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This day in history

This day in history: 16 April

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Born on this day · Died on this day199 · 120

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Key facts

374 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 16 April.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2024: The historic Børsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, is severely damaged by a fire.

Holidays and observances

Birthday of José de Diego (Puerto Rico, United States)

Birthday of Queen Margrethe II (Denmark)

Christian feast day: April 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Benedict Joseph Labre

Christian feast day: Bernadette Soubirous

Christian feast day: Drogo

Christian feast day: Engratia

Christian feast day: Fructuosus of Braga

Christian feast day: Isabella Gilmore (Church of England)

Christian feast day: Martyrs of Zaragoza

Christian feast day: Molly Brant (Konwatsijayenni) (Anglican Church of Canada, Episcopal Church)

Christian feast day: Turibius of Astorga

Events

2024The historic Børsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, is severely damaged by a fire.

2018The New York Times and The New Yorker win the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for breaking news of the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse scandal.

2016Ecuador's worst earthquake in nearly 40 years kills 676 and injures more than 230,000.

2014The South Korean ferry MV Sewol capsizes and sinks near Jindo Island, killing 304 passengers and crew and leading to widespread criticism of the South Korean government, media, and shipping authorities.

2013A 7.8-magnitude earthquake strikes Sistan and Balochistan province, Iran, killing at least 35 people and injuring 117 others.

2013The 2013 Baga massacre is started when Boko Haram militants engage government soldiers in Baga.

2012The Pulitzer Prize winners are announced. It was the first time since 1977 that no book won the Fiction Prize.

2012The trial for Anders Behring Breivik, the perpetrator of the 2011 Norway attacks, begins in Oslo, Norway.

2008The U.S. Supreme Court rules in the Baze v. Rees decision that execution by lethal injection does not violate the Eighth Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment.

2007Virginia Tech shooting: Seung-Hui Cho murders 32 people and injures 17 before committing suicide.

2003The Treaty of Accession is signed in Athens admitting ten new member states to the European Union.

2001India and Bangladesh begin a five-day border conflict, but are unable to resolve the disputes about their border.

1972Apollo program: The launch of Apollo 16 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

1963U.S. civil rights campaigner Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. writes his open letter from Birmingham Jail, sometimes known as "The Negro Is Your Brother", while incarcerated in Birmingham, Alabama, for protesting against segregation.

1961In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.

1948The Organization of European Economic Co-operation is formed.

1947An explosion on board a freighter in port causes Texas City in the state of Texas, United States, to catch fire, killing almost 600 people.

1947Bernard Baruch first applies the term "Cold War" to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.

1945World War II: More than 7,000 die when the German transport ship Goya is sunk by a Soviet submarine.

1945World War II: The Red Army begins the final assault on German forces around Berlin, with nearly one million troops fighting in the Battle of the Seelow Heights.

1945World War II: The United States Army liberates Nazi Sonderlager (high security) prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C (better known as Colditz).

1944World War II: Allied forces start bombing Belgrade, killing about 1,100 people. This bombing fell on the Orthodox Christian Easter.

1943Albert Hofmann accidentally discovers the hallucinogenic effects of the research drug LSD. He intentionally takes the drug three days later on April 19.

1941World War II: The Italian-German Tarigo convoy is attacked and destroyed by British ships.

1941World War II: The Nazi-affiliated Ustaše is put in charge of the Independent State of Croatia by the Axis powers after Operation 25 is effected.

1925During the Communist St Nedelya Church assault in Sofia, Bulgaria, 150 are killed and 500 are wounded.

1922The Treaty of Rapallo, pursuant to which Germany and the Soviet Union re-establish diplomatic relations, is signed.

1919Mohandas Gandhi organizes a day of "prayer and fasting" in response to the killing of Indian protesters in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by the British colonial troops three days earlier.

1919Polish–Lithuanian War: The Polish Army launches the Vilna offensive to capture Vilnius in modern Lithuania.

1917Russian Revolution: Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd, Russia, from exile in Switzerland.

1912Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.

1910The oldest indoor ice hockey arena used for the sport in the 21st century, Boston Arena, opens for the first time.

1908Natural Bridges National Monument is established in Utah.

1881In Dodge City, Kansas, Bat Masterson fights his last gun battle.

1878The Senate of the Grand Duchy of Finland issues a declaration establishing a city of Kotka on the southern part islands from the old Kymi parish.

1863American Civil War: During the Vicksburg Campaign, gunboats commanded by acting Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter run downriver past Confederate artillery batteries at Vicksburg.

1862American Civil War: Battle at Lee's Mills in Virginia.

1862American Civil War: The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia, becomes law.

