Hit REFRESH if page doesn't load Please Support our Fine Sponsors . . . Link to us - click here . Useful Links - click here . Add your own Personal Historic listing FREE! - Click Here Return to Daily Calendar Today's date is:    Please Support Our Sponsors Wisdom? Humor? Fact? Advice? ... Black holes suck. What happened on March 17 Please support our Sponsors - They help us keep this site Alive! 0045 BC - In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda. 0180 Marcus Aurelius dies. Commodus is now the only emperor. 0624 Muhammad wins a key victory over his Meccan adversaries in the Battle of Badr. 1328 Treaty of Edinburgh by which England acknowledged the independence of Scotland under Robert 1 was concluded at Edinburgh 1337 Edward, the Black Prince is made Duke of Cornwall, the first Duchy made in England. 1521 Ferdinand Magellan discovers the Philippines 1521 Magelhaes lands on Homohon 1526 French king François I freed from Spain 1537 French troops invade Flanders 1577 Martin Frobisher c1539-1594 gets commission from the Cathay Company to hunt for gold in the Arctic; he will return with tons of worthless pyrites, which are dumped as street ballast in London, giving rise to the legend that the streets of London were paved with gold 1577 The Cathay Company is formed to send Martin Frobisher back to the New World for more gold. 1580 Prince Willem of Orange welcomed in Amsterdam 1613 Cupids, Newfoundland the wife of Nicholas Guy gives birth to a son; likely the first English child born in Newfoundland 1658 Pro-Charles II plot in England discovered 1722 Willem KH Friso appointed mayor of Drente 1753 First official St Patrick's Day 1755 Transylvania Land Co buys Kentucky for $50,000 from a Cherokee chief 1756 St Patrick's Day first celebrated in NYC at Crown and Thistle Tavern 1756 St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in New York City for the first time (at the Crown and Thistle Tavern). 1757 Prince Mas Saïd of Mataram surrenders to Mangkubumi in Java 1762 First St Patrick's Day parade in NYC 1766 Britain repeals Stamp Act 1776 British forces evacuate Boston to Nova Scotia during Revolutionary War 1800 English warship Queen Charlotte catches fire; 700 die 1804 Johann von Schiller's "Wilhelm Tell", premieres 1805 The Italian Republic, with Napoleon as president, becomes the Kingdom of Italy, with Napoleon as King. 1824 England and Netherlands sign a trade agreement 1829 Ottawa Ontario 200 Irish canal navvies riot on St. Patricks Day; one killed and many wounded 1833 Phoenix Society forms (New York) 1836 Texas abolishes slavery 1842 Indians land in Ohio, a 12²-mile area in Upper Sandusky 1845 Bristol man, Henry Jones, patents self-raising flour 1845 Rubber band patented by Stephen Perry of London 1845 UK hist The rubber band patented by Stephen Perry 1858 Toronto Ontario St. Patricks Day riot breaks out during parade; one man fatally stabbed 1861 Italy declares independence; Kingdom of Italy proclaimed 1861 The Kingdom of Italy (1861-1946) is proclaimed. 1863 Battle of Kelly's Ford, Virginia (211 casualities) 1868 Postage stamp canceling machine patent issued 1870 Massachusetts legislature authorizes incorporation of Wellesley Female Seminary 1876 General Crook destroy Cheyennes and Oglala-Sioux Indian camps 1877 Bill Midwinter completes Test Crickets' first 5-wkt haul, 5-78 vs England 1884 John Joseph Montgomery makes first glider flight, Otay CA 1886 Carrollton Massacre, (Mississippi) 20 blacks killed 1886 Carrollton Massacre: 20 African Americans are killed in Mississippi. 1891 British Steamer "Utopia" sinks off Gibraltar killing 574 1891 The British steamship SS Utopia sinks off the coast of Gibraltar, killing 574. 1894 US and China sign treaty preventing Chinese laborers from entering US 1897 Robert Fitzsimmons KOs James J Corbett in 14 for heavyweight boxing title 1898 The first practical submarine submerges, off New York NY for 1 hour 40 minutes 1899 Windsor luxury hotel in NYC catches fire, 92 die 1901 A showing of 71 Vincent van Gogh paintings in Paris, 11 years after his death, creates a sensation. 1901 Free thinking-Democratic Union forms in Netherlands 1905 Eleanor Roosevelt marries FDR in New York 1906 Japan nationalises its railways 1906 The Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity is founded at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. 1908 Quickest world heavyweight title fight (Tommy Burns KOs Jem Roche in 88 seconds) 1910 DHC soccer team forms in Delft Netherlands 1910 Luther Gulick and his wife Charlotte found Camp Fire Girls (now Camp Fire USA) (formally announced in 1912). 1912 Camp Fire Girls organization announced by Mrs Luther Halsey Gulick 1913 The Uruguayan Air Force is founded. 