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April 16: Today in History – Historical Events
Early Centuries – April 16 Historic Events – Before the 1700s
1. 16th April 1065: Bari was today taken by the Norman Robert Guiscard ending the five centuries of Byzantine rule in southern Italy.
2. 16th April 1175: The Holy Roman Emperor, Fredrick I, signed the Treaty of Montebello with the Lombard League.
3. 16th April 1632: Albrecht von Wallenstein appointed supreme military commander of the Holy Roman Empire.
18th Century – What Happened on April 16 – The 1700s
4. 16th April 1705: Isaac Newton was knighted by Queen Ann, the Queen of England.
5. 16th April 1746: Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Jacobites were defeated by the Duke of Cumberland at the battle of Culloden.
6. 16th April 1780: The University of Münster in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany was founded.
7. 16th April 1789: George Washington heads for 1st presidential inauguration.
19th Century – April 16 This Day That Year – The 1800s
8. 16th April 1818: The Rush-Bagot amendment to form an unarmed U.S.-Canada border was ratified by the U.S. Senate today.
9. 16th April 1851: A gale swept away a lighthouse at Minot’s Ledge, MA.
10. 16th April 1853: The first passenger rail service was opened in India from Bori Bunder, Bombay to Thane.
11. 16th April 1854: Streamer “Long Beach” sank off the Long Beach New York. 311 people died.
12. 16th April 1854: An earthquake destroyed San Salvador.
13. 16th April 1868: The Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society was wound up.
14. 16th April 1861: Business with Confederate states was today outlawed by US President Abraham Lincoln.
15. 16th April 1862: In the District of Columbia in the U.S., slavery was abolished by law.
16. 16th April 1862: The conscription act for white males between 18 and 35 was today approved by Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
17. 16th April 1866: Karakozov attempts to assassinate Tsar Alexander II of Russia.
18. 16th April 1868: Voters in Louisiana approve the new constitution.
19. 16th April 1869: The first US Negro diplomat “Ebenezer Bassett” begins service in Haiti.
20. 16th April 1870: Vaudeville Theatre Strand opens in London.
21. 16th April 1871: German Empire ends all anti-Jewish civil restrictions.
22. 16th April 1883: Paul Kruger became the president of the South African Republic.
23. 16th April 1988: Drentse and Friese peat cutters go on strike.
24. 16th April 1900: In the US the first book of postage stamps was issued. Postage stamps of 2 cents were available in books of 12, 24, and 48 stamps.
20th Century – Important Events On This Day April 16th – The 1900s
25. 16th April 1905: Andrew Carnegie donated $ 10 million from his money for the setting of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
26. 16th April 1908: The Natural Bridges National Monument forms.
27. 16th April 1912: Harriet Quimby was the first woman to fly across the English Channel.
28. 16th April 1913: The Bulgarians and the Turks agree to an armistice that will be accepted by the other nations involved.
29. 16th April 1917: After years of exile Vladimir Ilyich Lenin returned to Russia to start the Bolshevik Revolution.
30. 16th April 1918: The British House of Commons today passed a new Military Service Bill, taking men up to 55 years old and extending to Ireland.
31. 16th April 1921: The Liberal Freedom League was formed in The Hague.
32. 16th April 1922: Annie Oakley set a woman’s record by shooting 100 clay targets in a row.
33. 16th April 1922: The Soviet Union and Germany today signed the Treaty of Rapallo under which Germany recognized the Soviet Union and restored diplomatic and trade relations.
34. 16th April 1924: Child labor law was strengthened in Holland.
35. 16th April 1925: During the assault of St Nedelya Church in Sofia by the Communists, 150 people were killed and 500 wounded.
36. 16th April 1926: Book of the Month Club sends out its 1st selections “Lolly Willowes” and “Loving Huntsman” by Sylvia Townsend Warner.
37. 16th April 1938: The Italian annexation of Abyssinia was recognized by Great Britain.
38. 16th April 1939: Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin requests for a British, French, and Russian anti-nazi pact.
39. 16th April 1942: The Island of Mata was awarded the George Cross in recognition of heroism under sustained German attack.
40. 16th April 1942: Film censorship was installed in Java by the Japanese occupying army.
41. 16th April 1943: Haarlem in the Netherlands was attacked by 40 NZ bombers. 85 people were killed.
42. 16th April 1943: In Basel Switzerland, chemist Albert Hoffman, while working on the medicinal value of lysergic acid, accidentally discovered the hallucinogenic effects of LSD-25.
43. 16th April 1944: The destroyer “USS Laffey” suffered immense damage from attacks by 22 Japanese aircraft off Okinawa but managed to survive.
44. 16th April 1945: German troops in Groningen surrender.
45. 16th April 1945: Red Army begins the Battle of Berlin.
46. 16th April 1945: US troops land on He Shima in Okinawa.
47. 16th April 1945: American troops today entered Nuremberg in Germany.
48. 16th April 1947: In Texas City, 576 people were killed when the French ship “Grandcamp” carrying ammonium nitrate fertilizer caught fire and exploded.
49. 16th April 1947: The Zoomer lens which was invented by Dr. Frank Back, which was the first lens to exhibit the zooming effect, was demonstrated in New York City.
50. 16th April 1951: The British submarine Affray sank in the English Channel killing 75 people.
51. 16th April 1953: Today the British royal yacht “Britannia” was launched.
52. 16th April 1956: First solar-powered radios go on sale.
