Historical Events on December 16

Events 1 - 200 of 202

• 533 The Digest is published, codifies the works of classical jurists, commissioned by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian
• 755 An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Fanyang, initiating the An Shi Rebellion during Chinese Tang Dynasty
• 882 Marinus I begins his reign as Catholic Pope succeeding John VIII

• 1392 Nanboku-chō - Emperor Go-Kameyama of Japan abdicates in favor of rival claimant Go-Komatsu

• 1575 Valdivia earthquake with estimated 8.5 magnitude takes place, first recorded earthquake in Chile
• 1577 Danzig rebellion ends in a compromise between the city's nobility and Polish King Stephen Báthory, after the King restored and recognized the city's economic and religious privileges
• 1598 Seven Year War: Battle of Noryang Point - in the final battle of the war Korean navy decisively defeats the Japanese
• 1617 Spanish viceroy Hernando Arias de Saavedra founds provinces Rio de la Plata (Argentina)/Guaira (Paraguay)

• 1631 Mount Vesuvius in Italy erupts, burying many villages under lava flows and killing around 3,000 people

• 1659 General George Monck demands free parliamentary election in Scotland
• 1689 English Parliament passes Bill of Rights establishing limits on crown powers and requirement for regular elections
• 1707 Last recorded eruption of Mount Fuji in Japan.
• 1740 Prussian Libya falls to Silezie
• 1761 Seven Years' War: After four-month siege, Russian army under Pyotr Rumyantsev takes Prussian fortress of Kolobrzeg (German: Kolberg).
• 1767 Van Ritter von Glucks opera "Alceste" premieres

• 1777 Virginia becomes 1st state to ratify Articles of Confederation (US 1st constitution)
• 1811 Earthquake hits New Madrid, Missouri, causing widespread damage
• 1817 Leaders of Molukkas uprising hanged in Ambon
• 1824 Great North Holland Canal opens
• 1826 Benjamin W. Edwards rides into Mexican controlled Nacogdoches, Texas and declares himself ruler of the Republic of Fredonia.
• 1835 Fire consumes over 600 buildings in NYC
• 1838 Battle of Blood River: Zulu impis defeated by Voortrekkers in South Africa (Great Trek)
• 1850 Ships the Charlotte-Jane and the Randolph bring the first of the Canterbury Pilgrims to Lyttelton, New Zealand
• 1857 Earthquake in Naples, Italy
• 1858 Dutch government decides to vacate Schokland Island
• 1859 Frederiksborg Castle, largest Renaissance complex in Scandinavia, is badly damaged in a fire - later restored and turned into a museum
• 1862 Kingdom of Nepal accepts its constitution

• 1864 Battle of Nashville ends after 4400 causalities

• 1880 Beginning of the First Boer War between British Empire and Boer South African Republic
• 1880 Transvaal region declares itself as the Republic of South Africa
• 1883 Tonkin Campaign: The French capture the citadel in Hanoi

• 1886 Rift at Dutch Reformed Church over "Doleantie"
• 1890 Negro Methodist Episcopal Church founded in Jackson, TN
• 1893 Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 - "New World Symphony" premieres at Carnegie Hall, New York
• 1897 1st submarine with an internal combustion engine demonstrated
• 1899 Italian football club A.C. Milan founded as Milan Foot-Ball and Cricket Club by Englishmen Alfred Edwards and Herbert Kilpin (disputed possibly 13 Dec)
• 1900 A National Civic Federation is formed in the US to arbitrate labor disputes
• 1900 Boer army under gen Kritzinger take Cape colony
• 1901 Boer General Kritzinger captured
• 1903 Majestic Theater, NYC, becomes 1st in US to employ women ushers
• 1903 The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel opens its doors to guests for the first time, in Bombay, British India
• 1905 "Variety" covering all phases of show business, 1st published

• 1907 Eugenia Farrar is the 1st to sing over a wireless radio broadcast, at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York
• 1908 1st credit union in US forms (Manchester NH)
• 1909 A conservative revolution and US pressure forces Nicaraguan President Jose Santos from office
• 1911 UK National Insurance Act becomes law, providing health insurance for industrial workers (about a third of the workforce) [1]
• 1912 1st US postage stamp picturing an airplane, 20 cent parcel post, issued
• 1912 Austria-Hungary engage in conflict with Serbia
• 1912 First Balkan War: The Ottoman Navy is defeated by the Royal Hellenic Navy at the Battle of Eli

