December 16
Events
Pre-1600
- 533 - The Digest, the great collection of all Roman jurists' law, is issued together with a new official law textbook for legal schools, The Institutes.
- 714 - Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the Merovingian palace, dies at Jupille. He is succeeded by his infant grandson Theudoald, while his widow Plectrude holds actual power in the Frankish Kingdom.
- 755 - An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Yanjing, initiating the An Lushan Rebellion during the Tang dynasty of China.
- 1431 - Hundred Years' War: Henry VI of England is crowned King of France at Notre Dame in Paris.
- 1497 - Vasco da Gama passes the Great Fish River at the southern tip of Africa, where Bartolomeu Dias had previously turned back to Portugal.
- 1575 - An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 8.5 strikes Valdivia, Chile.
- 1598 - Seven-Year War: Battle of Noryang: The final battle of the Seven-Year War is fought between the China and the Korean allied forces and Japanese navies, resulting in a decisive allied forces victory.
1601–1900
- 1653 - English Interregnum: The Protectorate: Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.
- 1689 - Convention Parliament: The Declaration of Right is embodied in the Bill of Rights.
- 1707 - The most recent eruption of Mount Fuji.
- 1761 - Seven Years' War: After a four-month siege, the Russians under Pyotr Rumyantsev take the Prussian fortress of Kołobrzeg.
- 1773 - American Revolution: Boston Tea Party: Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk Indians dump hundreds of crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tea Act.
- 1777 - Virginia becomes the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
- 1782 - British East India Company: Muharram Rebellion: Hada and Mada Miah lead the first anti-British uprising in the subcontinent against Robert Lindsay and his contingents in Sylhet Shahi Eidgah.
- 1811 - The first two in a series of four severe earthquakes occur in the vicinity of New Madrid, Missouri.
- 1826 - Benjamin W. Edwards rides into Mexican-controlled Nacogdoches, Texas, and declares himself ruler of the Republic of Fredonia.
- 1838 - Great Trek: Battle of Blood River: Voortrekkers led by Andries Pretorius and Sarel Cilliers defeat Zulu impis, led by Dambuza and Ndlela kaSompisi in what is today KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
- 1850 - The Charlotte Jane and the Randolph bring the first of the Canterbury Pilgrims to Lyttelton, New Zealand.
- 1863 - American Civil War: Confederate President Jefferson Davis appoints General Joseph E. Johnston to replace General Braxton Bragg as commander of the Army of Tennessee.
- 1864 - American Civil War: The Battle of Nashville ends as the Union Army of the Cumberland under General George H. Thomas routs and destroys the Confederate Army of Tennessee under General John Bell Hood, ending its effectiveness as a combat unit.
- 1880 - Outbreak of the First Boer War between the Boer South African Republic and the British Empire.
- 1882 - Wales and England contest the first Home Nations rugby union match.
- 1883 - Tonkin Campaign: French forces capture the Sơn Tây citadel.
1901–present
- 1905 - In rugby union, the "Match of the Century" is played between Wales and New Zealand at Cardiff Arms Park.
- 1912 - First Balkan War: The Royal Hellenic Navy defeats the Ottoman Navy at the Battle of Elli.
- 1914 - World War I: Admiral Franz von Hipper commands a raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby.
- 1920 - The Haiyuan earthquake of 8.5 rocks the Gansu province in China, killing an estimated 200,000.
- 1942 - The Holocaust: Schutzstaffel chief Heinrich Himmler orders that Roma candidates for extermination be deported to Auschwitz.
- 1944 - World War II: The Battle of the Bulge begins with the surprise offensive of three German armies through the Ardennes forest.
- 1951 - A Miami Airlines Curtiss C-46 Commando crashes in Elizabeth, New Jersey, killing all 58 aboard including dancer Doris Ruby.
- 1960 - A United Air Lines Douglas DC-8 and a TWA Lockheed Super Constellation collide over Staten Island, New York and crash, killing all 128 people aboard both aircraft and six more on the ground.
- 1968 - Second Vatican Council: Official revocation of the Edict of Expulsion of Jews from Spain.
- 1971 - Bangladesh Liberation War and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971: The surrender of the Pakistan Army brings an end to both conflicts. This is commemorated annually as Victory Day in Bangladesh and Vijay Diwas in India respectively.
- 1971 - The United Kingdom recognizes Bahrain's independence, which is commemorated annually as Bahrain's National Day.
- 1972 - The Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh is enacted.
