September 17 facts for kids

September 17 is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 105 days remain until the end of the year.

Every year on September 17th, many interesting things have happened throughout history. From ancient battles to modern inventions, this day has seen important moments that shaped our world. Let's explore some of these events, births of famous people, and special holidays celebrated on this day.

What Happened on September 17th?

Important Events Before 1600

• 1111 – In Galicia, important leaders like Pedro Fróilaz de Traba and Bishop Diego Gelmírez crowned Alfonso VII as their king.
• 1176 – The Battle of Myriokephalon was the last big effort by the Byzantine Empire to take back central Anatolia from the Seljuk Turks.
• 1382 – Mary, the daughter of Louis the Great, was crowned "king" of Hungary.
• 1462 – During the Thirteen Years' War, a Polish army led by Piotr Dunin won a major victory against the Teutonic Order at the Battle of Świecino.
• 1543 – The very first book written in the Finnish-language, called Abckiria by Mikael Agricola, was published in Stockholm.
• 1577 – The Treaty of Bergerac was signed between King Henry III of France and the Huguenots, who were French Protestants.

Key Events from 1601 to 1900

• 1620 – In the Polish–Ottoman War, the Ottoman Empire defeated the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth at the Battle of Cecora.
• 1631 – Sweden won a big battle called the Battle of Breitenfeld against the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.
• 1658 – The Battle of Vilanova took place between Portugal and Spain during the Portuguese Restoration War.
• 1683 – Antonie van Leeuwenhoek wrote a letter describing tiny living things he called "animalcules," which we now know as protozoa.
• 1775 – The American Revolutionary War began its invasion of Canada with the Siege of Fort St. Jean.
• 1776 – The Presidio of San Francisco was founded in what was then New Spain.
• 1778 – The Treaty of Fort Pitt was signed. This was the first official treaty between the United States and a Native American tribe.
• 1787 – The United States Constitution, the main law of the USA, was signed in Philadelphia.
• 1793 – In the War of the Pyrenees, France defeated a Spanish army at the Battle of Peyrestortes.
• 1794 – During the Flanders Campaign, France finished taking over the Austrian Netherlands at the Battle of Sprimont.
• 1809 – Peace was made between Sweden and Russia in the Finnish War. The land that would become Finland was given to Russia by the Treaty of Fredrikshamn.
• 1849 – American abolitionist Harriet Tubman bravely escaped from slavery.
• 1859 – Joshua A. Norton declared himself "Norton I, Emperor of the United States."
• 1861 – In the Argentine Civil Wars, the State of Buenos Aires defeated the Argentine Confederation at the Battle of Pavón.
• 1862 – During the American Civil War, George B. McClellan stopped Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army at the Battle of Antietam. This was the bloodiest single day in American military history.
• 1894 – The Battle of the Yalu River, the biggest naval fight of the First Sino-Japanese War, took place.
• 1900 – In the Philippine–American War, Filipino forces led by Juan Cailles defeated American soldiers at Mabitac.

Events from 1901 to Today

• 1901 – In the Second Boer War, a Boer group defeated a British force at the Battle of Blood River Poort.
• 1908 – The Wright Flyer, flown by Orville Wright with Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge as a passenger, crashed. Selfridge became the first person to die in an airplane crash.
• 1914 – Andrew Fisher became the Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
• 1914 – World War I: The "Race to the Sea" began, where both sides tried to outflank each other.
• 1916 – World War I: Manfred von Richthofen, known as "The Red Baron," won his first air battle near Cambrai, France.
• 1920 – The National Football League (NFL) was first organized as the American Professional Football Association in Canton, Ohio.
• 1924 – The Border Protection Corps was created in Poland to defend its eastern border from raids.
• 1928 – The Okeechobee hurricane hit southeastern Florida, causing the deaths of more than 2,500 people.
• 1939 – World War II: The Soviet invasion of Poland began.
• 1939 – World War II: The German submarine German submarine U-29 sank the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous.
• 1940 – World War II: Due to problems in the Battle of Britain and bad weather coming, Hitler delayed his plan to invade Britain, called Operation Sea Lion.
• 1944 – World War II: Allied airborne troops parachuted into the Netherlands as part of Operation Market Garden.
• 1948 – The Nizam of Hyderabad gave up his rule over the Hyderabad State and joined the Indian Union.
• 1949 – The Canadian steamship SS Noronic caught fire in Toronto Harbour, and over 118 people lost their lives.
• 1961 – The world's first stadium with a roof that could open and close, the Civic Arena, opened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• 1965 – The Battle of Chawinda was fought between Pakistan and India.
• 1974 – Bangladesh, Grenada, and Guinea-Bissau all joined the United Nations.
• 1976 – The Space Shuttle Enterprise was shown to the public by NASA.
• 1978 – The Camp David Accords, a peace agreement, were signed by Israel and Egypt.
• 1980 – After many weeks of strikes, the independent trade union Solidarity was formed in Poland.
• 1983 – Vanessa Williams became the first black Miss America.
• 1991 – Estonia, North Korea, South Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, the Marshall Islands, and Micronesia all joined the United Nations.
• 1991 – The very first version of the Linux computer operating system (0.01) was released online.
• 2001 – The New York Stock Exchange reopened for trading after the September 11 attacks. This was its longest closure since the Great Depression.
• 2006 – Fourpeaked Mountain in Alaska erupted for the first time in at least 10,000 years.
• 2011 – The Occupy Wall Street movement began in Zuccotti Park, New York City.
• 2013 – The video game Grand Theft Auto V earned more than half a billion dollars on its first day of release.
• 2018 – A Russian reconnaissance aircraft carrying 15 people was shot down by a Syrian missile over the Mediterranean Sea.

