WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2013

Today is Wednesday, April 17, the 107th day of 2013. 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

1865 ― Mary Surratt is arrested as a conspirator in Lincoln's assassination

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

1956 ― Kominform disbands

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 chip