April 16

Historic Events

2024

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

2018

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

2016

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

2014

The 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. ›

2013

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

2013

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

2012

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

2012

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

2008

The 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. ›

2007

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

2003

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

2001

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

1972

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

1963

U.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. ›

1961

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

1948

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

1947

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

1947

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

1945

World 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. ›

1945

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

1945

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

1944

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

1943

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

1941

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

1941

World 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. ›

1925

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

1922

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

1919

Mohandas 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. ›

1919

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

1917

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

1912

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

1910

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

1908

Natural Bridges National Monument is established in Utah. ›

1881

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

1878

The 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. ›

1863

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

1862

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

1862

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

1858

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

1853

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

1847

Shooting of a Māori by an English sailor results in the opening of the Wanganui Campaign of the New Zealand Wars. ›

1838

The French Army captures Veracruz in the Pastry War. ›

1818

The United States Senate ratifies the Rush–Bagot Treaty, limiting naval armaments on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain. ›

1799

French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of Mount Tabor: Napoleon drives Ottoman Turks across the River Jordan near Acre. ›

1797

The Spithead mutiny begins, immobilising the Channel fleet. ›

1780

Franz Friedrich Wilhelm von Fürstenberg founds the University of Münster. ›

1746

The Battle of Culloden is fought between the French-supported Jacobites and the British Hanoverian forces commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, in Scotland. ›

1582

Spanish conquistador Hernando de Lerma founds the settlement of Salta, Argentina. ›

1520

The Revolt of the Comuneros begins in Spain against the rule of Charles V. ›

1346

Stefan Dušan, "the Mighty", is crowned Emperor of the Serbs at Skopje, his empire occupying much of the Balkans. ›

682

Pope Leo II is elected head of the Catholic Church, although he will not be consecrated until 17 August. ›

556

Pope Pelagius I is consecrated following Imperial approval by Emperor Justinian I. ›

73

Masada, a Jewish fortress, falls to the Romans after several months of siege, ending the First Jewish–Roman War. ›

69

Defeated by Vitellius' troops at Bedriacum, Roman emperor Otho commits suicide. ›

1457 BC

Battle of Megiddo: The first battle to have been recorded in what is accepted as relatively reliable detail. ›