/year

February 16 in history

193 sourced entries recorded on February 16, from 549 CE to 2024 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 1246Emperor Go-Saga abdicates the throne in favor of his 3-year-old son, Go-Fukakusa, who becomes the 89th Emperor of Japan.source
  • 1249Louis IX sends Andrew of Longjumeau on a diplomatic mission to meet the "Great Khan" of the Mongol Empire. He carries letters from Louis and the Papal States, and rich presents, including a chapel-tent lined with scarlet cloth and embroidered with sacred pictures. From Cyprus he goes to the port of Antioch in Syria and travels for a year to the khan's court at Karakorum.source
  • 1267Kings Afonso III of Portugal and Alfonso X of Castile sign the Badajoz Convention, determining the border between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Kingdom of León and ensuring Portuguese sovereignty over Algarve.source
  • 1270Livonian Crusade - Battle of Karuse: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Livonian Order decisively, on the frozen surface of the Baltic Sea.source
  • 1317(10th day of 1st month of 6 Shōwa) An earthquake of estimated 7.0 magnitude strikes Kyoto. On February 22, an aftershock of 6.0 magnitude follows the first quake.source
  • 1373King Edward III of England appoints Lord Salisbury to command a fleet of English and Genoese galleys and 1,700 soldiers to fight in the Duchy of Brittany.source
  • 1374Robert de Juilly becomes the new Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller upon the death of Raymond Berengar.source
  • 1379King Richard II of England issues an order directing the English Parliament to assemble on April 24 in London.source
  • 1390At Heidelberg (now in Germany) Ruprecht II of the House of Wittelsbach becomes the new Elector of the Palatinate in the Holy Roman Empire upon the death of his uncle, Rupert I.source
  • 1401Jingnan campaign: After a month's recovery from defeat in battle in China, Prince Zhu Di mobilizes his troops at Beijing and marches south to fight the Ming dynasty Emperor Huizong.source
  • 1401John Barry is appointed as the new Attorney-General for Ireland.source
  • 1468A "marriage treaty" is signed between representatives of the Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Burgundy, providing for the marriage of King Edward IV's sister, Margaret of York, to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.source
  • 1486Archduke Maximilian I of Habsburg is elected King of the Romans at Frankfurt.source
  • 1568Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba, governor of the Spanish Netherlands issues an edict condemning to death those who rebel against Spanish authority to combat religious unrest.source
  • 1573March – The siege of Noda Castle begins near what is now the city of Shinshiro in Japan, after the leader of the Takeda clan, the warlord Takeda Shingen, is shot by a sniper after offering generous terms of surrender to the Tokugawa clan, led by Tokugawa Ieyasu. By March 10, the Noda Castle surrenders.source
  • 1580The massacre of 20 artists at the Mardi Gras festivities, at the annual Carnaval de Romans during the festival, takes place in France at Romans-sur-Isère.source
  • 1585Pachomius II is deposed by fellow bishops from his position as Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and replaced by the Metropolitan of Philippoupolis, Theoleptus II.source
  • 1586In what is now Buner District, Pakistan, Kalu Khan leads his Yousafzai-Afghan Lashkar to defeat the Mughal Army at the Karakar Pass in the Afghan-Mughal War, annihilating them by the 10s of thousands and inflicting one of the greatest defeats in Mughal history to Emperor of India Akbar the Great known as Battle of the Malandari Pass.source
  • 1595In northern Ireland, Art MacBaron O'Neill successfully conducts the assault on the Blackwater Fort, an English military outpost located in County Armagh and captures it.source
  • 1624Kara Mustafa Pasha becomes the Ottoman Governor of Egypt for the second time.source
  • 1631The Reval Gymnasium is founded in Tallinn, Estonia, by Swedish king Gustavus II Adolphus.source
  • 1631Gustav Adolf Secondary School is founded in Tallinn, Estonia by the king.source
  • 1641King Charles I of England gives his assent to the Triennial Act 1640, reluctantly committing himself to parliamentary sessions of at least fifty days, every three years.source
  • 1646First English Civil War – Battle of Torrington: A decisive Parliamentary victory is gained over the Royalists.source
  • 1655Dutch Grand Pensionary advisor Johan de Witt marries Wendela Bicker.source
  • 1659The first known cheque (400 pounds) is written.source
  • 1659the first known cheque (400 pounds) is written.source
