September 16Birthdays & History

On this day: September 16 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 681Pope Honorius I is posthumously excommunicated by the Sixth Ecumenical Council.Europe
2. 1400Owain Glyndŵr is declared Prince of Wales by his followers.Europe
3. 1410Ferdinand of Trastámara takes Antequera from the emirate of Granada.Europe
4. 1620Pilgrims set sail for Virginia from Plymouth, England in the Mayflower.North AmericaEurope
5. 1701James Francis Edward Stuart, sometimes called the "Old Pretender", becomes the Jacobite claimant to the thrones of England and Scotland on the death of his father, James II.Europe
6. 1732In Campo Maior, Portugal, a storm hits the Armory and a violent explosion ensues, killing two-thirds of its inhabitants.Europe
7. 1776American Revolutionary War: American forces win the Battle of Harlem Heights after General George Washington orders a counterattack on advancing British light infantry.North AmericaEurope
8. 1779American Revolutionary War: The Franco-American Siege of Savannah begins.North America
9. 1810With the Grito de Dolores, Father Miguel Hidalgo begins Mexico's fight for independence from Spain.Latin AmericaEurope
10. 1822French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel, in a "note" read to the Academy of Sciences, reports a direct refraction experiment verifying David Brewster's hypothesis that photoelasticity (as it is now known) is stress-induced birefringence.Europe
11. 1863Robert College, in Istanbul, the first American educational institution outside the United States, is founded by Christopher Robert, an American philanthropist.Middle EastNorth America
12. 1880The Cornell Daily Sun prints its first issue in Ithaca, New York.North America
13. 1893Settlers make a land run for prime land in the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma.North America
14. 1908The General Motors Corporation is founded.North America
15. 1914World War I: The Siege of Przemyśl (present-day Poland) begins.Europe
16. 1920The Wall Street bombing: A bomb in a horse wagon explodes in front of the J. P. Morgan building in New York City killing 38 and injuring 400.North America
17. 1940World War II: Italian troops conquer Sidi Barrani.Europe
18. 1943World War II: The German Tenth Army reports that it can no longer contain the Allied bridgehead around Salerno.Europe
19. 1945World War II: The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong comes to an end.AsiaAsia
20. 1953American Airlines Flight 723 crashes in Colonie, New York, killing 28 people.North America
21. 1955The military coup to unseat President Juan Perón of Argentina is launched at midnight.Latin America
22. 1955A Soviet Zulu-class submarine becomes the first to launch a ballistic missile.EuropeAfrica
23. 1956TCN-9 Sydney is the first Australian television station to commence regular broadcasts.Oceania
24. 1959The first successful photocopier, the Xerox 914, is introduced in a demonstration on live television from New York City.North America
25. 1961The United States National Hurricane Research Project drops eight cylinders of silver iodide into the eyewall of Hurricane Esther. Wind speed reduces by 10%, giving rise to Project Stormfury.North America
26. 1961Typhoon Nancy, with possibly the strongest winds ever measured in a tropical cyclone, makes landfall in Osaka, Japan, killing 173 people.Asia
27. 1961Pakistan establishes its Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission with Abdus Salam as its head.Asia
28. 1963Malaysia is formed from the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak. However, Singapore is soon expelled from this new country.Asia
29. 1966The Metropolitan Opera House opens at Lincoln Center in New York City with the world premiere of Samuel Barber's opera Antony and Cleopatra.North AmericaMiddle East
30. 1970King Hussein of Jordan declares war against the Palestine Liberation Organization, the conflict came to be known as Black September.Middle East
31. 1975Papua New Guinea gains independence from Australia.Oceania
32. 1975The first prototype of the Mikoyan MiG-31 interceptor makes its maiden flight.Europe
33. 1975Cape Verde, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Príncipe join the United Nations.Africa
34. 1976Armenian champion swimmer Shavarsh Karapetyan saves 20 people from a trolleybus that had fallen into a Yerevan reservoir.Europe
35. 1976Night of the Pencils: In the city of La Plata, Argentina, a group of high-school students were kidnapped and later tortured, raped and murdered during the Argentinian military dictatorshipLatin America
36. 1978The 7.4 Mw Tabas earthquake affects the city of Tabas, Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). At least 15,000 people are killed.Middle East
37. 1979The Sugarhill Gang released their first single, Rapper's Delight.North America
38. 1979Eight people escape from East Germany to the west in a homemade hot air balloon.Europe
39. 1982Lebanon War: The Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon takes place.Middle East
40. 1987The Montreal Protocol is signed to protect the ozone layer from depletion.North America
41. 1990The railroad between the People's Republic of China and Kazakhstan is completed at Dostyk, adding a sizable link to the concept of the Eurasian Land Bridge.Asia
42. 1992Black Wednesday: The British pound is forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism by currency speculators and is forced to devalue against the German mark.Europe
43. 1992The trial of the deposed Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega ends in the United States with a 40-year sentence for drug trafficking and money laundering.Latin AmericaNorth America
44. 1994The British government lifts the broadcasting ban imposed against members of Sinn Féin and Irish paramilitary groups in 1988.Europe
45. 1996Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on STS-79 to dock with the Russian space station Mir.Europe
46. 2004Hurricane Ivan makes landfall in Gulf Shores, Alabama as a Category 3 hurricane.North America
47. 2005The Camorra organized crime boss Paolo Di Lauro is arrested in Naples, Italy.Europe
48. 2007Security guards working for Blackwater Worldwide shoot and kill 17 Iraqis in Nisour Square, Baghdad.Middle East
49. 2007One-Two-Go Airlines Flight 269 carrying 130 crew and passengers crashes in Thailand, killing 90 people.Asia
50. 2013A gunman kills twelve people at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C.North America
51. 2014The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant launches its Kobani offensive against Syrian–Kurdish forces.Middle East
52. 2015A 8.3 Mw earthquake strikes the Chilean city of Illapel, killing 15 people, injuring at least 34, leaving at least six missing, and causing extensive damage. One person also dies in Argentina.Latin America
53. 2021Inspiration4, the first private orbital crewed spaceflight, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center.North America
54. 2021A 6.0 Mw earthquake strikes Lu County, Sichuan, China, killing three and injuring more than 88.Asia
55. 2022The death of Mahsa Amini occurred in Tehran, Iran, sparking worldwide protests.Middle East
56. 2022During the Let Yet Kone massacre, the Burmese military kills 13 villagers, including eight children, after attacking a school in Sagaing Region, Myanmar.Asia

Source: Wikipedia "September 16" / CC BY-SA 4.0