/year

December 17 in history

204 sourced entries recorded on December 17, from 497 BCE to 2024 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 497 BCEConsecration of the newly constructed Temple of Saturn in the Roman Forum, and Saturnalia festival first celebrated.source
  • 283Pope Caius succeeds Eutychian as the 28th pope of Rome.source
  • 384Pope Siricius succeeds Damasus I as the 38th pope. He takes the title Pontifex Maximus, after it is relinquished by the late emperor Gratian.source
  • 546Sack of Rome: After almost a year's siege, the capture of a grain fleet sent by the exiled Pope Vigilius near the mouth of the Tiber, and failure of troops of the Byzantine Empire under Belisarius to relieve the city, the Ostrogoths under King Totila plunder Rome and destroy its fortifications. He then withdraws to Apulia (Southern Italy).source
  • 841Comet X/841 Y1 is first sighted in Chang'an by the Japanese monk Ennin.source
  • 908Husayn ibn Hamdan leads a revolt to depose the newly-appointed Abbasid Caliph Al-Muqtadir in Baghdad. He installs his uncle Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz and kills vizier Al-Abbas ibn al-Hasan al-Jarjara'i, but fails to murder Al-Muqtadir. This leads, finally, to the coup's collapse.source
  • 920Romanos I has himself crowned co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. He shares the throne with the 15-year-old Constantine VII (his son-in-law), and constructs an alternative palace at Constantinople with an adjoining monastery near the Great Palace. Though Constantine retains his formal position as first on the protocol list, Romanos becomes sole ruler.source
  • 942William I ("Longsword"), duke of Normandy, is ambushed and assassinated by supporters of Arnulf I ("the Great"), count of Flanders, while the two are at a peace conference at Picquigny (on an island on the Somme) to settle their differences. William is succeeded by his 9-year-old son Richard.source
  • 1024The monastery of Grottaferrata, outside of Rome, is consecrated by Pope John XIX and dedicated to the Virgin Mary.source
  • 1237December 16–21 – Siege of Ryazan: The Mongols under Batu Khan lay siege to Ryazan. The townspeople repel the first Mongol attacks but after 5 days the city walls are breached by Chinese catapults. On December 21, the Mongols storm the walls and plunder the capital, killing Yuri Igorevich and all inhabitants. Yuri II of Vladimir stands by and does nothing to intervene while Ryazan burns.source
  • 1398Timur defeats the last ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, which has been weakened after four years of civil war. Following his victory, Timur's Islamic troops sack the city of Delhi, and proceed to massacre hundreds of thousands of the state's Hindu inhabitants.source
  • 1414(4 Shawwal 817 AH) In Ahmedabad in the Gujarat Sultanate in India, construction of Ahmed Shah's Mosque is completed and the date is etched into stone.source
  • 1417The English Parliament closes and King Henry V gives royal assent to its one major law, the Attorney Act 1417, which provides that "All persons until the next parliament may make their attornies in wapentakes, hundreds, and court barons."source
  • 1434Pope Eugene IV issues the papal bull Creator Omnium, directing the freedom of the Canary Island slaves within 15 days after the bull is received.source
  • 1498Eight months after ascending the throne, King Louis XII of France annuls his marriage to Jeanne de Valois after 22 years so that he can marry Anne, Duchess of Brittany. The King grants his former queen the title of the Duchess of Berry.source
  • 1500All charges against the Columbus brothers for malfeasance in governing Hispanola are dismissed by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.source
  • 1513The Canton of Appenzell becomes a member of the Swiss Confederacy.source
  • 1513Louis XII makes peace with the Papal States by issuing a decree disavowing the Council of Pisa and promising his future adherence to the Lateran Council.source
  • 1526At Pozsony in western Hungary (now Bratislava in Slovakia), the Diet elects the Archduke Ferdinand as the King of Hungary.source
  • 1529The first session of the Reformation Parliament ends.source
  • 1538Pope Paul III confirms the excommunication of Henry VIII of England from the Roman Catholic church.source
  • 1548King João III of Portugal, creates a colonial government of Brazil, with a capital at Bahia, in order to maintain unity among various Portuguese captaincies (São Vicente, Nova Lusitania, Ilhéus and Porto Seguro) scattered along the coast. The document contains 48 articles governing the installation of the government, the organization of trade, measures for defense, treatment of the indigenous tribes, and policies toward foreigners. The King provides for a Governor-General, and appoints Tomé de Sousa as the first officeholder.source
