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Suez Canal / Velvet Revolution / Britney Spears / Mouse

On This Day (November 17): Your quick daily trip back in time.

Author

Fatih Taskiran
November 17, 2025

PRESENTED BY

🌟 Editor's Note

Good morning — it’s Monday, November 17. Today we’re exploring the Suez Canal's opening, the last Ottoman sultan, the first computer mouse, the Velvet Revolution, and much more — fast, vibrant, and impeccably sourced!

Oh, if you missed last week's Strange Times story, you can read it here — guaranteed to blow your mind.

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— Fatih Taskiran, Editor

🚀 Time Machine

-1558

Elizabeth I, 25, became queen after the death of her half-sister, Queen Mary I.

-1831

Ecuador and Venezuela separated from Gran Colombia.

-1869

Egypt's Suez Canal opens, linking the Mediterranean and Red seas.

-1922

Mehmed VI, the last Ottoman sultan, was expelled to Malta on a British warship

-1969

Soviet and U.S. negotiators begin the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) in Helsinki to address the Cold War arms race.

-1970

Douglas Engelbart patented the first computer mouse.

-1989

Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution began nine days after the fall of the Berlin Wall, when students in Prague protested against communism.

-2003

21-year-old Britney Spears became the youngest star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

-2003

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📸 Snapshot

The world's first triple-decker bus, Berlin, Germany, 1926

🗨️ Final Words

❝

“I am a queen, but I have not the power to move my arms.”

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