  • 1672February 16 (February 6, 1671 O.S.) – Isaac Newton sends a paper for publication regarding his experiments on the refraction of light through glass prisms and makes the first identification of the "primary colors" of visible light on the electromagnetic spectrum, reporting that "The Original or primary colours are, Red, Yellow, Green, Blew, and a Violet-purple, together with Orange, Indico, and an indefinite variety of Intermediate gradations."source
  • 1677politicians the Earl of Shaftesbury, Duke of Buckingham, Lord Wharton and the Earl of Salisbury are arrested and sent to the Tower of London for challenging the legitimacy of the new session of Parliament.source
  • 1680Rev. Ralph Davenant's will provides for foundation of the Davenant Foundation School for poor boys in Whitechapel, in the East End of London.source
  • 1704The Norwegian Slottsloven commission was formed.source
  • 1722Peter the Great, Emperor of All Russia, announces that his heir to the throne will be his 4-year old grandson, Prince Pyotr Alekseivich.source
  • 1734The Ostend Company, established in 1722 in the Austrian Netherlands (modern-day Belgium) to compete for trade in the West Indies (the Caribbean islands) and the East Indies (south and southeast Asia), ceases business as part of the agreement by Austria in the Second Treaty of Vienna.source
  • 1742Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain.source
  • 1742the post of Secretary of State for Scotland, vacant since 1725, is revived in favour of John Hay, 4th Marquess of Tweeddale; he holds it until 1746.source
  • 1751English poet Thomas Gray first publishes Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, anonymously in The Magazine of Magazines. The poem becomes more popularly known as "Gray's Elegy".source
  • 1759The Comte de Lally (Thomas Lally) ends the French Army's two-month siege of the British Indian fort at Madras and retreats.source
  • 1767On orders from head of state Pasquale Paoli of the newly independent Republic of Corsica, a contingent of about 200 Corsican soldiers begins an invasion of the small island of Capraia off of the coast of northern Italy and territory of the Republic of Genoa. By May 31, the island is conquered as its defenders surrender.source
  • 1793John Macarthur is appointed by Grose as inspector of public works.source
  • 1796The Kingdom of Great Britain is granted control of Ceylon by the Dutch.source
  • 1804First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate USS Philadelphia at Tripoli to deny her further use by the captors.source
  • 1804First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate Philadelphia.source
  • 1814The meeting of notables took place at Eidsvoll verk.source
  • 1817Bernardo O'Higgins is granted dictatorial powers.source
  • 1817Förlofningen by Dorothea Dunckel has its premier at the Aurora ordens teater.source
  • 1821John Scott, editor of The London Magazine, is fatally wounded in a duel fought over a literary dispute near the Chalk Farm Tavern just outside London.source
  • 1833The United States Supreme Court hands down its landmark decision of Barron v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore.source
  • 1850February 8–17 – Battle at Fort Utah: The Nauvoo Legion kills Timpanogos hostile to the Mormon settlement at Fort Utah on the orders of Brigham Young.source
  • 1852The Studebaker Brothers Wagon Company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established in South Bend, Indiana.source
  • 1852The Studebaker Brothers Wagon Company, precursor of the automobile manufacturer, is established.source
  • 1855emigrant ship Tornado sails from Broomielaw in Glasgow with 500 settlers bound for Melbourne.source
  • 1861The Southern News and Foveaux Strait's Herald publishes its first issue. The paper will become daily by 1875 and change its name to The Southland Daily News. It continues until 1968.source
  • 1862February 11–16 – Battle of Fort Donelson – General Ulysses S. Grant attacks Fort Donelson, Tennessee, capturing it on the last day.source
  • 1865La Grange expedition led by Maitland Brown and including David Francisco and Lockier Burges leaves Fremantle to search for three settlers who had failed to return from an earlier exploring expedition. The three men were eventually found dead, having been speared and clubbed to death by Aboriginal Australians, apparently in their sleep.source
  • 1867John A. Macdonald marries his second wife Susan Agnes Bernard.source
  • 1868In New York City, the Jolly Corks organization is renamed the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE).source
  • 1874April 9 - Saga Rebellionsource
  • 1876The community of Bowen was struck by an F5 tornado that caused £7000 of damage, injured numerous people and had one confirmed casualty.source
  • 1881The Canadian Pacific Railway is incorporated.source
  • 1882Trimdon Grange colliery disaster: an underground explosion in the Durham Coalfield kills 69.source
  • 1883Six million tons of rock collapse at the Welsh Slate Company's underground quarry at Blaenau Ffestiniog.source
