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
• 1776 American Revolutionary War: American forces win the Battle of Harlem Heights after General George Washington orders a counterattack on advancing British light infantry. Wikipedia
• 1776 American Revolutionary War: American colonists defeated British troops at the Battle of Harlem Heights on the island of Manhattan. Wikipedia
• 1844 Felix Mendelssohn completed the score of his Violin Concerto, his final concerto. Wikipedia
• 1863 Robert College, in Istanbul, the first American educational institution outside the United States, is founded by Christopher Robert, an American philanthropist. Wikipedia
• 1893 Settlers make a land run for prime land in the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma. Wikipedia
• 1908 The General Motors Corporation is founded. Wikipedia
• 1914 World War I: The Siege of Przemyśl (present-day Poland) begins. Wikipedia
• 1940 Second World War: Italian forces captured the town of Sidi Barrani, but their invasion of Egypt progressed no further. Wikipedia
• 1940 World War II: Italian troops conquer Sidi Barrani. Wikipedia
• 1955 The military coup to unseat President Juan Perón of Argentina is launched at midnight. Wikipedia
• 1961 Typhoon Nancy, with possibly the strongest winds ever measured in a tropical cyclone, makes landfall in Osaka, Japan, killing 173 people. 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
• 1963 Malaysia is formed from the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak. However, Singapore is soon expelled from this new country. Wikipedia
• 1970 King Hussein of Jordan declares war against the Palestine Liberation Organization, the conflict came to be known as Black September. Wikipedia
• 1975 Cape Verde, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Príncipe join the United Nations. Wikipedia
• 1975 Papua New Guinea gains independence from Australia. Wikipedia
• 1976 Armenian champion swimmer Shavarsh Karapetyan saves 20 people from a trolleybus that had fallen into a Yerevan reservoir. Wikipedia
• 1976 Night of the Pencils: In the city of La Plata, Argentina, a group of high-school students were kidnapped and later tortured, raped and murdered during the Argentinian military dictatorship 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
• 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 (coin pictured) was forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism on Black Wednesday and suffered a major devaluation. Wikipedia
• 2007 Seventeen Iraqi civilians were shot and killed by Academi guards in Baghdad. 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
• 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
• 1921 Ursula Franklin, German-Canadian metallurgist (died 2016) 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
• 1925 Charles Haughey, Irish accountant, lawyer, and politician, 7th Taoiseach of Ireland (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1927 Sadako Ogata, Japanese academic and diplomat, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (died 2019) 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
• 1973 Camiel Eurlings, Dutch businessman and member of the International Olympic Committee Wikipedia
• 1981 Fan Bingbing, Chinese actress, singer, and producer Wikipedia
• 1992 Nick Jonas, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Wikipedia
• 2001 Avishag Semberg, Israeli Olympic taekwondo bronze medalist 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
• 1944 Gustav Bauer, German journalist and politician, 11th Chancellor of Germany (born 1870) Wikipedia
• 1977 Maria Callas, Greek operatic soprano (born 1923) Wikipedia
• 1980 Jean Piaget, Swiss psychologist and philosopher (born 1896) Wikipedia
• 1984 Louis Réard, French engineer and fashion designer, created the bikini (born 1897) Wikipedia
• 2005 Gordon Gould, American physicist and academic, invented the laser (born 1920) Wikipedia
• 2016 Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Italian economist and politician, 10th President of Italy and 49th Prime Minister of Italy (born 1920) 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

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 2026-10-09 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.