On this day: 16 January
Events, births and deaths on 16 January. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
- Deaths · David Lynch
- Deaths · Joan Plowright
- Deaths · Bob Uecker
10 years ago2016
- Events · 2016 Ouagadougou attacks
- Deaths · Joannis Avramidis
100 years ago1926
Within 10 years of that
- 1933 · Births · Susan Sontag
- 1932 · Births · Dian Fossey
- 1931 · Births · Johannes Rau
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 1093 · Births · Isaac Komnenos
- 972 · Births · Emperor Shengzong of Liao
- 991 · Deaths · Taira no Kanemori
Events · 17
- 1120(Julian date)Council of Nablus — synod
- 1349Basel massacre — Swiss 14th-century pogrom
- 1547(Julian date)Tsar of All Russia — the royal title of the rulers of Tsardom of Russia from 1547 to 1721
- 1780Battle of Cape St. Vincent — 1780 naval battle
- 1786Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom — statute disestablishing the Church of England in Virginia and guaranteeing freedom of religion to people of all faiths
- 1809Battle of Corunna — 1809 battle during the Peninsular War
- 1862Hartley Colliery Disaster — 1862 mining disaster which resulted in the deaths of 204 men and children, and led to safety legislation
- 1917Zimmermann telegram — 1917 World War I telegram from Germany to Mexico proposing an alliance
- 1942TWA Flight 3 — 1942 DC-3 crash in SW Nevada
- 1959Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 205 — 1959 aviation accident
- 1979American Institute in Taiwan — representative mission of the United States in Taiwan
- 1983Turkish Airlines flight 158 — aircraft involved in 1981 landing accident
- 19981998 Guatemala Student Rapes — thirteen American students were attacked in Guatemala
- 2001Assassination of Laurent-Désiré Kabila — 2001 assassination of Congolese president
- 2012Mali War — armed conflicts that started from January 2012
- 20162016 Ouagadougou attacks — attack on the Cappuccino restaurant and the Splendid Hotel in Burkina Faso
- 20172017 Turkish Airlines cargo plane crash — 2017 Cargo airliner crash in Kyrgyzstan
Births · 60
- 1409(Julian date)René of Anjou — king of Naples (1409-1480)
- 1516(Julian date)Bayinnaung — King of Burma
- 1630Guru Har Rai — The seventh guru of Sikhism
- 1675Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon — French writer (1675-1755)
- 1728Niccolò Piccinni — Italian composer
- 1749Vittorio Alfieri — Italian noble, dramatist and poet (1749–1803)
- 1815Henry Halleck — Union Army general (1815–1872)
- 1821John C. Breckinridge — vice president of the United States from 1857 to 1861 (1821–1875)
- 1836Francis II of the Two Sicilies — King of the Two Sicilies (1836-1894) and Servant of God
- 1838Franz Brentano — German philosopher and psychologist as well as refounder of the theory of intentionality (1838–1917)
- 1844Ismail Kemal — Prime Minister of Albania (1844-1919)
- 1878Harry Carey — American actor (1878–1947)
- 1900Edith Frank-Holländer — Mother of Holocaust diarist Anne Frank (1900–1945)
- 1901Fulgencio Batista — President of Cuba, 1940–1944; dictator, 1952-1959 (1901-1973)
- 1902Eric Liddell — Scottish athlete, sprinter, Olympian, Protestant missionary (1902-1945)
- 1906Diana Wynyard — English actress (1906-1964)
- 1907Alexander Knox — Canadian actor and author of adventure novels (1907-1995)
- 1908Ethel Merman — American actress and singer (1908-1984)
- 1908Günther Prien — German U-boat commander during World War II
- 1909Clement Greenberg — American essayist and visual art critic (1909-1994)
- 1911Eduardo Frei Montalva — President of Chile (1911-1982)
- 1924Katy Jurado — Mexican actress (1924-2002)
- 1931Johannes Rau — German politician (SPD), 8th president of Germany from 1999 until 2004 (1931–2006)
- 1932Dian Fossey — American zoologist, gorilla researcher (1932–1985)
- 1933Susan Sontag — American writer and filmmaker, professor, and activist (1933–2004)
Deaths · 60
- 1391(Julian date)Muhammad V — Sultan of Granada from 1354 to 1359 and 1362 to 1391
- 1443Erasmo of Narni — Italian mercenary (1370–1443)
- 1547(Julian date)Johannes Schöner — German mathematician, astronomer, cartographer & publisher (1477–1547)
- 1554Christiern Pedersen — Danish canon, humanist scholar, writer, printer and publisher
- 1595Murad III — 12th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1574–1595)
- 1710Higashiyama — emperor of Japan (1675-1710)
- 1711Joseph Vaz — Oratorian priest and missionary in Sri Lanka
- 1747Barthold Heinrich Brockes — German poet
- 1794Edward Gibbon — English historian and politician (1737–1794)
- 1809John Moore — British Army general (1761-1809)
- 1864Cheoljong of Joseon — King of Joseon Dynasty in Korean history (1831-1864)
- 1864Anton Schindler — Associate, secretary, and early biographer of Ludwig van Beethoven (1795-1864)
- 1886Amilcare Ponchielli — Italian composer (1834-1886)
- 1891Léo Delibes — French composer (1836–1891)
- 1901Arnold Böcklin — Swiss painter, draftsman, graphic artist and sculptor (1827–1901)
- 1901Mahadev Govind Ranade — Indian scholar, social reformer and author (1842-1901)
- 1901Jules Barbier — French poet, writer and librettist (1825–1901)
- 1901Hiram Rhodes Revels — American politician (1827-1901)
- 1917George Dewey — United States Navy admiral (1837–1917)
- 1919Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves — Brazilian politician (1848-1919)
- 1936Albert Fish — American serial killer, pedophile and cannibal (1870–1936)
- 1938Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay — Bengali novelist and short story writer (1876-1938)
- 1942Carole Lombard — American actress (1908-1942)
- 1942Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn — British prince (1850–1942), Governor General of Canada from 1911 to 1916
- 1949Vasily Degtyaryov — Russian and Soviet weapons designer (1880-1949)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.