16 November 2025 (MIA)

13 – General Tiberius’ (later Emperor) triumphant procession through Rome after the siege of Germany.

534 – Second and final revision of the Codex Justinianus is published.

1272 – While travelling during the Ninth Crusade, Prince Edward becomes King of England upon Henry III of England’s death, but he will not return to England for nearly two years to assume the throne.

1491 – An auto-da-fé, held in the Brasero de la Dehesa outside of Ávila, concludes the case of the Holy Child of La Guardia with the public execution of several Jewish and converso suspects.

1519 - City of Havana moved to its current location to avoid mosquito infestations.

1532 – Francisco Pizarro and his men capture Inca Emperor Atahualpa after a surprise ambush at Cajamarca in the Peruvian Andes.

1632 – Thirty Years’ War: Battle of Lützen is fought, the Swedes are victorious but King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden dies in the battle.

1776 – American Revolutionary War: British and Hessian units capture Fort Washington from the Patriots.

1776 – American Revolution: The United Provinces (Low Countries) recognize the independence of the United States.

1793 – French Revolution: Ninety anti-republican Catholic priests are executed by drowning at Nantes.

1797 – The Prussian heir apparent, Frederick William, becomes King of Prussia as Frederick William III.

1805 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Schöngrabern: Russian forces under Pyotr Bagration delay the pursuit by French troops under Joachim Murat.

1822 – American Old West: Missouri trader William Becknell arrives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, over a route that became known as the Santa Fe Trail.

1828 – Greek War of Independence: The London Protocol entails the creation of an autonomous Greek state under Ottoman suzerainty, encompassing the Morea and the Cyclades.

1849 – A Russian court sentences writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky to death for anti-government activities linked to a radical intellectual group; his sentence is later commuted to hard labor.

1852 – The English astronomer John Russell Hind discovers the asteroid 22 Kalliope.

1855 – David Livingstone becomes the first European to see the Victoria Falls in what is now present-day Zambia-Zimbabwe.

1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Campbell’s Station near Knoxville, Tennessee: Confederate troops unsuccessfully attack Union forces.

1885 – Canadian rebel leader of the Métis and “Father of Manitoba” Louis Riel is executed for treason.

1904 – English engineer John Ambrose Fleming receives a patent for the thermionic valve (vacuum tube).

1907 – Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory join to form Oklahoma, which is admitted as the 46th U.S. state.

1907 – Cunard Line’s RMS Mauretania, sister ship of RMS Lusitania, sets sail on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England, to New York City.

1914 – The Federal Reserve Bank of the United States officially opens.

1918 – Hungarian People’s Republic is declared.

1920 – Qantas, Australia’s national airline, is founded as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited.

1922 – Ottoman Caliph, Sultan Mehmed VI asks the British army for help.

1925 – American Association for Advancement of Atheism forms (NY).

1933 – Brazilian President Getulio Vargas declares himself dictator.

1940 – World War II: In response to the leveling of Coventry by the German Luftwaffe two days before, the Royal Air Force bombs Hamburg.

1940 – Holocaust: In occupied Poland, the Nazis close off the Warsaw Ghetto from the outside world.

1940 – New York City’s “Mad Bomber” George Metesky places his first bomb at a Manhattan office building used by Consolidated Edison.

1943 – World War II: American bombers strike a hydro-electric power facility and heavy water factory in German-controlled Vemork, Norway.

1944 – World War II: Operation Queen, the costly Allied thrust to the Rur, is launched.

1944 – World War II: Düren, Germany, is destroyed by Allied bombers.

1945 – UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, is founded.

1945 – Two new elements discovered by Glenn Seaborg, James, Morgan and Albert Ghiorso are are announced: americium (atomic number 95) and curium (atomic number 96)

1950 – US President Harry Truman proclaims emergency crisis caused by communist threat.

1965 – Venera program: The Soviet Union launches the Venera 3 space probe toward Venus, which will be the first spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet.

1973 – Skylab program: NASA launches Skylab 4 with a crew of three astronauts from Cape Canaveral, Florida for an 84-day mission.

1973 – U.S. President Richard Nixon signs the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act into law, authorizing the construction of the Alaska Pipeline.

1974 – The Arecibo message is broadcast from the Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico. It was aimed at the current location of the globular star cluster Messier 13 some 25,000 light years away. The message will reach empty space by the time it finally arrives since the cluster will have changed position.

1979 – The first line of Bucharest Metro (Line M1) is opened from Timpuri Noi to Semănătoarea in Bucharest, Romania.

1988 – The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic declares that Estonia is “sovereign” but stops short of declaring independence.

1988 – In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan elect populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister of Pakistan.

1990 – Pop group Milli Vanilli are stripped of their Grammy Award because the duo did not sing at all on the “Girl You Know It’s True” album. Session musicians had provided all the vocals.

1992 – The Hoxne Hoard is discovered by metal detectorist Eric Lawes in Hoxne, Suffolk.

1997 – After nearly 18 years of incarceration, the People’s Republic of China releases Wei Jingsheng, a pro-democracy dissident, from jail for medical reasons.

2000 – Bill Clinton becomes the first U.S. President to visit Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War.

2001 - The Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia passed 15 amendments on changing the Constitution, initiated by the Ohrid Framework Agreement. 

2002 – The first case of SARS is recorded in Foshan City, Guangdong Province, China, though is not identified until much later. First patient is thought to be a farmer in the city.

2003 – 16-year old Lionel Messi makes his official debut for FC Barcelona when he comes on as a substitute in a friendly against Porto.

2014 – Klaus Iohannis wins the Romanian Presidential election.

2017 – 19 countries pledge to phase out coal at UN Climate Summit in Bonn, Germany.

2018 – CIA concludes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

2018 – The kilogram is refined by abstract constants replacing the Le Grand K, along with the ampere (electrical current) and kelvin (temperature) at a conference in Paris.

2020 – US drugmaker Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is 94.5% effective in early data.

2023 - Meto Jovanovski, stage and screem actor, dies, aged 77. Right after graduating from the Teather Academy in Sofia, Jovanovski established himself as one of the leading actors of the screen and stage starring in over 60 films, including the seminal "Tattooing", "Happy New 1949", "Before the Rain", etc.