Dictionary of Meaning

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January 17

*** Shopping-Tip: January 17
{| style="float:right;" |- | |- | |} Gregorian calendar. There are 348 days remaining (349 in leap years).

Events

- 1562 - France recognizes the Huguenots under the Edict of Saint-Germain.

- 1648 - England's Long Parliament passes the Vote of No Address, breaking off negotiations with Charles I of England|King Charles I and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.

- 1746 - Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie", defeats a House of Hanover army at House of Hanover army at Falkirk_in his ultimately unsuccessful campaign to recover the throne for the Jacobite dynasty.

- 1772 - Johann Friedrich Struensee and Queen Caroline Matilda of Wales|Caroline Matilda are arrested, leading to his execution and her banishment from Denmark.

- 1773 - Captain James Cook becomes the first explorer to cross the Antarctic Circle.

- 1781 - Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the Battle of Cowpens in South Carolina.

- 1806 - James Madison Randolph, the grandson of Thomas Jefferson, became the first child born in the White House.

- 1819 - SimÃ³n BolÃvar proclaims the Republic of Colombia.

- 1852 - United Kingdom recognizes the independence of the Boer colonies of the Transvaal.

- 1873 - First Battle of the Stronghold in the US Modoc War.

- 1885 - A British force defeats a large Dervish army at the Battle of Abu Klea in the Sudan.

- 1893 - The Committee of Safety (Hawaii)|Citizen's Committee of Public Safety, led by Lorrin A. Thurston overthrew the government of Queen Liliuokalani of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

- 1899 - The United States takes possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean.

- 1912 - Sir Robert Falcon Scott (Scott of the Antarctic) reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen.

- 1916 - The Professional Golfers Association of America|Professional Golfers Association (PGA) is formed.

- 1917 - The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the U.S. Virgin Islands|Virgin Islands.

- 1929 - Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, first appeared in the Comic Strip Thimble Theatre.

- 1941 - Kuomintang forces under the order of Chiang Kai-Shek opened fire at communist force, Chinese Civil War resumes after World War II.(This event is known as World War II.(This event is known as çš–å?—äº‹å?˜).

- 1945 - Soviet forces capture the almost completely destroyed Polish city of Warsaw.

- 1945 - The Nazis begin the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as Soviet forces close in.

- 1945 - Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg disappears in Hungary while in Soviet custody.

- 1946 - The UN Security Council holds its first session.

- 1949 - The Goldbergs, the first sitcom on American television, first airs.

- 1950 - The Great Brinks Robbery - 11 thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car Company's offices in Boston, Massachusetts.

- 1966 - Simon and Garfunkel release their second album, The Sounds of Silence|Sounds of Silence, on Columbia Records.

- 1966 - A B-52 Stratofortress bomber collides with a B-52 Stratofortress bomber collides with a KC-135_jet tanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares and another one into the sea.

- 1966 - Carl Brashear, the first African American United States Navy diver, loses his leg in an accident on a routine mission.

- 1973 - Ferdinand Marcos becomes "President for Life" of the Philippines.

- 1974 - Joni Mitchell releases Court and Spark, arguably her most mainstream album.

- 1975 - Bob Dylan releases Blood on the Tracks, often considered one of his best albums.

- 1977 - Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by a firing squad in Utah, ending a ten-year moratorium on the death penalty in the United States.

- 1982 - "Cold Sunday" in the United States sees temperatures fall to their lowest levels in over 100 years in numerous cities.

- 1983 - Launch of breakfast television in Britain with the BBC's Breakfast programme presented by Frank Bough and Selina Scott

- 1985 - British Telecom announces the retirement of Britain's famous red telephone boxes.

- 1991 - Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm began early in the morning. Iraq fires 8 Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.

- 1991 - Harald V of Norway|Harald V becomes King of Norway on the death of his father, Olav V of Norway|Olav V.

- 1994 - A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits Northridge, California; see 1994 Northridge Earthquake.

- 1995 - A magnitude 7.3 earthquake (known as "Great Hanshin earthquake" hits near Great Hanshin earthquake" hits near Kobe, Japan, causing extensive property damage and killing 6,433 people.

- 1996 - The Czech Republic applies for membership of the European Union.

- 1998 - Paula Jones accuses President of the United States|President Bill Clinton of sexual harassment.

- 2002 - Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.

- 2006 - Clarence Ray Allen becomes the oldest condemned inmate executed in California and the 2nd oldest in the United States.

Births

- 1463 - Frederick III of Saxony|Friedrich III, Elector of Saxony (d. 1525)

- 1484 - George Spalatin, German reformer (d. 1545)

- 1501 - Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (d. 1566)

- 1504 - Pope Pius V (d. 1572)

- 1560 - Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss botanist (d. 1624)

- 1600 - Pedro Calderon de la Barca, Spanish playwright (d. 1681)

- 1612 - Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English Civil War general (d. 1671)