Events on November 17 31
Year 474
Emperor Leo II dies after a reign of ten months. He is succeeded by his father Zeno, who becomes sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire.
Year 887
Emperor Charles the Fat is deposed by the Frankish magnates in an assembly at Frankfurt. His nephew Arnulf of Carinthia is elected as king of the East Frankish Kingdom.
Year 1511
Henry VIII of England concluded the Treaty of Westminster, a pledge of mutual aid against the French, with Ferdinand II of Aragon.
Year 1558
Elizabethan era begins: Queen Mary I of England dies and is succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I of England.
Year 1603
English explorer, writer and courtier Sir Walter Raleigh goes on trial for treason.
Year 1777
Articles of Confederation (United States) are submitted to the states for ratification.
Year 1796
French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of the Bridge of Arcole: French forces defeat the Austrians in Italy.
Year 1810
Sweden declares war on its ally the United Kingdom to begin the Anglo-Swedish War, although no fighting ever takes place.
Year 1811
José Miguel Carrera, Chilean founding father, is sworn in as President of the executive Junta of the government of Chile.
Year 1820
Captain Nathaniel Palmer becomes the first American to see Antarctica. (The Palmer Peninsula is later named after him.)
Year 1839
Oberto, Giuseppe Verdi's first opera, opens at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy.
Year 1856
American Old West: On the Sonoita River in present-day southern Arizona, the United States Army establishes Fort Buchanan in order to help control new land acquired in the Gadsden Purchase.
Year 1863
American Civil War: Siege of Knoxville begins: Confederate forces led by General James Longstreet place Knoxville, Tennessee, under siege.
Year 1869
In Egypt, the Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, is inaugurated.
Year 1876
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Slavonic March" is given its premiere performance in Moscow, Russia.
Year 1878
First assassination attempt against Umberto I of Italy by anarchist Giovanni Passannante, who was armed with a dagger. The King survived with a slight wound in an arm. Prime Minister Benedetto Cairoli blocked the aggressor, receiving an injury in a leg.
Year 1894
H. H. Holmes, one of the first modern serial killers, is arrested in Boston, Massachusetts.
Year 1896
The Western Pennsylvania Hockey League, which later became the first ice hockey league to openly trade and hire players, began play at Pittsburgh's Schenley Park Casino.
Year 1903
The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party splits into two groups: The Bolsheviks (Russian for "majority") and Mensheviks (Russian for "minority").
Year 1911
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated, which is the first black Greek-lettered organization founded at an American historically black college or university, was founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Year 1939
Nine Czech students are executed as a response to anti-Nazi demonstrations prompted by the death of Jan Opletal. All Czech universities are shut down and more than 1,200 students sent to concentration camps. Since this event, International Students' Day is celebrated in many countries, especially in the Czech Republic.