TODAY in HISTORY

Today is Tuesday, April 17, the 107th day of 2018. There are 258 days left in the year.

1080 Harald III of Denmark dies and is succeeded by Canute IV, who would later be the first Dane to be canonized.

1349 The rule of Bavand dynasty in Mazandaran is brought to end by the murder of Hasan II. 1362 Kaunas Castle falls to Teutonic Order after month- long siege. 1397 Geoffrey Chaucer tells The Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II. Chaucer scholars have also identified this date

( in 1387) as the start of the book’s pilgrimage to Canterbury. 1492 Spain and Christopher Columbus sign the Capitulations of Santa Fe for his voyage to Asia to acquire spices.

1521 Trial of Martin Luther over his teachings begins during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. Initially intimidated, he asks for time to reflect before answering and is given a stay of one day.

1797 Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico, in what would be one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in the Americas. 1861 Virginia’s secession convention votes to secede from the United States, becoming 8th state to join the Confederate States of America. 1882 Artur Schnabel, Jewish- Polish pianist and composer was born on the day. 1895 The Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan is signed. This marks the end of the First Sino- Japanese War, and the defeated Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtien province, Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands to Japan.

1905 The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York, which holds that the “right to free contract” is implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. 1944 Forces of the Communist- controlled Greek People’s Liberation Army attack the smaller National and Social Liberation resistance group, which surrenders. Its leader Dimitrios Psarros is murdered.

1949 At midnight 26 Irish counties officially leave the British Commonwealth. Dublin, ushers in the Republic of Ireland. 1971 The People’s Republic of Bangladesh is formed.

1978 Mir Akbar Khyber is assassinated, provoking a communist coup d’état in Afghanistan. 2013 An explosion at a fertilizer plant in the city of West, Texas, kills 15 people and injures 160 others.