Associated Press

On Aug. 17, 1807, Robert Fulton’s North River Steamboat made its first voyage, heading up the Hudson River on a successful round trip between New York City and Albany.

In 1945, Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaimed independence for Indonesia.

In 1945, the George Orwell novel “Animal Farm” was first published in London by Martin Secker & Warburg.

In 1959, trumpeter Miles Davis released “Kind of Blue,” regarded as one of the most influential jazz albums of all time.

In 1978, the first successful trans-Atlantic balloon flight ended as Maxie Anderson, Ben Abruzzo and Larry Newman landed their Double Eagle II outside Paris.

In 1999, more than 17,000 people were killed when a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck the Kocaeli Province of Turkey.