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Encyclopedia: January 16, Talk:January 16, January 16, 2005, January 16, 2004, January 16, 2003, Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/January 16, Wikipedia:POTD/January 16, 2005, Wikipedia:Goings-on/January 16, 2005, Portal:Trains/Anniversaries/January 16, Wikipedia:POTD/January 16, 2006

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is the 16th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 349 days remaining (350 in leap years).

Events

*27 BC - Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian receives the title Augustus by the Roman Senate.
* 550 - Gothic War (535–552): The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.
* 929 - Emir Abd-ar-rahman III of Cordoba declares himself caliph, thereby establishing the Caliphate of Cordoba.
*1362 - A great storm tide in the North Sea destroys the German island of Strand and the city of Rungholt.
*1412 - The Medici family are made official bankers of the Papacy.
*1456 - Painter Filippo Lippi elopes with Lucrezia Buti, a young nun from the convent of Saint Margherita.
*1492 - The first grammar of a modern language, in Spanish, is presented to Queen Isabella.
*1547 - Ivan the Terrible becomes Tsar of Russia.
*1556 - Philip II becomes King of Spain.
*1572 - The Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.
*1581 - English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism.
*1605 - The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes was published in Madrid.
*1761 - British capture Pondicherry, India from the French.
*1777 - Vermont declares its independence from New York.
*1780 - American Revolution: Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
*1795 - French occupy Utrecht, Netherlands.
*1809 - Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Coruña.
*1847 - John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.
*1878 - Captain Burago with a squadron of Russian Imperial army dragoons liberates Plovdiv from the Ottoman rule.
*1883 - The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil service, is passed.
*1896 - Defeat of Cymru Fydd at South Wales Liberal Federation AGM, Newport, Monmouthshire.
*1900 - The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the Samoan islands.
*1909 - Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.
*1917 - German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann sends the Zimmermann Telegram to Mexico, proposing a German-Mexican alliance against the United States.
*1919 - Temperance movement: The 18th Amendment, authorizing Prohibition, is passed by the Congress of the United States, going into effect one year later.
*1920 - Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. was established on the campus of Howard University.
*1945 - Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker.
*1956 - President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine.
*1968 - Youth International Party (Yippies) is founded.
*1969 - Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, in protest against the Soviets' crushing of the Prague Spring the year before.
*1969 - Metroliner train starts running.
*1970 - Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects.
*1979 - The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt.
*1986 - First meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force.
*1991 - Gulf War: United States begins bombing Iraq in Operation Desert Storm, which began following Operation Desert Shield .
*1992 - El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City that ends a 12-year civil war that claimed at least 75,000.
*1995 - UPN begins broadcasting.
*2001 - Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.
*2002 - The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the remaining members of the Taliban.
*2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which will be its final one. Columbia disintegrates 16 days later on re-entry.
*2005 - Adriana Iliescu gives birth at age 66 and becomes the oldest woman in the world to do so.
*2006 - Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president. She becomes Africa's first female elected head of state.
* 2006 - Liu Xinjuan is committed by the Chinese government to a psychiatric hospital, allegedly for political activism.

Births

*1245 - Edmund Crouchback, son of Henry III of England (d. 1296)
*1409 - René I of Naples (d. 1480)
*1477 - Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (d. 1547)
*1501 - Anthony Denny, confidant of King Henry VIII of England (d. 1559)
*1616 - François de Vendôme, duc de Beaufort, French soldier (d. 1669)
*1626 - Lucas Achtschellinck, Flemish painter (d. 1699)
*1634 - Dorthe Engelbrechtsdatter, Norwegian poet (d. 1716)
*1675 - Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French writer (d. 1755)
*1728 - Niccola Piccinni, Italian composer (d. 1800)
*1821 - John C. Breckenridge, Confederate general (d. 1875)
*1834 - Robert R. Hitt, American politician (d. 1906)
*1838 - Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (d. 1917)
*1853 - Andre Michelin, French industrialist (d. 1931)
*1874 - Robert W. Service, Canadian poet (d. 1958)
*1885 - Zhou Zuoren, Chinese writer (d. 1967)
*1886 - John Hamilton, American actor (d. 1958)
*1888 - Osip Brik, Russian writer (d. 1945)
*1897 - Carlos Pellicer, Mexican poet (d. 1977)
*1898 - Margaret Booth, American film editor (d. 2002)
*1901 - Fulgencio Batista, Cuban leader (d. 1973)
* 1901 - Frank Zamboni, American inventor (d. 1988)
*1902 - Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (d. 1945)
*1906 - Diana Wynyard, British actress (d. 1964.
*1907 - Paul Nitze, American government official (d. 2004)
*1908 - Ethel Merman, American actress/singer (d. 1984)
*1910 - Dizzy Dean, baseball player (d. 1974)
*1911 - Roger Lapébie, French cyclist (d. 1996)
*1911 - Eduardo Frei Montalva, president of Chile (d.1982)
*1918 - Nel Benschop, Dutch poetess (d. 2005)
* 1918 - Stirling Silliphant, American writer (d. 1996)
*1921 - Francesco Scavullo, American fashion photographer (d. 2004)
*1922 - Ernesto Bonino, Italian singer
*1923 - Anthony Hecht, American poet (d. 2004)
*1924 - Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (d. 2002)
*1928 - William Kennedy, American author
*1930 - Clarence Ray Allen, American murderer (d. 2006)
*1931 - Johannes Rau, President of Germany (d. 2006)
*1932 - Dian Fossey, American zoologist (d. 1985)
*1933 - Susan Sontag, American writer (d. 2004)
*1934 - Marilyn Horne, American mezzo-soprano
*1935 - A.J. Foyt, American race car driver
*1943 - Brian Ferneyhough, British composer
* 1943 - Ronnie Milsap, American singer/songwriter
*1946 - Kabir Bedi, Indian actor
* 1946 - Katia Ricciarelli, Italian soprano
*1947 - Laura Schlessinger, American radio talk show host
*1948 - John Carpenter, American film director
* 1948 - Dalvanius, New Zealand entertainer (d. 2002)
* 1948 - Cliff Thorburn, Canadian snooker player
* 1948 - Ruth Reichl, editor-in-chief of Gourmet
*1950 - Debbie Allen, American dancer/choreographer
*1951 - Glenn Ordway, American radio talk show host
*1952 - King Fuad II of Egypt
*1953 - Robert Jay Mathews, White Nationalist (d. 1984)
*1956 - Martin Jol, Tottenham football manager
*1958 - Anatoli Boukreev, Russian climber (d. 1997)
*1959 - Sade, Nigerian-born singer
*1962 - Paul Webb, British musician (Talk Talk)
*1963 - James May, Top Gear presenter
*1966 - Maxine Jones, American singer (En Vogue)
*1969 - Roy Jones Jr., American boxer
*1970 - Ron Villone, Major League Baseball Player
*1970 - Garth Ennis, Irish comic book author
*1973 - Josie Davis, American actress
*1974 - Kate Moss, English model
* 1974 - Marlon Anderson, Baseball player
*1975 - Greg Strause, American director in special effects
* 1976 - Viktor Maslov, Russian racing driver
*1977 - Jeff Foster, American basketball player
*1979 - Aaliyah, American singer (d. 2001)
* 1979 - Brenden Morrow, Canadian hockey player
*1980 - Albert Pujols, baseball player
* 1980 - Michelle Wild, Hungarian model
*1981 - Nick Valensi, American guitarist (The Strokes)
*1982 - Samuel Preston, British singer (The Ordinary Boys)
*1983 - Emanuel Pogatetz, Austrian footballer
*1988 - Nicklas Bendtner, Danish footballer
*1991 - Julie Dubela, American singer

