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On this day in History Archives
 
At PaulsQuiz.com we aim to provide you with as much information as we possibly can. That's why we have built our On This Day in History section, to do just that. Our database is forever growing, we're adding more and more events from history to help you write your quiz questions.

Simply enter a date using the drop-down boxes below and click the 'Go' button to display events from the past that ocurred on that day.
 

 
17 October, 2006
The United States population reaches 300 million.
17 October, 2003
The pinnacle was fitted on the roof of Taipei 101, a 101-floor skyscraper in Taipei, allowing it to surpass the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur by 50 meters (165 feet) and become the Worlds tallest highrise. Eunuchs in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh float the political party Jiti Jitayi Politics.
17 October, 2000
Train crash at Hatfield, north of London, leading to collapse of Railtrack.
17 October, 1992
The United Nations General Assembly declares October 17 as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, to be observed beginning in 1993. Resolution 47/196 of 22 December 1992.
17 October, 1989
Loma Prieta earthquake (7.1 on the Richter scale) hits the San Francisco Bay Area and causes 57 deaths directly (and 6 indirectly).
17 October, 1979
Mother Teresa awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The Department of Education Organization Act is signed into law creating the US Department of Education and US Department of Health and Human Services. Both replace the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
17 October, 1977
German Autumn: Four days after it was hijacked, Lufthansa Flight 181 lands in Mogadishu, Somalia, where a team of German GSG 9 commandos later rescues all remaining hostages on board.
17 October, 1973
OPEC starts an oil embargo against a number of western countries, considered to have helped Israel in its war against Syria.
17 October, 1970
Montreal, Quebec: Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte murdered by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
17 October, 1968
The 1968 Olympics Black Power salute is performed by Tommie Smith and John Carlos.
17 October, 1967
The musical Hair opens at the Anspacher Theater on Broadway.
17 October, 1966
A fire at a building in New York, New York kills 12 firefighters, the New York City Fire Departments deadliest day until the September 11, 2001 attacks.
17 October, 1965
The 1964-1965 New York Worlds Fair closes after a two year run. More than 51 million people had attended the two-year event.
17 October, 1961
Scores of Algerian protesters (some claim up to 400) are massacred by the Paris police at the instigation of Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, then chief of the Prefecture of Police.
17 October, 1945
A massive number of people, headed by CGT and Evita, gather in the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina to demand Juan Perons release. This is known to the Peronists as the Día de la lealtad (day of loyalty). Its considered the birthday of Peronism.
17 October, 1941
For the first time in World War II, a German submarine attacks an American ship.
17 October, 1937
Huey, Dewey and Louie, Donald Ducks three almost identical nephews, first appear in a newspaper comic strip.
17 October, 1933
Albert Einstein, fleeing Nazi Germany, moves to the US.
17 October, 1931
Al Capone convicted of income tax evasion.
17 October, 1917
First British bombing of Germany in World War I.
17 October, 1912
Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declare war on the Ottoman Empire, joining Montenegro in the First Balkan War.
17 October, 1907
Guglielmo Marconis company begins first regular commercial trans-Atlantic wireless service between Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada and Clifden, Ireland.
17 October, 1888
Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie).
17 October, 1860
First The Open Championship (referred to in North America as the British Open).
17 October, 1806
Former leader of the Haitian Revolution, Emperor Jacques I of Haiti was assassinated after an oppressive rule.
17 October, 1800
England takes control of the Dutch colony of Curaçao.
17 October, 1797
Treaty of Campo Formio is signed between France and Austria.
17 October, 1781
General Charles Cornwallis offers his surrender to the American revolutionists at Yorktown, Virginia.
17 October, 1777
American troops defeat the British in the Battle of Saratoga.
17 October, 1662
Charles II of England sells Dunkirk to France for 40,000 pounds.
17 October, 1660
Nine Regicides, the men who signed the death warrant of Charles I, are hanged, drawn and quartered, another is hanged.
17 October, 1610
French king Louis XIII is crowned in Rheims.
17 October, 1604
Keplers Star: German astronomer Johannes Kepler observes that an exceptionally bright star had suddenly appeared in the constellation. Ophiuchus, which turned out to be the last supernova to have been observed in our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
17 October, 1448
Second Battle of Kosovo, where the mainly Hungarian army led by John Hunyadi were defeated by an Ottoman army led by Sultan Murad II.
17 October, 1346
Battle of Nevilles Cross: King David II of Scotland is captured by Edward III of England at Calais, and imprisoned in the Tower of London for eleven years.
17 October, 1244
Battle of La Forbie: Crusaders are defeated by Khwarezmians and Egyptians.

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