Today in History in 1630 the city of Boston, Massachusetts is founded; 1787 the United States Constitution is signed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and in 1976 the first Space Shuttle, the Enterprise, is unveiled by NASA.

The on this day in history archives at “Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia” contains over 200,000 events, birthdays and deaths from 6,000 years of history. Here is a roundup of a few of them:

September 17 is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 105 days remaining until the end of the year.

EVENTS

1577 – The Peace of Bergerac is signed between Henry III of France and the Huguenots.

1630 – The city of Boston, Massachusetts is founded.

1631 – Thirty Years' War: The Battle of Breitenfeld ends in victory for Sweden over the Holy Roman Empire.

1683 – Anton van Leeuwenhoek writes a letter to the Royal Society, describing 'animalcules', the first-known description of protozoa.

1716 – Jean Thurel enlists in the Touraine army regiment at age 17, beginning over 90 years of military service lasting until his death at the age of 108.

1775 – American Revolutionary War: Invasion of Canada begins with the Siege of Fort St. Jean.

1776 – The Presidio of San Francisco is founded in New Spain.

1787 – The United States Constitution is signed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1789 – William Herschel discovers Saturn's moon Mimas.

1809 – The Finnish War between Sweden and Russia ends.

1814 – Francis Scott Key finishes his poem "Defence of Fort McHenry", later to become the lyrics for The Star-Spangled Banner, the national Anthem of the United States.

1843 – The Universidad de Chile (University of Chile) is founded in Santiago, Chile.

1849 – Abolitionist Harriet Tubman escapes Slavery.

1859 – Joshua A. Norton declares himself "Emperor of the United States".

1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Antietam is fought. It is the bloodiest day in US military history.

1862 – American Civil War: The Allegheny Arsenal explosion results in the worst civilian disaster of the war.

1894 – First Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Yalu River, the largest naval engagement of the war.

1900 – Philippine-American War: Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat Americans under Benjamin F. Cheatham at Mobitac.

1908 – The Wright Flyer flown by Orville Wright, with Thomas Selfridge as passenger, crashes, killing Selfridge.

1914 – Andrew Fisher becomes Prime Minister of Australia for a third time.

1916 – World War I: German flying ace Manfred von Richthofen wins his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France.

1928 – The Okeechobee Hurricane hits southeastern Florida, killing more than 2,500 people.

1939 – World War II: The Soviet Union joins the Nazis' invasion of Poland.

1939 – World War II: German U-boat U 29 sinks British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous.

1939 – Taisto Maki becomes the first person to run the 10,000 metres in under 30 minutes, doing so in 29 minutes, 52 seconds.

1940 – World War II: Adolf Hitler calls off Operation Sealion after defeat in the Battle of Britain.

1943 – World War II: The Russian city of Bryansk is liberated.

1944 – World War II: Allied troops parachute into the Netherlands.

1949 – Canadian steamship SS Norronic burns in Toronto Harbour, killing over 118 people.

1957 – The Federation of Malaya (later Malaysia) joins the UN.

1974 – Bangladesh, Grenada and Guinea-Bissau join the UN.

1976 – The first Space Shuttle, the Enterprise, is unveiled by NASA.

1978 – The Camp David Accords are signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

1980 – The Solidarity trade union is established.

1980 – In Paraguay, former Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle is killed by Sandinista activists.

1983 – Vanessa L. Williams becomes the first African American Miss America.

1988 – The Summer Olympics in Seoul begin.

1991 – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, North Korea, South Korea, the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia join the UN.

1993 – The last Russian troops leave Poland.

2001 – The New York Stock Exchange reopens for trading after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

2004 – Tamil is declared as the first classical language of India.

2004 – The 2004 Summer Paralympics begin in Athens, lasting until September 28.

2005 – Helen Clark is elected to a third term in-a-row as Prime Minister of New Zealand.

2006 – The Fourpeaked Mountain volcano in Alaska erupts for the first time in over 10,000 years.

2006 – Fredrik Reinfeldt is elected Prime Minister of Sweden.

2006 – An audio tape of then-Prime Minister of Hungary Ferenc Gyurcsany is leaked to the public, in which he confessed that his Hungarian Socialist Party lied to win the 2006 General Election, sparking widespread protests across the country.

2011 – The Occupy Wall Street movement begins in New York City. By October 15, the Occupy movement had spread to protests in cities around the world against economic mismanagement.

2016 – Iranian cyclist Bahman Golbarnezhad dies after a crash in the road race during the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

2016 – An explosion in New York City injures 29 people.