  • 1883The Ladies' Home Journal is published for the first time, in the United States.source
  • 1885Charles Dow publishes the first edition of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The index stands at a level of 62.76, and represents the dollar average of 14 stocks: 12 railroads and two leading American industries.source
  • 1893February 11–19 – White Star Line cargo liner SS Naronic sinks without a trace in heavy seas on the Liverpool–New York transatlantic passage.source
  • 1897The French conquer the island of Raiatea and capture the rebel chief Teraupo'o, ending the Leeward Islands War and bringing all of the Society Islands under their control.source
  • 1899Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, the first Association football club in Iceland, is established in Reykjavík.source
  • 1899Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur is established in Reykjavík.source
  • 1900In Washington, British Ambassador Lord Pauncefote, and German Ambassador Baron Theodor von Holleben meet Secretary of State Hay at the State Department, and exchange ratifications of the Samoan Treaty signed by all three nations. "Secretary Hay retained for the United States the copy of the treaty which was ratified by the United States Senate. He handed to Lord Pauncefote and to Herr von Holleben copies of the treaty bearing the signatures of the President and himself", reported the New York Times. Similar proceedings take place in London and Berlin with the foreign ministers and ambassadors, completing the Tripartite Convention of 1899. Under the treaty, the Pacific islands of Samoa are divided between the U.S. (as American Samoa) and Germany (later the Independent State of Samoa).source
  • 1900The British-sponsored Southern Cross Expedition led by Carsten Borchgrevink achieves a new Farthest South of 78° 50'S, making the first landing at the Great Ice Barrier.source
  • 1905Explosions caused by petrol fumes after refuelling on board the newly commissioned submarine HMS A5 killed six of the eleven crew at the Royal Navy's base in Haulbowline.source
  • 1907SKF, a worldwide mechanical parts manufacturing brand is founded in Gothenburg, Sweden.source
  • 1913February 9–19 — Ten Tragic Dayssource
  • 1918The Council of Lithuania adopts the Act of Independence of Lithuania, declaring Lithuania's independence from Germany, Russia or any other state.source
  • 1919February 16–21 – Estonian War of Independence: Uniformed peasants in Saaremaa rebel against the government of Estonia; the rebellion is crushed by government forces, leaving more than 200 dead.source
  • 1920February 12–24 – Conference of London: Leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Italy meet to discuss the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire.source
  • 1922February 10–17 – Modern Art Week in São Paulo marks the start of Modernism in Brazil.source
  • 1923Discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun: English archaeologist Howard Carter formally unseals the burial chamber within the tomb of Tutankhamun, a pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt.source
  • 1928February 11 – 19 – The 1928 Winter Olympics are held in St. Moritz, Switzerland, the first as a separate event. Sonja Henie of Norway wins her first gold medal, in women's figure skating.source
  • 1931Pehr Evind Svinhufvud is elected president of Finland.source
  • 1934The Commission of Government is sworn in, as a form of direct rule for the Dominion of Newfoundland.source
  • 19361936 Spanish general election: The left-wing Popular Front coalition takes a majority.source
  • 1936February 10–19 – Second Italo-Ethiopian War: Battle of Amba Aradam – Italian forces gain a decisive tactical victory, effectively neutralizing the army of the Ethiopian Empire.source
  • 1937Wallace H. Carothers receives a patent for nylon in the United States.source
  • 1940Altmark incident: Royal Navy destroyer HMS Cossack pursues German tanker Altmark into the neutral waters of the Jøssingfjorden in southwestern Norway and frees the 290 British seamen held aboard.source
  • 1940Altmark Incident: The British destroyer HMS Cossack intercepts the German transport Altmark in Norwegian waters, recovering 299 British prisoners of war.source
  • 1941February 15-16 - a fire in the city of Santander (Cantabria) in 1941, which destroyed most of the medieval town.source
  • 1945The Bombing of Wesel begins, destroying 97% of the town over three days.source
  • 1947C.D. FAS, a Salvadoran football club, was established.source
  • 1948Miranda, innermost of the large moons of Uranus, is discovered by Gerard Kuiper.source
  • 1952February 14–25 – The Winter Olympics are held in Oslo, Norway.source
  • 1954After honeymooning with Joe DiMaggio in Japan, actress Marilyn Monroe performs ten USO shows in four days for American soldiers, airmen, Marines and sailors in Korea.source
