On this day: January 16

Events on January 16

• 27 BC Gaius Octavianus was given the titles Augustus and Princeps by the Roman Senate when he became the first Roman emperor. Wikipedia
• 27 BC Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire. Wikipedia
• 1362 Saint Marcellus's flood kills at least 25,000 people on the shores of the North Sea. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 1786 Virginia enacts the Statute for Religious Freedom authored by Thomas Jefferson. Wikipedia
• 1847 Westward expansion of the United States: John C. Frémont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory. Wikipedia
• 1919 Nebraska 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
• 1920 The League of Nations holds its first council meeting in Paris, France. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: During the Battle of Bataan, U.S. Army sergeant Jose Calugas organized a squad of volunteers to man an artillery position under heavy fire, an action that later earned him the Medal of Honor. Wikipedia
• 1942 TWA Flight 3 crashed into Potosi Mountain in Nevada, killing actress Carole Lombard and all of the other 21 people on board. Wikipedia
• 1942 The Holocaust: Nazi Germany begins deporting Jews from the Łódź Ghetto to Chełmno extermination camp. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: Adolf Hitler and his staff moved into the Führerbunker in Berlin, where he would eventually commit suicide. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker. Wikipedia
• 1969 Czech 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
• 1979 Iranian Revolution: The last Iranian Shah flees Iran with his family for good and relocates to Egypt. Wikipedia
• 1983 Turkish Airlines Flight 158 crashes at Ankara Esenboğa Airport in Ankara, Turkey, killing 47 and injuring 20. Wikipedia
• 1984 A 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
• 1991 Coalition Forces go to war with Iraq, beginning the Gulf War. Wikipedia
• 1992 El 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
• 2001 Second Congo War: Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards in Kinshasa. Wikipedia
• 2001 US President Bill Clinton awards former President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish–American War. Wikipedia
• 2006 Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president. She becomes Africa's first female elected head of state. Wikipedia
• 2011 Syrian 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
• 2018 Myanmar police open fire on a group of ethnic Rakhine protesters, killing seven and wounding twelve. Wikipedia

Born on January 16

• 1093 Isaac Komnenos, son of Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos (died 1152) Wikipedia
• 1501 Anthony Denny, confidant of Henry VIII of England (died 1559) Wikipedia
• 1749 Vittorio Alfieri, Italian poet and playwright (died 1803) Wikipedia
• 1821 John C. Breckinridge, American general and politician, 14th Vice President of the United States (died 1875) Wikipedia
• 1838 Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (died 1917) Wikipedia
• 1853 André Michelin, French businessman, co-founded the Michelin Tyre Company (died 1931) Wikipedia
• 1900 Edith Frank, German-Dutch mother of Anne Frank (died 1945) Wikipedia
• 1901 Fulgencio Batista, Cuban colonel and politician, ninth President of Cuba (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1908 Ethel Merman, American actress and singer (died 1984) Wikipedia
• 1917 Carl Karcher, American businessman, founded Carl's Jr. (died 2008) Wikipedia
• 1931 Johannes Rau, German journalist and politician, eighth Federal President of Germany (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1932 Dian Fossey, American zoologist and anthropologist (died 1985) Wikipedia
• 1933 Susan Sontag, American novelist, essayist, and critic (died 2004) Wikipedia
• 1948 John Carpenter, American director, producer, screenwriter, and composer Wikipedia
• 1959 Sade, Nigerian-English singer-songwriter and producer Wikipedia
• 1974 Kate Moss, English model and fashion designer Wikipedia
• 1979 Aaliyah, American singer and actress (died 2001) Wikipedia
• 1980 Seydou Keita, Malian footballer Wikipedia
• 1984 Stephan Lichtsteiner, Swiss footballer Wikipedia
• 1985 Sidharth Malhotra, Indian actor Wikipedia
• 1988 Nicklas Bendtner, Danish footballer Wikipedia
• 1996 Jennie, South Korean singer Wikipedia

Died on January 16

• 1595 Murad III, Ottoman sultan (born 1546) Wikipedia
• 1794 Edward Gibbon, English historian and politician (born 1737) Wikipedia
• 1891 Léo Delibes, French pianist and composer (born 1836) Wikipedia
• 1901 Arnold Böcklin, Swiss painter and academic (born 1827) Wikipedia
• 1919 Rodrigues Alves, Brazilian lawyer and politician, fifth President of Brazil (born 1848) Wikipedia
• 1942 Carole Lombard, American actress and comedian (born 1908) Wikipedia
• 1957 Arturo Toscanini, Italian cellist and conductor (born 1867) Wikipedia
• 1988 Andrija Artuković, Croatian politician, war criminal, and Porajmos perpetrator, first Minister of Interior of the Independent State of Croatia (born 1899) Wikipedia
• 2014 Hiroo Onoda, Japanese lieutenant (born 1922) Wikipedia
• 2017 Eugene Cernan, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (born 1934) Wikipedia
• 2021 Phil Spector, American record producer, songwriter (born 1939) Wikipedia
• 2022 Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Former Malian President (born 1945) Wikipedia
• 2025 David Lynch, American filmmaker and actor (born 1946) Wikipedia
• 2025 Dame Joan Plowright, English actress (born 1929) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Pope Benjamin (Coptic) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Berard of Carbio Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blaise (Armenian Apostolic) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Fursey Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Joseph Vaz Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Honoratus of Arles Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Marcellus I Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (Coptic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Titian of Oderzo Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Eve of Saint Anthony observed with ritual bonfires in San Bartolomé de Pinares Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: January 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• National Religious Freedom Day (United States) Wikipedia
• Teachers' Day in Thailand and Myanmar Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “January 16” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.