1858The Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is dissolved.

1853The Great Indian Peninsula Railway opens the first passenger rail in India, from Bori Bunder to Thane.

Born on this day

2002Sadie Sink, American actress

1996Anya Taylor-Joy, Argentine-British actress

1996Taylor Townsend, American tennis player

1993Chance the Rapper, American rapper

1993Mirai Nagasu, Japanese-American figure skater

1992Brian Poe Llamanzares, Filipino journalist and politician

1991Kim Kyung-jung, South Korean footballer

1991Nolan Arenado, American baseball player

1990Reggie Jackson, American basketball player

1990Tony McQuay, American sprinter

1990Vangelis Mantzaris, Greek basketball player

1988Kyle Okposo, American ice hockey player

1987Aaron Lennon, English international footballer

1987Cenk Akyol, Turkish basketball player

1986Epke Zonderland, Dutch gymnast

1986Peter Regin, Danish ice hockey player

1986Shinji Okazaki, Japanese footballer

1985Brendon Leonard, New Zealand rugby player

1985Katerina Stikoudi, Greek singer, actress, TV host, model, businesswoman, former champion swimmer and beauty pageant titleholder.

1985Luol Deng, Sudanese-English basketball player

1985Nate Diaz, American mixed martial artist

1985Taye Taiwo, Nigerian footballer

1984Claire Foy, English actress

1984Kerron Stewart, Jamaican sprinter

1984Paweł Kieszek, Polish footballer

1984Tucker Fredricks, American speed skater

1983Cat Osterman, American softball player

1983Marié Digby, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress

1982Boris Diaw, French basketball player

1982Gina Carano, American mixed martial artist and actress

1981Anestis Agritis, Greek footballer

1979Christijan Albers, Dutch racing driver

1979Daniel Browne, New Zealand rugby player

1979Lars Börgeling, German pole vaulter

1977Freddie Ljungberg, Swedish footballer

1976Kelli O'Hara, American actress and singer

1976Lukas Haas, American actor and musician

1973Akon, Senegalese-American singer, rapper and songwriter

1973Charlotta Sörenstam, Swedish golfer

1973Teddy Cobeña, Spanish-Ecuadorian expressionist and representational sculptor

Died on this day

2026Alex Manninger, Austrian footballer (born 1977)

2026Justin Fairfax, American lawyer and politician, 41st Lieutenant Governor of Virginia (born 1979)

2025Nora Aunor, Filipino actress and recording artist (born 1953)

2024Bob Graham, American lawyer, author, and politician, 38th governor of Florida (born 1936)

2024Carl Erskine, American baseball player (born 1926)

2021Andrew Peacock, Australian politician (born 1939)

2021Helen McCrory, British actress (born 1968)

2021John Dawes, Welsh rugby union player (born 1940)

2021Liam Scarlett, British choreographer (born 1986)

2018Harry Anderson, American actor and magician (born 1952)

2015Stanislav Gross, Czech lawyer and politician, fifth Prime Minister of the Czech Republic (born 1969)

2015Valery Belousov, Russian ice hockey player and coach (born 1948)

2014Aulis Rytkönen, Finnish footballer and manager (born 1929)

2014Ernst Florian Winter, Austrian-American historian and political scientist (born 1923)

2014Gyude Bryant, Liberian businessman and politician (born 1949)

2013Ali Kafi, Algerian politician (born 1928)

2013George Beverly Shea, Canadian-American singer-songwriter (born 1909)

2013Pat Summerall, American football player and sportscaster (born 1930)

2013Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, Mexican architect, designed the Tijuana Cultural Center and National Museum of Anthropology (born 1919)

2013Pentti Lund, Finnish-Canadian ice hockey player (born 1925)

2013Siegfried Ludwig, Austrian politician, 18th Governor of Lower Austria (born 1926)

2012Carlo Petrini, Italian footballer and coach (born 1948)

2012George Kunda, Zambian lawyer and politician, 11th Vice-President of Zambia (born 1956)

2012Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, Danish businessman (born 1913)

2012Sári Barabás, Hungarian soprano (born 1914)

2011Allan Blakeney, Canadian scholar and politician, tenth Premier of Saskatchewan (born 1925)

2011Gerry Alexander, Jamaican cricketer and veterinarian (born 1928)

2011Sol Saks, American screenwriter and producer (born 1910)

2010Rasim Delić, Bosnian general and convicted war criminal (born 1949)

2009Eduardo Rózsa-Flores, Bolivian-Hungarian-Croatian mercenary, journalist, and actor (born 1960)

Quote of the day

“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”

Epictetus

Questions people ask

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From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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