  • 1566James is baptised at Stirling Castle.source
  • 1566The baptism of Prince James, son of Mary Queen of Scots, takes place at Stirling Castlesource
  • 1573Portuguese colonists are expelled from the Maldives, where Portugal has had a presence since 1558, by order of the Sultan's son, Mohamed Bodu Takurufanu al-Azam.source
  • 1583Cologne War: The Siege of Godesberg (begun on November 18) concludes when Catholic forces under Prince-elector-archbishop Ernest of Bavaria capture the strategic position, from defenders of the Calvinist convert Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg.source
  • 1586(Tenshō 14, 7th day of the 11th month) The reign of Emperor Ōgimachi of Japan ends, and Emperor Go-Yōzei ascends to the throne.source
  • 1599King James VI, via an act of his Privy Council, decided that Scotland should come into line with other "well governit commonwealths" and adopts 1 January as New Year’s Day. Prior to this 25 March was New Year’s Day. Thus the year 1599 commenced on 25 March 1599 and ended on 31 December 1599 - it was only 9 months long. The next date, in Scotland, was 1 January 1600. This left Scotland at odds with England, where the new year continued to be dated from 25 March. As a consequence 1 January 1600 in Scotland was 1 January 1599 in England. It is sometimes, mistakenly, said that Scotland adopted the Gregorian Calendar at this time. Whilst starting the new year on 1 January was one component of Gregorian reforms, Scotland did not adopt the two more fundamental changes in relation to (1) the computation for leap years and (2) the realignment of the calendar with the solar year, which necessitated the omission of ten days from the existing calendar. Scotland, along with England and Wales, adopted the Gregorian Calendar in 1752 under the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 by which time the omission of eleven days from the older calendar was required.source
  • 1637The Shimabara Rebellion erupts in Japan, when 30,000 peasants in the heavily Catholic area of northern Kyūshū revolt.source
  • 1650Treaty of navigation and commerce concludedsource
  • 1651Castle Cornet in Guernsey, the last stronghold which had supported the King in the Third English Civil War, surrenders.source
  • 1653Unlicensed exportation of arms, gunpowder, or other munitions of war from the city of Liège prohibitedsource
  • 1656King Frederick III of Denmark and Norway decrees that loan repayments and payments of interest to lenders will be made on two specific days, May 29 and June 11, each one nicknamed the Fandens fødselsdag or "Devil's Birthday",source
  • 1680December 17 (December 7 O.S.) – The trial for treason of William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford before his fellow members of the House of Lords having concluded after seven days, the Lords vote on whether to convict him of the articles of impeachment. The Lords vote, 55 to 31 to convict him and to impose the death sentence and Lord Stafford is beheaded on 29 December (8 January 1681 N.S.)source
  • 1684The Tibet–Ladakh–Mughal War, which had been going on since 1679, ends with the signing of the Treaty at Tingmosgang between the 5th Dalai Lama (Desi Sangye Gyatso) and King Delek Namgyal of Ladakh. The Ladakh kingdom agrees to not invite foreign armies into the area (now part of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir) in return for a respect for its sovereignty.source
  • 1718The Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Great Britain and Dutch Republic join the Kingdom of France in formally declaring war on Spain, launching the War of the Quadruple Alliance.source
  • 1718War of the Quadruple Alliance: Britain, the Kingdom of France, the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic declare war on Spain.source
  • 1727The London Evening Post, a conservative newspaper, publishes its first issue. It continues in regular publication for 70 years.source
  • 1745Two days after Prussian troops rout the Saxons at the Battle of Kesselsdorf, the Saxon capital of Dresden falls to Prussia's King Frederick the Great.source
  • 1755Anton, Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, is dismissed by his opponents on the Ecclesiastical Council and briefly imprisoned for 18 months before being allowed to move to Russia; in 1764, Anton is again made the Georgian Orthodox Church's leader.source
  • 1783George III dismisses the Fox-North Coalition. It is succeeded by a government formed by William Pitt the Younger.source
  • 1790The Aztec calendar stone is discovered at El Zócalo, Mexico City.source
