1997: The Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 enters into force, outlawing the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons by its signatories.
1992: Los Angeles riots: Riots in Los Angeles, following the acquittal of police officers charged with excessive force in the beating of Rodney King. Over the next three days 63 people are killed and hundreds of buildings are destroyed.
1991: The 7.0 Mw Racha earthquake affects Georgia with a maximum MSK intensity of IX (Destructive), killing 270 people.
1991: A cyclone strikes the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around 155 miles per hour (249 km/h), killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as ten million homeless.
1986: Chernobyl disaster: American and European spy satellites capture the ruins of the 4th Reactor at the Chernobyl Power Plant
1986: A fire at the Central library of the City of Los Angeles Public Library damages or destroys 400,000 books and other items.
1975: Vietnam War: The North Vietnamese army completes its capture of all parts of South Vietnamese-held Trường Sa Islands.
1975: Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. begins to evacuate U.S. citizens from Saigon before an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war comes to an end.
1968: The controversial musical Hair, a product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, opens at the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway, with some of its songs becoming anthems of the anti-Vietnam War movement.
1967: After refusing induction into the United States Army the previous day, Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title.
1953: The first U.S. experimental 3D television broadcast showed an episode of Space Patrol on Los Angeles ABC affiliate KECA-TV.
1951: Tibetan delegates to the Central People's Government arrive in Beijing and draft a Seventeen Point Agreement for Chinese sovereignty and Tibetan autonomy.
1945: World War II: Führerbunker: Adolf Hitler marries his longtime partner Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker and designates AdmiralKarl Dönitz as his successor; Hitler and Braun both commit suicide the following day.
1945: World War II: The Captain-class frigate HMS Goodall (K479) is torpedoed by U-286 outside the Kola Inlet becoming the last Royal Navy ship to be sunk in the European theatre of World War II.
1945: World War II: Start of Operation Manna.
1945: World War II: The German army in Italy unconditionally surrenders to the Allies.
1944: World War II: British agent Nancy Wake, a leading figure in the French Resistance and the Gestapo's most wanted person, parachutes back into France to be a liaison between London and the local maquis group.
1916: Easter Rising: After six days of fighting, Irish rebel leaders surrender to British forces in Dublin, bringing the Easter Rising to an end.
1834: Charles Darwin during the second survey voyage of HMS Beagle, ascended the Bell mountain, Cerro La Campana on 17 August 1834, his visit being commemorated by a memorial plaque.[1]