According to Gregory calendar, December 17 is the day number 351 in a year and if it is a leap year then the day number is 352. December 17 has its own special significance in India and world history.
Here you will find some important events that happened in Indian History on December 17. Read on to know more about this day.
List of Important Historical events of 17th December:
- 1398: Mongol emperor Timurlang captured Delhi. Delhi plundered by looting and slaughtering.
- 1526: Pope Clemens VII publishes degree Cum ad zero – forms Inquisition
- 1645: Nur Jahan Begum, wife of Mughal emperor Jahangir, died.
- 1718: The Empire of the Roman Empire, Great Britain and the Dutch Republic France formally joined France in the declaration of Spain’s war, the Quadruple Alliance War was launched.
- 1777: France recognizes the independence of British colonies in America.
- 1797: Napoleon makes a successful French charge against Fort L’Aiguillet to secure Toulon.
- 1891: Drexel University in Philadelphia inaugurated as the Drexel Institute of Arts, Sciences and Industry.
- 1903: The Wright brothers first flew an aircraft called ‘The Flyer’. This 12-second flight revolutionized the world.
- 1907: Ugyen Wangchuk became the first hereditary king of Bhutan.
- 1928: To avenge the murder of Lala Lajpat Rai, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev kill the British police officer John Sanders who charged him with sticks.
- 1938: German chemist Otto Han discovers nuclear fission of uranium.
- 1940: Mahatma Gandhi postpones individual Satyagraha movement.
- 1949: Burma (now Myanmar) recognizes communist China.
- 1961: India seizes Goa & 2 other Portuguese colonies
- 1971: The third war between India and Pakistan ended after Bangladesh came into existence as a result of the partition of Pakistan.
- 1977: Bobby Simpson scores 176 Australia v India at the WACA, aged 41
- 1981: Emergency Mobilization Board was established in the United States by order of President Reagan.
- 1987: Mega Man released in Japan.
- 1996: National Football League launched.
- 1998: US and British bomb years heavily bombed Iraq as part of ‘Operation Desert Fox’.
- 2005: Bhutan’s King Jig Sigme Wanchuk is removed from power.
- 2009: 40 people and more than 28,000 animals died due to the sinking of cargo ship MV Danny F2 off the coast of Lebanon.
- 2013: Angela Merkel was elected to the post of Chancellor of Germany for the third time.
- 2014: The US and Cuba restore diplomatic relations after 55 years.