1916 Eight Curtiss "Jenny" planes of the First Aero Squadron take off from Columbus, Mexico, in the first combat air mission in U.S. history 1917 Delta Phi Epsilon is founded at New York University Law School. 1917 Tsar Nicolas II of Russia abdicates the throne 1919 Dutch steel workers strike for 8 hour day and minimum wages 1921 Dr Marie Stopes opens Britain's first birth control clinic (London) 1921 Lenin proclaims New Economic Politics 1921 The Second Republic of Poland adopts the March Constitution. 1924 Netherlands and USSR begin talks over USSR recognition 1924 Sweden and USSR exchange diplomats 1926 Dutch Calvinists oust Reverend J G Geelkerken over Genesis 3 1926 Spain and Brazil prevent Germany joining League of Nations 1927 US government doesn't sign league of Nations disarmament treaty 1929 General Motors acquires German auto manufacturer Adam Opel 1929 Spanish dictator Primo de Rivera closes university of Madrid 1931 In an attempt to lift the state from the hard times of the Great Depression, the Nevada state legislature votes to legalize gamblin 1931 Nevada legalizes gambling. 1931 Stalin throws Krupskaya Lenin out of Central Committee 1932 German police raid Hitler's Nazi-headquarter 1934 Dollfuss, Mussolini and Gömbös sign Donau Pact (protocols of Rome) 1939 Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945): The Battle of Nanchang between the Kuomintang and the Japanese breaks out. 1942 Belzec Concentration Camp opens-30,000 Lublin Polish Jews transported 1942 General Doug MacArthur arrives in Australia to become supreme commander 1942 Holocaust: The first Jews from the Lviv Ghetto (western Ukraine) are gassed at the Belzec death camp (eastern Poland). 1943 The ships, Aldemarin (Ned) and Fort Cedar Lake (US) torpedoed and sink 1944 Actor Charlton Heston weds Lydia Clarke 1945 Allied ships bomb North-Sumatra 1945 HMCS Guysborough torpedoed in the Bay of Biscay 1945 The strategically important captured railway Bridge at Remagen, having sped the end of WW-II, but ironically no longer taking artillery fire, collapses ten days into the battle rendering the lodgement on the Germany bank of the Rhine dependent entirely on pontoon bridges. 1948 Benelux, France, and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Brussels, a precursor to the NATO Agreement. 1950 Element 98 (Californium) announced 1950 University of California, Berkeley researchers announce the creation of element 98, which they name "Californium". 1951 Government of Drees takes power 1952 UK hist Utility furniture and clothing scheme ends 1955 Maurice "Rocket" Richard suspended, sparks 7 hour riot in Montréal 1956 8th Emmy Awards: Ed Sullivan Show, Phil Silvers Show and Lucy Ball 1957 Dutch ban on Sunday driving lifted 1957 Ramon Magsaysay, President of Philippines dies in a plane crash 1958 Navy launches Vanguard 1 into orbit (2nd US), measures Earth shape 1959 Australia and USSR restore diplomatic relations 1959 Dalai Lama flees Tibet for India 1959 Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet for India. 1960 Eisenhower forms anti-Castro-exile army under the CIA 1960 Number one hit on UK music charts - Johnny Preston - Running Bear 1960 UK hist New £1 notes issued by Bank of England 1961 South Africa leaves British Commonwealth 1962 Visitor posting - Michael born - China 1963 Elizabeth Ann Seton of New York beatified (canonized in 1975) 1963 Eruptions of Mount Agung Bali, kills 1,500 Balinese 1965 Beatles announce their film is named "8 Arms to Hold on to You" (Help) 1965 The X-22A VTOL research aircraft made its first flight at Buffalo, N.Y. 1966 Number one hit on UK music charts - The Walker Brothers - The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore 1966 Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the Alvin submarine finds a missing American hydrogen bomb. 1966 US sub locates missing H-bomb in Mediterranean 1968 2-tiered gold price negotiated in Washington DC by US and 6 European nations 1969 Golda Meir becomes Israel's 4th Prime Minister 1969 Golda Meir becomes the first female Prime Minister of Israel. 1970 My Lai massacre: The United States Army charges 14 officers with suppressing information related to the incident. 1970 US casts their first UN Security Council veto (Support England) 1972 Ringo releases "Back off Bugaloo" in UK 1973 Luzon, Philippine Islands a 7.5 earthquake killed 14, injured 100, and caused an estimated $2 million in damage 1973 St Patrick's Day marchers carry 14 coffins commemorating Bloody Sunday 1973 The Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph Burst of Joy is taken, depicting a former prisoner of war being reunited with his family. 1973 UK hist Modern London Bridge opened by the Queen 1974 A CP Rail freight train hits a rock slide and derails at Spences Bridge, BC killing two crew members. This lead to the eventual installation of ditch lights on Canadian trains. 