  • 1794Grose leaves New South Wales for England. His positions as acting governor and commander of the New South Wales Corps are both filled by William Paterson.source
  • 1803Treaty of Deogaon signed between the East India Company and the Rajah of Berar, Raghuji Bhonsle II. Bhonsle ceded territories, including Cuttack and Balasore, to the British.source
  • 1807Napoleonic Wars: France issues the Milan Decree which confirms the Continental System (i.e. no European country is to trade with the United Kingdom).source
  • 1813A trade embargo comes into effect, aimed at New England merchants who have been supplying the British in Canadasource
  • 1816December 9–21 – The American Colonization Society is established, to support the emigration of free African Americans to Africa.source
  • 1819The Republic of Gran Colombia is formally established, with Simón Bolívar as its first president.source
  • 1819The new astronomical observatory of Capodimonte in Naples starts operating. The astronomer Carlo Brioschi made the first observation by measuring the position of ⍺ Cassiopeiae.source
  • 1828Trial of the case of the murderers and body snatchers William Burke and William Hare begins in Edinburgh.source
  • 1835December 16–17 – The Great Fire of New York destroys 530–700 buildings and kills two.source
  • 1837Fire breaks out in the Winter Palace, in Saint Petersburg, Russia killing 30 guards.source
  • 1838Run on the Banque de Belgique.source
  • 1843Publication of Charles Dickens' novella A Christmas Carol by Chapman & Hall in London at his expense. It introduces the character Ebenezer Scrooge. Released on 19 December, the first printing sells out by Christmas Eve and inspires charitable giving.source
  • 1845Ludwig Leichhardt arrives at Port Essington, Northern Territory, after an overland journey of 4800 km from Jimbour on the Darling Downs.source
  • 1850The George Seymour arrives in Lyttelton.source
  • 1852Earl of Derby resigns as Prime Minister, following the defeat of his budget.source
  • 1855London General Omnibus Company established in Paris as the Compagnie Générale des Omnibus de Londres; in the following year it will absorb a substantial proportion of horse-drawn omnibus operators in London.source
  • 1859Frederiksborg Castle is devastated by fire but Frederiksborg Chapel is saved.source
  • 1862General Order No. 11, which expels all Jews from his military district, is issued by General Ulysses S. Grant. This order is rescinded just a few weeks later.source
  • 1862General Order No. 11, expelling all Jews in his military district, is issued by General Ulysses S. Grant (it is rescinded a few weeks later).source
  • 1865Leopold II becomes King of the Belgians, following the death (on December 10) of his father, King Leopold I.source
  • 1886English adventurer Thomas Stevens concludes the first circumnavigation by bicycle in Yokohama, having set out on his penny-farthing from San Francisco in 1884.source
  • 1887English adventurer Thomas Stevens concludes the first circumnavigation by bicycle in Yokohama, having set out on his penny-farthing from San Francisco in 1884.source
  • 1888The Lyric Theatre, London opens.source
  • 1891Drexel University is inaugurated as the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry in Philadelphia.source
  • 1892First issue of Vogue is published in the United States.source
  • 1895Venezuela Crisis of 1895: U.S. President Cleveland asks the U.S. Congress to fund a commission to study the boundaries between Venezuela and British Guianasource
  • 1896Hereford earthquake.source
  • 1900The Prix Guzman, first and only prize ever offered for communication with extraterrestrial life, is announced in Paris. A prize of 100,000 francs is provided, except for communication with Mars, which is considered too easy.source
  • 1902The Commercial Telegraph Agency (TTA, Torgovo-Telegrafnue Agenstvo), predecessor of TASS, is officially established under the Ministry of Finance at Saint Petersburg in the Russian Empire.source
  • 1902A transmission from the wireless transmitting station of the Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada, became the world's first radio message to cross the Atlantic from North America.source
  • 1903Orville Wright flies an aircraft with a petrol engine, the Wright Flyer, at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in the first documented and successful powered and controlled heavier-than-air flight.source
  • 1905December 7–18 – Moscow Uprising: A Bolshevik-led revolt is suppressed by the army.source
  • 1907Ugyen Wangchuck becomes the first Druk Gyalpo (king of Bhutan).source
  • 1913December 16–17 – Parliamentary elections are held in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. The Croat-Serb Coalition wins with 39.09% of the vote.source
