What happened today in history
May
What happened on May 16
On May 16 history recorded 56 notable events. 160 people who left a mark were born on this day, and 99 died. Here is the full almanac.
- 56events
- 160births
- 99deaths
- 17observances
Highlights
Highlights
1426
Mohnyin Thado captured Sagaing to become the king of Ava, in present-day Myanmar.
Mohnyin Thado was king of Ava from 1426 to 1439. He is also known in Burmese history as Mohnyin Min Taya after his longtime tenure as the sawbwa of Mohnyin, a Shan-speaking frontier state. He founded the royal house of Mohnyin that would rule the kingdom until
1605After a scuffle in which one cardinal had several bones broken, a papal conclave convened in Rome elected Camillo Borghese as Pope Paul V.
A cardinal is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. As titular members of the clergy of the Diocese of Rome, they serve as advisors to the pope, who is the bishop of Rome and the visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. Cardinals are chos
1777Button Gwinnett, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, is wounded in a duel with Continental Army officer Lachlan McIntosh, dying of his injuries several days later.
Button Gwinnett was a British-born American Founding Father who, as a representative of Georgia to the Continental Congress, was one of the signers of the United States Declaration of Independence. Gwinnett was briefly the provisional president of Georgia in 1
May 16
On this day
X century
- 946
946Emperor Suzaku abdicates the throne in favor of his brother Murakami who becomes the 62nd emperor of Japan. - 999
999Rebel Turkish warlord Mahmud of Ghazni defeats Samanid Emir Mansur II in battle at Merv.
XI century
XIII century
XIV century
XV century
XVI century
- 1527
1527The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time and Florence re-establishes itself as a republic. - 1532
1532Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England. - 1568
1568Mary, Queen of Scots, flees to England. - 1584
1584Santiago de Vera becomes sixth governor-general of the Spanish colony of the Philippines.
XVIII century
- 1739
1739The Battle of Vasai concludes as the Marathas defeat the Portuguese army. - 1770
1770The 14-year-old Marie Antoinette marries 15-year-old Louis-Auguste, Dauphin de France, who later becomes king of France. - 1771
1771The Battle of Alamance, a pre-American Revolutionary War battle between local militia and a group of rebels called The "Regulators", occurs in present-day Alamance County, North Carolina. - 1777
1777Continental Army officer Lachlan McIntosh fatally wounds Button Gwinnett, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, in a duel in Savannah, Georgia.
XIX century
- 1811
1811Peninsular War: The allies Spain, Portugal and United Kingdom fight an inconclusive battle against the French at the Albuera. It is, in proportion to the numbers involved, the bloodiest battle of the war. - 1812
1812Imperial Russia signs the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the Russo-Turkish War. The Ottoman Empire cedes Bessarabia to Russia. - 1822
1822Greek War of Independence: The Turks capture the Greek town of Souli. - 1832
1832Juan Godoy discovers the rich silver outcrops of Chañarcillo sparking the Chilean silver rush. - 1834
1834The Battle of Asseiceira is fought; it was the final and decisive engagement of the Liberal Wars in Portugal. - 1842
1842The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail from Elm Grove, Missouri, with 100 pioneers. - 1863
1863American Civil War: During the Vicksburg campaign, the decisive Union victory by Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Champion Hill drives the Confederate army under John C. Pemberton back towards Vicksburg, Mississippi. - 1866
1866The United States Congress establishes the nickel. - 1868
1868The United States Senate fails to convict President Andrew Johnson by one vote. - 1874
1874A flood on the Mill River in Massachusetts destroys much of four villages and kills 139 people. - 1877
1877The 16 May 1877 crisis occurs in France, ending with the dissolution of the National Assembly 22 June and affirming the interpretation of the Constitution of 1875 as a parliamentary rather than presidential system. The elections held in October 1877 led to the defeat of the royalists as a formal political movement in France. - 1888
1888Nikola Tesla delivers a lecture describing the equipment which will allow efficient generation and use of alternating currents to transmit electric power over long distances. - 1891
1891The International Electrotechnical Exhibition opens in Frankfurt, Germany, featuring the world's first long-distance transmission of high-power, three-phase electric current (the most common form today).
