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

March 16 is the 75th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (76th in Leap years). There are 290 days remaining.

Events

• 1190 - Crusaders start to massacre the Jews of York.
• 1521 - Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Philippines.
• 1621 - Samoset, a Mohegan, visits the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them, "Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset."
• 1660 - The Long Parliament disbands.
• 1792 - King Gustav III of Sweden is shot; he dies on March 29.
• 1802 - The United States Military Academy West Point is established.
• 1815 - Prince Willem of the House of Orange-Nassau proclaimed himself King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the first constitutional monarch in the Netherlands.
• 1850 - Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter is first published.
• 1861 - Edward Clark became Governor of Texas, replacing Sam Houston, who was evicted from the office for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy.
• 1867 - First publication of an article by Joseph Lister outlining the discovery of antiseptic surgery, in The Lancet.
• 1872 - The Wanderers F.C. won the first FA Cup, the oldest football competition in the world, beating Royal Engineers A.F.C. 1-0 at The Oval in Kennington, London.
• 1900 - Sir Arthur Evans purchases the land around the ruins of Knossos, the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete.
• 1926 - Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts.
• 1935 - Adolf Hitler orders Germany to rearm herself in violation of the Versailles Treaty.
• 1945 - World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ends but small pockets of Japanese resistance persist.
• 1945 - Würzburg, Germany is 90% destroyed, with 5,000 dead, in only 20 minutes by British bombers.
• 1956 - St. Urho's Day is first celebrated.
• 1962 - A Flying Tiger Line Super Constellation disappears in the western Pacific Ocean, with 107 people missing.
• 1968 - Vietnam War: In the My Lai massacre, between 350 and 500 Vietnamese villagers -- men, women, and children -- are killed by American troops.
• 1969 - A Venezuelan Airlines DC-9 crashes shortly after takeoff in Maracaibo, Venezuela killing 155
• 1972 - The first building of the Pruitt-Igoe housing complex is demolished.
• 1978 - Aldo Moro is kidnapped by left-wing urban guerrillas in Italy and is later killed by his captors.
• 1983 - Demolition of the radio tower Ismaning, the last radio tower in Germany built of wood.
• 1984 - William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, Lebanon, is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists and later dies in captivity.
• 1985 - Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut. He would be released on December 4, 1991.
• 1988 - Iran-Contra Affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
• 1988 - Halabja poison gas attack: The Kurdish town of Halabjah in Iraq was attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents, killing thousands of people.
• 1993 - A blizzard on the east coast of the United States kills 184 (see Great Blizzard of 1993).
• 1994 - Tonya Harding pleads guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for trying to cover-up an attack on figure skating rival Nancy Kerrigan.
• 1997 - Stuart Appleby wins the Honda Golf Classic.
• 2001 - The only day between 1993 and 2002 when nobody in the United Kingdom killed themselves, according to a health survey.
• 2002 - Closing ceremonies of the Winter Paralympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
• 2003 - Largest coordinated worldwide vigil, as part of the global protests against Iraq war.
• 2006 - Planned release date of the computer role-playing game Final Fantasy XII in Japan.
• 2880 - The predicted closest approach to Earth of near-Earth object (29075) 1950 DA which might impact Earth.

