What happened on July 16? There are more than 277 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.
Interesting Facts & Myths About July 16
July 16 is the 198th day of the year 2024. There are 168 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Tuesday. This day falls under the 29th week of the year 2024.
On this day in Tucker, Georgia 30084 sunrise will occur at 06:36 AM and sunset will occur at 08:49 PM (local time).
The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Cancer. The modern birthstone for this month is Ruby while the mystical birthstone is Ruby.
According to the Chinese calendar, there are 197 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).
Is your birthday coming up in two days? Are you not curious to find out who is sharing your special day? Discover all the April 25 famous birthdays. There are fun facts about that day that you must know. (Sponsored link)
Historical Events For July 16
- 622The beginning of the Islamic calendar.
- 1054Three Roman legates break relations between Western and Eastern Christian Churches through the act of placing an invalidly-issued Papal Bull of Excommunication on the altar of Hagia Sophia during Saturday afternoon divine liturgy. Historians frequently describe the event as the start of the East-West Schism.
- 1212Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa: after Pope Innocent III calls European knights to a crusade, forces of Kings Alfonso VIII of Castile, Sancho VII of Navarre, Pedro II of Aragon and Afonso II of Portugal defeat those of the Berber Muslim leader Almohad, thus marking a significant turning point in the Reconquista and in the medieval history of Spain.
- 1377Coronation of Richard II of England.
- 1661The first banknotes in Europe are issued by the Swedish bank Stockholms Banco.
- 1683Manchu Qing Dynasty naval forces under traitorous commander Shi Lang defeat the Kingdom of Tungning in the Battle of Penghu near the Pescadores Islands.
- 1769Father Junipero Serra founds California’s first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Over the following decades, it evolves into the city of San Diego.
- 1779American Revolutionary War: light infantry of the Continental Army seize a fortified British Army position in a midnight bayonet attack at the Battle of Stony Point.
- 1782First performance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail.
- 1790The District of Columbia is established as the capital of the United States after signature of the Residence Act.
- 1809The city of La Paz, in what is today Bolivia, declares its independence from the Spanish Crown during the La Paz revolution and forms the Junta Tuitiva, the first independent government in Spanish America, led by Pedro Domingo Murillo.
- 1861American Civil War: at the order of President Abraham Lincoln, Union troops begin a 25 mile march into Virginia for what will become The First Battle of Bull Run, the first major land battle of the war.
- 1862American Civil War: David Farragut is promoted to rear admiral, becoming the first officer in United States Navy to hold an admiral rank.
- 1880Emily Stowe becomes the first female physician licensed to practice medicine in Canada.
- 1909Persian Constitutional Revolution: Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar is forced out as Shah of Persia and is replaced by his son Ahmad Shah Qajar.
- 1910John Robertson Duigan makes the first flight of the Duigan pusher biplane, the first aircraft built in Australia.
- 1915Henry James becomes a British citizen, to highlight his commitment to England during the first World War.
- 1927Augusto César Sandino leads a raid on U.S. Marines and Nicaraguan Guardia Nacional that had been sent to apprehend him in the village of Ocotal, but is repulsed by one of the first dive-bombing attacks in history.
- 1931Emperor Haile Selassie I signs the first constitution of Ethiopia.
- 1935The world’s first parking meter is installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
- 1941Joe DiMaggio hits safely for the 56th consecutive game, a streak that still stands as a MLB record.
- 1942Holocaust: Vel‘ d'Hiv Roundup (Rafle du Vel’d'Hiv): the government of Vichy France orders the mass arrest of 13,152 Jews who are held at the Winter Velodrome in Paris before deportation to Auschwitz.
- 1945Manhattan Project: the Atomic Age begins when the United States successfully detonates a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon at the Trinity site near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
- 1945World War II: The Heavy Cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35) leaves San Francisco with parts for the atomic bomb “Little Boy” bound for Tinian Island. This would be the last time the Indianapolis would be seen by the Mainland she would be torpedoed by the Japanese Submarine I-58 on July 30 and sink with 880 out of 1,196 crewmen.
- 1945World War II: the leaders of the three Allied nations, Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin, meet in the German city of Potsdam to decide the future of a defeated Germany.
