenouda III, the pope of Alexandria.
• 2021 – John Magufuli, the fifth President of Tanzania.
• 2023 – Lance Reddick, an American actor.

Holidays and observances

• Children's Day (Bangladesh)
• Christian feast day:
  • Alexius of Rome (Eastern Church)
  • Gertrude of Nivelles
  • John Sarkander
  • Joseph of Arimathea (Western Church)
  • Patrick of Ireland
  • March 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Evacuation Day (Suffolk County, Massachusetts)
• Saint Patrick's Day, a public holiday in Ireland, Montserrat and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is celebrated widely in many parts of the world.

See also

A friendly robot icon.

In Spanish: 17 de marzo para niños