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

January 17: Facts & Myths About This Day

January 17 is the 17^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 348 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Friday.

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

When this day started, 1,737,072,000 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 ‘heptadecagon’ day.

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

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 12 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 4,410 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

January 17 Historical Events

• 1287 –
  King Alfonso III of Aragon invades Minorca.
• 1562 –
  France recognizes the Huguenots under the Edict of Saint-Germain.
• 1595 –
  Henry IV of France declares war on Spain.
• 1773 –
  Captain James Cook and his crew become the first Europeans to sail below the Antarctic Circle.
• 1781 –
  American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cowpens – Continental troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan defeat British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the battle in South Carolina.
• 1811 –
  Mexican War of Independence: In the Battle of Calderón Bridge, a heavily outnumbered Spanish force of 6,000 troops defeats nearly 100,000 Mexican revolutionists.
• 1941 –
  Franco-Thai War: French forces inflict a decisive victory over the Royal Thai Navy.
• 1969 –
  Black Panther Party members Bunchy Carter and John Huggins are killed during a meeting in Campbell Hall on the campus of UCLA.
• 1977 –
  Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by a firing squad in Utah, ending a ten-year moratorium on Capital punishment in the United States.
• 1982 –
  “Cold Sunday” - in the United States temperatures fell to their lowest levels in over 100 years in numerous cities.

Who were born on January 17?

• 1501 –
  Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (d. 1566)
• 1907 –
  Henk Badings, Dutch composer (d. 1987)
• 1908 –
  Cus D'Amato, American boxing manager (d. 1985)
• 1922 –
  Nicholas Katzenbach, American jurist and 65th United States Attorney General
• 1925 –
  Edgar Ray Killen, American convict, former preacher and K.K.K. member
• 1927 –
  E.W. Swackhamer, American television & film director (d. 1994)
• 1929 –
  Jacques Plante, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1986)
• 1962 –
  Jim Carrey, Canadian actor and comedian
• 1980 –
  Kimberly Spicer, American model
• 1983 –
  Rick Kelly, Australian racing driver

Who died on January 17?

• 1468 –
  George Kastrioti Skanderbeg, Albanian leader (b. 1405)
• 1861 –
  Lola Montez, Irish-born adventurer (b. 1821)
• 1927 –
  Juliette Gordon Low, American founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA (b. 1860)
• 1932 –
  Albert Jacka, VC, Australian soldier (b. 1893)
• 1994 –
  Yevgeni Ivanov, Soviet spy involved in the Profumo affair (b. 1926)
• 1998 –
  Junior Kimbrough, American bluesman (b. 1930)
• 2000 –
  Philip Jones, British trumpeter (b. 1928)
• 2004 –
  Czesław Niemen, Polish musician (b. 1939)
• 2004 –
  Ray Stark, American stage and film producer (b. 1915)
• 2007 –
  Yevhen Kushnaryov, Ukrainian politician (b. 1951)