December 16 Historical Events

The following events took place on December 16. The list is arranged in chronological order.

Found 50 events. Showing 1 - 30.

• 714
  Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the Merovingian palace, dies at Jupille (modern Belgium). He is succeeded by his infant grandson Theudoald while his wife Plectrude holds actual power in the Frankish Kingdom.
• 755
  An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Yanjing, initiating the An Lushan Rebellion during the Tang dynasty of China.
• 1431
  Hundred Years’ War: Henry VI of England is crowned King of France at Notre Dame in Paris.
• 1497
  Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope, the point where Bartolomeu Dias had previously turned back to Portugal.
• 1575
  An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 8.5 strikes Valdivia, Chile.
• 1598
  Seven-Year War: Battle of Noryang – The final battle of the Seven-Year War is fought between the China and the Korean allied forces and Japanese navies, resulting in a decisive allied forces victory.
• 1653
  English Interregnum: The Protectorate – Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.
• 1689
  Convention Parliament: The Declaration of Right is embodied in the Bill of Rights.
• 1707
  Last recorded eruption of Mount Fuji in Japan.
• 1761
  Seven Years’ War: After a four-month siege, the Russians under Pyotr Rumyantsev take the Prussian fortress of Kołobrzeg.
• 1773
  American Revolution: Boston Tea Party – Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk Indians dump hundreds of crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tea Act.
• 1811
  The first two in a series of four severe earthquakes occur in the vicinity of New Madrid, Missouri.
• 1826
  Benjamin W. Edwards rides into Mexican-controlled Nacogdoches, Texas, and declares himself ruler of the Republic of Fredonia.
• 1838
  Great Trek: Battle of Blood River – Voortrekkers led by Andries Pretorius and Sarel Cilliers defeat Zulu impis, led by Dambuza (Nzobo) and Ndlela kaSompisi in what is today KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
• 1850
  The Charlotte Jane and the Randolph bring the first of the Canterbury Pilgrims to Lyttelton, New Zealand.

• 1863
  American Civil War: Joseph E. Johnston replaces Braxton Bragg as commander of the Confederate Army of Tennessee.
• 1864
  American Civil War: Battle of Nashville – Major General George Thomas’s Union forces defeat Lieutenant General John Bell Hood’s Confederate Army of Tennessee.
• 1903
  Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel in Bombay first opens its doors to the guests.
• 1907
  The American Great White Fleet begins its circumnavigation of the world.
• 1912
  First Balkan War: The Royal Hellenic Navy defeats the Ottoman Navy at the Battle of Elli.
• 1914
  World War I: German battleships under Franz von Hipper bombard the English ports of Hartlepool and Scarborough.
• 1918
  Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas declares the formation of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.
• 1920
  The Haiyuan earthquake, magnitude 8.5, rocks the Gansu province in China, killing an estimated 200,000.
• 1922
  President of Poland Gabriel Narutowicz is assassinated by Eligiusz Niewiadomski at the Zachęta Gallery in Warsaw.
• 1927
  Donald Bradman makes his debut in first-class cricket for New South Wales against South Australia. Batting at No. 7, he scores a century.
• 1930
  Bank robber Herman Lamm and members of his crew are killed by a 200-strong posse, following a botched bank robbery in Clinton, Indiana.
• 1937
  Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe attempt to escape from the American federal prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay; neither is ever seen again.
• 1938
  Adolf Hitler institutes the Cross of Honour of the German Mother.
• 1941
  World War II: Japanese forces occupy Miri, Sarawak.
• 1942
  The Holocaust: Schutzstaffel chief Heinrich Himmler orders that Roma candidates for extermination be deported to Auschwitz.