27 Tir 1383 | Saturday 17 July 2004

This day in four calendars

180 (1846 years ago) Twelve inhabitants of Scillium (near Kasserine, modern-day Tunisia) in North Africa are executed for being Christians. This is the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world.
1821 (205 years ago) The Kingdom of Spain cedes the territory of Florida to the United States.
1919 (107 years ago) The form of government in the Republic of Finland is officially confirmed with the enactment of the Constitution of Finland. For this reason, July 17 is known as the Day of Democracy (Kansanvallan päivä) in Finland.
1968 (58 years ago) Abdul Rahman Arif is overthrown and the Ba'ath Party is installed as the governing power in Iraq with Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr as the new Iraqi President.
1973 (53 years ago) King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan, while having surgery in Italy, is deposed by his cousin Mohammed Daoud Khan.
1976 (50 years ago) The opening of the Summer Olympics in Montreal is marred by 25 African teams boycotting the games because of New Zealand's participation. Contrary to rulings by other international sports organizations, the IOC had declined to exclude New Zealand because of their participation in South African sporting events during apartheid.
1976 (50 years ago) East Timor is annexed and becomes the 27th province of Indonesia.
2014 (12 years ago) Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, a Boeing 777, crashes near the border of Ukraine and Russia after being shot down. All 298 people on board are killed.

1487 (539 years ago) Ismail I of Iran,
1888 (138 years ago) Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Ukrainian-Israeli novelist, short story writer and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1970)
1894 (132 years ago) Georges Lemaître, Belgian priest, astronomer, and cosmologist (died 1966)
1899 (127 years ago) James Cagney, American actor and dancer (died 1986)
1935 (91 years ago) Donald Sutherland, Canadian actor and producer (died 2024)
1947 (79 years ago) Queen Camilla, Queen Consort of King Charles III of the United Kingdom
1954 (72 years ago) Angela Merkel, German chemist and politician, Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021.
1961 (65 years ago) António Costa, Portuguese politician, 119th Prime Minister of Portugal

855 (1171 years ago) Leo IV, pope of the Catholic Church (born 790)
1588 (438 years ago) Mimar Sinan, Ottoman architect and engineer, designed the Sokollu Mehmet Pasha Mosque and Süleymaniye Mosque (born 1489)
1762 (264 years ago) Peter III of Russia,
1790 (236 years ago) Adam Smith, Scottish economist and philosopher (born 1723)
1912 (114 years ago) Henri Poincaré, French mathematician, physicist, and engineer (born 1854)
1959 (67 years ago) Billie Holiday, American singer (born 1915)
1995 (31 years ago) Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentinian race car driver (born 1911)
2005 (21 years ago) Edward Heath, English colonel and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1916)