May 16

Historic Events

2025

A catastrophic EF3 tornado kills five people and causes over $1 billion in damages in St. Louis, MO. ›

2025

A devastating EF4 tornado kills nineteen people in Southeast Kentucky, hitting the towns of Somerset and London. ›

2014

Twelve people are killed in two explosions in the Gikomba market area of Nairobi, Kenya. ›

2011

STS-134 (ISS assembly flight ULF6), launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the 25th and final flight for Space Shuttle Endeavour. ›

2005

Kuwait permits women's suffrage in a 35–23 National Assembly vote. ›

2003

In Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks. ›

1997

Mobutu Sese Seko, the President of Zaire, flees the country. ›

1991

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom addresses a joint session of the United States Congress. She is the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress. ›

1988

A report by the Surgeon General of the United States C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine. ›

1975

Junko Tabei from Japan becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. ›

1974

Josip Broz Tito is elected president for life of Yugoslavia. ›

1972

An Antonov An-24 crashes into a kindergarten building in Svetlogorsk, killing 35. ›

1969

Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet space probe, lands on Venus. ›

1966

The Chinese Communist Party issues the "May 16 Notice", marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. ›

1961

Park Chung Hee leads a coup d'état to overthrow the Second Republic of South Korea. ›

1960

Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser (a ruby laser), at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California. ›

1959

The Tritons' Fountain in Valletta, Malta is turned on for the first time. ›

1954

Beginning of the Kengir uprising in the Gulag. ›

1951

The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights begin between Idlewild Airport (now John F Kennedy International Airport) in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines. ›

1945

Beginning of the Levant Crisis between Britain and France in Syria. The latter try to quell nationalist protests but backs down after threat of military action by the British. ›

1943

The Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends. ›

1943

Operation Chastise is undertaken by RAF Bomber Command with specially equipped Avro Lancasters to destroy the Mohne, Sorpe, and Eder dams in the Ruhr valley. ›

1929

In Hollywood, the first Academy Awards ceremony takes place. ›

1925

The first modern performance of Claudio Monteverdi's opera Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria occurred in Paris. ›

1920

In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc. ›

1919

A naval Curtiss NC-4 aircraft commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight. ›

1918

The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government during wartime an imprisonable offense. It will be repealed less than two years later. ›

1918

The victory military parade by the Finnish White Guard is held in Helsinki celebrating their decisive victory in the Finnish Civil War. The day also begin to be celebrated on the Defence Forces Flag Day before it is moved in 1942 to the June 4th. ›

1916

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the French Third Republic sign the secret wartime Sykes-Picot Agreement partitioning former Ottoman territories such as Iraq and Syria. ›

1891

The International Electrotechnical Exhibition opens in Frankfurt, Germany, featuring the world's first long-distance transmission of high-power, three-phase electric current (the most common form today). ›

1888

Nikola Tesla delivers a lecture describing the equipment which will allow efficient generation and use of alternating currents to transmit electric power over long distances. ›

1877

The 16 May 1877 crisis occurs in France, ending with the dissolution of the National Assembly 22 June and affirming the interpretation of the Constitution of 1875 as a parliamentary rather than presidential system. The elections held in October 1877 led to the defeat of the royalists as a formal political movement in France. ›

1874

A flood on the Mill River in Massachusetts destroys much of four villages and kills 139 people. ›

1868

The United States Senate fails to convict President Andrew Johnson by one vote. ›

1866

The United States Congress establishes the nickel. ›

1863

American Civil War: During the Vicksburg campaign, the decisive Union victory by Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Champion Hill drives the Confederate army under John C. Pemberton back towards Vicksburg, Mississippi. ›

1842

The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail from Elm Grove, Missouri, with 100 pioneers. ›

1834

The Battle of Asseiceira is fought; it was the final and decisive engagement of the Liberal Wars in Portugal. ›

1832

Juan Godoy discovers the rich silver outcrops of Chañarcillo sparking the Chilean silver rush. ›

1822

Greek War of Independence: The Turks capture the Greek town of Souli. ›

1812

Imperial Russia signs the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the Russo-Turkish War. The Ottoman Empire cedes Bessarabia to Russia. ›

1811

Peninsular War: The allies Spain, Portugal and United Kingdom fight an inconclusive battle against the French at the Albuera. It is, in proportion to the numbers involved, the bloodiest battle of the war. ›

1777

Continental Army officer Lachlan McIntosh fatally wounds Button Gwinnett, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, in a duel in Savannah, Georgia. ›

1771

The Battle of Alamance, a pre-American Revolutionary War battle between local militia and a group of rebels called The "Regulators", occurs in present-day Alamance County, North Carolina. ›

1770

The 14-year-old Marie Antoinette marries 15-year-old Louis-Auguste, Dauphin de France, who later becomes king of France. ›

1739

The Battle of Vasai concludes as the Marathas defeat the Portuguese army. ›

1584

Santiago de Vera becomes sixth governor-general of the Spanish colony of the Philippines. ›

1568

Mary, Queen of Scots, flees to England. ›

1532

Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England. ›

1527

The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time and Florence re-establishes itself as a republic. ›

1426

Gov. Thado of Mohnyin becomes King of Ava. ›

1364

Hundred Years' War: Bertrand du Guesclin and a French army defeat the Anglo-Navarrese army of Charles the Bad at Cocherel. ›

1204

Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire. ›

1003

Patrician John II Crescentius, who has seized control of Rome, selects Pope John XVII as the new pope. ›

999

Rebel Turkish warlord Mahmud of Ghazni defeats Samanid Emir Mansur II in battle at Merv. ›

946

Emperor Suzaku abdicates the throne in favor of his brother Murakami who becomes the 62nd emperor of Japan. ›