On this day: September 16

Events on September 16

• 681 Pope Honorius I was posthumously excommunicated at the Third Council of Constantinople, with his support for monothelitism deemed to be heretical. Wikipedia
• 1701 James Francis Edward Stuart, sometimes called the "Old Pretender", becomes the Jacobite claimant to the thrones of England and Scotland on the death of his father, James II. Wikipedia
• 1776 American Revolutionary War: American colonists defeated British troops at the Battle of Harlem Heights on the island of Manhattan. Wikipedia
• 1810 With the Grito de Dolores, Father Miguel Hidalgo begins Mexico's fight for independence from Spain. Wikipedia
• 1844 Felix Mendelssohn completed the score of his Violin Concerto, his final concerto. Wikipedia
• 1908 The General Motors Corporation is founded. Wikipedia
• 1920 A bomb in a horse-drawn wagon exploded in front of 23 Wall Street in New York City, killing 38 people and injuring several hundred others. Wikipedia
• 1940 Second World War: Italian forces captured the town of Sidi Barrani, but their invasion of Egypt progressed no further. Wikipedia
• 1961 The U.S. National Hurricane Research Project sought to weaken Hurricane Esther by seeding it with silver iodide, leading to the establishment of Project Stormfury. Wikipedia
• 1961 Typhoon Nancy, which possibly had the strongest winds ever measured in a tropical cyclone, made landfall in Muroto, Japan. Wikipedia
• 1963 Malaysia was formed as an independent nation from the Federation of Malaya, the State of Singapore, the Crown Colony of North Borneo, and the Crown Colony of Sarawak. Wikipedia
• 1975 The prototype of the Soviet Mikoyan MiG-31, one of the fastest combat jets in the world, made its maiden flight. Wikipedia
• 1979 Eight people escaped from East Germany to West Germany in a home-made hot air balloon. Wikipedia
• 1982 A Lebanese militia under the direct command of Elie Hobeika carried out a massacre in the Palestinian refugee camp of Sabra and Shatila, killing at least 460 civilians. Wikipedia
• 1987 The Montreal Protocol is signed to protect the ozone layer from depletion. Wikipedia
• 1989 During a tour of the United States, Soviet politician Boris Yeltsin visited a grocery store in Texas that had a major impact on his views regarding the Soviet Union's economic system. Wikipedia
• 1992 The British pound was forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism on Black Wednesday and suffered a major devaluation. Wikipedia
• 1992 The trial of the deposed Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega ends in the United States with a 40-year sentence for drug trafficking and money laundering. Wikipedia
• 1996 Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on STS-79 to dock with the Russian space station Mir. Wikipedia
• 2007 Seventeen Iraqi civilians were shot and killed by Academi guards in Baghdad. Wikipedia
• 2007 One-Two-Go Airlines Flight 269 crashed after attempting a poorly executed go-around while landing in Thailand, killing 90 of the 130 people on board. Wikipedia
• 2013 A lone gunman fatally shot twelve people and injured three others at the headquarters of the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C. Wikipedia
• 2014 The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant launches its Kobani offensive against Syrian–Kurdish forces. Wikipedia
• 2015 A 8.3 Mw earthquake strikes the Chilean city of Illapel, killing 15 people, injuring at least 34, leaving at least six missing, and causing extensive damage. One person also dies in Argentina. Wikipedia
• 2021 Inspiration4, the first private orbital crewed spaceflight, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center. Wikipedia
• 2022 The death of Mahsa Amini occurred in Tehran, Iran, sparking worldwide protests. Wikipedia

Born on September 16

• 16 Julia Drusilla, Roman daughter of Germanicus (died 38) Wikipedia
• 1386 Henry V of England (died 1422) Wikipedia
• 1745 Mikhail Kutuzov, Russian field marshal (died 1813) Wikipedia
• 1853 Albrecht Kossel, German physician and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1927) Wikipedia
• 1858 Bonar Law, Canadian-Scottish banker and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1923) Wikipedia
• 1859 Yuan Shikai, Chinese general and politician, President of the Republic of China (died 1916) Wikipedia
• 1886 Jean Arp, Alsatian sculptor and painter (died 1966) Wikipedia
• 1888 Frans Eemil Sillanpää, Finnish author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1964) Wikipedia
• 1891 Karl Dönitz, German admiral and politician, President of Germany (died 1980) Wikipedia
• 1893 Albert Szent-Györgyi, Hungarian-American physiologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1986) Wikipedia
• 1923 Lee Kuan Yew, Singaporean lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Singapore (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1924 Lauren Bacall, American actress (died 2014) Wikipedia
• 1925 B.B. King, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (died 2015) Wikipedia
• 1927 Peter Falk, American actor (died 2011) Wikipedia
• 1952 Mickey Rourke, American boxer and actor Wikipedia
• 1956 David Copperfield, American magician and actor Wikipedia
• 1971 Amy Poehler, American actress, comedian, and producer Wikipedia
• 1981 Fan Bingbing, Chinese actress, singer, and producer Wikipedia
• 1981 Alexis Bledel, American actress Wikipedia
• 1983 Kirsty Coventry, Zimbabwean swimmer and 10th President of the International Olympic Committee Wikipedia
• 1992 Nick Jonas, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Wikipedia
• 1994 Aleksandar Mitrović, Serbian footballer Wikipedia

Died on September 16

• 655 Pope Martin I Wikipedia
• 1087 Pope Victor III (born 1026) Wikipedia
• 1380 Charles V of France (born 1338) Wikipedia
• 1701 James II of England (born 1633) Wikipedia
• 1736 Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, Polish-Dutch physicist and engineer, invented the thermometer (born 1686) Wikipedia
• 1824 Louis XVIII of France (born 1755) Wikipedia
• 1932 Ronald Ross, Indian-English physician and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1857) Wikipedia
• 1946 James Hopwood Jeans, English physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (born 1877) Wikipedia
• 1973 Víctor Jara, Chilean singer-songwriter, teacher and theatre director (born 1932) Wikipedia
• 1977 Maria Callas, Greek operatic soprano (born 1923) Wikipedia
• 1980 Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist and philosopher (born 1896) Wikipedia
• 2016 Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Italian economist and politician, 10th President of Italy and 49th Prime Minister of Italy (born 1920) Wikipedia
• 2016 Edward Albee, American director and playwright (born 1928) Wikipedia
• 2025 Robert Redford, American actor, producer and director (born 1936) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Andrew Kim Taegon Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Curcodomus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Cornelius and Cyprian (Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Edith of Wilton Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Euphemia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: John Macias Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ludmila Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ninian Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Cornelius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Vitalis of Savigny Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: September 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics). Wikipedia
• Cry of Dolores, celebrates the declaration of independence of Mexico from Spain in 1810. See Fiestas Patrias Wikipedia
• Independence Day (Papua New Guinea), celebrates the independence of Papua New Guinea from Australia in 1975. Wikipedia
• International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer Wikipedia
• Malaysian Armed Forces Day (Malaysia) Wikipedia
• Malaysia Day (Malaysia) Wikipedia
• Martyrs' Day (Libya) Wikipedia
• National Heroes Day (Saint Kitts and Nevis) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “September 16” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/September 16” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “September 16” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for September 16 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.