Vintage News · Odd history for January 16

What Happened On January 16

Q: What happened on January 16?

1969: Space Race: Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 perform the first-ever docking of crewed spacecraft in orbit, the first-ever transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another, and the only time such a transfer was accomplished with a space walk. 1780: American Revolutionary War: The Royal Navy gained their first major naval victory over their European enemies in the war when they defeated a Spanish squadron in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent. 27 BC: Gaius Octavianus was given the titles Augustus and Princeps by the Roman Senate when he became the first Roman emperor. 1862: Hartley Colliery disaster: Two hundred and four men and boys killed in a mining disaster, prompting a change in UK law which henceforth required all collieries to have at least two independent means of escape. 1716: King Philip V of Spain promulgates the Nueva Planta decree of the Principality of Catalonia, abolishing the Catalan institutions and its legal system, being replaced by those of Castile, thus putting an end to Catalonia as separate state and becoming a province of the new French-style Kingdom of Spain. 1641: Reapers' War: The Junta de Braços (parliamentary assembly) of the Principality of Catalonia accepts the proposal of establishment of the Catalan Republic, under French protection. 1605: The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid, Spain. 1572: Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk is tried and found guilty of treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England. 1964: The musical Hello, Dolly! opened at the St. James Theatre on Broadway, and went on to win ten Tony Awards, a record that stood for 37 years. 1920: The League of Nations, the first worldwide intergovernmental organization with a focus on peace and security, held its first council meeting in Paris.

56 events and 227 births, refreshed daily. OddlyTrue's own archive for 16 January →

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10 odd things that happened on January 16

1969 First ever
Space Race: Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 perform the first-ever docking of crewed spacecraft in orbit, the first-ever transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another, and the only time such a transfer was accomplished with a space walk.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1780 First ever
American Revolutionary War: The Royal Navy gained their first major naval victory over their European enemies in the war when they defeated a Spanish squadron in the Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
27 BC First ever
Gaius Octavianus was given the titles Augustus and Princeps by the Roman Senate when he became the first Roman emperor.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1862 Oddly true
Hartley Colliery disaster: Two hundred and four men and boys killed in a mining disaster, prompting a change in UK law which henceforth required all collieries to have at least two independent means of escape.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1716 Oddly true
King Philip V of Spain promulgates the Nueva Planta decree of the Principality of Catalonia, abolishing the Catalan institutions and its legal system, being replaced by those of Castile, thus putting an end to Catalonia as separate state and becoming a province of the new French-style Kingdom of Spain.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1641 Oddly true
Reapers' War: The Junta de Braços (parliamentary assembly) of the Principality of Catalonia accepts the proposal of establishment of the Catalan Republic, under French protection.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1605 First ever
The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid, Spain.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1572 Oddly true
Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk is tried and found guilty of treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1964 Oddly true
The musical Hello, Dolly! opened at the St. James Theatre on Broadway, and went on to win ten Tony Awards, a record that stood for 37 years.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0
1920 First ever
The League of Nations, the first worldwide intergovernmental organization with a focus on peace and security, held its first council meeting in Paris.
Read more →
Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Observed today

