April 17 facts for kids

This article is about April 17th. It's a day filled with many interesting events and the birthdays of famous people throughout history.

Historical Events on April 17

Important Moments Before 1600

• 1080 – Harald III of Denmark passes away. His successor, Canute IV, later became the first Dane to be recognized as a saint.
• 1362 – Kaunas Castle in Lithuania falls to the Teutonic Order after a long siege that lasted a month.
• 1492 – Spain and Christopher Columbus sign an agreement called the Capitulations of Santa Fe. This agreement was for his journey to Asia to find valuable spices.
• 1521 – The trial of Martin Luther begins at the Diet of Worms. He was on trial for his teachings. He asked for more time to think before answering and was given one day.
• 1524 – Explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano reaches the area that is now New York harbor.

Key Events from 1601 to 1900

• 1797 – Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico. This was one of the biggest invasions of Spanish lands in the Americas.
• 1797 – People in Verona, Italy, start a rebellion against the French forces occupying their city. This eight-day uprising was not successful.
• 1861 – The state of Virginia votes to leave the United States. Virginia later became the eighth state to join the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.
• 1863 – American Civil War: Grierson's Raid begins. Union Army troops led by Colonel Benjamin Grierson attack central Mississippi.
• 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Plymouth starts. Confederate forces attack Plymouth, North Carolina.
• 1869 – Morelos becomes the 27th state of Mexico.
• 1876 – The Catalpa rescue takes place. Six Irish prisoners are rescued from Fremantle Prison in Western Australia.
• 1895 – The Treaty of Shimonoseki is signed between China and Japan. This treaty ended the First Sino-Japanese War. China had to give up its claims on Korea and hand over parts of its land, including Taiwan, to Japan.

Modern History: 1901 to Today

• 1905 – The Supreme Court of the United States makes a decision in the case Lochner v. New York. They ruled that people have a "right to free contract" under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
• 1907 – The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people. This was more than on any other day in its history.
• 1941 – World War II: The Axis powers finish their invasion of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia signs an agreement with Germany and Italy.
• 1942 – French prisoner of war General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Königstein Fortress.
• 1945 – World War II: Montese, Italy, is freed from Nazi forces.
• 1945 – Historian Tran Trong Kim is named the Prime Minister of the Empire of Vietnam.
• 1946 – The last French troops leave Syria.
• 1951 – The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park.
• 1961 – Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles, supported by the CIA, lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. Their goal was to remove Fidel Castro from power.
• 1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is found guilty in the case of Robert F. Kennedy's death.
• 1969 – Alexander Dubček, the chairman of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, is removed from his position.
• 1970 – Apollo program: The damaged Apollo 13 spacecraft safely returns to Earth.
• 1971 – The Provisional Government of Bangladesh is formed.
• 1975 – The Cambodian Civil War ends. The Khmer Rouge takes over the capital city, Phnom Penh, and Cambodian government forces surrender.
• 1978 – Mir Akbar Khyber is killed, which leads to the Saur Revolution in Afghanistan.
• 1982 – The Canadian constitution is officially brought home to Ottawa by Elizabeth II, the Queen of Canada. This is known as the Patriation of the Canadian constitution.
• 1986 – An alleged war lasting 335 years between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly is declared over. This ended any theoretical war that might have existed.
• 1992 – The Katina P ship is intentionally run aground off Maputo, Mozambique. This causes 60,000 tons of crude oil to spill into the ocean.
• 2003 – Anneli Jäätteenmäki becomes the first female prime minister of Finland.
• 2013 – An explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, kills 15 people and injures 160 others.
• 2014 – NASA's Kepler space telescope confirms an exciting discovery. It finds the first Earth-sized planet located in the "habitable zone" of another star. This means it could potentially have liquid water.
• 2021 – The funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, takes place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

Notable People Born on April 17

Born Before 1600

• 1277 – Michael IX Palaiologos, a Byzantine emperor.
• 1455 – Andrea Gritti, who became the Doge of Venice.
• 1497 – Pedro de Valdivia, a Spanish explorer who conquered northern Chile.
• 1573 – Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, an important ruler.
• 1586 – John Ford, an English poet and playwright.
• 1598 – Giovanni Battista Riccioli, an Italian priest and astronomer.

