Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 17
August 17: Independence Day in Indonesia (1945), Gabon (1969)
- 1807 - Robert Fulton started the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
- 1896 - Bridget Driscoll became the first person to be killed in a petrol-driven car accident.
- 1962 - East German border guards shot and killed Peter Fechter as he attempted to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin.
- 1969 - Hurricane Camille struck the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage (1969 dollars).
- 1988 - President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan was killed in a plane crash.