- 1948Following token resistance, the city of Nazareth, revered by Christians as the hometown of Jesus, capitulates to Israeli troops during Operation Dekel in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
- 1948The storming of the cockpit of the Miss Macao passenger seaplane, operated by a subsidiary of the Cathay Pacific Airways, marks the first aircraft hijacking of a commercial plane.
- 1950Chaplain-Medic massacre: American POWs were massacred by North Korean Army.
- 1951The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger is published for the first time by Little, Brown and Company.
- 1951King Léopold III of Belgium abdicates in favor of his son, Baudouin I of Belgium.
- 1956Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closes its very last “Big Tent” show in Pittsburgh, due to changing economics all subsequent circus shows will be held in arenas.
- 1957United States Marine major John Glenn flies a F8U Crusader supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds, setting a new transcontinental speed record.
- 1960USS George Washington a modified Skipjack class submarine successfully test fires the first ballistic missile while submerged.
- 1965The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France and Italy opens.
- 1969Apollo program: Apollo 11, the first manned space mission to land on the Moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
- 1973Watergate Scandal: former White House aide Alexander P. Butterfield informs the United States Senate that President Richard Nixon had secretly recorded potentially incriminating conversations.
- 1979Iraqi President Hasan al-Bakr resigns and is replaced by Saddam Hussein.
- 1981Mahathir bin Mohamad becomes Malaysia’s 4th Prime Minister; his 22 years in office, ending with retirement on 31 October 2003, made him Asia’s longest-serving political leader.
- 1983Sikorsky S-61 disaster: a helicopter crashes off the Isles of Scilly, causing 20 fatalities.
- 1990The Luzon Earthquake strikes in Benguet, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, La Union, Aurora, Bataan, Zambales and Tarlac, Philippines, with an intensity of 7.7.
- 1990The Parliament of the Ukrainian SSR declares state sovereignty over the territory of the Ukrainian SSR.
- 1993The Slackware operating system is first released.
- 1994Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collides with Jupiter. Impacts continue until July 22.
- 1999John F. Kennedy, Jr., piloting a Piper Saratoga aircraft, dies when his plane crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. His wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette are also killed.
- 2004Millennium Park, considered Chicago’s first and most ambitious early 21st century architectural project, is opened to the public by Mayor Richard M. Daley.
- 20072007 Chūetsu offshore earthquake: an earthquake of magnitude 6.8 and 6.6 aftershock occurs off the Niigata coast of Japan killing 8 people, injuring at least 800 and damaging a nuclear power plant.
Who Were Born On July 16?
- 1194Saint Clare of Assisi, Italian follower of Francis of Assisi (d. 1253)
- 1486Andrea del Sarto, Italian painter (d. 1530)
- 1611Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria, Austrian-born Queen consort of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, wife of King Władysław IV Vasa (d. 1644)
- 1714Marc René, marquis de Montalembert, French military engineer (d. 1800)
- 1722Joseph Wilton, English sculptor (d. 1803)
- 1723Joshua Reynolds, English painter (d. 1792)
- 1731Samuel Huntington, American statesman, signer of the Declaration of Independence, 3rd Governor of Connecticut and 7th President of the Continental Congress (d. 1796)
- 1749Cyrus Griffin, American statesman, 16th and last president of the Continental Congress (d. 1810)
- 1796Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, French painter (d. 1875)
- 1821Mary Baker Eddy, American religious leader (d. 1910)
- 1858Eugène Ysaÿe, Belgian violinist (d. 1931)