• 1914 German warships fire more than 500 shells on northern English towns of Scarborough, Whitby and Hartlepool - 1st time English civilians targeted during the war - kill 137 people [1]
• 1914 World War I: German battleships under Franz Von Hipper bombard the English ports of Hartlepool and Scarborough.
• 1918 German troops evacuate Finland, give over Kiev in the Ukraine to revolutionary forces and pull back from Estonia as Bolshevik forces move in

• 1920 8.5 earthquake rocks the Gansu province in China, killing an estimated 200,000

• 1921 The Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) calls for a united front in a pass burning campaign on Dingaan's Day
• 1922 Mutual Association of Eastern Colored Baseball Clubs formally organizes
• 1922 NSW all out for 786 against South Australia Cricket

• 1925 Alpha Phi Omega national service fraternity is founded at Lafayette College.

• 1926 WOW-AM in Omaha NE begins radio transmissions

• 1929 Chic Blackhawks 1st game at Chicago Stadium, beat Pittsburgh Pirates, 3-1

• 1931 German SPD begins Iron Front against fascism
• 1933 Abe de Vries & Sipke Castelein win Elfstedentocht
• 1936 John Monks and Fred Finklehoff's play "Brother Rat" premieres in New York City
• 1937 Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe attempt to escape from American federal prison Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay; neither is ever seen again.

• 1938 State of California executes Ed Davis (38), leader of Folsom Prison escape attempt resulting in murder of warden and guard (San Quentin State Prison, Marin County)
• 1939 Bradman scores 251* SA v NSW, 271 minutes, 38 fours 2 sixes
• 1940 British air raid on Mannheim

• 1941 Sarawak occupied by Japanese forces
• 1942 Hitler orders combat against partisans in Russia and the Balkans
• 1943 "Tamiami Champion" (New York to Florida) trains collide, kills 73 & injures 200
• 1944 German V-2 strikes Antwerp bioscope (638 kill)
• 1944 Nazi Germany launches a counteroffensive against the Allies in the Ardennes region of Belgium, beginning the 'Battle of the Bulge'
• 1944 US 2nd Infantry division occupies "Heartbreak Crossroads" Wahlerscheid
• 1946 1947 NFL Draft: Bob Fenimore from University of Oklahoma A&M first pick by Chicago Bears

• 1946 Thailand joins the United Nations
• 1949 Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget, later knows as SAAB, is founded in Sweden.

• 1951 NBC premiere of "Dragnet" in black and white
• 1953 Charles E. Yeager flies > 2,575 kph in Bell X-1A
• 1957 Sir Feroz Khan Noon replaces Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar as Prime Minister of Pakistan

• 1958 Bogota warehouse fire kills 82
• 1959 Snow falling in Lowarai Pass West Pakistan kills 48
• 1960 TWA 266 & United 826 collide over Staten Island, kills 134

• 1962 Nepal establishes its constitution and becomes a Constitutional Hindu Monarchy
• 1962 NY Giant Y. A. Tittle sets NFL season touchdown pass record at 33 with 6 touchdowns vs Dallas (41-31)
• 1964 US performs nuclear test at Pacific Ocean
• 1965 Gemini 6 returns to Earth
• 1965 Pioneer 6 launched into solar orbit
• 1965 Taufa'ahau Tupou IV becomes King of Tonga

• 1966 The Beatles release "Everywhere it's Christmas" in UK
• 1967 "Playtime", French film directed by Jacques Tati, starring himself, is released

• 1968 KFIZ TV channel 34 in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin begins broadcasting

• 1968 Official revocation of the Edict of Expulsion of Jews from Spain at Second Vatican Council

• 1969 British House of Commons votes 343-185 to abolish the death penalty

• 1970 "Love Story" film based on the novel by Erich Segal, directed by Arthur Hiller and starring Ryan O'Neal and Ali McGraw is released
• 1970 Polish Vice-Prime Minister Stanisław Kociołek, condemns labor protesters and calls for the workers to get back to work, in a televised speech
• 1970 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1971 Don McLean's 8+ minute version of "American Pie" released
• 1971 Vijay Diwas (Victory Day): East Pakistan's independence (as Bangladesh) from Pakistan is recognized internationally after India's army occupies Dacca, and 93,000 West Pakistani troops surrender
• 1972 Bangladesh Constitution goes into effect
• 1972 Miami Dolphins become 1st undefeated NFL team (14-0-0)

• 1974 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
• 1974 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh, Semipalitinsk USSR
• 1975 1st broadcast of "One Day at a Time" on CBS TV

• 1976 Andrew Young named Ambassador & Chief US Delegate to UN

• 1976 Government halts swine flu vaccination program following reports of paralysis
• 1976 Liberian tanker stranded at Nantucket, 180,000 barrels oil in sea
• 1978 Cleveland, Ohio becomes the first post-Depression era city to default on its loans, owing $14,000,000 to local banks.