2020The first impeachment of Donald Trump formally moves into its trial phase in the United States Senate. Wikipedia →
2020The United States Senate ratifies the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement as a replacement for NAFTA. Wikipedia →
2018Myanmar police open fire on a group of ethnic Rakhine protesters, killing seven and wounding twelve. Wikipedia →
2017Turkish Airlines Flight 6491 crashes into a residential area near Manas International Airport in Kyrgyzstan, killing 39 people. Wikipedia →
2016Thirty-three out of 126 freed hostages are injured and 23 killed in terrorist attacks in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on a hotel and a nearby restaurant. Wikipedia →
2012The Mali War begins when Tuareg militias start fighting the Malian government for independence. Wikipedia →
2011Syrian civil war: The Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM) is established with the stated goal of re-organizing Syria along the lines of democratic confederalism. Wikipedia →
2006Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president. She becomes Africa's first female elected head of state. Wikipedia →
2003The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrated 16 days later on re-entry. Wikipedia →
2002War in Afghanistan: The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the remaining members of the Taliban. Wikipedia →
2001Second Congo War: Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards in Kinshasa. Wikipedia →
2001US President Bill Clinton awards former President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish–American War. Wikipedia →
1998In Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, Guatemala, thirteen American students on a school trip are attacked and robbed at gunpoint; five were raped. Wikipedia →
1995An avalanche hits the Icelandic village Súðavík, destroying 25 homes and burying 26 people, 14 of whom died. Wikipedia →
1992El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City, Mexico ending the 12-year Salvadoran Civil War that claimed at least 75,000 lives. Wikipedia →
1991Coalition Forces go to war with Iraq, beginning the Gulf War. Wikipedia →
1984A radiation detector at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, United States, detects radioactivity after a truck carrying rebar accidentally passed through the laboratory's area, revealing a contamination incident that occurred in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, the previous month. Wikipedia →
1983Turkish Airlines Flight 158 crashes at Ankara Esenboğa Airport in Ankara, Turkey, killing 47 and injuring 20. Wikipedia →
1979Iranian Revolution: The last Iranian Shah flees Iran with his family for good and relocates to Egypt. Wikipedia →
1969Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in protest against the Soviets' crushing of the Prague Spring the year before. Wikipedia →
1969Space Race: Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5 perform the first-ever docking of crewed spacecraft in orbit, the first-ever transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another, and the only time such a transfer was accomplished with a space walk. Wikipedia →
1959Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 205 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean near Astor Piazzolla International Airport in Mar del Plata, Argentina, killing 51. Wikipedia →
1945World War II: Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker. Wikipedia →
1942The Holocaust: Nazi Germany begins deporting Jews from the Łódź Ghetto to Chełmno extermination camp. Wikipedia →
1942Crash of TWA Flight 3, killing all 22 aboard, including film star Carole Lombard. Wikipedia →
1921The Marxist Left in Slovakia and the Transcarpathian Ukraine holds its founding congress in Ľubochňa. Wikipedia →
1920The League of Nations holds its first council meeting in Paris, France. Wikipedia →
1919Nebraska becomes the 36th state to approve the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. With the necessary three-quarters of the states approving the amendment, Prohibition is constitutionally mandated in the United States one year later. Wikipedia →
1913Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan writes his first letter to G. H. Hardy at Cambridge, stating without proof various formulae involving integrals, infinite series, and continued fractions, beginning a long correspondence between the two as well as widespread recognition of Ramanujan's results. Wikipedia →
1909Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole. Wikipedia →
1900The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the Samoan islands. Wikipedia →
1883The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil Service, is enacted by Congress. Wikipedia →
1878Russo-Turkish War (1877–78): Battle of Philippopolis: Captain Aleksandr Burago with a squadron of Russian Imperial army dragoons liberates Plovdiv from Ottoman rule. Wikipedia →
1862Hartley Colliery disaster: Two hundred and four men and boys killed in a mining disaster, prompting a change in UK law which henceforth required all collieries to have at least two independent means of escape. Wikipedia →
1847Westward expansion of the United States: John C. Frémont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory. Wikipedia →
1809Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Coruña. Wikipedia →
1786Virginia enacts the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson. Wikipedia →
1780American Revolutionary War: Battle of Cape St. Vincent. Wikipedia →
1757Forces of the Maratha Empire are defeated by the Durrani Empire in the Battle of Narela. Wikipedia →
1716King Philip V of Spain promulgates the Nueva Planta decree of the Principality of Catalonia, abolishing the Catalan institutions and its legal system, being replaced by those of Castile, thus putting an end to Catalonia as separate state and becoming a province of the new French-style Kingdom of Spain. Wikipedia →
1707The Scottish Parliament ratifies the Act of Union, paving the way for the creation of Great Britain. Wikipedia →
1641Reapers' War: The Junta de Braços (parliamentary assembly) of the Principality of Catalonia accepts the proposal of establishment of the Catalan Republic, under French protection. Wikipedia →
1605The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid, Spain. Wikipedia →
1572Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk is tried and found guilty of treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England. Wikipedia →
1556Philip II becomes King of Spain. Wikipedia →
1547Grand Prince Ivan IV is crowned as Tsar of all Russia. Wikipedia →
1537Bigod's Rebellion, an armed insurrection attempting to resist the English Reformation, begins. Wikipedia →
1362Saint Marcellus's flood kills at least 25,000 people on the shores of the North Sea. Wikipedia →
1349Basel Massacre: Dozens to hundreds of Jews were burned to death by Christians after being accused of causing the Black Death. Wikipedia →
1275Edward I permits his mother Eleanor of Provence to expel the Jews from the towns Worcester, Marlborough, Cambridge and Gloucester. Wikipedia →
1120Crusades: The Council of Nablus is held, establishing the earliest surviving written laws of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Wikipedia →
929Emir Abd-ar-Rahman III establishes the Caliphate of Córdoba. Wikipedia →
550The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison. Wikipedia →
378General Siyaj K'ak' conquers Tikal, enlarging the domain of King Spearthrower Owl of Teotihuacán. Wikipedia →
27 BCGaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire. Wikipedia →
1458 BCHatshepsut dies at the age of 50 and is buried in the Valley of the Kings. Wikipedia →

From The Guardian Archives — On This Day

2022The Guardian
Five Great Reads: decontaminating your home, glorious loos and re-defecting to North Korea
Guardian Australia’s summer round-up of compelling reads selected by our lifestyle editor Alyx Gorman
Read on The Guardian →
2016The Guardian
Burkina Faso hotel attack: 18 nationalities among dead
At least 29 killed in overnight assault by al-Qaida-linked terrorists on hotel popular with UN staff and foreigners
Read on The Guardian →
1948The New York Times
CANADIENS TROUNCE MAPLE LEAFS, 8 TO 4
MONTREAL, Jan. 15 (AP) -- The Montreal Canadiens prevented Toronto from taking the National Hockey League lead tonigh…
Read on NYTimes.com →

Headlines via The Guardian Open Platform · Historic front pages via the NYT Archive API

Facts from Wikipedia On This Day API (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia. Thumbnails CC BY-SA. Headlines via The Guardian Open Platform and the NYT Archive API. Historic pages via Library of Congress Chronicling America. Curated by OddlyTrue.