  • 1955Nearly 100 die in a fire at a home for the elderly in Yokohama, Japan.source
  • 1956February 14–25 – The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is held in Moscow.source
  • 1956The 1956 World Figure Skating Championships open in Garmisch, West Germany.source
  • 1957Ingmar Bergman's film The Seventh Seal opens at cinemas in Sweden.source
  • 1959Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba.source
  • 1959Mass protests against the closing of coal mines in the Borinage regionsource
  • 1961The MV BP Explorer, a loaded tanker barge bound for Sharpness from Swansea, turns over in the Severn Estuary.source
  • 1968February 6–18 – The 1968 Winter Olympics are held in Grenoble, France.source
  • 1970Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1970source
  • 1971In Italy, a local parliament elects the city of Catanzaro as the capital of Calabria; residents of Reggio di Calabria riot for 5 days because of the decision.source
  • 1973The Misuse of Drugs Act is passed to deal with the problem of drug abuse more effectively.source
  • 1976Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State of the United States, visits the country on an official diplomatic tour.source
  • 1980A total solar eclipse is seen in North Africa and West Asia. It was the 50th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 130.source
  • 1982February 11-19: the 1982 Amílcar Cabral Cup took place in Praiasource
  • 1983The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia claim the lives of 75 people, in one of Australia's worst bushfire disasters.source
  • 1984February 8–19 – The 1984 Winter Olympics are held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.source
  • 1985Israel begins withdrawing troops from Lebanon.source
  • 1985The ideology of Hezbollah is declared in a program issued in Beirut.source
  • 1986Mário Soares wins the second round of the Portuguese presidential election.source
  • 1986Ouadi Doum air raid: The French Air Force raids the Libyan Ouadi Doum airbase in northern Chad.source
  • 1986The Soviet liner MS Mikhail Lermontov sinks in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand.source
  • 1989Pan Am Flight 103: Investigators announce that the cause of the 1988 crash was a bomb hidden inside a radio-cassette player.source
  • 1992In Lebanon, Israeli helicopter gunships assassinate Abbas al-Musawi, the leader of Hezbollah, and his son, in retaliation for a February 14 raid that killed three Israeli soldiers.source
  • 1995Correios de Cabo Verde established after the dissolution of Empresa Pública dos Correios e Telecomunicaçöessource
  • 1995The Government of Bangladesh enacted the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Actsource
  • 1998China Airlines Flight 676 crashes upon attempted landing at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, killing 203, the second-deadliest air crash in Taiwan.source
  • 1998The crash of China Airlines Flight 676 in Taoyuan County (now Taoyuan City).source
  • 1999Across Europe, Kurdish protestors take over embassies and hold hostages after Turkey arrests one of their rebel leaders, Abdullah Öcalan.source
  • 1999In Uzbekistan, an apparent assassination attempt against President Islam Karimov takes place at government headquarters.source
  • 2000The country competed at Eurovision with the song "Nomiza" by Voice.source
  • 2001The start of operation of Hsinchu City EPB Incinerator Plant in North District, Hsinchu City.source
  • 2005The Kyoto Protocol officially goes into effect.source
  • 2006Oxfam reports hundreds of thousands are affected by severe water shortages in Kenya and Somalia.source
  • 2011South Korea will fly the bodies of eight Somali pirates killed in a commando raid on a freighter last month from Muscat to Mogadishu, Somalia.source
  • 2014A riot breaks out at the Australian-administered Manus Regional Processing Centre in Manus Province, killing 23-year-old Iranian asylum seeker Reza Berati and injuring 70 more. Two men are later found guilty of the murder of the man, each sentenced to 10 years in prison, with 5 years of that term suspended.source
  • 2015The Egyptian military begins conducting airstrikes against a branch of the Islamic militant group ISIL in Libya in retaliation for the group's beheading of over a dozen Egyptian Christians.source
  • 2021February 13–February 17 – A major winter storm kills at least 136 people and causes over 9.9 million power outages in the U.S.source
  • 2023Lawmakers in the Russian State Duma vote to withdraw Russia from 21 conventions of the Council of Europe.source

Births

  • 1032Ying Zong, Chinese emperor (died 1067)source
  • 1222Nichiren, founder of Nichiren Buddhism (died 1282)source
  • 1304Tugh Temür (or Wenzong), Mongol emperor (died 1332)source
