December 17: What Happened on This Day in History (Elementary Level)?

(Page last edited 10/12/2017)

1. 1577 - Francis Drake sails from Plymouth, England, on a secret mission to explore thePacific coast of the Americas for Queen Elizabeth I of England.
2. 1790 - Discovery of the Aztec calendar stone.
3. 1865 - First performance of the Unfinished Symphony by Franz Schubert.
4. 1903 - The Wright brothers make their first powered, heavier-than-air flight in theWright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
5. 2003 - SpaceShipOne flight 11P, piloted by Brian Binnie, makes its first supersonic flight.
6. Famous Birthdays: émilie du Châtelet (French mathematician and physicist), Ludwig van Beethoven (German pianist and composer), Joseph Henry (American physicist), Mary Cartwright (English mathematician), Willard Libby (American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate)

For famous birthdays and other daily events in history, visit our Daily Dose Activities.

Click Here for Yesterday in History: December 16

Click Here for Tomorrow in History: December 18

For more history resources on Internet 4 Classrooms, visit our Social Studies and History index. For Pre K-8th Grade Level History and Social Studies Resources, visit our Grade Level Index.