Date·Lore

On This Day · The 76th day of the year

March 17

March 17 carries 10 recorded events spanning between 1337 and 2004. Edward the Black Prince is made Duke of Cornwall, the first duchy in England.

♓ZodiacPisces ◈BirthstoneAquamarine ❀Birth flowerDaffodil

Compiled & reviewed by · Last reviewed July 13, 2026

What happened on March 17?

March 17 is the 76th day of the year. It marks 10 notable events in history, dated between 1337 and 2004. Famous people born on March 17 include Silvio Gesell, Stephen Kramer Glickman and Rob Kardashian.

The shape of the day

250 years on from American Revolutionary War, March 17 is a date with an anniversary worth pausing on. Most of the weight falls in the 20th century, where conflict is a recurring thread.

Pisces is the sign for March 17 — read more on the Pisces page, or see March's birthstone & birth flower.

Released on March 17

Movies, games, albums & shows

2026

  • Game Thomas & Friends: Wonders of Sodor
  • Game Going Medieval

2023

  • Game WWE 2K23

2022

  • Game Anno: Mutationem

Release data from TMDB & IGDB.

Events

10 notable moments
  1. 1337

    Edward the Black Prince

    Edward the Black Prince is made Duke of Cornwall, the first duchy in England.

  2. 1776

    American Revolutionary War

    American Revolutionary War: The British Army evacuates Boston, ending the Siege of Boston, after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery in positions overlooking the city.

  3. 1891

    SS Utopia

    SS Utopia collides with HMS Anson in the Bay of Gibraltar and sinks, killing 562 of the 880 passengers on board.

  4. 1942

    The Holocaust

    Holocaust: The first Jews from the Lvov Ghetto are gassed at the Belzec death camp in what is today eastern Poland.

  5. 1948

    Belgium

    Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Brussels, a precursor to the North Atlantic Treaty establishing NATO.

  6. 1957

    1957 Cebu Douglas C-47 crash

    A plane crash in Cebu, Philippines kills Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others.

  7. 1963

    Mount Agung

    Mount Agung erupts on Bali killing more than 1,100 people.

  8. 1979

    Penmanshiel Tunnel

    The Penmanshiel Tunnel collapses during engineering works, killing two workers.

  9. 1988

    Eritrean War of Independence

    Eritrean War of Independence: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on three sides by military units of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front in the opening action of the Battle of Afabet.

  10. 2004

    2004 unrest in Kosovo

    Unrest in Kosovo: More than 22 are killed and 200 wounded. Thirty-five Serbian Orthodox shrines in Kosovo and two mosques in Serbia are destroyed.

Famous birthday twins

Born on March 17

Silvio Gesell

b. 1862

Belgian merchant and economist

Stephen Kramer Glickman

b. 1979

Canadian-American actor, director, producer, and fashion designer

Rob Kardashian

b. 1987

American television personality

Giovanni Trapattoni

b. 1939

Italian footballer and manager

Gottlieb Daimler

b. 1834

German engineer and businessman, co-founded Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft

Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre

b. 1665

French harpsichord player and composer

Silke Spiegelburg

b. 1986

German pole vaulter

Siegfried Lenz

b. 1926

Polish-German author and playwright

Deaths

  • 1994Charlotte Auerbach
  • 1976Luchino Visconti
  • 1956Irène Joliot-Curie
  • 1917Franz Brentano
  • 1406Ibn Khaldun
  • 180Marcus Aurelius

Holidays & observances

  • —Birthday of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (Bangladesh)
  • —Children's Day (Bangladesh)
  • —Christian feast day: Alexius of Rome (Eastern Church)
  • —Christian feast day: Gertrude of Nivelles
  • —Christian feast day: John Sarkander
  • —Christian feast day: Joseph of Arimathea (Western Church)
  • —Christian feast day: Patrick of Ireland
  • —Christian feast day: March 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Historical facts, event summaries, and biographical lines above are adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. DateLore adds curation, structure, and original editorial commentary. DateLore is not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.

About the author

Roman Tailor compiles and reviews every date on DateLore. He's the writer and editor behind the site's editorial essays and the day-by-day almanac. Corrections and questions are welcome — read more about DateLore or get in touch.

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