Nicosia, Cyprus. July 17 has marked significant events in politics, aviation, culture and sport, from the start of the Potsdam Conference in 1945 to the death of former British prime minister Edward Heath in 2005.
Early events
In 1903, American-born artist James Whistler, best known for his portrait of his mother, died.
The Potsdam Conference began in 1945, bringing together British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and U.S. President Harry Truman.
Jazz and blues singer Billie Holiday died in 1959.
Political developments
In 1969, Spanish leader Generalisimo Francisco Franco named Prince Juan Carlos as his eventual successor as head of state.
A military coup in Afghanistan in 1973, led by former prime minister Sardar Muhammad Daoud Khan, overthrew King Mohammed Zahir Shah. A republic was proclaimed, with Daoud becoming president.
In 2000, Bashar al-Assad was formally sworn in as president of Syria, succeeding his late father, Hafez al-Assad, who had held the office for the previous three decades.
Deaths and aviation disaster
Argentine racing driver Juan Manuel Fangio, a five-time world motor racing champion, died in 1995.
In 1996, TWA Flight 800 exploded over the Atlantic Ocean after departing New York for Paris, killing all 230 people on board.
Edward Heath, the former British prime minister who took Britain into the forerunner of the European Union during his term in the early 1970s, died in 2005 at the age of 89.