- 1862Ida Bell Wells-Barnett, American civil rights activist (d. 1931)
- 1870Lambert McKenna, Irish Jesuit priest and scholar of the Irish language (d. 1956)
- 1872Roald Amundsen, Norwegian polar explorer (d. 1928)
- 1880Kathleen Thompson Norris, American novelist (d. 1966)
- 1883Charles Sheeler, American photographer and artist (d. 1965)
- 1884Anna Vyrubova, Russian memoirist (d. 1964)
- 1888Frits Zernike, Dutch physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1966)
- 1888Percy Kilbride, American actor (d. 1964)
- 1888Shoeless Joe Jackson, American baseball player (d. 1951)
- 1889Larry Semon, American film comedy actor (d. 1928)
- 1896Evelyn Preer, American actress (d. 1932)
- 1896Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer, German biologist and eugenicist (d. 1969)
- 1896Trygve Lie, Norwegian diplomat, Secretary-General of the United Nations (d. 1968)
- 1902Alexander Luria, Russian psychologist (d. 1977)
- 1903Carmen Lombardo, Canadian singer and composer (d. 1971)
- 1903Fritz Bauer, German judge (d. 1968)
- 1903Mary Philbin, American stage and film actress (d. 1993)
- 1904Goffredo Petrassi, Italian composer (d. 2003)
- 1906Vincent Sherman, American film director (d. 2006)
- 1907Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1907Frances Horwich, American educator and television personality (d. 2001)
- 1907Orville Redenbacher, American farmer and businessman (d. 1995)
- 1910Stan McCabe, Australian cricketer (d. 1968)
- 1911Ginger Rogers, American actress and dancer (d. 1995)
- 1911Sonny Tufts, American actor (d. 1970)
- 1912Milt Bocek, American baseball player (d. 2007)
- 1915Barnard Hughes, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1918Bayani Casimiro, Filipino dancer and actor (d. 1989)
- 1919Choi Kyu-hah, South Korean politician, 4th President of South Korea (d. 2006)
- 1919Hermine Braunsteiner, Austrian concentration and extermination camp guard (d. 1999)
- 1920Anatole Broyard, American literary critic and essayist (d. 1990)
- 1920Anwar Hussain, Pakistani cricketer (d. 2002)
- 1923Chris Argyris, American educator
- 1924Bess Myerson, American beauty queen
- 1925Cal Tjader, American vibraphonist, percussionist and pianist (d. 1982)
- 1926Irwin Rose, American biologist, Nobel laureate
- 1927John Warr, English cricketer
- 1928Andrzej Zawada, Polish mountaineer (d. 2000)
- 1928Anita Brookner, English novelist
- 1928Dave Treen, American politician, 51st Governor of Louisiana (d. 2009)
- 1928Robert Sheckley, American science fiction writer (d. 2005)
- 1928Ticho Parly, Danish tenor (d. 1993)
- 1929Charles Ray Hatcher, American serial killer (d. 1984)
- 1930Guy Béart, Egyptian-born French singer and songwriter
- 1930Michael Bilirakis, American politician
- 1932Dick Thornburgh, American politician
- 1932Max McGee, American football player (d. 2007)
- 1934Don Payne, American politician
- 1936Buddy Merrill, American musician (The Lawrence Welk Show)
- 1936Venkatraman Subramanya, Indian cricketer
- 1936Yasuo Fukuda, Japanese politician
- 1937Richard Bryan, American politician
- 1938Tony Jackson, English bass player (The Searchers) (d. 2003)
- 1939Corin Redgrave, English actor and political activist (d. 2010)
- 1939Mariele Ventre, Italian choir director (d. 1995)
- 1941Dag Solstad, Norwegian novelist, short-story writer and dramatist
- 1941Desmond Dekker, Jamaican ska and reggae singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
- 1941Mišo Kovač, Croatian singer
- 1942Margaret Court, Australian tennis player
- 1943Jimmy Johnson, American football coach
- 1943Reinaldo Arenas, Cuban poet (d. 1990)
- 1946Barbara Lee, American politician
- 1946Richard LeParmentier, American actor
- 1946Ron Yary, American football player
- 1946Toshio Furukawa, Japanese voice actor
- 1947Alexis Herman, American politician, 23rd U.S. Secretary of Labor
- 1947Assata Shakur, American BPP and BLA activist
- 1948Kevin McKenzie, South African cricketer
- 1948Pierre Koffmann, French chef
- 1948Pinchas Zukerman, Israeli violinist
