January 16 is the 16th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 349 days remaining (350 in leap years).
- 27 BC - Octavian Caesar given the title Augustus by the Roman Senate.
- 929 - Emir Abd-ar-rahman III of Cordoba declares himself caliph, thereby establishing the Caliphate of Cordoba.
- 1362 - A great storm tide in the North Sea destroys the German island of Strand and the city of Rungholt.
- 1412 - Medici family made official bankers of the Papacy.
- 1456 - Painter Filippo Lippi elopes with Lucrezia Buti, a young nun from the convent of Saint Margherita .
- 1492 - The first grammar of a modern language, in Spanish, is presented to Queen Isabella.
- 1547 - Ivan the Terrible becomes Tsar of Russia.
- 1556 - Philip II becomes King of Spain.
- 1572 - The Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.
- 1581 - English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism.
- 1605 - The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes was published in Madrid.
- 1761 - British capture Pondicherry, India from the French.
- 1777 - Vermont declares its independence from New York.
- 1780 - American Revolution: Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
- 1795 - French occupy Utrecht, Netherlands.
- 1809 - Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Coruña.
- 1847 - John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.
- 1883 - The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil service, is passed.
- 1900 - The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounced its claims to the Samoan islands.
- 1909 - Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.
- 1917 - German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann sends the Zimmermann Telegram to Mexico, proposing a German-Mexican alliance against the United States
- 1919 - Temperance movement: The 18th Amendment, authorizing Prohibition, was passed by the Congress of the United States. It went into effect one year later, on January 16th, 1920.
- 1938 - Benny Goodman plays Carnegie Hall.
- 1945 - Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker.
- 1956 - President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine.
- 1957 - The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool.
- 1961 - Mickey Mantle becomes the highest paid baseball player by signing a $75,000 contract.
- 1964 - The first musical version of Hello, Dolly! opens at New York City's St. James Theatre.
- 1966 - The Metropolitan Opera House opens at Lincoln Center in New York City.
- 1969 - Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, in protest against the Soviets' crushing of the Prague Spring the year before.
- 1970 - Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects.
- 1970 - Curt Flood files suit, stating that major league baseball had violated the American anti-trust laws.
- 1977 - The Marx Brothers were inducted into the Motion Picture Hall of Fame .
- 1979 - The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt.
- 1986 - Herbert W. Armstrong, the founder of the Worldwide Church of God (the Church of God in Philadelphia Era) died.
- 1988 - Sports commentator Jimmy 'the Greek' Snyder is fired by CBS a day after publicly stating that African Americans had been bred to produce stronger offspring during slavery.
- 1991 - US serial killer Aileen Wuornos confesses to the murders of six men.
- 1992 - El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City that ends a 12-year civil war that claimed at least 75,000.
- 1997 - Ennis Cosby, the only son of actor Bill Cosby, is killed by a gunman while changing a flat tire in Los Angeles, California.
- 1998 - NASA announces that John Glenn will return to space when Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off in October 1998.
- 2000 - In Sacramento, California a commercial truck carrying evaporated milk is driven into the state capitol building killing the driver.
- 2001 - Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.
- 2002 - A student shoots 6 people at the Appalachian School of Law . Three of those shot die.
- 2002 - John Ashcroft announces that so-called "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh would be tried in the United States.
- 2002 - The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the remaining members of the Taliban.
- 2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which will be its final one. Columbia disintegrates 16 days later on re-entry.
- 2004 - Goatse.cx is shut down by the Christmas Island Registry
- 2005 - Adriana Iliescu gives birth at age 66 and becomes the oldest woman in the world to do so.
