# What happened on June 17 in history?

**Date:** June 17  
**Events recorded:** 60  
**Years spanned:** 653 – 2021  
**Full page:** https://thisday.info/events/june/17/

---

## Featured Event

**2015** — Nine people are killed in a mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

[Read more on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston_church_shooting)

---

## Events on this date

- **653** — Pope Martin I is arrested and taken to Constantinople, due to his opposition to monothelitism. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Martin_I))
- **657** — After a prolonged siege by rebels who demand his abdication, caliph Uthman is assassinated as the rebels enter his palace. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uthman))
- **1128** — Former Empress Matilda, daughter and designated heiress of king Henry I of England, marries Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Matilda))
- **1242** — Following the Disputation of Paris, twenty-four carriage loads of Jewish religious manuscripts were burnt in Paris. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disputation_of_Paris))
- **1300** — Turku Cathedral is consecrated by Bishop Magnus I in the city of Turku (Swedish: Åbo). ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turku_Cathedral))
- **1397** — The Kalmar Union is formed under the rule of Margaret I of Denmark. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalmar_Union))
- **1462** — Vlad the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II (The Night Attack at Târgovişte), forcing him to retreat from Wallachia. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_the_Impaler))
- **1497** — Battle of Deptford Bridge: Forces under King Henry VII defeat troops led by Michael An Gof. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_rebellion_of_1497))
- **1579** — Sir Francis Drake claims a land he calls Nova Albion (modern California) for England. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Drake))
- **1596** — The Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz discovers the Arctic archipelago of Spitsbergen. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_Barentsz))
- **1631** — Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, will spend the next 17 years building her mausoleum, the Taj Mahal. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumtaz_Mahal))
- **1665** — Battle of Montes Claros: Portugal definitively secured independence from Spain in the last battle of the Portuguese Restoration War. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Montes_Claros))
- **1673** — French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet reach the Mississippi River and become the first Europeans to make a detailed account of its course. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_people))
- **1767** — Samuel Wallis, a British sea captain, sights Tahiti and is considered the first European to reach the island. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Wallis))
- **1773** — Cúcuta, Colombia, is founded by Juana Rangel de Cuéllar. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%BAcuta))
- **1775** — American Revolutionary War: Colonists inflict heavy casualties on British forces while losing the Battle of Bunker Hill. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolutionary_War))
- **1789** — In France, the Third Estate declares itself the National Assembly. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France))
- **1794** — Foundation of Anglo-Corsican Kingdom. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Corsican_Kingdom))
- **1795** — The burghers of Swellendam expel the Dutch East India Company magistrate and declare a republic. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swellendam))
- **1831** — The steam locomotive Best Friend of Charleston causes the first boiler explosion caused by a steam locomotive. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_Friend_of_Charleston))
- **1839** — In the Kingdom of Hawaii, Kamehameha III issues the edict of toleration which gives Roman Catholics the freedom to worship in the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaii Catholic Church and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace are established as a result. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_Kingdom))
- **1843** — The Wairau Affray, the first serious clash of arms between Māori and British settlers in the New Zealand Wars, takes place. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wairau_Affray))
- **1861** — American Civil War: Battle of Vienna, Virginia. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War))
- **1863** — American Civil War: Battle of Aldie in the Gettysburg campaign. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Aldie))
- **1876** — American Indian Wars: Battle of the Rosebud: One thousand five hundred Sioux and Cheyenne led by Crazy Horse beat back General George Crook's forces at Rosebud Creek in Montana Territory. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_Wars))
- **1877** — American Indian Wars: Battle of White Bird Canyon: The Nez Perce defeat the U.S. Cavalry at White Bird Canyon in the Idaho Territory. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_White_Bird_Canyon))
- **1885** — The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty))
- **1898** — The United States Navy Hospital Corps is established. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospital_corpsman))
- **1900** — Boxer Rebellion: Western Allied and Japanese forces capture the Taku Forts in Tianjin, China. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_Rebellion))
- **1901** — The College Board introduces its first standardized test, the forerunner to the SAT. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_Board))
- **1910** — Aurel Vlaicu pilots an A. Vlaicu nr. 1 on its first flight. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurel_Vlaicu))
- **1922** — Portuguese naval aviators Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral complete the first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Naval_Aviation))
- **1929** — The town of Murchison, New Zealand is rocked by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake killing 17. At the time it was New Zealand's worst natural disaster. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murchison%2C_New_Zealand))
- **1930** — U.S. president Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act into law. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Hoover))
- **1932** — Bonus Army: Around a thousand World War I veterans amass at the United States Capitol as the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would give them certain benefits. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_Army))
- **1933** — Union Station massacre: In Kansas City, Missouri, four FBI agents and captured fugitive Frank Nash are gunned down by gangsters attempting to free Nash. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_massacre))
- **1939** — Last public guillotining in France: Eugen Weidmann, a convicted murderer, is executed in Versailles outside the Saint-Pierre prison. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugen_Weidmann))
- **1940** — World War II: RMS Lancastria is attacked and sunk by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France. At least 3,000 are killed in Britain's worst maritime disaster. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II))
- **1940** — World War II: The British Army's 11th Hussars assault and take Fort Capuzzo in Libya from Italian forces. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11th_Hussars))
- **1940** — The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania fall under the occupation of the Soviet Union. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_states))
- **1944** — Iceland declares independence from Denmark and becomes a republic. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland))
- **1948** — United Air Lines Flight 624, a Douglas DC-6, crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 people on board. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Air_Lines_Flight_624))
- **1952** — Guatemala passes Decree 900, ordering the redistribution of uncultivated land. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decree_900))
- **1953** — Cold War: East Germany Workers Uprising: In East Germany, the Soviet Union orders a division of troops into East Berlin to quell a rebellion. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War))
- **1958** — The Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, in the process of being built to connect Vancouver and North Vancouver (Canada), collapses into the Burrard Inlet killing 18 ironworkers and injuring others. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironworkers_Memorial_Second_Narrows_Crossing))
- **1960** — The Nez Perce tribe is awarded $4 million for 7 million acres (28,000 km2) of land undervalued at four cents/acre in the 1863 treaty. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nez_Perce))
- **1963** — The United States Supreme Court rules 8–1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against requiring the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord's Prayer in public schools. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States))
- **1963** — A day after South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem announced the Joint Communiqué to end the Buddhist crisis, a riot involving around 2,000 people breaks out. One person is killed. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_leaders_of_South_Vietnam))
- **1967** — Nuclear weapons testing: China announces a successful test of its first thermonuclear weapon. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_testing))
- **1971** — U.S. president Richard Nixon in a televised press conference called drug abuse "America's public enemy number one", starting the war on drugs. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon))
- **1972** — Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee during an attempt by members of the administration of President Richard M. Nixon to illegally wiretap the political opposition as part of a broader campaign to subvert the democratic process. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal))
- **1985** — Space Shuttle program: STS-51-G mission: Space Shuttle Discovery launches carrying Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a payload specialist. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_program))
- **1987** — With the death of the last individual of the species, the dusky seaside sparrow becomes extinct. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dusky_seaside_sparrow))
- **1989** — Interflug Flight 102 crashes during a rejected takeoff from Berlin Schönefeld Airport, killing 21 people. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interflug_Flight_102))
- **1991** — Apartheid: The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act which required racial classification of all South Africans at birth. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid))
- **1992** — A "joint understanding" agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. president George Bush and Russian president Boris Yeltsin (this would be later codified in START II). ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._W._Bush))
- **1994** — Following a televised low-speed highway chase, O. J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._J._Simpson))
- **2015** — Nine people are killed in a mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston_church_shooting))
- **2017** — A series of wildfires in central Portugal kill at least 64 people and injure 204 others. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_2017_Portugal_wildfires))
- **2021** — Juneteenth National Independence Day, was signed into law by President Joe Biden, to become the first federal holiday established since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth))

