About December 17

December 17, 2024 is the 352nd day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 14 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday.

You can browse the full year calendar in case you need it.

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Sagittarius is the sun sign of a person born on this day. Turquoise is the modern birthstone for this month. Onyx is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 43 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

What Happened On December 17

  • 1577
    Francis Drake sails from Plymouth, England, on a secret mission to explore the Pacific Coast of the Americas for English Queen Elizabeth I.
  • 1600
    Marriage of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici.
  • 1807
    France issues the Milan Decree, which confirms the Continental System.
  • 1812
    War of 1812: U.S. forces attack a friendly Lenape village in the Battle of the Mississinewa.
  • 1819
    Simón Bolívar declares the independence of the Republic of Gran Colombia in Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar in Venezuela).
  • 1865
    First performance of the Unfinished Symphony by Franz Schubert.
  • 1918
    Culmination of the Darwin Rebellion as some 1000 demonstrators march on Government House in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia.
  • 1927
    Indian revolutionary Rajendranath Lahiri was hanged to death in Gonda jail of U.P. in India 2 days before the scheduled date.
  • 1928
    Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru assassinate British police officer James Saunders in Lahore, Punjab to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai at the hands of the police. The three were executed in 1931.
  • 1944
    World War II: Battle of the Bulge – Malmedy massacre – American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion POWs are shot by Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Peiper.
  • 1960
    1960 Munich Convair 340 crash: 20 passengers and crew on board as well as 32 people on the ground are killed.
  • 1961
    Fire in the Gran Circus American in the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the biggest tragedy in circus history.
  • 1967
    Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt disappears while swimming near Portsea, Victoria and is presumed drowned.
  • 1969
    Project Blue Book: The United States Air Force closes its study of UFOs, stating that sightings are generated as a result of “A mild form of mass hysteria, Individuals who fabricate such reports to perpetrate a hoax or seek publicity, psychopathological persons, and misidentification of various conventional objects.”
  • 1969
    The SALT I talks begin.
  • 1970
    Polish 1970 protests: In Gdynia soldiers fire at workers emerging from trains, killing dozens.
  • 1973
    Terrorism: 30 passengers are killed in an attack by Palestinian terrorists on Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Airport.
  • 1983
    The IRA bombs Harrods Department Store in London, killing six people.
  • 2003
    SpaceShipOne flight 11P, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes its first supersonic flight.
  • 2005
    Jigme Singye Wangchuck abdicate the throne as King of Bhutan.

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