Today in History 06/17/17

Painting of Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia (© Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

(1462) The Night Attack unleashes Vlad the Impaler’s fury

A conflict over Prince Vlad III’s refusal to pay taxes to Sultan Mehmed II results in a bloody nighttime raid by the Wallachian prince and his forces on the Ottoman sultan’s armed camp. The Night Attack ends in victory for the Wallachians, but Vlad Dracula’s goal of assassinating the sultan goes unmet.

The Night Attack of Târgoviște was a battle fought between forces of Vlad III the Impaler of Wallachia and Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire on Thursday, June 17, 1462.

Date: Jun 17, 1462

wiki/The_Night_Attack

Taj Mahal, Agra, India (© Jan Cobb Photography Ltd/Getty Images)

(1631) Mughal Empress Mumtaz Mahal dies

Empress Mumtaz Mahal, beloved wife of India’s Mughal emperor, dies while giving birth to the couple’s fourteenth child. Her husband’s grief will lead to 21 years of construction on the Taj Mahal, a domed marble mausoleum for his wife’s tomb and one of the architectural wonders of the world.

Mumtaz Mahal was Empress consort of the Mughal Empire from 19 January 1628 to 17 June 1631 and was the chief consort of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The UNESCO World Heritage Site, Taj Mahal in Agra, often cited as one of the Wonders of the World, was commissioned by her husband to act as her final resting place.

Lived: Apr 27, 1593 – Jun 17, 1631 (age 38)
Spouse: Shah Jahan (m. 1612 – 1631)
Buried: Taj Mahal
Children: Aurangzeb (Son) · Dara Shikoh (Son) · Jahanara Begum (Daughter) · Murad Bakhsh (Son) · Shah Shuja (Son) · Gauharara Begum (Daughter) · Roshanara Begum (Daughter) · Huralnissa Begum (Daughter) · Sultan Daulat Afza (Son) · Husnara Begum (Daughter) · Sultan Ummid Baksh (Son) · Sultan Luftallah (Son) · Surayya Banu Begum (Daughter)
Parents: Abul-Hasan ibn Mirza Ghiyas Beg (Father)
Siblings: Shaista Khan (Brother)
Highlights
1593: Mumtaz Mahal was born Arjumand Banu Begum on 27 April 1593 in Agra to Abdul Hasan Asaf Khan and his wife Diwanji Begum, the daughter of a Persian noble, Khwaja Ghias-ud-din of Qazvin.

1607: Mumtaz Mahal was betrothed to Shah Jahan on 30 January 1607, when she was 13 years old at the time and he was 15.

1612: She was married at the age of 19 on 30 April 1612 to Prince Khurram, later known by his regnal name, Shah Jahan, who conferred upon her the title “Mumtaz Mahal”.

1612: Mumtaz Mahal married Shah Jahan on May 10, 1612.

1631: Mumtaz Mahal died in Burhanpur on 17 June 1631 while giving birth to her fourteenth child.

wiki/Mumtaz_Mahal

Engraving depicting French missionary and explorer Jacques Marquette, sailing in a canoe with Native Americans and Louis Joliet, on the Mississippi river (© Archive Photos/Getty Images)

(1673) Two mapmakers meet the mighty Mississippi

Frenchman Jacques Marquette and French-Canadian Louis Jolliet set their canoes down on the river Native Americans called the “Mesipi,” near what will be Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. These early European explorers will map the huge waterway’s course to within 435 miles of the Gulf of Mexico.

Louis Jolliet was a French Canadian explorer known for his discoveries in North America. Jolliet and Jesuit Father Jacques Marquette, a Catholic priest and missionary, were the first non-Natives to explore and map the Mississippi River in 1673.

Born: Sep 21, 1645 · Quebec City, Canada
Died: 1700
Romance: Claire-Françoise Bissot
Parents: Marie d’Abancourt (Mother) · Geoffroy Guillot dit Lavallée (Father) · Jean Joliet ou Jolliet
Children: Charles Joillet (Son) · Marie-Geneviève Joliet (Daughter) · Marie-Genevieve Grignon (Daughter) · Francois Joillet (Son) · Jean-Baptiste Joillet (Son) · François Joliet (Son) · Claire-Catherine Joillet (Daughter) · Louis Joillet (Son) · Jean-Baptiste Jolliet (Son) · Charles Jolliet-d’Anticosti (Son) · Louis Joliet, fils (Son) · Charles Marie Joliet · Anne Jolliet
Highlights
1673: Jolliet and Jesuit Father Jacques Marquette, a Catholic priest and missionary, were the first non-Natives to explore and map the Mississippi River in 1673.

1673: On May 17, 1673, Jolliet and Marquette departed from St. Ignace Michigan with two canoes and five other voyageurs of French-Indian ancestry (today’s Métis).

1680: In 1680, Jolliet was granted the Island of Antwhere where he created a fort and maintained soldiers.

1694: In 1694, he sailed from the Gulf of St. Lawrence north along the coast of Labrador as far north as Zoar, a voyage of five and a half months.

1700: Louis Jolliet died in 1700.

wiki/Louis_Jolliet

Father Jacques Marquette S.J., sometimes known as Père Marquette or James Marquette, was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan’s first European settlement, Sault Ste. Marie, and later founded St. Ignace, Michigan. In 1673 Father Marquette and Louis Jolliet were the first Europeans to explore and map the northern portion of the Mississippi River.

Born: Jun 01, 1637 · Laon, France
Died: May 18, 1675 · Ludington, MI
Parents: Rose de La Salle (Mother) · Nicolas Marquette (Father)
Written works: Voyages
Highlights
1637: Jacques Marquette was born at Laon, France, on June 1, 1637, and joined the Society of Jesus at age 17.

1666: After he worked and taught in France for several years, the Jesuits assigned him to New France in 1666 as a missionary to the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

1668: In 1668 Father Marquette was moved by his superiors to missions farther up the St. Lawrence River in the western Great Lakes region.

1673: Leave was granted, and in 1673 Marquette joined the expedition of Louis Jolliet, a French-Canadian explorer.

1674: On the return trip to St. Ignace, he died at age 37 near the modern town of Ludington, Michigan.

1675: Jacques Marquette died on May 18, 1675 in Ludington, United States.

wiki/Jacques_Marquette

The Watergate office complex in Washington, DC, in 1972, the year a break-in occurred at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the building (© Archive Photos/Getty Images)

(1972) Break-in at the Watergate Hotel ends in arrests

Five men, including US President Richard Nixon’s security chief, are arrested after breaking into the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters at the Watergate Complex in Washington, DC. What Nixon’s press secretary later dubs a ‘third-rate burglary’ will be the undoing of a presidency.

Watergate was a major political scandal that occurred in the United States in the 1970s, following a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972, and President Richard Nixon’s administration’s attempted cover-up of its involvement. When the conspiracy was discovered and investigated by the U.S. Congress, the Nixon administration’s resistance to its probes led to a constitutional crisis.