On this day: May 17

Events on May 17

• 1395 An outnumbered Wallachian army repulsed invading Ottoman forces at the Battle of Rovine. Wikipedia
• 1395 Battle of Rovine: The Wallachians defeat an invading Ottoman army. Wikipedia
• 1639 The treaty of Zuhab ends the fifteen-year-long war between the Ottomans and the Safavids. Wikipedia
• 1673 Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River. Wikipedia
• 1805 Muhammad Ali becomes Wāli of Egypt. Wikipedia
• 1809 Emperor Napoleon I orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire. Wikipedia
• 1814 Occupation of Monaco changes from French to Austrian. Wikipedia
• 1865 The International Telecommunication Union, which standardizes and regulates international radio and telecommunications, was founded as the International Telegraph Union in Paris. Wikipedia
• 1890 The opera Cavalleria rusticana by Pietro Mascagni, premieres at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, beginning the verismo period in Italian opera. Wikipedia
• 1914 The Protocol of Corfu is signed, recognising full autonomy to Northern Epirus under nominal Albanian sovereignty. Wikipedia
• 1940 World War II: Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium. Wikipedia
• 1959 In Cuba, the First Agrarian Reform Law – a cornerstone of the Cuban Revolution – is signed by Fidel Castro, aiming to eliminate large foreign-owned estates and redistribute land to over 100,000 peasants. Wikipedia
• 1967 Six-Day War: President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt demands dismantling of the peace-keeping UN Emergency Force in Egypt. Wikipedia
• 1969 Venera program: Soviet Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere of Venus, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure. Wikipedia
• 1974 The Troubles: Thirty-three civilians are killed and 300 injured when the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) detonates four car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan, Ireland. Wikipedia
• 1974 The Troubles: The Ulster Volunteer Force detonated a series of car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan, Ireland, killing 34 people and injuring almost 300 others. Wikipedia
• 1983 Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. Wikipedia
• 1983 The U.S. Department of Energy declassifies documents showing world's largest mercury pollution event in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (ultimately found to be 4.2 million pounds [1.9 kt]), in response to the Appalachian Observer's Freedom of Information Act request. Wikipedia
• 1990 The General Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) eliminates homosexuality from the list of psychiatric diseases. Wikipedia
• 1992 Three days of popular protests against the government of Prime Minister of Thailand Suchinda Kraprayoon begin in Bangkok, leading to a military crackdown that results in 52 officially confirmed deaths, hundreds of injuries, many disappearances, and more than 3,500 arrests. Wikipedia
• 1994 Malawi holds its first multi-party elections. Wikipedia
• 1997 The First Congo War came to an end when Laurent-Désiré Kabila proclaimed himself president of Zaire, which was also renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Wikipedia
• 1997 Troops of Laurent-Désiré Kabila march into Kinshasa. Zaire is officially renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo. Wikipedia
• 2004 Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage. Wikipedia
• 2007 Trains from North and South Korea cross the 38th Parallel in a test-run agreed by both governments. This is the first time that trains have crossed the Demilitarized Zone since 1953. Wikipedia
• 2014 A military plane crash in northern Laos kills 17 people. Wikipedia

Born on May 17

• 1749 Edward Jenner, English physician and microbiologist (died 1823) Wikipedia
• 1866 Erik Satie, French pianist and composer (died 1925) Wikipedia
• 1868 Horace Elgin Dodge, American businessman, co-founded Dodge (died 1920) Wikipedia
• 1873 Henri Barbusse, French author and journalist (died 1935) Wikipedia
• 1886 Alfonso XIII, Spanish monarch (died 1941) Wikipedia
• 1897 Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1981) Wikipedia
• 1911 Maureen O'Sullivan, Irish-American actress (died 1998) Wikipedia
• 1918 Birgit Nilsson, Swedish operatic soprano (died 2005) Wikipedia
• 1934 Ronald Wayne, American computer scientist, co-founded Apple Computer Wikipedia
• 1936 Dennis Hopper, American actor and director (died 2010) Wikipedia
• 1940 Alan Kay, American computer scientist and academic Wikipedia
• 1950 Janez Drnovšek, Slovenian economist and politician, 2nd President of Slovenia (died 2008) Wikipedia
• 1955 Bill Paxton, American actor and director (died 2017) Wikipedia
• 1956 Bob Saget, American comedian, actor, and television host (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1956 Sugar Ray Leonard, American boxer Wikipedia
• 1961 Enya, Irish singer-songwriter and producer Wikipedia
• 1965 Trent Reznor, American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Wikipedia
• 1967 Mohamed Nasheed, Maldivian lawyer and politician 4th President of the Maldives Wikipedia
• 1971 Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, Dutch royal Wikipedia
• 1980 Ariën van Weesenbeek, Dutch drummer Wikipedia
• 1982 Tony Parker, French-American basketball player Wikipedia
• 1988 Nikki Reed, American actress, singer, and screenwriter Wikipedia

Died on May 17

• 1510 Sandro Botticelli, Italian painter (born 1445) Wikipedia
• 1606 False Dmitriy I, pretender to the Russian throne (born 1582) Wikipedia
• 1727 Catherine I of Russia (born 1684) Wikipedia
• 1765 Alexis Clairaut, French mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist (born 1713) Wikipedia
• 1822 Armand-Emmanuel de Vignerot du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu, French general and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of France (born 1766) Wikipedia
• 1829 John Jay, American politician and diplomat, 1st Chief Justice of the United States (born 1745) Wikipedia
• 1838 Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, French politician, Prime Minister of France (born 1754) Wikipedia
• 1875 John C. Breckinridge, American lawyer and politician, 14th Vice President of the United States, Confederate States general (born 1821) Wikipedia
• 1935 Paul Dukas, French composer, critic, and educator (born 1865) Wikipedia
• 1987 Gunnar Myrdal, Swedish economist, sociologist, and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1898) Wikipedia
• 2012 Donna Summer, American singer-songwriter (born 1948) Wikipedia
• 2013 Jorge Rafael Videla, Argentine Commander in Chief and dictator (born 1925) Wikipedia
• 2014 Gerald Edelman, American biologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 2022 Vangelis, Greek musician, composer (born 1943) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Birthday of the Raja (Perlis) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Giulia Salzano Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Ivan Ziatyk Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Paschal Baylon Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Peter Lieou Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: William Hobart Hare (Episcopal Church (USA)) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Restituta Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: May 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Children's Day (Norway) Wikipedia
• Constitution Day (Nauru) Wikipedia
• Constitution Day (Norway) Wikipedia
• Feast of ‘Aẓamat (Baháʼí Faith, day shifts with March Equinox, see List of observances set by the Baháʼí calendar) Wikipedia
• Galician Literature Day or Día das Letras Galegas (Galicia) Wikipedia
• International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia Wikipedia
• Liberation Day (Democratic Republic of the Congo) Wikipedia
• Navy Day (Argentina) Wikipedia
• World Hypertension Day Wikipedia
• World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (International) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “May 17” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.