WHAT HAPPENED ON 17. DECEMBER
Want to find out what all happened on 17. December

The first Saturnalia festival was celebrated in ancient Rome. (17. December 497. BC)

Siege of Rome: The Ostrogoths under king Totila plunder the city, by bribing the Byzantine garrison. (17. December 546)

Romanos I Lekapenos is crowned co-emperor of the underage Constantine VII. (17. December 920)

Assassination of William I of Normandy. (17. December 942)

Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud's armies in Delhi are defeated by Timur. (17. December 1398)

Pope Paul III excommunicates Henry VIII of England. (17. December 1538)

Francis Drake sails from Plymouth, England, on a secret mission to explore the Pacific coast of the Americas for Queen Elizabeth I of England. (17. December 1577)

Cologne War: Forces under Ernest of Bavaria defeat troops under Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg at the Siege of Godesberg. (17. December 1583)

Go-Yōzei becomes Emperor of Japan. (17. December 1586)

Marriage of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici. (17. December 1600)

War of the Quadruple Alliance: Great Britain declares war on Spain. (17. December 1718)

American Revolution: France formally recognizes the United States. (17. December 1777)

Discovery of the Aztec calendar stone. (17. December 1790)

Napoleonic Wars: France issues the Milan Decree, which confirms the Continental System. (17. December 1807)

War of 1812: U.S. forces attack a friendly Lenape village in the Battle of the Mississinewa. (17. December 1812)

Simón Bolívar declares the independence of Gran Colombia in Angostura (now Ciudad Bolívar in Venezuela). (17. December 1819)

Great Fire of New York: Fire levels lower Manhattan. (17. December 1835)

A fire in the Winter Palace of Saint Petersburg kills 30 guards. (17. December 1837)

American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky. (17. December 1862)

First performance of the Unfinished Symphony by Franz Schubert. (17. December 1865)