Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/January 17
This is a list of selected January 17 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article, featured list or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
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January 17: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States (2011); National Day in Minorca (1287)
- 1524 – Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano set sail westward from Madeira to find a sea route to the Pacific Ocean.
- 1781 – American Revolutionary War: American forces won a surprising victory over the British at the Battle of Cowpens, one of the most pivotal battles of the war.
- 1945 – Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who had saved thousands of Jews from The Holocaust, was taken into Soviet custody while in Hungary, and was never publicly seen again.
- 1961 – Former Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba was murdered in circumstances suggesting the support and complicity of the governments of Belgium and the United States.
- 1981 – President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos (pictured) lifted martial law, eight years and five months after declaring it.