Famous People Born on September 17th

Born Before 1900

• 879 – Charles the Simple, a Frankish king.
• 1433 – James of Portugal, a Portuguese prince and cardinal.
• 1550 – Paul V, a leader of the Catholic Church.
• 1688 – Maria Luisa of Savoy, who became queen of Spain.
• 1730 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a Prussian-American general who helped in the American Revolutionary War.
• 1739 – John Rutledge, an American judge and politician.
• 1743 – Marquis de Condorcet, a French mathematician and thinker.
• 1797 – Heinrich Kuhl, a German naturalist who studied animals.
• 1819 – Marthinus Wessel Pretorius, the first President of the South African Republic.
• 1826 – Bernhard Riemann, a German mathematician.
• 1854 – David Dunbar Buick, a Scottish-American businessman who started the Buick Motor Company.
• 1857 – Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a Russian scientist known for his work on rockets.
• 1859 – Billy the Kid, a famous American gunman from the Old West.
• 1869 – Christian Lous Lange, a Norwegian political scientist who won the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1879 – Rube Foster, an American baseball player and manager.
• 1883 – William Carlos Williams, an American poet and writer.
• 1900 – J. Willard Marriott, an American businessman who founded the Marriott Corporation.

Born After 1900

• 1901 – Francis Chichester, an English pilot and sailor.
• 1906 – J. R. Jayewardene, the second President of Sri Lanka.
• 1907 – Warren E. Burger, an American lawyer and judge who was Chief Justice of the United States.
• 1915 – M. F. Husain, a famous Indian painter.
• 1918 – Chaim Herzog, an Irish-born Israeli general and the sixth President of Israel.
• 1923 – Hank Williams, a very influential American country music singer-songwriter.
• 1926 – Bill Black, an American bass player who played with Elvis Presley.
• 1928 – Roddy McDowall, an English-American actor.
• 1929 – Stirling Moss, a famous English racing car driver.
• 1930 – Edgar Mitchell, an American astronaut who walked on the Moon.
• 1931 – Anne Bancroft, a well-known American actress.
• 1935 – Ken Kesey, an American novelist, author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
• 1945 – Phil Jackson, an American basketball player and a very successful coach.
• 1947 – Gail Carson Levine, an American author known for children's fantasy books.
• 1948 – John Ritter, an American actor.
• 1950 – Narendra Modi, an Indian politician and the current Prime Minister of India.
• 1951 – Cassandra Peterson, an American actress famous for playing Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.
• 1955 – Charles Martinet, an American actor known for voicing Mario in video games.
• 1956 – Almazbek Atambayev, a Kyrgyz politician and former President of Kyrgyzstan.
• 1958 – Janez Janša, a Slovenian politician and former Prime Minister of Slovenia.
• 1960 – Kevin Clash, an American puppeteer, known for Elmo.
• 1960 – Damon Hill, an English racing driver who won the Formula One World Championship.
• 1962 – Baz Luhrmann, an Australian director and producer.
• 1965 – Kyle Chandler, an American actor.
• 1965 – Yuji Naka, a Japanese video game designer who created Sonic the Hedgehog.
• 1965 – Bryan Singer, an American director and producer.
• 1968 – Anastacia, an American singer-songwriter.
• 1969 – Ken Doherty, an Irish snooker player.
• 1971 – Bobby Lee, an American actor and comedian.
• 1975 – Jimmie Johnson, an American race car driver who won many NASCAR championships.
• 1977 – Simone Perrotta, an Italian footballer.
• 1978 – Shawn Horcoff, a Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1979 – Chuck Comeau, a Canadian musician, drummer for Simple Plan.
• 1985 – Tomáš Berdych, a Czech tennis player.
• 1985 – Alexander Ovechkin, a Russian ice hockey player, one of the best goal scorers in NHL history.
• 1986 – Ravichandran Ashwin, an Indian cricketer.
• 1986 – Sophie, a Scottish music producer and singer.
• 1989 – Danielle Brooks, an American actress.
• 1991 – Mena Massoud, an Egyptian-Canadian actor.
• 1992 – Danny Ramirez, an American actor.
• 1995 – Patrick Mahomes, an American football player and Super Bowl-winning quarterback.
• 1996 – Esteban Ocon, a French Formula One racing driver.
• 1997 – Auston Matthews, an American ice hockey player.