• 1445 - Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg, Swiss-born preacher (d. 1510)
• 1581 - Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch historian and writer (d. 1647)
• 1585 - Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero, Dutch writer (d. 1618)
• 1631 - René Le Bossu, French critic (d. 1680)
• 1654 - Andreas Acoluthus, German orientalist (d. 1704)
• 1750 - Caroline Herschel, German-born English astronomer (d. 1848)
• 1751 - James Madison, 4th President of the United States (d. 1836)
• 1774 - Captain Matthew Flinders, English explorer of the coasts of Australia (d. 1814)
• 1789 - Georg Simon Ohm, German physicist (d. 1854)
• 1794 - Ami Boué, Austrian geologist (d. 1881)
• 1800 - Emperor Ninko of Japan, (d. 1846)
• 1805 - Peter Ernst von Lasaulx, German philosopher and writer (d. 1861)
• 1829 - René François Armand Sully-Prudhomme, French writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1907)
• 1834 - James Hector, Scottish geologist (d. 1907)
• 1840 - Shibusawa Eiichi, Japanese industrialist (d. 1931)
• 1878 - Clemens August Graf von Galen, German archbishop and cardinal (d. 1946)
• 1878 - Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran (d. 1941)
• 1889 - Reggie Walker, South African athlete (d. 1951)
• 1897 - Conrad Nagel, American actor (d. 1970)
• 1901 - Edward Pawley, American actor (d. 1988)
• 1902 - Leon Roppolo, American jazz clarinetist (d. 1943)
• 1903 - Mike Mansfield, American politician, and diplomat (d. 2001)
• 1905 - Elisabeth Flickenschildt, German actress (d. 1977)
• 1905 - Marlin Perkins, American naturalist (d. 1986)
• 1906 - Henny Youngman, American comedian (d. 1998)
• 1908 - René Daumal, French Surrealist writer (d. 1944)
• 1911 - Josef Mengele, Nazi war criminal (d. 1979)
• 1912 - Pat Nixon, First Lady of the United States (d. 1993)
• 1916 - Mercedes McCambridge, American actress (d. 2004)
• 1917 - Samael Aun Weor, Columbian writer (d. 1977)
• 1918 - Frederick Reines, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
• 1920 - Leo McKern, British actor (d. 2002)
• 1922 - Harding Lemay, television scriptwriter and playwright
• 1925 - Luis E. Miramontes, Mexican chemist, co-inventor of the contraceptive pill (d. 2004).
• 1926 - Charles Goodell, American politician, (d. 1987)
• 1926 - Jerry Lewis, American comedian
• 1928 - Christa Ludwig, German mezzo-soprano
• 1927 - Vladimir Komarov, cosmonaut (d. 1967)
• 1927 - Daniel Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senator from New York (d. 2003)
• 1927 - Olga San Juan, American comedienne
• 1932 - Don Blasingame, Major League Baseball and Japanese baseball manager (d. 2005)
• 1932 - Walter Cunningham, astronaut
• 1934 - Ray Hnatyshyn, Governor-General of Canada (d. 2002)
• 1936 - Fred Neil, American singer-songwriter (d. 2001)
• 1939 - Carlos Bilardo, Argetinian football coach and player
• 1940 - Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian film director
• 1940 - Chuck Woolery, American game show host
• 1941 - Robert Guéï, military ruler of Côte d'Ivoire (d. 2002)
• 1942 - James Soong, Taiwanese politician
• 1942 - Jerry Jeff Walker, American musician
• 1948 - Margaret Weis, American author
• 1949 - Erik Estrada, Puerto Rican actor
• 1949 - Victor Garber, Canadian actor
• 1950 - Kate Nelligan, Canadian actress
• 1952 - Philippe Kahn, French-American entrepreneur
• 1953 - Isabelle Huppert, French actress
• 1953 - Richard Stallman, American free software activist
• 1954 - Jimmy Nail, British actor and singer
• 1954 - Nancy Wilson, American guitarist, singer, and actress (Heart)
• 1955 - Jiro Watanabe, Japanese boxer
• 1959 - Flavor Flav, American rapper
• 1959 - Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway
• 1963 - Kevin Smith, New Zealand actor (d. 2002)
• 1964 - Patty Griffin, American singer and songwriter
• 1967 - Lauren Graham, American actress
• 1970 - Stephen Martin, Canadian livejournaler
• 1971 - Alan Tudyk, American actor
• 1980 - Todd Heap, American football player
• 1981 - Andrew Bree, Irish swimmer

• 37 - Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar,Roman Emperor (b. 46 BC)
• 455 - Valentinian III, Roman Emperor (b. 419)
• 1072 - Adalbert of Hamburg, German archbishop
• 1322 - Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, English soldier (b. 1276)
• 1485 - Anne Neville, queen of Richard III of England (b. 1456)
• 1559 - Anthony St. Leger, Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1496)
• 1649 - Jean de Brébeuf, French Jesuit missionary (b. 1593)
• 1679 - John Leverett, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1616)
• 1721 - James Craggs the Elder, English politician (b. 1657)
• 1736 - Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer, (b. 1710)
• 1737 - Benjamin Wadsworth, American President of Harvard University (b. 1670)
• 1738 - George Bähr, German architect (b. 1666)
• 1898 - Aubrey Beardsley, British artist (b. 1872)
• 1903 - Judge Roy Bean, American jurist and pioneer
• 1914 - Charles Albert Gobat, Swiss politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1843)
• 1930 - Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish dictator (b. 1870)
• 1935 - John James Richard Macleod, Scottish-born physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
• 1940 - Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
• 1945 - Börries von Münchhausen, German poet (b. 1874)
• 1957 - Constantin Brancusi, Romanian sculptor (b. 1876)
• 1968 - Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian composer (b. 1895)
• 1970 - Tammi Terrell, American singer (b. 1946)
• 1971 - Thomas Dewey, American Presidential candidate (b. 1902)
• 1975 - T-Bone Walker, American musician (b. 1910)
• 1977 - Kamal Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze (b. 1917)
• 1979 - Jean Monnet, French politician (b. 1888)
• 1983 - Arthur Godfrey, American actor and television host (b. 1903)
• 1992 - Yves Rocard, French physicist (b. 1903)
• 1996 - Charlie Barnett, American actor (b. 1954)
• 1998 - Derek Harold Richard Barton, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
• 2001 - Norma MacMillan, American voice actress (b. 1921)
• 2003 - Rachel Corrie, American political activist (b. 1979)

• Latvia - The controversial Latvia Legions is celebrated in Latvia, where about 140,000 men joined the Waffen SS National Legions during World War II, trying to defend Latvia. Since February 23, 2000, this day is no longer an official celebration day.
• St. Urho's Day - the fictional patron saint of Finnish immigrants to the US, created by Richard Mattson in 1956
• The first day of the Bacchanalia in ancient Rome

March 15 - March 17 - February 16 - April 16 -- listing of all days