January 16: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

January 16 is the 16th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 349 days remaining (350 in leap years).

Events

• 27 BC - Octavian Caesar given the title Augustus by the Roman Senate.
• 929 - Emir Abd-ar-rahman III of Cordoba declares himself caliph, thereby establishing the Caliphate of Cordoba.
• 1362 - A great storm tide in the North Sea destroys the German island of Strand and the city of Rungholt.
• 1412 - The Medici family are made official bankers of the Papacy.
• 1456 - Painter Filippo Lippi elopes with Lucrezia Buti, a young nun from the convent of Saint Margherita.
• 1492 - The first grammar of a modern language, in Spanish, is presented to Queen Isabella.
• 1547 - Ivan the Terrible becomes Tsar of Russia.
• 1556 - Philip II becomes King of Spain.
• 1572 - The Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.
• 1581 - English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism.
• 1605 - The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes was published in Madrid.
• 1761 - British capture Pondicherry, India from the French.
• 1777 - Vermont declares its independence from New York.
• 1780 - American Revolution: Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
• 1795 - French occupy Utrecht, Netherlands.
• 1809 - Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Coruña.
• 1847 - John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.
• 1883 - The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil service, is passed.
• 1900 - The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounced its claims to the Samoan islands.
• 1909 - Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.
• 1917 - German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann sends the Zimmermann Telegram to Mexico, proposing a German-Mexican alliance against the United States.
• 1919 - Temperance movement: The 18th Amendment, authorizing Prohibition, was passed by the Congress of the United States. It went into effect one year later, on January 16th, 1920.
• 1920 - Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. was founded on the campus of Howard University by five young women.
• 1938 - Benny Goodman plays Carnegie Hall.
• 1945 - Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker.
• 1956 - President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine.
• 1957 - The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool.
• 1961 - Mickey Mantle becomes the highest paid baseball player by signing a $75,000 contract.
• 1964 - The first musical version of Hello, Dolly! opens at New York City's St. James Theatre.
• 1966 - The Metropolitan Opera House opens at Lincoln Center in New York City.
• 1969 - Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, in protest against the Soviets' crushing of the Prague Spring the year before.
• 1969- The Metroliner train begins service between New York City and Washington, DC with one round trip per day.
• 1970 - Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects.
• 1970 - Curt Flood files suit, stating that major league baseball had violated the American anti-trust laws.
• 1977 - The Marx Brothers are inducted into the Motion Picture Hall of Fame.
• 1979 - The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt.
• 1986 - First meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force.
• 1988 - CBS fires sports commentator Jimmy 'the Greek' Snyder, a day after publicly stating that African Americans had been bred to produce stronger offspring during slavery.
• 1991 - US serial killer Aileen Wuornos confesses to the murders of six men.
• 1992 - El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City that ends a 12-year civil war that claimed at least 75,000.
• 1997 - Ennis Cosby, the only son of actor Bill Cosby, is killed by a gunman while changing a flat tire in Los Angeles, California.
• 1997 - Australian Anthony Stuart becomes the only player to take a hat-trick in his final game of one-day international cricket.
• 1998 - NASA announces that John Glenn will return to space when Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off in October 1998.
• 2000 - In Sacramento, California a commercial truck carrying evaporated milk is driven into the state capitol building, killing the driver.
• 2001 - Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.
• 2002 - A student shoots 6 people at the Appalachian School of Law. Three of those shot die.
• 2002 - John Ashcroft announces that "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh would be tried in the United States.
• 2002 - The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the remaining members of the Taliban.
• 2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which will be its final one. Columbia disintegrates 16 days later on re-entry.
• 2004 - Goatse.cx is shut down by the Christmas Island Registry.
• 2005 - Singapore won its 2nd Tiger Cup at the National Stadium, Singapore by beating Indonesia 2-1 on aggregate.
• 2005 - Adriana Iliescu gives birth at age 66 and becomes the oldest woman in the world to do so.
• 2006 - Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president. She becomes Africa's first female elected head of state.