Born Between 1601 and 1900

• 1620 – Marguerite Bourgeoys, a French-Canadian nun and saint who founded a religious group.
• 1683 – Johann David Heinichen, a German composer.
• 1734 – Taksin, a King of Thailand.
• 1741 – Samuel Chase, an American lawyer and judge.
• 1799 – Eliza Acton, an English food writer and poet.
• 1820 – Alexander Cartwright, an American firefighter and one of the people credited with inventing baseball.
• 1837 – J. P. Morgan, a famous American banker and financier.
• 1852 &Cap Anson, an American baseball player and manager.
• 1865 – Ursula Ledóchowska, a Polish-Austrian nun and saint.
• 1891 – George Adamski, a Polish-American writer known for his interest in UFOs.
• 1896 – Señor Wences, a Spanish-American ventriloquist.
• 1897 – Thornton Wilder, a well-known American novelist and playwright.

Born After 1900

• 1903 – Gregor Piatigorsky, a Ukrainian-American cellist.
• 1906 – Sidney Garfield, an American physician who helped start Kaiser Permanente.
• 1909 – Alain Poher, a French politician who served as President of France.
• 1916 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike, who became the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka and the world's first female prime minister.
• 1918 – William Holden, a famous American actor.
• 1923 – Lindsay Anderson, an English actor and director.
• 1925 – René Moawad, who became the President of Lebanon.
• 1928 – Cynthia Ozick, an American writer.
• 1929 – James Last, a German-American bandleader and composer.
• 1930 – Chris Barber, an English trombonist and bandleader.
• 1931 – Malcolm Browne, an American journalist and photographer.
• 1934 – Don Kirshner, an American songwriter and producer.
• 1937 – Ferdinand Piëch, an Austrian-German engineer and businessman.
• 1940 – Billy Fury, an English singer-songwriter.
• 1942 – Buster Williams, an American jazz bassist.
• 1943 – Richard Allen Epstein, an American lawyer and academic.
• 1946 – Clare Francis, an English sailor and author.
• 1947 – Sherrie Levine, an American photographer.
• 1948 – Jan Hammer, a Czech pianist and composer.
• 1951 – Olivia Hussey, an Argentinian-English actress.
• 1951 – Börje Salming, a Swedish ice hockey player.
• 1952 – Joe Alaskey, an American voice actor.
• 1954 – Riccardo Patrese, an Italian race car driver.
• 1954 – Roddy Piper, a Canadian professional wrestler and actor.
• 1955 – Pete Shelley, an English singer-songwriter and guitarist.
• 1957 – Afrika Bambaataa, an American disc jockey.
• 1957 – Nick Hornby, an English novelist and essayist.
• 1959 – Sean Bean, a well-known English actor.
• 1961 – Boomer Esiason, an American football player and sportscaster.
• 1964 – Maynard James Keenan, an American singer-songwriter.
• 1964 – Rachel Notley, a Canadian politician.
• 1966 – Vikram, an Indian actor and singer.
• 1967 – Henry Ian Cusick, a Peruvian-Scottish actor.
• 1967 – Kimberly Elise, an American actress.
• 1967 – Liz Phair, an American singer-songwriter.
• 1970 – Redman, an American rapper and actor.
• 1971 – Claire Sweeney, an English actress.
• 1972 – Jennifer Garner, a famous American actress.
• 1972 – Muttiah Muralitharan, a Sri Lankan cricketer.
• 1974 – Victoria Beckham, an English singer and fashion designer.
• 1977 – Chad Hedrick, an American speed skater.
• 1977 – Frederik Magle, a Danish composer and organist.
• 1979 – Eric Brewer, a Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1981 – Hanna Pakarinen, a Finnish singer-songwriter.
• 1982 – Tyron Woodley, an American mixed martial artist.
• 1985 – Rooney Mara, an American actress.
• 1985 – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a French tennis player.
• 1986 – Romain Grosjean, a French race car driver.
• 1988 – Takahiro Moriuchi, a Japanese singer-songwriter.
• 1989 – Avi Kaplan, an American singer and songwriter.
• 1992 – Jo Jinho, a South Korean singer.
• 1994 – Yang Hongseok, a South Korean singer and actor.
• 1995 – Jung Wheein, a South Korean singer.
• 1996 – Lorna Fitzgerald, a British actress.
• 1998 – Suppapong Udomkaewkanjana (Saint), a Thai actor and singer.
• 2001 – Shin Ryujin, a South Korean rapper, singer, and dancer.