1976 Rubin "Hurricane" Carter is retried 1977 Australia wins cricket Centenary Test by 45 runs, same result as 1877 1978 RCMP charge Toronto Sun editor Peter Worthington and publisher Donald Creighton with violating Official Secrets Act; published information from secret report on Soviet espionage activities in Canada 1978 Reds don green uniforms for St Patricks Day 1979 Number one hit on UK music charts - Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive 1979 The Penmanshiel Tunnel collapses during engineering works, killing two workers. 1981 FC Lisse, Dutch soccer team forms 1982 4 Dutch TV crew members shot dead in El Salvador 1982 Following the failure of Argentinean diplomatic efforts to reclaim the Falkland Islands from the British, an Argentine warship lands a party of "scrap dealers" on South Georgia Island, a dependency of the Falkland Islands British crown colony 1983 9th People's Choice Awards 1984 Visitor posting - sonja michelle irvin daughter of gregory and loretta irvin born 1985 Brian Mulroney 1939- welcomes President Ronald Reagan to a Canada-US Summit meeting in the Chateau Frontenac; called the Shamrock Summit because of their common Irish ancestry and the date - St. Patrick's Day. 1985 IBM surprised the computer industry by announcing the termination of its PC Jr., a watered-down version of its popular IBM PC 1985 Serial killer Richard Ramirez, the "Night Stalker", commits his first two murders in Los Angeles, California murder spree. 1986 Haemers gang robs gold transport in Belgium of 35 million BF 1987 IBM releases PC-DOS version 3.3 (but Windows is on the way) 1987 Sunil Gavaskar ends his Test career with an inning of 96 vs Pakistan 1987 Torrential rains and mudslides in Tajikistan, Soviet Union, destroy dam, killing 19 people and leaving nine others missing. 1988 A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into a mountainside near the Venezuelan border killing 143. 1988 Eritrean War of Independence: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on three sides by military units of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) in the opening action of the Battle of Afabet. 1988 Iran says Iraq uses poison gas 1989 Dorothy Cudahy is first female grand marshal of St Patrick Day Parade 1991 Former Australian governor-general Sir John Kerr, who dismissed the Whitlam Labor government in 1975, dies in Sydney aged 76. 1991 Irish Lesbians and Gays march in St Patrick Day parade 1991 New Jersey raises turnpike tolls 70% 1991 USSR holds a referendum to determine if they should stay together; 9 of 15 Soviet representatives officially approve new union treaty 1992 18th People's Choice Awards: Garth Brooks and Reba McEntire 1992 A suicide car-bomb kills 29 and injures 242 at the Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 1992 De Klerk wins a white only referendum 1992 Islamic Jihad truck bombs Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires Argentina killing 29 1993 86 killed by bomb attack in Calcutta 1994 Iran transport aircraft crashes in Azerbaijan (32 killed) 1995 British £ hits 2.4545 to Dutch guilder (record) 1995 Sinn-Fein leader Gerry Adams visits White House 1995 US approves first chicken pox vaccine, Varivax by Merck and Co 1996 Mike Tyson beat Frank Bruno in 3rd round to gain Heavyweight title 1996 Sri Lanka beat Australia by 7 wickets to win the World Cup 1997 CNN begins Spanish broadcasts 1998 USA Women's Hockey Team beats Canada for first Olympics Gold medal 2000 The 800+ deaths of members of the Ugandan cult Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God on March 17, 2000 is considered to be a mass murder and suicide orchestrated by leaders of the cult. 2001 AUSTRALIA has its first woman police chief, with Christine Nixon today appointed Victoria's new police commissioner. 2003 British Cabinet Minister Robin Cook, resigns over government plans for war with Iraq. 2004 Massive unrest in Kosovo results in more than 22 killed, 200 wounded, and the destruction of 35 Serb Orthodox shrines in Kosovo and two mosques in Belgrade and Nis. 2008 German Chancellor Visits Israel 2010 Toyota Gong Show continues - Blaming solar flare on accelleration problems - ha ha - next theory will be that Godzilla is in the vicinity and causing the problems 2010 Visitor posting - After many years together, Tiffany became Mrs. Justin Dann - USA More historical events added daily - keep checking back Add your own Personal Historic listing FREE! - Click Here Return to Daily Calendar Contact us at: info @ datesinhistory.com (remove the spaces) "This site contains links to other Internet sites. 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