• 1979 4 British Army soldiers are killed by a PIRA landmine near Dungannon, County Tyrone. Another British Army soldier was killed by a PIRA landmine near Forkill, County Armagh
• 1979 Dallas QB Roger Staubach throws 3 TDs and 336 yards in his last NFL regular season game with the Cowboys, a 35-34 win over Washington Redskins at Texas Stadium
• 1979 Libya raises crude oil prices, joining four other OPEC nations, which has a dramatic effect on the United States
• 1980 President-elect Ronald Reagan announces Alexander Haig Jr. as 59th Secretary of State
• 1981 Dutch Van Agt's 2nd government falls
• 1982 The Federal Reserve announces that the operating capacity of factories has gone down to 67.8%.
• 1983 Riverside, California judge denies cerebral palsy victim Elizabeth Bouviato request to starve herself to death in a county hospital
• 1983 Spokesperson for rock band "The Who" announces the group is disbanding

• 1985 Challenger moves to Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) for mating of STS 51-L mission

• 1987 Roh Tae Woo elected president of South Korea
• 1988 American political cult leader Lyndon LaRouche convicted of tax and mail fraud
• 1989 Commencement of 1st Test Cricket play at Bellerive Oval, Hobart (v SL)
• 1989 Geoff Marsh completes 355* for WA against South Australia
• 1989 Protest breaks out in Timişoara in response to an attempt by the government to evict dissident Hungarian pastor, László Tőkés.
• 1990 KUSW, Salt Lake City Utah, final shortwave radio transmissions
• 1990 Rev. Jean-Bertrand Aristide elected President of Haiti
• 1991 Independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
• 1991 MLB expansion club Florida Marlins sign their 1st player, 16-year-old pitcher Clemente Nunez
• 1991 UN reverses ruling that Zionism is racism by 111-25 (13 abstain) vote

• 1995 The official adoption of the name "Euro"

• 1998 Iraq disarmament crisis: Operation Desert Fox - the United States and United Kingdom bomb targets in Iraq to degrade its ability to produce, store, maintain, and deliver weapons of mass destruction
• 2004 NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft is the 1st to cross the termination shock, where solar and interstellar winds merge

• 2012 4 people are killed after Cyclone Evan strikes Fiji
• 2012 A gang rape of a woman on a bus in India that resulted in her death leads to national and international outrage
• 2012 Corinthians defeat Chelsea 1-0 to win the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup
• 2013 21 people are killed and 20 are injured after a bus falls from an elevated highway in Manila, Philippines
• 2013 79th Heisman Trophy Award: Jameis Winston, Florida State (QB)
• 2014 An Army Public School in Pakistan is attacked by Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan militants who kill 145 people

• 2015 US Federal Reserve raises interest rates by 0.25% for the first time since 2006
• 2016 5 day pollution red alert declared in Beijing and 21 other Chinese cities, classified by officials as a “meteorological disaster”

• 2018 Huge explosion and fire in a restaurant in Sapporo, Japan injures 42
• 2018 Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is sworn back into office two months after being removed by President Sirisena

• 2020 14 people found guilty of 2015 terror attacks on Charlie Hebdo office and supermarket in Paris
• 2020 China blocks imports of coal, from Australia, the world's second biggest market for the world's biggest coal exporter
• 2020 Major winter storm hits US Northeast resulting in at least seven deaths and Binghamton, New York, receiving record 41 inches of snow
• 2020 Nine-year-old girl who died of an asthma attack in 2013 becomes first person in the world to officially have air pollution listed as cause of death
• 2020 US Major League Baseball announces it is elevating the Negro Leagues to Major League status
• 2021 Six children die in a bouncy castle accident at a school in Devonport, Tasmasia, Australia
• 2021 Super Typhoon Rai strikes the Philippines' south-eastern islands with winds of 195km/h (120mph), killing at least 375
• 2022 Japan announces its biggest military build-up since WWII, amid concerns over China and North Korea [1]
• 2022 Landslide sweeps through a campsite in Batang Kali township, Selangor state, Malaysia, killing at least 21 people during the night [1]
• 2022 Pokemon producers announce main man Ash Ketchum and his Pikachu will leave the anime series after 25 years [1]

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