April 17th

1397: Geoffrey Chaucer tells the Canterbury Tales for the first and only time that they aren't just required reading for an English Lit class.


1524: Giovanni da Verrazzano reaches New York harbor and dreams of a day when a bridge in his name will charge a lousy $15 toll.


1986: The Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly ends as both sides realize that toilet paper is no longer a commodity worth fighting over.