This is a list of selected January 17 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article, featured list or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
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Images
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title=Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1959 -
Lorrin A. Thurston -
E. C. Segar -
United Nations Security Council chamber -
One of the hydrogen bombs recovered from the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash -
Pope Gregory XI -
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Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| National Day in Menorca ( 1287) | refimprove sections |
| 1524 – Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano set sail westward from Madeira to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean. | refimprove section |
| 1781 – American Revolutionary War: American forces won a surprising victory over the British at the Battle of Cowpens, one of the most pivotal battles of the war. | lots of CN tags |
| 1885 – Mahdist War: British troops defeated Mahdist Sudanese forces at the Battle of Abu Klea in Khartoum, Sudan. | needs more footnotes |
| 1899 – The United States took possession of Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean. | multiple issues |
| 1904 – Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's last play, The Cherry Orchard, premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre. | cleanup list |
| 1915 – World War I: During the Caucasus Campaign's Battle of Sarikamish, Russian troops defeated Ottoman forces who were ill-prepared for winter conditions. | refimprove section |
| 1929 – American cartoonist E. C. Segar's character Popeye first appeared in his newspaper comic strip Thimble Theater. | refimprove section, original research |
| 1955 – USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, put to sea for the first time from Groton, Connecticut, with the message, "Underway on nuclear power." | refimprove section |
| 1977 – Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore was executed by firing squad in Utah, ending a four-year moratorium on the death penalty in the United States. | trivial pop culture references |
| 1981 – President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos lifted martial law, eight years and five months after declaring it. | multiple issues |
| 1991 – Harald V, the current King of Norway, succeeded to the throne upon the death of his father Olav V. | refimprove section |
| 1994 – A 6.7 Mw earthquake killed 72 people, injured more than 9,000 others, and caused an estimated US$20 billion in damage in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. | unreferenced sections |
| 1995 – The Great Hanshin earthquake struck near Kobe, Japan, killing over 6,000 people and causing over ¥10 trillion (US$200 billion) worth of damage. | refimprove |
| 2002 – Mount Nyiragongo erupted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of the town of Goma, destroying 4,500 buildings and leaving about 120,000 people homeless. | unreferenced section |
| 2010 – The first spate of violence between Muslims and Christians began in Jos, Nigeria, and would end in more than 200 deaths. | lots of CN tags; inconsistencies in article |
Eligible
- 1893 – Lorrin A. Thurston, along with the Citizens' Committee of Public Safety, led the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the government of Queen Liliʻuokalani.
- 1912 – Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition reached the South Pole, only to find that Roald Amundsen's team had beaten them by 33 days.
- 1917 – Denmark sold their portion of the Virgin Islands archipelago to the United States for US$25 million.
- 1946 – The United Nations Security Council, the organ of the United Nations charged with the maintenance of international peace and security, held its first meeting at Church House in London.
- 1961 – Three days before leaving office, U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered a farewell speech to the nation, in which he warned about the dangers of the military–industrial complex.
- 1961 – Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba was murdered in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States.
- 1966 – A U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress collided with a KC-135 Stratotanker during aerial refueling over the Mediterranean Sea, dropping three hydrogen bombs on land near Palomares, Spain, and a fourth one into the sea.
- 1989 – Patrick Purdy opened fire in an elementary school in Stockton, California, killing 5 and wounding 32 others.
- 1998 – The Drudge Report became the first news source to break the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal to the public.
- Born/died: Martino Zaccaria (d. 1345) · Thomas Fairfax (b. 1612) · Ellen Wood (b. 1814) · Anne Brontë (b. 1820) · David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty (b. 1871) · Barbara Jordan (d. 1996) · Sunanda Pushkar (d. 2014)
Notes
- Amundsen's South Pole expedition appears on December 14 and Nimrod Expedition appears on January 9, so Terra Nova should not appear soon after
Raoul Wallenberg
- 1377 – Pope Gregory XI entered Rome after a four-month journey from Avignon, returning the papacy to its original city and effectively becoming the last Avignon pope.
- 1773 – On James Cook's second voyage, his ship HMS Resolution became the first vessel to cross the Antarctic Circle.
- 1920 – The Volstead Act went into effect, beginning the prohibition of alcohol in the United States.
- 1945 – Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg (pictured), who had saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust, was taken into Soviet custody during the Siege of Budapest and was never seen in public again.
- 1948 – Indonesian National Revolution: The Renville Agreement between the Netherlands and Indonesian republicans was ratified, in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to resolve disputes arising from the Linggadjati Agreement of 1946.
Thomas Linley the elder (b. 1733) · Alva Belmont (b. 1853) · Mateiu Caragiale (d. 1936)
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