  • 1914United States President Woodrow Wilson signs the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act. This begins the ongoing international war on drugs.source
  • 1914U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signs the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act (initially introduced by Francis Burton Harrison).source
  • 1915Battle of Robat Karim.source
  • 1915December 4–18 – The 'Peace Ship' Oscar II chartered by industrialist Henry Ford sails from Hoboken, New Jersey to Oslo on an independent and eventually unsuccessful mission to broker a peace conference.source
  • 1920South Africa is granted a League of Nations Class C mandate over South West Africa.source
  • 1920December 15–22 – The Brussels Conference establishes a timetable for German war reparations, intended to extend for over 42 years.source
  • 1920The authority to issue currency notes is transferred from Treasury on the Australian Notes Board.source
  • 19261926 Lithuanian coup d'état: A democratically elected government is overthrown in Lithuania; Antanas Smetona assumes power.source
  • 1927Australian cricketer Bill Ponsford makes 437 runs to break his own world record for the highest first-class cricket score at Melbourne Cricket Ground.source
  • 1927United States Navy submarine USS S-4 is accidentally rammed and sunk by United States Coast Guard cutter John Paulding off Provincetown, Massachusetts, killing everyone aboard despite several unsuccessful attempts to raise the submarine.source
  • 1927The U.S. submarine S-4 is accidentally rammed and sunk by the United States Coast Guard destroyer John Paulding off Provincetown, Massachusetts, killing everyone aboard after several unsuccessful attempts to raise the sub.source
  • 1932the inscription to the Fascist party is made mandatory for the public employees.source
  • 1933The first NFL Championship game in American football is played. The Chicago Bears defeat the New York Giants 23–21.source
  • 1935The Douglas DST, prototype of the Douglas DC-3 airliner, first flies in the United States. More than 16,000 of the model will eventually be produced.source
  • 1938Otto Hahn discovers the nuclear fission of uranium, the scientific and technological basis of nuclear power, which marks the beginning of the Atomic Age.source
  • 1938Nuclear fission of heavy elements is discovered by German Otto Hahn and his assistant Fritz Strassmann.source
  • 1939The Graf Spee is scuttled off Montevideo harbour.source
  • 1940President Roosevelt, at his regular press conference, first sets forth the outline of his plan to send aid to Great Britain, which will become known as Lend-Lease.source
  • 1941The magnitude 7.1 Chungpu earthquake struck western Taiwan.source
  • 1942The Allies issue the Joint Declaration by Members of the United Nations (as the answer to Raczyński's Note), the first time they publicly acknowledge the Holocaust.source
  • 1948The Finnish Security Police is established to remove communist leadership from its predecessor, the State Police.source
  • 1951We Charge Genocide, a petition describing genocide against African Americans, is delivered to the United Nations.source
  • 1953The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approves color television (using the NTSC standard).source
  • 1960Troops loyal to Emperor Haile Selassie in Ethiopia overcome the coup that began on December 13, returning the reins to the Emperor upon his return from a trip to Brazil. The Emperor absolves his own son of any guilt.source
  • 1960Arne Sejersted, sailor and Olympic gold medallist (b.1877).source
  • 1961A circus tent fire in Niterói, Brazil kills 323.source
  • 1966South Africa does not join the trade embargo against Rhodesia.source
  • 1966South Africa refuses to join the trade embargo against Rhodesia.source
  • 1967Prime Minister Harold Holt disappears while swimming in heavy surf at Cheviot Beach, near Portsea, Victoria.source
  • 1967Harold Holt, 17th Prime Minister of Australia, disappears when swimming at Cheviot Beach, 60 km from Melbourne. He was briefly replaced as prime minister by John McEwen, until the Liberal Party elected Minister for Education and Science John Gorton as leader.source
  • 1970Soldiers fire on civilians returning to work in Gdynia. Martial law is imposed throughout the country until December 22.source
  • 1973Five Palestinian terrorists shoot at passengers waiting in an El Al Israel Airlines lounge at a Rome airport, killing two civilians. Then they hurled incendiary grenades at a Pan-Am Boeing 707 awaiting to take off, killing 29 passengers.source
  • 1974The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) becomes a specialized agency of the United Nations.source
