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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 September, 2004
Tamil is declared first classical language in India.
17 September, 2001
The Dow Jones Industrial Average opens for the first time after the September 11 attacks. The stocks plummet throughout the trading session and posts its biggest point drop in its history closing down 684.81 points to 8920.70.
17 September, 1993
Last Russian troops leave Poland.
17 September, 1991
North Korea, South Korea, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Marshall Islands and Micronesia join the United Nations. The first version of the Linux kernel (0.01) is released to the Internet.
17 September, 1988
Opening ceremony of the Games of the XXIV Olympiad in Seoul, South Korea.
17 September, 1984
Baseball: Reggie Jackson becomes the 13th member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim, California.
17 September, 1983
Vanessa Williams becomes the first black Miss America.
17 September, 1978
The Camp David Accords were signed by Israel and Egypt.
17 September, 1976
The first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, was unveiled by NASA.
17 September, 1972
The first episode of M*A*S*H premieres on CBS.
17 September, 1970
Fighting breaks out along the Syria-Jordanian border between Jordanian troops and the fedayeen.
17 September, 1967
Jim Morrison and The Doors defy CBS censors on The Ed Sullivan Show.
17 September, 1956
Television was first broadcast in Australia.
17 September, 1949
The Canadian steamship SS Noronic burns in Toronto Harbor with the loss of over 118 lives.
17 September, 1948
Lehi (also known as the Stern gang) assassinates Count Folke Bernadotte, who was appointed by the UN to mediate between the Arabs and Jews.
17 September, 1947
James V. Forrestal was sworn in as the first Secretary of Defense of United States.
17 September, 1944
Allied Airborne troops parachute into Holland as the "Market" half of Operation Market Garden.
17 September, 1943
Russian city of Bryansk liberated from Nazis.
17 September, 1941
A decree of the Soviet State Committee of Defense, restoring Vsevobuch in the face of the Great Patriotic War, was issued
17 September, 1928
The Okeechobee Hurricane strikes southeastern Florida, killing upwards of 2,500 people. It is the third deadliest natural disaster in US history, behind the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
17 September, 1924
The Border Defence Corps was established in the Second Polish Republic for the defence of the eastern border against armed Soviet raids and local bandits.
17 September, 1920
National Football League is organized in Canton, Ohio, United States.
17 September, 1916
World War I: Manfred von Richthofen ("The Red Baron"), a flying ace of the German Luftstreitkräfte, won his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France.
17 September, 1914
Andrew Fisher becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time.
17 September, 1908
The Wright Flyer flown by Orville Wright, with Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge as passenger, crashes; killing Selfridge. He becomes the first airplane fatality.
17 September, 1900
Philippine-American War: Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat Americans under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham at Mabitac.
17 September, 1894
Battle of Yalu River, the largest naval engagement of the First Sino-Japanese War.
17 September, 1862
American Civil War: George B. McClellan halts the northward drive of Robert E. Lees Confederate army in the single-day Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest day in American history.
17 September, 1859
Joshua A. Norton declares himself Emperor Norton I of the United States.
17 September, 1814
Francis Scott Key finishes his The Star-Spangled Banner poem.
17 September, 1809
Peace between Sweden and Russia in the Finnish War. The territory to become Finland is ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Fredrikshamn.
17 September, 1787
The United States Constitution is signed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
17 September, 1778
Treaty of Fort Pitt signed, the first formal treaty between the United States and a Native American tribe (the Lenape or Delaware).
17 September, 1776
The Presidio of San Francisco is founded in New Spain.
17 September, 1631
Sweden wins a major victory at the Battle of Breitenfeld against the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years War.
17 September, 1630
The city of Boston, Massachusetts, is founded.
17 September, 1577
Peace of Bergerac signed between Henry III of France and the Huguenots.
17 September, 1462
The Battle of Swiecino (or Battle of Zarnowiec) is fought during Thirteen Years War.
17 September, 1176
The Battle of Myriokephalon is fought.

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