December 16

Events

Pre-1600

* 714 – Pepin of Herstal, mayor of the Merovingian palace, dies at Jupille (modern Belgium). 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''.
*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 (Nzobo) and Ndlela kaSompisi in what is today KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
* 1843 – The discovery of octonions by John T. Graves, who denoted them with a boldface O, was announced to his mathematician friend William Hamilton, discoverer of quaternions, in a letter on this date.
*1850 – The ''Charlotte Jane'' and the '' Randolph'' bring the first of the Canterbury Pilgrims to Lyttelton, New Zealand.
*1863 – American Civil War: Joseph E. Johnston replaces Braxton Bragg as commander of the Confederate Army of Tennessee.
* 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Nashville: The Union's Army of the Cumberland routs and destroys the Confederacy's Army of Tennessee, 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 (now Six 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.
*1960 – A United Airlines 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 ceasefire of the Pakistan Army brings an end to both conflicts. This is commemorated annually as Victory Day in Bangladesh, and as Vijay Diwas in India.
* 1971 – The United Kingdom recognizes Bahrain's independence, which is commemorated annually as Bahrain's National Day.
*1989 – Romanian Revolution: Protests break out in Timișoara, Romania, in response to an attempt by the government to evict dissident Hungarian pastor László Tőkés.
*2013 – A bus falls from an elevated highway in the Philippines capital Manila 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.

Births

Pre-1600

*1364 – Emperor Manuel III of Trebizond (d. 1417)
*1485 – Catherine of Aragon, Spanish princess, later queen consort of England (d. 1536)
*1534 – Hans Bol – Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey (d. 1642)
*1584 – John Selden, English jurist and scholar (d. 1654)
*1585 – Livia della Rovere, Italian noble (d. 1641)

1601–1900

*1605 – Jerome Weston, 2nd Earl of Portland, English diplomat (d. 1663)
*1614 – Eberhard III, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1674)
*1630 – Mary Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort, British botanist (d. 1715)
*1714 – George Whitefield, English Anglican priest (d. 1770)
*1716 – Louis Jules Mancini Mazarini, French poet and diplomat (d. 1798)
*1717 – Elizabeth Carter, English poet and scholar (d. 1806)
*1730 – Diego Silang, Filipino revolutionary leader (d. 1763)
*1742 – Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, German field marshal (d. 1819)
*1770 – Ludwig van Beethoven, composer (d. 1827)
*1775 – Jane Austen, English novelist (d. 1817)
* 1775 – François-Adrien Boieldieu, French pianist and composer (d. 1834)
*1776 – Johann Wilhelm Ritter, German chemist, physicist, and philosopher (d. 1810)
*1778 – John Ordronaux, French-American soldier (d. 1841)
*1787 – Mary Russell Mitford, English author and playwright (d. 1855)
* 1790 – Leopold I of Belgium (d. 1865)
* 1804 – Viktor Bunyakovsky, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1889)
* 1812 – Stuart Donaldson, English-Australian politician, 1st Premier of New South Wales (d. 1867)
*1834 – Léon Walras, French-Swiss economist and theorist (d. 1910)
*1836 – Ernst von Bergmann, Latvian-German surgeon and academic (d. 1907)
*1849 – Mary Hartwell Catherwood, American author and poet (d. 1902)
*1861 – Antonio de La Gándara, French painter and illustrator (d. 1917)
*1863 – George Santayana, Spanish philosopher, novelist, and poet (d. 1952)
* 1865 – Olavo Bilac, Brazilian journalist and poet (d. 1918)
*1866 – Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-French painter and theorist (d. 1944)
*1867 – Amy Carmichael, Irish missionary and humanitarian (d. 1951)
*1869 – Hristo Tatarchev, Bulgarian physician and activist, co-founded the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (d. 1952)
* 1869 – Bertha Lamme Feicht, American electrical engineer (d. 1943)
*1872 – Anton Denikin, Russian general (d. 1947)
*1882 – Jack Hobbs, English cricketer and journalist (d. 1963)
* 1882 – Zoltán Kodály, Hungarian composer, conductor, and musicologist (d. 1967)
* 1882 – Walther Meissner, German physicist and engineer (d. 1974)
* 1883 – Károly Kós, Hungarian-Romanian architect, ethnologist, and politician (d. 1977)
* 1883 – Max Linder, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1925)
*1884 – John Gunn, Australian politician, 29th Premier of South Australia (d. 1959)
* 1884 – Seibo Kitamura, Japanese sculptor (d. 1987)
*1888 – Alexander I of Yugoslavia (d. 1934)
* 1888 – Alphonse Juin, Algerian-French general (d. 1967)
*1889 – Kim Chwa-chin, South Korean guerrilla leader (d. 1930)
*1895 – Marie Hall Ets, American author and illustrator (d. 1984)
*1896 – Anna Anderson, an imposter who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia (d. 1984)
*1899 – Noël Coward, English actor, playwright, and composer (d. 1973)
*1900 – Lucille Lortel, American actress and producer (d. 1999)
* 1900 – V. S. Pritchett, British writer and literary critic (d. 1997)

1901–present

*1901 – Margaret Mead, American anthropologist and author (d. 1978)
*1902 – Rafael Alberti, Spanish poet and playwright (d. 1999)
*1903 – Hardie Albright, American actor (d. 1975)
* 1903 – Harold Whitlock, English race walker and coach (d. 1985)
*1905 – Piet Hein, Danish mathematician, author, and poet (d. 1996)
* 1905 – Ruben Nirvi, Finnish linguist and professor (d. 1986)
*1907 – Barbara Kent, Canadian-born American film actress (d. 2011)
* 1908 – Remedios Varo, Spanish-Mexican surrealist painter & anarchist (d. 1963)
*1910 – Freddie Brown, Peruvian-English cricketer and sportscaster (d. 1991)
*1913 – George Ignatieff, Russian-Canadian scholar and diplomat, 8th Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 1989)
*1914 – O. Winston Link, American photographer (d. 2001)
*1916 – Ruth Johnson Colvin, American author and educator, founded ProLiteracy Worldwide
*1917 – Nabi Bux Khan Baloch, Pakistani author and scholar (d. 2011)
* 1917 – Pete T. Cenarrusa, American soldier, pilot, and politician, Secretary of State of Idaho (d. 2013)
* 1917 – Arthur C. Clarke, British science fiction writer (d. 2008)
* 1920 – Frederick Rotimi Williams, Nigerian lawyer and politician (d. 2005)
* 1921 – Eulalio González, Mexican singer-songwriter, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2003)
*1922 – Cy Leslie, American record producer, founded Pickwick Records (d. 2008)
*1923 – Menahem Pressler, German-American pianist
* 1923 – Ernst Florian Winter, Austrian-American historian and political scientist (d. 2014)
*1924 – Nicolas Sidjakov, Latvian-American illustrator (d. 1993)
*1926 – James McCracken, American tenor and actor (d. 1988)
* 1926 – A. N. R. Robinson, Tobagonian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Trinidad and Tobago (d. 2014)
* 1926 – Jeffrey Stone, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2012)
*1927 – Peter Dickinson, Rhodesian-English author and poet (d. 2015)
* 1927 – Randall Garrett

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