- 1245 - Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster (d. 1296)
- 1821 - John C. Breckenridge, Kentucky Senator 1861-1861, Confederate General (d. 1875)
- 1838 - Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (d. 1917)
- 1874 - Robert W. Service, poet (d. 1958)
- 1881 - Sir Arthur Percy Morris Fleming , radio pioneer
- 1886 - John Hamilton , American actor (d. 1958)
- 1898 - Margaret Booth, film editor (d. 2002)
- 1901 - Frank Zamboni, inventor (d. 1988)
- 1901 - Fulgencio Batista, Cuban leader (d. 1973)
- 1902 - Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (d. 1945)
- 1907 - Paul Nitze, American government official (d. 2004)
- 1908 - Ethel Merman, American actress, singer (d. 1984)
- 1910 - Dizzy Dean, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1974)
- 1912 - Franz Tumler , Austrian narrator (d. 1998)
- 1917 - Buddy Lester , American actor (d. 2002)
- 1918 - Stirling Silliphant , writer, producer (d. 1996)
- 1921 - Francesco Scavullo, photographer (d. 2004)
- 1922 - Ernesto Bonino, Italian singer
- 1924 - Katy Jurado, actress (d. 2002)
- 1928 - William Kennedy, author
- 1931 - Johannes Rau, President of Germany
- 1932 - Dian Fossey, zoologist (d. 1985)
- 1934 - Marilyn Horne, American mezzo-soprano
- 1935 - Udo Lattek , football coach
- 1935 - A.J. Foyt, automobile racer
- 1943 - Brian Ferneyhough, composer
- 1944 - Jim Stafford , singer
- 1944 - Ronnie Milsap, country music singer
- 1946 - Kabir Bedi, actor
- 1946 - Ronnie Milsap, singer
- 1946 - Katia Ricciarelli , opera singer
- 1947 - Laura Schlessinger, psychiatrist, radio talk show host
- 1948 - John Carpenter, director
- 1948 - Dalvanius, New Zealand entertainer (d. 2002)
- 1948 - Cliff Thorburn, Canadian snooker player
- 1950 - Debbie Allen, actress, dancer, choreographer
- 1950 - Caroline Munro , actress
- 1954 - Nancy Richards-Akers , novelist (d. 1999)
- 1958 - Anatoli Boukreev, Russian climber (d. 1997)
- 1959 - Sade, singer
- 1969 - Roy Jones Jr., boxer
- 1974 - Kate Moss, supermodel
- 1977 - Jeff Foster, professional basketball player
- 1979 - Aaliyah, singer (d. 2001)
- 1980 - Albert Pujols, baseball player
- 1980 - Michelle Wild, Hungarian pornstar
- 1747 - Barthold Heinrich Brockes, German poet (b. 1680)
- 1794 - Edward Gibbon, historian (b. 1737)
- 1806 - William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1759)
- 1876 - Edmund H. Sears , composer
- 1917 - George Dewey, Admiral (b. 1837)
- 1936 - Albert Fish, serial killer (electrocuted) (b. 1870)
- 1942 - Carole Lombard, actress (b. 1908)
- 1957 - Arturo Toscanini, conductor (b. 1867)
- 1962 - Ivan Meštrović, sculptor (b. 1883)
- 1972 - Ross Bagdasarian, actor, songwriter
- 1979 - Ted Cassidy, American actor
- 1981 - Bernard Lee, British actor
- 1982 - Red Smith , sports columnist
- 1983 - Meyer Lansky, gangster
- 1986 - Herbert W. Armstrong, evangelist, author, publisher
- 1988 - Ballard Berkeley , British actor
- 1989 - Trey Wilson , American actor
- 1995 - Eric Mottram - poet, teacher, critic, editor (b. 1924)
- 1998 - Emil Sitka , American actor
- 2001 - Laurent-Desire Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (assassinated; death officially confirmed on January 18)
- 2002 - Michael Bilandic, mayor of Chicago (b. 1923)
- 2002 - Eddie Meduza
- 2002 - Bobo Olson, American boxer
- 2002 - Ron Taylor, American actor (b. 1952)
- 2004 - Kalevi Sorsa, former Finnish prime minister (b. 1930)
- 2005 - Marjorie Williams, Washington Post columnist and contributing editor for Vanity Fair (b. 1958)
Holidays and observances
January 15 - January 17 - December 16 - February 16 -- listing of all days
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