- 1948Rubén Blades, Panamanian singer and actor
- 1950Dennis Priestley, English darts player
- 1950Pierre Paradis, Quebec politician
- 1950Tom Terrell, American journalist, musicologist and DJ (d. 2007)
- 1951Jean-Luc Mongrain, Canadian journalist
- 1952Ken McEwan, South African cricketer
- 1952Momir Karadžić, Serbian footballer
- 1952Robert David Steele, American spy
- 1952Stewart Copeland, American drummer (The Police)
- 1953Douglas J. Feith, American Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
- 1954Jeanette Mott Oxford, American politician
- 1956Jerry Doyle, American actor
- 1956Tony Kushner, American playwright
- 1957Alexandra Marinina, Russian writer
- 1957Faye Grant, American actress
- 1958Michael Flatley, American dancer
- 1958Mike D. Rogers, American politician
- 1958Pierre Roland Renoir, Monaco-born Canadian painter
- 1959Doug Herzog, American television executive
- 1959Gary Anderson, American football player
- 1959Zoran Jolevski, Macedonian diplomat, Ambassador to the USA
- 1960Terry Pendleton, American baseball player
- 1963Phoebe Cates, American actress
- 1963Srečko Katanec, Slovenian footballer and coach
- 1964Miguel Indurain, Spanish cyclist
- 1964Phil Hellmuth, American poker player
- 1965Claude Lemieux, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1965Tina Tyler, Canadian porn actress
- 1966Johnny Vaughan, English writer and broadcaster
- 1967Christopher Rocancourt, French con artist
- 1967Will Ferrell, American comedian
- 1968Barry Sanders, American football player
- 1968Dhanraj Pillay, Indian field hockey player
- 1968Henry Hate, American-born English tattoo artist
- 1968Larry Sanger, American co-founder of Wikipedia and founder of Citizendium
- 1969Daryl Mitchell, American actor
- 1969Kathryn Harby-Williams, Australian netballer
- 1969Rain Pryor, American actress
- 1970Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thai film director
- 1971Corey Feldman, American actor
- 1971Ed Kowalczyk, American singer (Live)
- 1973Graham Robertson, American filmmaker and author
- 1973Shaun Pollock, South African cricketer
- 1973Stefano Garzelli, Italian cyclist
- 1973Tim Ryan, American politician
- 1974Chris Pontius, American actor and Jackass cast member
- 1974Jeremy Enigk, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Sunny Day Real Estate, The Fire Theft)
- 1974Wendell Sailor, Australian rugby league and union player
- 1975Ana Paula Arósio, Brazilian actress
- 1975Bas Leinders, Belgian racing car driver
- 1975Jamie Oliver, Welsh keyboardist (Lostprophets)
- 1976Anna Smashnova, Israeli tennis player
- 1976Bobby Lashley, American professional wrestler
- 1976Carlos Humberto Paredes, Paraguyan footballer
- 1976Tomasz Kuchar, Polish rally driver
- 1977Bryan Budd, British soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 2006)
- 1978Taj Anwar, American model and social activist
- 1979Chris Mihm, American basketball player
- 1979Jayma Mays, American actress
- 1979Mai Nakamura, Japanese swimmer
- 1980Adam Scott, Australian golfer
- 1980Jesse Jane, American pornographic actress and erotic model
- 1980Justine Joli, American pornographic actress and adult model
- 1981Giuseppe Di Masi, Italian footballer
- 1981Zach Randolph, American basketball player
- 1982Michael Umaña, Costa Rican footballer
- 1983Duncan Keith, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1984Hayanari Shimoda, Japanese racing driver
- 1984Katrina Kaif, Indian actress
- 1985Denis Tahirović, Croatian footballer
- 1985Taryn Southern, American actress and singer
- 1986Calum Gittins, New Zealand actor
- 1987Andrew James Allen, American actor
- 1987AnnaLynne McCord, American actress
- 1987Moussa Dembélé, Belgian footballer
- 1988Sergio Busquets,Spanish footballer
- 1989Gareth Bale, Welsh footballer
- 1990James Maslow, American singer and actor (Big Time Rush)
- 1991Andros Townsend, English footballer
- 1991Randall Bentley, American actor
- 1994Mark Indelicato, American singer and actor
Who Died On July 16?