53. 16th April 1957: The USSR today performed an atmospheric nuclear test.
54. 16th April 1958: Due to the Tunisia crisis the French government of Gaillard falls.
55. 16th April 1959: Datu Abdul Rozak was inaugurated as Premier of the Malaysia Federation.
56. 16th April 1962: Brazil nationalizes US business.
57. 16th April 1964: For Britain’s 1963 “Great Train Robbery”, nine men were today sentenced to 25-30 years.
58. 16th April 1965: Test flight of heavy Saturn S-1C-rocket.
59. 16th April 1966: Prime Minister Ian Smith of Rhodesia breaks diplomatic relations with Britain.
60. 16th April 1968: The Pentagon today announced that US troops would be returning home from Vietnam.
61. 16th April 1970: Protestant Unionist Ian Paisley won the North Ireland Parliamentary seat which was formerly held by Terence O’Neill.
62. 16th April 1970: Snow crush in France takes a toll of 70 lives.
63. 16th April 1972: In a fifth manned moon landing mission, the Apollo 16 blasted off on a voyage to the moon.
64. 16th April 1972: Two giant Pandas arrived in the US from China today.
65. 16th April 1974: The USSR today performed a nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk in the USSR.
66. 16th April 1975: After five years of civil war the Khmer Rouge Rebels won control of Cambodia. They renamed the country Kampuchea and began a reign of terror.
67. 16th April 1978: A tornado hit Orissa in India. 180 people died in the tornado.
68. 16th April 1979: Sam Shepard was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his work “Buried Child”.
69. 16th April 1980: The US today performed a nuclear test at its Nevada Test Site.
70. 16th April 1982: Queen Elizabeth today proclaimed Canada’s new constitution to effect. This act severed the last colonial links with Britain.
71. 16th April 1983: In retaliation for raids, China today shelled the Vietnam border.
72. 16th April 1983: Brazil, detained four Libyan planes after finding weapons, explosives, and ammunitions on the planes. The planes were to proceed to Nicaragua.
73. 16th April 1984: Pulitzer Prize was awarded to Mary Oliver for “American Primitive”.
74. 16th April 1986: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi today appeared on the TV to dispel rumors that he’s dead.
75. 16th April 1987: The US patent office began allowing the patenting of new animals created by genetic engineering.
76. 16th April 1987: Radio stations in the US were strictly warned by the Federal Communications Commission to watch the use of indecent language on the airwaves.
77. 16th April 1987: British Conservative MP Harvey Proctor appears at Bow Street Magistrate’s Court in London. He was charged with gross indecency.
78. 16th April 1987: Basketball superstar Michael Jordan became the second NBA player in history to score 3000 points in a season.
79. 16th April 1987: August Wilson was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for “Fences”.
80. 16th April 1987: The Pulitzer Prize for fiction was awarded to Peter Taylor for his work “Summons to Memphis”.
81. 16th April 1990: Supreme Court today rejected an appeal from a retarded man, Dalton Prejean who was condemned to death for murdering a Louisiana state trooper in 1977.
82. 16th April 1992: The Katian P ran aground off Maputo in Mozambique causing 60,000 tons of crude oil to spill into the ocean.
83. 16th April 1992: Afghan president Najibullah resigns.
84. 16th April 1992: The House ethics committee today listed 303 current and former lawmakers who had overdrawn their House bank accounts.
85. 16th April 1993: In a Federal case against a police officer who beat Rodney King, the jury reaches a guilty verdict but the verdict is not read until 17th April.
86. 16th April 1995: The European Union and Canada today agreed to protect the threatened fish stock in the North Atlantic.
87. 16th April 1996: Prince Andrew of Britain and his wife Sarah, the Duchess of York, announced that they were in the process of getting a divorce.
88. 16th April 1996: Former Prime Minister Bettino Craxi was today found guilty of charges of corruption by an Italian court. He was sentenced to eight years and three months in prison.
21st Century – April 16 This Day In History – The 2000s
89. 16th April 2002: The US Supreme Court today overturned major parts of the 1996 child pornography law based on the right to free speech.
90. 16th April 2003: In Athens, the Treaty of Accession is signed admitting 10 new member states to the European Union.
91. 16th April 2004: “Queen Mary 2”, the super liner today embarked on her first Transatlantic crossing, linking the golden age of ocean travel to the modern age of ocean travel.
92. 16th April 2007: In Blacksburg, VA, a student killed 33 people at the Virginia Tech and later killed himself.
93. 16th April 2008: The day marks the start of the Papal Journey of Pope Benedict XVI to the United States.
94. 16th April 2012: Despite the UN presence to oversee the ceasefire, there was an uprising in Syria in which at least 55 people were killed.
95. 16th April 2012: For the first time since 1977, the Pulitzer Prize was not awarded to fiction.
96. 16th April 2013: In a gold mine collapse in Kyekyewere in Ghana, 16 people were killed.
97. 16th April 2013: A massive earthquake of 7.8 magnitude strikes the Khash country in Iran. 37 people were reported killed.
98. 16th April 2014: South Korean ferry MV Sewol San on route Incheon to Jeju. 304, mostly students drown. There was a national controversy over rescue efforts and the actions of the crew and owner.
99. 16th April 2017: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wins a referendum on the 18-article constitutional reform package.
100. 16th April 2017: World record gathering of Charlie Chaplin lookalikes 662 at Manoir de Ban, Chaplin museum in Vevey, Switzerland.
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