Deaths

*1400 - John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, English politician (executed)
*1545 - George Spalatin, German reformer (b. 1484)
*1547 - Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (b. 1477)
*1554 - Christiern Pedersen, Danish humanist
*1585 - Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln, English admiral (b. 1512)
*1659 - Charles Annibal Fabrot, French lawyer (b. 1580)
*1710 - Emperor Higashiyama of Japan (b. 1675)
*1711 - Joseph Vaz, Apostle of Ceylon (b. 1651)
*1747 - Barthold Heinrich Brockes, German poet (b. 1680)
*1748 - Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch classical scholar (b. 1684)
*1750 - Ivan Trubetskoy, Russian field marshall (b. 1667)
*1752 - Francis Blomefield, English topographer (b. 1705)
*1794 - Edward Gibbon, English historian (b. 1737)
*1806 - William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1759)
*1809 - John Moore, British general (b. 1761)
*1815 - Emma, Lady Hamilton, English mistress of Horatio Nelson (b. 1765)
*1817 - Alexander J. Dallas, American statesman (b. 1759)
*1834 - Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette, French mathematician (b. 1769)
*1856 - Thaddeus William Harris, American naturalist (b. 1795)
*1865 - Edmond François Valentin About, French writer (b. 1828)
*1891 - Léo Delibes, French composer (b. 1836)
*1898 - Charles Pelham Villiers (b. 1802), longest-serving MP in the British House of Commons
*1917 - George Dewey, U.S. admiral (b. 1837)
*1919 - Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves, President of Brazil (b. 1848)
*1924 - Winifred Cochrane, Countess of Dundonald, philanthropist (b. 1859)
*1936 - Albert Fish, American serial killer (b. 1870)
*1942 - Carole Lombard, American actress (b. 1908)
*1957 - Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor (b. 1867)
*1962 - Ivan Meštrović, Croatian sculptor (b. 1883)
*1967 - Robert J. Van de Graaff, American nuclear physicist (b. 1901)
*1969 - Jan Palach, Czech Freedom Fighter (b. 1948)
*1971 - Philippe Thys, Belgian cyclist (b. 1890)
*1972 - Ross Bagdasarian, American actor (b. 1919)
*1979 - Ted Cassidy, American actor (b. 1932)
*1979 - August Heissmeyer, German SS officer (b. 1897)
*1981 - Bernard Lee, English actor (b. 1908)
*1982 - Red Smith, American sports columnist (b. 1905)
*1986 - Herbert W. Armstrong, American evangelist, author, and publisher (b. 1892)
*1988 - Ballard Berkeley, English actor (b. 1904)
*1988 - Andrija Artuković, Croatian war criminal (b. 1899)
*1993 - Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Icelandic strength athlete (b. 1960)
*1995 - Eric Mottram, English poet, teacher, critic, and editor (b. 1924)
*1997 - Ennis Cosby, son of entertainer Bill Cosby (murdered)
*2000 - John Rankin, musical entertainer (b. 1959)
*2001 - Laurent-Désiré Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1939)
*2002 - Michael Bilandic, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1923)
* 2002 - Eddie Meduza, Swedish composer (b. 1948)
* 2002 - Bobo Olson, American boxer (b. 1928)
* 2002 - Ron Taylor, American actor (b. 1952)
*2004 - Kalevi Sorsa, Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1930)
*2005 - Marjorie Williams, American journalist (b. 1958)

Holidays and observances

* Teacher's Day in Thailand
* National Religious Freedom Day in the United States, to commemorate the adoption of Thomas Jefferson's landmark Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

External links