  • 1980A new ferry terminal will be built in Sentosa, which will be finished by September 1981.source
  • 1981American Brigadier General James L. Dozier is kidnapped in Verona by the Italian Red Brigades.source
  • 1983The Alcalá 20 nightclub fire in Madrid, Spain, injuring 47 and killing 83 people.source
  • 1983Harrods bombings: a Provisional IRA car bomb kills 6 people and injures 90 outside Harrods department store in London.source
  • 1985An-Najah National University is ordered closed for several days by the Israeli authorities, who say that it was necessary to prevent a symposium on armed struggle from being held and to confiscate PLO propaganda material being held on campus.source
  • 1986Pablo Escobar's Medellín cartel murders El Espectador director and journalist Guillermo Cano Isaza. In the following 24 hours, the Colombian press at large protested his murder by not airing any radio or television news nor printing any print media.source
  • 1987Gustáv Husák resigns as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.source
  • 1989Brazil holds the second round of its first free election in 29 years; Fernando Collor de Mello is elected to serve as president from 1990.source
  • 19891989 Intercontinental Cup.source
  • 1989The first full-length episode of the animated series of The Simpsons, created by Matt Groening made its debut on FOX in the United States with the episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".source
  • 1993Brazil's Supreme Court rules that former President Fernando Collor de Mello may not hold elected office again until 2000 due to political corruption.source
  • 1993The Ang Mo Kio Community Hospital (present-day Ang Mo Kio - Thye Hua Kwan Hospital) is officially opened. The hospital works with General Practitioners, which will mainly serve the elderly living in the area.source
  • 1996The Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement takes 72 hostages in the Japanese Embassy in Lima, Peru.source
  • 2002A peace agreement is made in the Second Congo War, approving the creation of the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.source
  • 2002The International Court of Justice rules in favor of Malaysia in the Ligitan and Sipadan dispute with Indonesia.source
  • 2006Parliamentary elections were held in the country.source
  • 2009December 7–18 – The UNFCCC's 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference is held in Copenhagen, Denmark.source
  • 2010The attempted suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor in Tunisia, triggers the Tunisian Revolution and the wider Arab Spring throughout the Arab world.source
  • 2011In North Korea, following the death of the country's leader, Kim Jong-il, the official reaction is grief and support for the succession of his son, Kim Jong Un.source
  • 2012Spanish bank Grupo Santander announces the acquisition of the remaining 10% of Banesto it did not yet own, effectively absorbing it into Banco Santander.source
  • 2013The 49th annual Vuelta Ciclista a Costa Rica (Tour of Costa Rica bicycle race) got underway in Limón. The 1,530 kilometre race ends in San José on 29 December.source
  • 2014U.S. President Barack Obama announces the resumption of normal diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba.source
  • 2019Shandong, China's first fully domestically built aircraft carrier, enters naval service.source
  • 2022Leo Varadkar succeeds Micheál Martin as Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland, as part of a rotation agreement made in 2020.source
  • 2024The capital of Vanuatu, Port Vila, suffers extensive damage after a Mw 7.3 earthquake. At least 16 people are killed.source

Births

  • 1239Kujō Yoritsugu, Japanese ruler (shogun) (died 1256)source
  • 1265Emperor Go-Uda of Japan (died 1324)source
  • 1518Ernest III, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen (died 1567)source
  • 1554Ernest of Bavaria, Roman Catholic bishop (died 1612)source
  • 1556Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana, Indian composer (died 1627)source
  • 1556Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana poet (died 1627)source
  • 1616Roger L'Estrange, English pamphleteer and author (died 1704)source
  • 1619Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Bohemian-born Royalist commander in the English Civil War (died 1682)source
  • 1632Anthony Wood, English antiquarian (died 1695)source
  • 1642Francisco Castillo Fajardo, Marquis of Villadarias, Spanish general (died 1716)source
  • 1662Samuel Wesley, English poet, father of the Wesley brothers (died 1735)source
  • 1702Robert Knight, 1st Earl of Catherlough, Member of the British Parliament (died 1772)source
  • 1706Émilie du Châtelet, French mathematician and physicist (died 1749)source
