February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 317 days remaining until the year's end, or 318 in leap years.Events that have occurred on February 17 include:
- 1370: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights clashed in the Battle of Rudau.
- 1411: Musa Çelebi became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire with the support of Mircea I of Wallachia.
- 1500: Duke Friedrich and Duke Johann tried to subdue the peasantry of Dithmarschen, Denmark, during the Battle of Hemmingstedt.
- 1600: Philosopher Giordano Bruno was punished for heresy by having a wooden vise placed on his tongue before being burned at the stake.
- 1616: Nurhaci declared himself Khan of the Later Jin, which preceded the Qing Dynasty.
- 1621: Myles Standish was appointed as the first military commander of the English Plymouth Colony in North America.
- 1674: An earthquake in Ambon, Indonesia, triggered a megatsunami, causing over 2,300 deaths.
- 1753: Sweden transitioned from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar, with February 17 being followed by March 1.
- 1801: Thomas Jefferson was elected President and Aaron Burr Vice President by the United States House of Representatives, resolving an Electoral College tie.
- 1819: The United States House of Representatives passed the Missouri Compromise for the first time.
- 1863: The International Committee for Relief to the Wounded, later known as the International Committee of the Red Cross, was founded in Geneva.
- 1864: The H. L. Hunley became the first submarine to sink a warship, the USS Housatonic, in combat.
- 1905: Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia was assassinated in the Moscow Kremlin.
- 1913: The Armory Show opened in New York City, showcasing influential painters of the early 20th century.
- 1948: The Alwaziri coup briefly ousted the ruling Hamidaddin dynasty of Yemen, and Imam Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din was killed.
- 1949: Chaim Weizmann began his term as the first President of Israel.
- 1959: Vanguard 2, the first weather satellite, was launched.
- 1964: The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Wesberry v. Sanders that congressional districts must have approximately equal populations.
- 1965: The Ranger 8 probe was launched to photograph the Mare Tranquillitatis region of the Moon.
- 1969: American aquanaut Berry L. Cannon died during an attempt to repair a leak in the SEALAB III underwater habitat.
- 1972: Cumulative sales of the Volkswagen Beetle surpassed those of the Ford Model T.
- 1979: The Sino-Vietnamese War began.
- 1980: The first winter ascent of Mount Everest was achieved by Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy.
- 2006: A mudslide in Southern Leyte, Philippines, resulted in a death toll of 1,126.
- 2008: Kosovo declared independence from Serbia.
- 2011: Libyan protests against Muammar Gaddafi's regime began as part of the Arab Spring.
People born on February 17 include Wu Zetian (624), René Laennec (1781), Lola Montez (1821), Banjo Paterson (1864), Michael Jordan (1963), Denise Richards (1971) and Ed Sheeran (1991).People who died on February 17 include Jovian (364), Giordano Bruno (1600), Molière (1673), Heinrich Heine (1856), Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia (1905), Imam of Yemen Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din (1948), Berry L. Cannon (1969), Rush Limbaugh (2021) and Gamini Jayawickrama Perera (2024).February 17 is celebrated as Revolution Day in Libya and Independence Day in Kosovo.