---

## Notable births on June 17

- **2003** — **Rizki Juniansyah** — Indonesian weightlifter ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rizki_Juniansyah))
- **2000** — **Odessa A'zion** — American actress ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odessa_A'zion))
- **1999** — **Henri Jokiharju** — Finnish ice hockey player ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Jokiharju))
- **1999** — **Elena Rybakina** — Kazakhstani tennis player ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elena_Rybakina))
- **1997** — **KJ Apa** — New Zealand actor ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KJ_Apa))
- **1997** — **Raluca Șerban** — Romanian-Cypriot tennis player ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raluca_%C8%98erban))
- **1995** — **Clément Lenglet** — French footballer ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cl%C3%A9ment_Lenglet))
- **1995** — **Aoi Morikawa** — Japanese actress and model ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aoi_Morikawa))
- **1995** — **Michel-Friedrich Schiefler** — German politician ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel-Friedrich_Schiefler))
- **1994** — **Amari Cooper** — American football player ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amari_Cooper))

---

## Notable deaths on June 17

- **2021** — **Kenneth Kaunda** — Zambian educator and politician, first president of Zambia (born 1924) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Kaunda))
- **2020** — **Jean Kennedy Smith** — American activist, humanitarian, author and diplomat (United States Ambassador to Ireland, 1993–1998) (born 1928) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Kennedy_Smith))
- **2019** — **Gloria Vanderbilt** — American artist, author actress, fashion designer, heiress and socialite (born 1924) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Vanderbilt))
- **2019** — **Mohamed Morsi** — Egyptian professor and politician, first elected president of Egypt after Egyptian revolution (born 1951) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Morsi))
- **2017** — **Baldwin Lonsdale** — president of Vanuatu (born 1948) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_Lonsdale))
- **2015** — **Ron Clarke** — Australian runner and politician, Mayor of the Gold Coast (born 1937) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Clarke))
- **2015** — **John David Crow** — American football player and coach (born 1935) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_David_Crow))
- **2015** — **Süleyman Demirel** — Turkish engineer and politician, 9th President of Turkey (born 1924) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%BCleyman_Demirel))
- **2015** — **Roberto M. Levingston** — Argentinian general and politician, 36th President of Argentina (born 1920) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Marcelo_Levingston))
- **2015** — **Clementa C. Pinckney** — American minister and politician (born 1973) ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clementa_C._Pinckney))

---

## About this page

This is a machine-readable Markdown summary of [thisday.info/events/june/17/](https://thisday.info/events/june/17/).  
Historical data is sourced from [Wikipedia/Wikimedia](https://www.wikipedia.org) under [CC BY-SA](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).  
Editorial framing and site content © thisday.info.