  • 1331Coluccio Salutati, Florentine political leader (died 1406)source
  • 1419John I, Duke of Cleves (died 1481)source
  • 1470Eric I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Prince of Calenberg (1491–1540) (died 1540)source
  • 1497Philip Melanchthon, German humanist and reformer (died 1560)source
  • 1514Georg Joachim Rheticus, Austrian cartographer and scientific instrument maker (died 1574)source
  • 1519Gaspard de Coligny, French Huguenot leader (died 1572)source
  • 1543Kanō Eitoku, Japanese painter (died 1590)source
  • 1556Tōdō Takatora, Japanese daimyō (died 1630)source
  • 1575Richard Carpenter, English priest and theologian (died 1625)source
  • 1614Christopher Merret, English physician and scientist (died 1695)source
  • 1620Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg (died 1688)source
  • 1636Shubael Dummer, American Congregational church minister (died 1692)source
  • 1645John Sharp, English Archbishop of York (died 1714)source
  • 1649Antonio Lupis, prolific Italian writer (died 1701)source
  • 1698Pierre Bouguer, French mathematician, geophysicist, geodesist, and astronomer (died 1758)source
  • 1740Giambattista Bodoni, Italian publisher and engraver (died 1813)source
  • 1761Charles Pichegru, French general (died 1804)source
  • 1791Infanta María Teresasource
  • 1802Phineas Quimby, American physician (died 1866)source
  • 1822Sir Francis Galton, English biologist (died 1911)source
  • 1826Joseph Victor von Scheffel, German poet (died 1888)source
  • 1834Ernst Haeckel, German zoologist, philosopher (died 1919)source
  • 1834Ernst Haeckel, German zoologist, philosopher (died 1919)source
  • 1852Charles Taze Russell (Pastor Russell), American Protestant reformer, evangelist, forerunner of Jehovah's Witnesses (died 1916)source
  • 1854Charles Webster Leadbeater, British theosophist (died 1934)source
  • 1868Edward S. Curtis, American photographer, ethnologist, and film director (died 1952)source
  • 1893Katharine Cornell, American actress (died 1974)source
  • 1904George F. Kennan, American diplomat (died 2005)source
  • 1941Kim Jong Il, Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (died 2011)source
  • 1979Valentino Rossi, Italian seven-time MotoGP world championsource

Deaths

  • 549Zhu Yi, official of the Liang dynasty (born 483)source
  • 902Mary the Younger, Byzantine saint (born 875)source
  • 1084Siegfried I, archbishop of Mainzsource
  • 1129Thoros I, Armenian prince (or 1130)source
  • 1184Richard of Dover, English archbishopsource
  • 1247Henry Raspe, landgrave of Thuringia (born 1204)source
  • 1256Nicola Paglia, Italian Dominican priest (born 1197)source
  • 1264Azzo VII d'Este, marquis of Ferrara (born 1205)source
  • 1279Afonso III ("the Boulonnais"), king of Portugal (born 1210)source
  • 1281Gertrude of Hohenberg, queen of Germany (born 1225)source
  • 1390Rupert I, Elector Palatine (born 1309)source
  • 1391John V Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (born 1332)source
  • 1391Manuel II Palaiologos becomes Byzantine emperor after his father, John V Palaiologos, dies from a nervous breakdown, due to his continued humiliation by the Ottoman Empire.source
  • 1407Abdallah Fakhr al-Din, religious leadersource
  • 1426Jean-Allarmet de Brogny, Cardinal (born 1342)source
  • 1508Giovanni II Bentivoglio, tyrant of Bologna (born 1443)source
  • 1531Johannes Stöffler, German mathematician (born 1452)source
  • 1560Jean du Bellay, French cardinal and diplomat (born 1493)source
  • 1560Jean du Bellay, French cardinal and diplomat (born c. 1493)source
  • 1579Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, Spanish explorer (born 1509)source
  • 1624Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox, Scottish nobleman and politician (born 1574)source
  • 1687Charles Cotton, English poet and angler (born 1630)source
  • 1710Esprit Fléchier, French writer and Bishop of Nîmes (born 1632)source
  • 1733Ulrika Eleonora Stålhammar, Swedish officer (born 1683)source
  • 1753Giacomo Facco, Italian composer (born 1676)source
  • 1754Richard Mead, English physician (born 1673)source
  • 1899Félix Faure, the President of France since 1895, dies of a stroke in his office while engaged in sexual activity with his mistress, Marguerite Steinheil.source
  • 1909West Stanley Pit Disaster, a coal mining disaster in Stanley, County Durham, in which more than 160 miners are killed in an explosion.source
  • 1932Sir Edgar Speyer, American-born international financier and philanthropist (born 1862)source
  • 1988Assassination of Vijaya Kumaratunga: Sri Lankan politician and founder of the Sri Lanka Mahajana Pakshaya Vijaya Kumaratunga is assassinated by an assassin of militant organization Deshapremi Janatha Vyaparaya while attempting to leave his home in Polhengoda.source
  • 2024Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader, dies under mysterious circumstances at the age of 47.source