  • 1734Queen Maria I of Portugal (died 1816)source
  • 1734Maria I of Portugal, queen (died 1816)source
  • 1749Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer (died 1801)source
  • 1760Deborah Sampson, first American female soldier (died 1827)source
  • 1770December 17 (bapt.) – Ludwig van Beethoven, German classical composer (died 1827)source
  • 1773Sylvain Charles Valée, Marshal of France (died 1846)source
  • 1778Humphry Davy, English physicist, chemist (died 1829)source
  • 1787Jan Evangelista Purkyne, Czech anatomist, botanist (died 1869)source
  • 1797Joseph Henry, American scientist (died 1878)source
  • 1807John Greenleaf Whittier, American Quaker poet and abolitionist (died 1892)source
  • 1859Haj Aqa Nourollah, Iranian grand ayatollah.source
  • 1874William Lyon Mackenzie King, 10th Prime Minister of Canada (died 1950)source
  • 1936Pope Francis (died 2025)source
  • 1942Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerian army general, 7th and 15th President of Nigeria (died 2025)source
  • 1978Manny Pacquiao, Filipino boxer and politiciansource
  • 1996Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Russian figure skatersource
  • 2005Clavicular, influencer in looksmaxxingsource

Deaths

  • 693Begga, Frankish abbess (born 615)source
  • 779Sturm, abbot of Fuldasource
  • 908Abdallah ibn al-Mu'tazz, Abbasid poet (born 861)source
  • 908Al-Abbas ibn al-Hasan al-Jarjara'i, Abbasid viziersource
  • 942William I, duke of Normandy (b.c. 893)source
  • 952Hugh the Black, duke of Burgundysource
  • 1160Gilla na Naemh Ua Duinn, poet, historian and cleric (born 1102).source
  • 1187Gregory VIII dies after holding the papacy for only 57 days. He is succeeded by Clement III as the 174th pope of Rome.source
  • 1187Gregory VIII, pope of the Catholic Churchsource
  • 1195Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut (born 1150)source
  • 1219Conon de Béthune, French knight (born 1150)source
  • 1273Rumi, Persian scholar and mystic (born 1207)source
  • 1275Eric Birgersson, Swedish nobleman (born 1250)source
  • 1288Ibn al-Nafis, Syrian scholar and polymath (born 1213)source
  • 1419William Gascoigne, Chief Justice of Englandsource
  • 1471Infanta Isabel, Duchess of Burgundy (born 1397)source
  • 1471Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of Burgundy (born 1397) in Aire-sur-la-Lyssource
  • 1562Eleonora di Toledo, Grand Duchess of Tuscany (born 1522)source
  • 1633December 17 or December 27 – Meletius Smotrytsky, Ruthenian religious activist and author (born 1577)source
  • 1645Nur Jahan, empress consort of the Mughal Empire (born 1577)source
  • 1648George Gillespie, Scottish theologian (born 1613)source
  • 1655Ukita Hideie, Japanese daimyō (born 1573)source
  • 1663Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba (born c. 1583)source
  • 1663Queen Ana Nzinga of the Kingdom of Ndongo and the Kingdom of Matamba, both located in the northern part of what is now the Republic of Angola in Africa, dies after a 39-year reign in Ndongo and 32 years after conquering Matamba. She is succeeded by her sister, Barbara Mukambu Mbandi, who rules for less than three years.source
  • 1697Eleonore of Austria, Queen of Poland (born 1653)source
  • 1708Deborah Churchill, British pickpocket and prostitute, is executed before a large crowd for being an accomplice to murder.source
  • 1731George Lockhart, Scottish writer, spy and politician, killed in duel (born 1673)source
  • 1758Charles Butler, 1st Earl of Arran, Anglo-Irish noble (born 1671)source
  • 1830Simón Bolívar, Venezuelan revolutionary leader, statesman (born 1783)source
  • 1833Kaspar Hauser, German youth of uncertain origin (stabbed) (born 1812?)source
  • 1833Kaspar Hauser, German youth of uncertain origin (stabbed) (born 1812?)source
  • 1848José María Urrutia Manzano (born 1771)source
  • 1858Mustafa Reşid Pasha, Ottoman statesman (born 1800)source
  • 1902Martín Tovar y Tovar, artist (born 1827)source
  • 1907William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Irish-born physicist and engineer (born 1824)source
  • 1909King Leopold II of Belgium (born 1835)source
  • 1930Peter Warlock, British composer (born 1894)source
  • 1957Dorothy L. Sayers, British crime writer, poet, playwright and essayist (born 1893)source
  • 2010Captain Beefheart, 69, American rock musician and artist (Trout Mask Replica), complications from multiple sclerosis.source
  • 2018Scandinavian tourists Louisa Vesterager Jespersen and Maren Ueland are murdered by Islamic terrorists in the foothills of Mount Toubkal near to the village of Imlil in Morocco. At least one victim is beheaded with the murders recorded on video and posted on social media. In a previous video the perpetrators pledge allegiance to ISIS.source