April 17

Benedict III 858: Benedict III ends his rule as Catholic Pope.

Christopher Columbus 1492: Christopher Columbus signs an agreement with Spain to locate a western route to the Indies. 1524: Present-day New York Harbor is found by Giovanni da Verrazzano.

Antonio Mendoza 1535: Antonio Mendoza is delegated first emissary of New Spain. 1758: Frances Williams, the first African-American to graduate from a university in the western side of the equator, distributes an accumulation of Latin lyrics.

Napoleon Bonaparte 1808: Bayonne Decree by Napoleon Bonaparte of France requests seizure of U.S. ships. 1824: Russia surrenders all North American claims south of 54' 40'. 1861: Virginia turns into the eighth state to withdraw from the Union.

General Ulysses Grant 1864: General Ulysses Grant bans the exchanging of prisoners.

Mary Surratt 1865: Mary Surratt is captured as a plotter in Lincoln's death. 1875: The game "snooker" is created by Sir Neville Chamberlain. 1895: China and Japan sign a peace arrangement of Shimonoseki. 1929: Baseball player Babe Ruth and Claire Hodgson, a previous member from the Ziegfeld Follies, get married. 1946: The last French troops leave Syria.

Jackie Robinson 1947: Jackie Robinson hits for his first major league hit. 1961: Some 1,400 Cuban outcasts assault the Bay of Pigs trying to oust Fidel Castro.

Jerrie Mock 1964: Jerrie Mock turns becomes the first lady to fly solo around the world.

Sirhan Sirhan 1969: Sirhan Sirhan is indicted for killing Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

Apollo 13 1970: Apollo 13- - initially planned to arrive on the moon- - arrives back securely on Earth after a mishap. 1975: Khmer Rouge forces capture the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. 1983: In Warsaw, police defeat 1,000 Solidarity supporters. Born on April 17 1622: Henry Vaughan, writer 1676: Frederick I, ruler of Sweden 1741: Samuel Chase, signer of the Declaration of Independence 1820: Alexander Cartwright, sportsman, created baseball. 1866: Ernest Henry Starling, British physiologist. 1885: Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), Danish author (Out of Africa). 1894: Nikita S. Khrushchev, Soviet chief (1958-64). 1897: Thornton Wilder, author and writer (Our Town). 1923: Harry Reasoner, American broadcast columnist. 1928: Cynthia Ozick, author (The Cannibal Galaxy, The Messiah of Stockholm). All images are supplied by Wikimedia creative commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page