XX century
- 1916
1916The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the French Third Republic sign the secret wartime Sykes-Picot Agreement partitioning former Ottoman territories such as Iraq and Syria. - 1918
1918The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government during wartime an imprisonable offense. It will be repealed less than two years later. - 1918
1918The victory military parade by the Finnish White Guard is held in Helsinki celebrating their decisive victory in the Finnish Civil War. The day also begin to be celebrated on the Defence Forces Flag Day before it is moved in 1942 to the June 4th. - 1919
1919A naval Curtiss NC-4 aircraft commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight. - 1920
1920In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc. - 1925
1925The first modern performance of Claudio Monteverdi's opera Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria occurred in Paris. - 1929
1929In Hollywood, the first Academy Awards ceremony takes place. - 1943
1943The Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends. - 1943
1943Operation Chastise is undertaken by RAF Bomber Command with specially equipped Avro Lancasters to destroy the Mohne, Sorpe, and Eder dams in the Ruhr valley. - 1945
1945Beginning of the Levant Crisis between Britain and France in Syria. The latter try to quell nationalist protests but backs down after threat of military action by the British. - 1951
1951The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights begin between Idlewild Airport (now John F Kennedy International Airport) in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines. - 1954
1954Beginning of the Kengir uprising in the Gulag. - 1959
1959The Tritons' Fountain in Valletta, Malta is turned on for the first time. - 1960
1960Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser (a ruby laser), at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California. - 1961
1961Park Chung Hee leads a coup d'état to overthrow the Second Republic of South Korea. - 1966
1966The Chinese Communist Party issues the "May 16 Notice", marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. - 1969
1969Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet space probe, lands on Venus. - 1972
1972An Antonov An-24 crashes into a kindergarten building in Svetlogorsk, killing 35. - 1974
1974Josip Broz Tito is elected president for life of Yugoslavia. - 1975
1975Junko Tabei from Japan becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. - 1988
1988A report by the Surgeon General of the United States C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine. - 1991
1991Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom addresses a joint session of the United States Congress. She is the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress. - 1997
1997Mobutu Sese Seko, the President of Zaire, flees the country.
XXI century
- 2003
2003In Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks. - 2005
2005Kuwait permits women's suffrage in a 35–23 National Assembly vote. - 2011
2011STS-134 (ISS assembly flight ULF6), launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the 25th and final flight for Space Shuttle Endeavour. - 2014
2014Twelve people are killed in two explosions in the Gikomba market area of Nairobi, Kenya. - 2025
2025A catastrophic EF3 tornado kills five people and causes over $1 billion in damages in St. Louis, MO. - 2025
2025A devastating EF4 tornado kills nineteen people in Southeast Kentucky, hitting the towns of Somerset and London.
Best known
Born on May 16
Best known
Died on May 16
Holidays and observances
- Christian feast day: Aaron (Coptic Church)
- Christian feast day: Abda and Abdjesus, and companions: Abdas of Susa
- Christian feast day: Andrew Bobola
- Christian feast day: Brendan the Navigator (Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Eastern Orthodox Church)
- Christian feast day: Caroline Chisholm (Church of England)
- Christian feast day: Gemma Galgani (Passionists Calendar)
- Christian feast day: Germerius
- Christian feast day: Honoratus of Amiens
- Christian feast day: Peregrine of Auxerre
- Christian feast day: Possidius
- Christian feast day: Simon Stock
- Christian feast day: Ubald (see Saint Ubaldo Day)
- Christian feast day: May 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Martyrs of Sudan (Episcopal Church (USA))
Frequently asked questions
What happened on May 16?
56 documented historical events happened on May 16, from antiquity to the present day. The best known is this: Mohnyin Thado captured Sagaing to become the king of Ava, in present-day Myanmar. On the same day, in another year: After a scuffle in which one cardinal had several bones broken, a papal conclave convened in Rome elected Camillo Borghese as Pope Paul V. On Almanaccolo every event is listed in chronological order, grouped by century, and links to the Wikipedia article it comes from, so you can always read further or check the source. Alongside the events you find who was born and who died on this date, and which observances are celebrated around the world.
Who was born on May 16?
160 people with a Wikipedia article were born on May 16, including Ben Kuroki, Wilf Mannion, Liberace. The list spans every era and every field — art, science, politics, sport, entertainment — ordered by year of birth, from the earliest to the most recent. The six featured people are those most has been written about: the ordering uses the length of their Wikipedia article as an indicator of prominence. For each one you find their occupation, year of birth and a link to the full biography.
Who died on May 16?
99 people with a Wikipedia article died on May 16, including Emperor Wu of Jin, Fujiwara no Michitaka, Simon Stock. The list is in chronological order by year of death and spans all of documented history, from antiquity to the present day. For each person you find their occupation, the year and a link to the Wikipedia biography, where the full story and its sources can be read.
What is celebrated on May 16?
17 observances are celebrated on May 16 around the world: Christian feast day: Aaron (Coptic Church), Christian feast day: Abda and Abdjesus, and companions: Abdas of Susa, Christian feast day: Andrew Bobola, Christian feast day: Brendan the Navigator (Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Eastern Orthodox Church), Christian feast day: Caroline Chisholm (Church of England), Christian feast day: Gemma Galgani (Passionists Calendar). The list gathers national holidays, international days and religious or civil observances falling on this date in different countries, as recorded on Wikipedia. Some are fixed and recur on the same day every year; others depend on the local calendar. Each links to the article explaining its origin and meaning.
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Source: Wikipedia · Calendar