People Who Passed Away on September 17th

Deaths Before 1900

• 936 – Unni, an archbishop from Germany.
• 1179 – Hildegard of Bingen, a German abbess, writer, and composer.
• 1322 – Robert III, a count of Flanders.
• 1415 – Michael de la Pole, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, an English soldier.
• 1422 – Constantine II, a tsar of Bulgaria.
• 1574 – Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, a Spanish admiral and explorer who founded St. Augustine, Florida.
• 1609 – Judah Loew ben Bezalel, a Bohemian rabbi and philosopher.
• 1621 – Robert Bellarmine, an Italian cardinal and saint.
• 1665 – Philip IV, the king of Spain.
• 1762 – Francesco Geminiani, an Italian violinist and composer.
• 1771 – Tobias Smollett, a Scottish author and poet.
• 1836 – Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, a French botanist.
• 1858 – Dred Scott, an American slave who famously sued for his freedom.
• 1864 – Walter Savage Landor, an English author and poet.
• 1868 – Roman Nose, a Native American warrior.
• 1877 – Henry Fox Talbot, an English photographer who helped develop early photography.
• 1899 – Charles Alfred Pillsbury, an American businessman who co-founded the Pillsbury Company.

Deaths After 1900

• 1908 – Thomas Selfridge, an American lieutenant and pilot, the first person to die in an airplane crash.
• 1938 – Bruno Jasieński, a Polish poet and author.
• 1948 – Ruth Benedict, an American anthropologist.
• 1948 – Folke Bernadotte, a Swedish soldier and diplomat who worked for the United Nations.
• 1953 – Jimmy Yancey, an American pianist and composer.
• 1961 – Adnan Menderes, a Turkish lawyer and former Prime Minister of Turkey.
• 1966 – Fritz Wunderlich, a German opera singer.
• 1972 – Akim Tamiroff, an American actor.
• 1980 – Anastasio Somoza Debayle, a former President of Nicaragua.
• 1985 – Laura Ashley, a Welsh fashion designer.
• 1994 – Vitas Gerulaitis, an American tennis player.
• 1994 – Karl Popper, an Austrian-English philosopher.
• 1996 – Spiro Agnew, a former Vice President of the United States.
• 1997 – Red Skelton, a famous American actor and comedian.
• 2015 – Dettmar Cramer, a German football manager.
• 2016 – Bahman Golbarnezhad, an Iranian racing cyclist.
• 2017 – Bobby Heenan, an American professional wrestling manager.
• 2019 – Cokie Roberts, an American journalist and author.
• 2020 – Robert W. Gore, an American engineer who helped invent Gore-Tex.
• 2021 – Abdelaziz Bouteflika, a former President of Algeria.
• 2022 – Maarten Schmidt, a Dutch astronomer.

Holidays and Celebrations on September 17th

• Australian Citizenship Day – A day to celebrate becoming a citizen of Australia.
• Christian feast day: This day is special for remembering several Christian saints like Albert of Vercelli, Hildegard of Bingen, and Robert Bellarmine.
• Constitution Day – In the United States, this day celebrates the signing of the U.S. Constitution. It also marks the start of Constitution Week.
• Heroes' Day (Angola) – A day to honor heroes in Angola.
• Marathwada Liberation Day (Maharashtra) – Celebrated in Maharashtra, India, to mark the liberation of the Marathwada region.
• National Unity Day (Belarus) (since 2021) – A day to celebrate national unity in Belarus.
• Operation Market Garden Anniversary – In the Netherlands, this day remembers the World War II operation with parachuting and special events.
• Teachers' Day (Honduras) – A day to honor teachers in Honduras.

See also

In Spanish: 17 de septiembre para niños