- 1973 - Aeroflot Flight 2022 crashes in the Soviet Union's Volokolamsky District, killing all 51 aboard, including four Lithuanian doctors.
- 1986 - The Jeltoqsan riots erupt in Alma-Ata, Kazakh SSR, in response to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's dismissal of ethnic Kazakh Dinmukhamed Kunaev, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, and his replacement with Gennady Kolbin, an ethnic Russian from the Russian SFSR.
- 1989 - Romanian Revolution: Protests break out in Timișoara, Romania, in response to an attempt by the government to evict dissident Hungarian pastor László Tőkés.
- 1992 - Deportation of Hamas members: Israeli authorities began deporting hundreds of Palestinians suspected to be members of Hamas across the Lebanese border.
- 1997 &ndash Dennō Senshi Porygon: Over 600 kids in Japan suffer photosensitive epileptic seizures after watching an episode of the Pokémon anime.
- 2011 - The Zhanaozen massacre occurs when violent protests by oil workers take place in Zhanaozen, Kazakhstan, resulting in security forces killing at least 14 and injuring 100 more.
- 2013 - A bus falls from an elevated highway in Manila, capital of the Philippines, killing at least 18 people with 20 injured.
- 2014 - Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan militants attack an Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing 150 people, 132 of them schoolchildren.
- 2022 - A landslide occurs at a camp at an organic farm near the town of Batang Kali in Selangor, Malaysia, trapping 92 people and killing 31.
Births
Pre-1600
- 1364 - Emperor Manuel III of Trebizond
- 1485 - Catherine of Aragon, Spanish princess, later queen consort of England
- 1534 - Hans Bol, Flemish artist
- 1582 - Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey
- 1584 - John Selden, English jurist and scholar
- 1585 - Livia della Rovere, Italian noble
1601–1900
- 1605 - Jerome Weston, 2nd Earl of Portland, English diplomat
- 1614 - Eberhard III, Duke of Württemberg
- 1630 - Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort, British botanist
- 1714 - George Whitefield, English Anglican priest
- 1716 - Louis Jules Mancini Mazarini, French poet and diplomat
- 1717 - Elizabeth Carter, English poet and scholar
- 1730 - Diego Silang, Filipino revolutionary leader
- 1742 - Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, German field marshal
- 1770 - Ludwig van Beethoven, composer
- 1775 - Jane Austen, English novelist
- 1775 - François-Adrien Boieldieu, French pianist and composer
- 1776 - Johann Wilhelm Ritter, German chemist, physicist, and philosopher
- 1778 - John Ordronaux, French-American soldier
- 1787 - Mary Russell Mitford, English author and playwright
- 1790 - Leopold I of Belgium
- 1804 - Viktor Bunyakovsky, Russian mathematician and academic
- 1812 - Stuart Donaldson, English-Australian politician, 1st Premier of New South Wales
- 1834 - Léon Walras, French-Swiss economist and theorist
- 1836 - Ernst von Bergmann, Latvian-German surgeon and academic
- 1849 - Mary Hartwell Catherwood, American author and poet
- 1861 - Antonio de La Gándara, French painter and illustrator
- 1863 - George Santayana, Spanish philosopher, novelist, and poet
- 1865 - Olavo Bilac, Brazilian journalist and poet
- 1866 - Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-French painter and theorist
- 1867 - Amy Carmichael, Irish missionary and humanitarian
- 1869 - Hristo Tatarchev, Bulgarian physician and activist, co-founded the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
- 1869 - Bertha Lamme Feicht, American electrical engineer
- 1872 - Anton Denikin, Russian general
- 1882 - Jack Hobbs, English cricketer and journalist
- 1882 - Zoltán Kodály, Hungarian composer, conductor, and musicologist
- 1882 - Walther Meissner, German physicist and engineer
- 1883 - Károly Kós, Hungarian-Romanian architect, ethnologist, and politician
- 1883 - Max Linder, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1884 - John Gunn, Australian politician, 29th Premier of South Australia
- 1884 - Seibo Kitamura, Japanese sculptor
- 1888 - Alexander I of Yugoslavia
- 1888 - Alphonse Juin, Algerian-French general
- 1889 - Kim Chwa-chin, South Korean guerrilla leader
- 1895 - Marie Hall Ets, American author and illustrator
- 1896 - Anna Anderson, an imposter who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia
- 1899 - Noël Coward, English actor, playwright, and composer
- 1900 - Lucille Lortel, American actress and producer
- 1900 - V. S. Pritchett, British writer and literary critic