June 17

Today in History
• 1291 - Akko reconquered after 200 years by French crusaders, and destroyed
• 1462 - Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II
• 1579 - English navigator Francis Drake lands on the coast of California at Drakes Bay
• 1631 - Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband builds her tomb, the Taj Mahal
• 1700 - Massachusetts orders priest to leave the colony
• 1775 - Battle of Bunker Hill (actually it was Breed's Hill)
• 1824 - US Bureau of Indian Affairs established
• 1856 - Republican Party opens its 1st national convention in Philadelphia


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• Bunker Hill Day
• Iceland Independence Day
• International Surfing Day
• Miguel de Guemes Day
• National Apple Strudel Day
• National Eat Your Vegetables Day
• National Mascot Day
• World Juggling Day

Birthdays
• 1239 - Edward I, King of England, 1272-1307, chased Jews out of England
• 1682 - Charles XII, King of Sweden, 1697-1718
• 1703 - John B Wesley, England, religion co-founder, Methodists
• 1742 - William Hooper, American attorney and signer of U.S. Declaration of Independence
• 1811 - Jón Sigurðsson, Icelandic independence fighter and Icelandic historian
• 1818 - Sophie of Württemberg, Queen of Netherlands as wife of William III
• 1858 - Eben Sumner Draper, businessman and politician (44th Governor of Massachusetts)
• 1867 - John Robert Gregg, Irish-American inventor of a shorthand system Gregg Shorthand