MONDAY, March 17, 2025

1860-Six years after the forcible ending of Japan's isolationist policy by US Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry, the Japanese Embassy arrives in San Francisco to sign a Treaty of Friendship

1900-American modern dancer Isadora Duncan gives her first Europen performance in London, England

1905-Albert Einstein finishes his scientific paper detailing his Quantum Theory of Light, one of the foundations of modern physics

1939-Battle of Nanchang between the Kuomintang and the Japanese breaks out (Sino-Japanese War 1937-1945)

1942-Bełżec Concentration Camp opens with the transport of 30,000 Lublin Polish Jews

1973-Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and a consortium of Western firms led by British Petroleum agree to the formal nationalization of Iran's oil industry in return for an assured 20-year supply of Iranian oil

2000-The 800+ deaths of members of the Ugandan cult Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God is considered to be a mass murder and suicide orchestrated by leaders of the cult