January 17 is the 17th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 348 days remaining (349 in leap years)
- 1562 - Huguenots were recognized under the Edict of St. Germain[?]
- 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
- 1819 - Simon Bolivar proclaims the Republic of Colombia
- 1852 - United Kingdom recognizes independence of the Transvaal
- 1893 - American sugar planters overthrow the government of Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii
- 1899 - United States takes possession of Wake Island
- 1912 - Robert Falcon Scott reaches the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen
- 1916 - The Professional Golfers Association (PGA) is formed
- 1917 - The United States pays Denmark $25 million for the Virgin Islands
- 1945 - Soviets occupy Warsaw
- 1945 - Auschwitz concentration camp begins evacuation
- 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, airs
- 1950 - The Great Brinks Robbery[?] - 11 thieves steal more than $2 million from a armored car in Boston, Massachusetts
- 1966 - Simon and Garfunkel release their second album, Sounds of Silence, on Columbia Records
- 1966 - A B-52 bomber collides with a KC-135 jet tanker over Spain, dropping three 70-kiloton hydrogen bombs near the town of Palomares[?] and one into the sea
- 1973 - Ferdinand Marcos becomes President for Life of the Philippines
- 1985 - British Telecom annouces they are going to abolish the famous red telephone boxes.
- 1991 - Gulf War: Iraq fires 8 Scud missiles into Israel
- 1995 - A magnitude 7.2 earthquake occurred near Kobe, Japan, causing great property damage and killing over 5,000.
- 1998 - Paula Jones[?] accuses President Bill Clinton of sexual harassment
- 2002 - Eruption of Mount Nyiragongo[?] in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacing an estimated 400,000 people.
- 1463 - Friedrich III, Saxon elector (+ 1525)
- 1706 - Benjamin Franklin American writer, inventor, publisher, and ambassador (+ 1790)
- 1763 - John Jacob Astor, entrepreneur (+ 1848)
- 1820 - Anne Brontë, British author (+ 1849)
- 1860 - Anton Chekhov, playwright (+ 1904)
- 1863 - David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1867 - Carl Laemmle[?], film executive (+ 1939)
- 1871 - David Earl Betty[?] British admiral (+ 1936)
- 1880 - Mack Sennett, director, producer (+ 1960)
- 1899 - Al Capone, gangster, nicknamed "Scarface" (+ 1947)
- 1899 - Nevil Shute, author (+ 1960)
- 1922 - Betty White[?], actress
- 1922 - Nicholas Katzenbach[?], politician
- 1926 - Moira Shearer[?], actress, dancer
- 1927 - Eartha Kitt[?], actress, singer
- 1928 - Jean Barraqué, composer (+ 1973)
- 1928 - Vidal Sassoon[?], cosmetologist
- 1929 - Jacques Plante, ice hockey star (+ 1986)
- 1931 - James Earl Jones, actor
- 1931 - Douglas Wilder, first elected African American governor of a U.S. state
- 1933 - Dalida, French singer (+ 1987)
- 1933 - Shari Lewis, puppeteer (+ 1998)
- 1937 - Troy Donahue[?], actor
- 1939 - Maury Povich[?], talk show host
- 1942 - Muhammad Ali, boxer
- 1942 - Ulf Hoelscher[?], violinist
- 1949 - Andy Kaufman, comedian (+ 1984)
- 1955 - Steve Earle, musician
- 1956 - Paul Young[?], English musician
- 1962 - Jim Carrey, actor, comedian
- 1966 - Shabba Ranks[?], singer
- 1971 - Kid Rock, singer
- 1751 - Tomaso Albinoni, aged 69, Italian composer
- 1799 - Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian mathematician
- 1861 - Lola Montez, adventurer
- 1886 - Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer
- 1893 - Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States
- 1961 - Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
- 1964 - T.H. White, author
- 1977 - Gary Gilmore[?], murderer (executed by firing squad)
- 1991 - King Olav V of Norway
- 1996 - Barbara Jordan[?], politician
- 1997 - Clyde Tombaugh, astronomer
- 2001 - Laurent-Desire Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
- 2002 - Camilo Jose Cela[?], Spanish author, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 1989
See Also: January,
February,
March,
April,
May,
June,
July,
August,
September,
October,
November,
December
January 16 - January 18 - December 17 - February 17 - Historical anniversaries