Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/March 17
This is a list of selected March 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.
March 17: Saint Patrick's Day; Fast of Esther (Judaism, 2011)
- 1776 – American Revolutionary War: The British Army garrison in Boston, Massachusetts, withdrew from the city, ending the 11-month Siege of Boston.
- 1891 – The transatlantic steamship SS Utopia (pictured) accidentally collided with the battleship HMS Anson in the Bay of Gibraltar, sinking in less than twenty minutes and killing 562.
- 1942 – The Holocaust: The first mass killings of Jews began at Bełżec extermination camp in occupied Poland, the first of the Aktion Reinhard camps to begin operation.
- 1955 – Six thousand people in Montreal rioted to protest the suspension of ice hockey star Maurice Richard.
- 1957 – A plane crash on the slope of Mount Manunggal killed Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others.
- 1992 – A car bomb destroyed the Israeli embassy and nearby buildings in Buenos Aires, killing 29 people and wounding 242 others.