What are the important events that happened on June 17? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

June 17: Facts & Myths About This Day

June 17 is the 168^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 197 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is June 4, 2025 – a Tuesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 1,750,118,400 seconds has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘hectahexacontaoctagon’ day.

Gemini is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Pearl is the modern birthstone for this month. Moonstone is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 245 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,561 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

June 17 Historical Events

• 1579 –
  Sir Francis Drake claims a land he calls Nova Albion (modern California) for England.
• 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.
• 1773 –
  Cúcuta, Colombia, is founded by Juana Rangel de Cuéllar.
• 1939 –
  Last public guillotining in France: Eugen Weidmann, a convicted murderer, is guillotined in Versailles outside the Saint-Pierre prison
• 1948 –
  A Douglas DC-6 carrying United Airlines Flight 624 crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 people on board.
• 1958 –
  The wooden roller coaster at Playland, which is in the Pacific National Exhibition, Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada opens. It is still open today.
• 1963 –
  The United States Supreme Court rules 8 to 1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against allowing the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord’s Prayer in public schools.
• 1991 –
  Apartheid: the South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act which required racial classification of all South Africans at birth.
• 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).
• 1994 –
  Following a televised low-speed highway chase, O.J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Who were born on June 17?

• 1268 –
  Lord Borchard de Herle, English diplomat (d. 1305)
• 1861 –
  Pete Browning, American baseball player (d. 1905)
• 1867 –
  Flora Finch, British-American silent-film comedienne (d. 1940)
• 1882 –
  Igor Stravinsky, Russian composer (d. 1971)
• 1931 –
  John Baldessari, American conceptual artist
• 1940 –
  George Akerlof, American economist, Nobel laureate
• 1964 –
  Rinaldo Capello, Italian racing driver
• 1975 –
  Chloe Jones, American pornographic actress (d. 2005)
• 1986 –
  Apoula Edel, Armenian footballer
• 1989 –
  Giorgos Tofas, Cypriot footballer

Who died on June 17?

• 1839 –
  Lord William Bentinck, British soldier, Governor-General of India (b. 1774)
• 1941 –
  Johan Wagenaar, Dutch composer and organist (b. 1862)
• 1956 –
  Bob Sweikert, American racing driver (b. 1926)
• 1957 –
  Dorothy Richardson, English writer (b. 1873)
• 1981 –
  Richard O'Connor, British general (b. 1889)
• 1987 –
  Dick Howser, American baseball player and manager (b. 1936)
• 2001 –
  Thomas Joseph Winning, Scottish Roman Catholic Cardinal, Archbishop of Glasgow (b. 1925)
• 2005 –
  Karl Mueller, American bassist (Soul Asylum) (b. 1962)
• 2006 –
  Arthur Franz, American actor (b. 1920)
• 2009 –
  Ralf Dahrendorf, German-born sociologist and politician (b. 1929)