Today is Monday, March 17, the 77th day of 2008. There are 289 days left in the year.
0455 _ Roman senator Petronius Maximus becomes Emperor
1521 _ Ferdinand Magellan discovers the Philippines
1580 _ Prince Willem of Orange welcomed in Amsterdam
1753 _ First official St Patrick's Day
1804 _ Johann von Schiller's ``Wilhelm Tell" premieres
1861 _ Italy declares independence; Kingdom of Italy proclaimed
1894 _ U.S. and China sign treaty preventing Chinese laborers from entering U.S.
1917 _ Tsar Nicolas II of Russia abdicates the throne
1932 _ German police raid Hitler's Nazi-headquarter
1959 _ Dalai Lama flees Tibet for India