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Our on this day in history archives contain over 200,000 events, birthdays and deaths from 6,000 years of history. Here is a roundup of a few more of them:

April 17 is the 107th day of the year (108th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 258 days remain until the end of the year.

EVENTS

1492 – Spain and Christopher Columbus sign the Capitulations of Santa Fe for his voyage to Asia to acquire spices.

1521 – Trial of Martin Luther over his teachings begins during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. Initially intimidated, he asks for time to reflect before answering and is given a stay of one day.

1797 – Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico, in what would be one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in the Americas.

1797 – Citizens of Verona begin an unsuccessful eight-day rebellion against the French occupying forces.

1861 – The state of Virginia's secession convention votes to secede from the United States; Virginia later becomes the eighth state to join the Confederate States of America.

1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Plymouth begins: Confederate forces attack Plymouth, North Carolina.

1907 – The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day.

1945 – World War II: Montese, Italy, is liberated from Nazi forces.

1961 – Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.

1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.

1970 – Apollo program: The damaged Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.

2013 – An explosion at a fertilizer plant in the city of West, Texas, kills 15 people and injures 160 others.

2014 – NASA's Kepler space telescope confirms the discovery of the first Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of another star.

2021 – The funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, takes place at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

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