Today is Tuesday, April 17, the 108th day of 2012. There are 258 days left in the year.

1421 ― Dikes at Dort Holland breaks, 100,000 drown

1492 ― Christopher Columbus signs contract with Spain to find the Indies

1521 ― Martin Luther is excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church

1534 ― Sir Thomas More confined in London Tower

1895 ― Treaty of Shimonoseki signed, ends first Sino-Japanese War (1894-95)

1961 ― 1,400 Cuban exiles land in Bay of Pigs attempt to overthrow Castro

1969 ― Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Senator Robert F. Kennedy

1975 ― Phnom Penh fell to Communist insurgents, ending Cambodia's five-year war

1983 ― Nolan Ryan strikes out his 3,500th batter

1986 ― IBM produces first megabit-chi