Today is Tuesday, May 17, the 139th day of 2016. There are 227 days left in the year.
1630 — Italian Jesuit Niccolo Zucchi, 1st to see 2 belts on Jupiter surface
1631 — Earl Johann Tilly attacks Maagdenburg
1648 — Emperor Ferdinand III defeats Maximilian I of Bavaria
1672 — Frontenac becomes Governor of New France (Canada)
1673 — Louis Joliet & Jacques Marquette begin exploring Mississippi
1678 — King Charles II & Louis XIV sign secret treaty
1712 — Maximilian Emanuel of Bavaria honored as “sovereign of Netherlands”
1733 — England passes Molasses Act, putting high tariffs on rum & molasses imported to the colonies from a country other than British possessions