- 1216Pope Innocent III (b. 1160 or 1161)
- 1324Emperor Go-Uda of Japan (b. 1267)
- 1342King Charles I of Hungary (b. 1288)
- 1546Anne Askew, English Protestant (b. 1521)
- 1557Anne of Cleves, German-born fourth wife of King Henry VIII of England (b. 1515)
- 1594Thomas Kyd, English playwright (b. 1558)
- 1647Masaniello, Neapolitan rebel (b. 1622)
- 1664Andreas Gryphius, German writer (b. 1616)
- 1686John Pearson, English theologian (b. 1612)
- 1691François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, French war minister (b. 1641)
- 1729Johann David Heinichen, German composer (b. 1683)
- 1747Giuseppe Maria Crespi, Italian painter (b. 1665)
- 1770Francis Cotes, English painter (b. 1726)
- 1796George Howard, British field marshal (b. 1718)
- 1831Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron, Russian general (b. 1763)
- 1850Julia Glover, Irish-born actress (b. c. 1779)
- 1868Dimitri Pisarev, Russian writer and social critic (b. 1840)
- 1879Edward Deas Thomson, Australian politician (b. 1800)
- 1882Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady of the United States (b. 1818)
- 1886Ned Buntline, American pulp novelist (b. 1823)
- 1896Edmond Goncourt, French writer and critic (b. 1822)
- 1915Ellen White, American religious figure (b. 1827)
- 1916Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, Russian microbiologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1845)
- 1917Philipp Scharwenka, German composer (b. 1847)
- 1947Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish humanitarian (exact date of death uncertain) (b. 1912)
- 1949Vyacheslav Ivanovich Ivanov, Russian poet (b. 1866)
- 1953Hilaire Belloc, English writer (b. 1870)
- 1960Albert Kesselring, German field marshal (b. 1881)
- 1960John P. Marquand, American novelist (b. 1893)
- 1976Carmelo Soria, Spanish diplomat (assassinated) (b. 1921)
- 1979Alfred Deller, English countertenor (b. 1912)
- 1981Harry Chapin, American singer-songwriter (b. 1942)
- 1982Charles Robberts Swart, South African politician (b. 1894)
- 1982Patrick Dewaere, French actor (b. 1947)
- 1985Heinrich Böll, German writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1917)
- 1985Wayne King, American saxophonist, songwriter and bandleader (b. 1901)
- 1989Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (b. 1908)
- 1990Robert Blackburn, Irish educationist (b. 1927)
- 1990Sidney Torch, English composer, conductor and organist (b. 1908)
- 1991Frank Rizzo, American politician (b. 1920)
- 1991Robert Motherwell, American painter (b. 1915)
- 1992Buck Buchanan, American football player (b. 1940)
- 1994Julian Schwinger, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1918)
- 1994Marcel-Marie Desmarais, French-Canadian priest, writer, preacher and broadcaster (b. 1908)
- 1995May Sarton, Belgian-born American poet (b. 1912)
- 1995Stephen Spender, English poet (b. 1909)
- 1996Adolf von Thadden, German politician (b. 1921)
- 1996John Panozzo, American drummer (Styx) (b. 1948)
- 1998John Henrik Clarke, American historian and scholar (b. 1915)
- 1999Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, wife of John F. Kennedy, Jr. (b. 1966)
- 1999Hiromi Yanagihara, Japanese singer (b. 1979)
- 1999John F. Kennedy, Jr., American publisher (b. 1960)
- 2001Dimitrios Holevas, Greek Orthodox priest and resistance figure (b. 1907)
- 2001Morris, Belgian cartoonist (b. 1923)
- 2001Terry Gordy, American professional wrestler (b. 1961)
- 2002John Cocke, American computer scientist (b. 1925)
- 2003Carol Shields, American-born Canadian novelist (b. 1935)
- 2003Celia Cruz, Cuban salsa singer (b. 1924)
- 2004Charles Sweeney, American general (b. 1919)
- 2004George Busbee, American politician (b. 1927)
- 2005Camillo Felgen, Luxembourgish singer, lyricist and entertainer (b. 1920)
- 2005Pietro Consagra, Italian sculptor (b. 1920)
- 2005Prince Gu of Korea (b. 1931)
- 2006Bob Orton, Sr., American professional wrestler (b. 1929)
- 2006Winthrop Paul Rockefeller, American politician (b. 1948)
- 2007Caterina Bueno, Italian singer and folk music historian (b. 1943)
- 2008Jo Stafford, American singer (b. 1917)
- 2010James Gammon, American actor (b. 1940)
- 2011Forrest Blue, American football player (b. 1944)
Did you know that coffee and word games are an excellent combination to sharpen your vocabulary? Try this! Within 30 seconds, how many words can you think of from these letters AFUUFMEM? Check your answers here: Word search AFUUFMEM. (Sponsored by WordFinder.Cafe)