Notable People Who Passed Away on April 17

Deaths Before 1600

• 485 – Proclus, a Greek mathematician and philosopher.
• 617 – Donnán of Eigg, an Irish priest and saint.
• 744 – Al-Walid II, an Umayyad caliph.
• 818 – Bernard of Italy, a Frankish king.
• 858 – Benedict III, a pope of the Catholic Church.
• 1080 – Harald III of Denmark.
• 1111 – Robert of Molesme, a Christian saint and abbot.
• 1355 – Marin Falier, a Doge of Venice.
• 1574 – Joachim Camerarius, a German scholar and translator.

Deaths Between 1601 and 1900

• 1680 – Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk-born Native American saint.
• 1695 – Juana Inés de la Cruz, a Mexican poet and scholar.
• 1696 – Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, a French author.
• 1711 – Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor.
• 1790 – Benjamin Franklin, a famous American inventor, publisher, and politician.
• 1882 – George Jennings, an English engineer who invented the flush toilet.
• 1892 – Alexander Mackenzie, a Scottish-Canadian politician and the second Prime Minister of Canada.

Deaths After 1900

• 1921 – Manwel Dimech, a Maltese journalist and philosopher.
• 1930 – Alexander Golovin, a Russian painter and stage designer.
• 1942 – Jean Baptiste Perrin, a French-American physicist and Nobel Prize winner.
• 1948 – Kantarō Suzuki, a Japanese admiral and politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan.
• 1960 – Eddie Cochran, an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.
• 1961 – Elda Anderson, an American physicist and health researcher.
• 1975 – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, an Indian philosopher and the second President of India.
• 1976 – Henrik Dam, a Danish biochemist and Nobel Prize winner.
• 1986 – Marcel Dassault, a French businessman who founded Dassault Aviation.
• 1987 – Dick Shawn, an American actor.
• 1988 – Louise Nevelson, a Ukrainian-American sculptor.
• 1990 – Ralph Abernathy, an American minister and civil rights activist.
• 1993 – Turgut Özal, a Turkish engineer and the eighth president of Turkey.
• 1994 – Roger Wolcott Sperry, an American psychologist and biologist, and a Nobel Prize winner.
• 1996 – Piet Hein, a Danish poet and mathematician.
• 1997 – Chaim Herzog, an Israeli general, lawyer, and the sixth President of Israel.
• 1998 – Linda McCartney, an American photographer, activist, and musician.
• 2003 – Robert Atkins, an American physician who created the Atkins diet.
• 2007 – Kitty Carlisle, an American actress, singer, and TV personality.
• 2008 – Aimé Césaire, a Caribbean-French poet and politician.
• 2011 – Michael Sarrazin, a Canadian actor.
• 2012 – Dimitris Mitropanos, a Greek singer.
• 2013 – Bi Kidude, a Tanzanian Taarab singer.
• 2014 – Gabriel García Márquez, a Colombian journalist and author, and a Nobel Prize winner.
• 2015 – A. Alfred Taubman, an American businessman and philanthropist.
• 2016 – Chyna, an American wrestler.
• 2016 – Doris Roberts, an American actress.
• 2018 – Barbara Bush, an American political figure who was the First Lady of the United States.
• 2019 – Alan García, a Peruvian lawyer and politician who served as President of Peru.
• 2022 – Radu Lupu, a Romanian pianist.

Holidays and Observances

• Christian feast day:
  • Kateri Tekakwitha (Canada)
  • Stephen Harding
  • April 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Evacuation Day (Syria), celebrates the recognition of the independence of Syria from France in 1946.
• FAO Day (Iraq)
• Flag Day (American Samoa)
• Malbec World Day
• Women's Day (Gabon)
• World Hemophilia Day

See also

In Spanish: 17 de abril para niños