Today in History: First known case of COVID-19 is detected in China

The following are some of the major events that occurred on November 17 throughout history: 

887 – Emperor Charles the Fat is deposed by the Frankish magnates in an assembly at Frankfurt, leading his nephew, Arnulf of Carinthia, to declare himself king of the East Frankish Kingdom in late November.

1558 – Elizabethan era begins: Queen Mary I of England dies and is succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I.

1820 – Captain Nathaniel Palmer becomes the first American to see Antarctica. (The Palmer Peninsula is later named after him.)

1869 – In Egypt, the Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, is inaugurated.

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.

1947 – The Screen Actors Guild implements an anti-Communist loyalty oath.

1970 – Vietnam War: Lieutenant William Calley goes on trial for the My Lai Massacre.

1973 – The Athens Polytechnic uprising against the military regime ends in a bloodshed in the Greek capital.

2003 – Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s tenure as the governor of California began.

2019 – The first known case of COVID-19 is traced to a 55-year-old man who had visited a market in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.