• 1245 - Edmund Crouchback, son of Henry III of England (d. 1296)
• 1409 - King René I of Naples (d. 1480)
• 1477 - Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (d. 1547)
• 1501 - Anthony Denny, confidant of King Henry VIII of England (d. 1559)
• 1616 - François de Vendôme, duc de Beaufort, French soldier (d. 1669)
• 1626 - Lucas Achtschellinck, Flemish painter (d. 1699)
• 1634 - Dorthe Engelbrechtsdatter, Norwegian poet (d. 1716)
• 1675 - Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French writer (d. 1755)
• 1728 - Niccola Piccinni, Italian composer (d. 1800)
• 1821 - John C. Breckenridge, U.S. Senator from Kentucky and Confederate general (d. 1875)
• 1838 - Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (d. 1917)
• 1853 - Andre Michelin, French industrialist (d. 1931)
• 1874 - Robert W. Service, Canadian poet (d. 1958)
• 1886 - John Hamilton, American actor (d. 1958)
• 1888 - Osip Brik, Russian writer (d. 1945)
• 1897 - Carlos Pellicer, Mexican poet (d. 1977)
• 1898 - Margaret Booth, American film editor (d. 2002)
• 1901 - Fulgencio Batista, Cuban leader (d. 1973)
• 1901 - Frank Zamboni, American inventor (d. 1988)
• 1902 - Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (d. 1945)
• 1906 - Diana Wynyard, British actress (d. 1964.
• 1907 - Paul Nitze, American government official (d. 2004)
• 1908 - Ethel Merman, American actress, singer (d. 1984)
• 1910 - Dizzy Dean, baseball player (d. 1974)
• 1918 - Nel Benschop, Dutch poetess (d. 2005)
• 1918 - Stirling Silliphant, American writer and producer (d. 1996)
• 1921 - Francesco Scavullo, photographer (d. 2004)
• 1922 - Ernesto Bonino, Italian singer
• 1923 - Anthony Hecht, American poet (d. 2004)
• 1924 - Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (d. 2002)
• 1928 - William Kennedy, American author
• 1931 - Johannes Rau, President of Germany
• 1932 - Dian Fossey, American zoologist (d. 1985)
• 1934 - Marilyn Horne, American mezzo-soprano
• 1935 - A.J. Foyt, American race car driver
• 1942 - Bill Francis, American musician (Dr. Hook)
• 1943 - Brian Ferneyhough, British composer
• 1943 - Ronnie Milsap, American singer/songwriter, musician
• 1946 - Kabir Bedi, Indian actor
• 1946 - Katia Ricciarelli, Italian soprano
• 1947 - Laura Schlessinger, American radio talk show host
• 1948 - John Carpenter, American film director
• 1948 - Dalvanius, New Zealand entertainer (d. 2002)
• 1948 - Cliff Thorburn, Canadian snooker player
• 1950 - Debbie Allen, American actress, dancer, and choreographer
• 1956 - Martin Jol, Dutch football manager
• 1958 - Anatoli Boukreev, Russian climber (d. 1997)
• 1959 - Sade, Nigerian-born singer
• 1962 - Paul Webb, British musician (Talk Talk)
• 1966 - Maxine Jones, American singer (En Vogue)
• 1969 - Roy Jones Jr., American boxer
• 1970 - Garth Ennis, Irish comic book author
• 1974 - Kate Moss, English model
• 1977 - Jeff Foster, American basketball player
• 1979 - Aaliyah, American singer (d. 2001)
• 1979 - Brenden Morrow, Canadian hockey player
• 1980 - Albert Pujols, baseball player
• 1980 - Michelle Wild, Hungarian model
• 1981 - Nick Valensi, American guitarist (The Strokes)

• 1400 - John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, English politician (executed)
• 1545 - George Spalatin, German reformer (b. 1484)
• 1547 - Johannes Schöner, German astonomer and cartographer (b. 1477)
• 1554 - Christiern Pedersen, Danish humanist
• 1585 - Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln, English admiral (b. 1512)
• 1659 - Charles Annibal Fabrot, French lawyer (b. 1580)
• 1710 - Emperor Higashiyama of Japan (b. 1675)
• 1711 - Blessed Joseph Vaz, Apostle of Ceylon (b. 1651)
• 1747 - Barthold Heinrich Brockes, German poet (b. 1680)
• 1748 - Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch classical scholar (b. 1684)
• 1750 - Ivan Trubetskoy, Russian field marshall (b. 1667)
• 1752 - Francis Blomefield, English topographer (b. 1705)
• 1794 - Edward Gibbon, English historian (b. 1737)
• 1806 - William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1759)
• 1809 - John Moore, British general (killed in battle) (b. 1761)
• 1815 - Emma, Lady Hamilton, English mistress of Horatio Nelson (b. 1765)
• 1817 - Alexander J. Dallas, American statesman and financier (b. 1759)
• 1856 - Thaddeus William Harris, American naturalist (b. 1795)
• 1891 - Léo Delibes, French composer (b. 1836)
• 1917 - George Dewey, U.S. admiral (b. 1837)
• 1919 - Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves, President of Brazil (b. 1848)
• 1936 - Albert Fish, American serial killer (executed) (b. 1870)
• 1942 - Carole Lombard, American actress (b. 1908)
• 1957 - Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor (b. 1867)
• 1962 - Ivan Meštrović, Croatian sculptor (b. 1883)
• 1967 - Robert J. Van de Graaff, American nuclear physicist (b. 1901)
• 1969 - Jan Palach, Czech Freedom Fighter (b. 1948)
• 1972 - Ross Bagdasarian, American actor and songwriter (b. 1919)
• 1979 - Ted Cassidy, American actor (b. 1932)
• 1981 - Bernard Lee, English actor (b. 1908)
• 1982 - Red Smith, American sports columnist (b. 1905)
• 1986 - Herbert W. Armstrong, American evangelist, author, and publisher (b. 1892)
• 1988 - Ballard Berkeley, English actor (b. 1904)
• 1995 - Eric Mottram, English poet, teacher, critic, and editor (b. 1924)
• 1997 - Ennis Cosby, son of Bill Cosby (b. 1970)
• 2002 - Michael Bilandic, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1923)
• 2002 - Eddie Meduza, Swedish composer (b. 1948)
• 2002 - Bobo Olson, American boxer (b. 1928)
• 2002 - Ron Taylor, American actor (b. 1952)
• 2004 - Kalevi Sorsa, Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1930)
• 2005 - Marjorie Williams, American journalist (b. 1958)

• 2006 - Martin Luther King Day
• Teacher's day in Thailand

January 15 - January 17 - December 16 - February 16 — listing of all days