July 16 is the 197th day (198th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 168 days remaining.

Events

• 622 - Beginning of the Islamic calendar.
• 1769 - Father Junipero Serra founds Mission San Diego de Alcalá, the first mission in California. The mission later evolves into the city of San Diego.
• 1779 - American Revolutionary War: United States forces led by General Anthony Wayne capture Stony Point, New York from British troops.
• 1782 - First performance of Mozart's opera The Abduction from the Seraglio.
• 1783 - Grants of land in Canada to American loyalists announced.
• 1790 - The signing of the Residence Bill establishes a site along the Potomac River as the District of Columbia (seat of government) of the United States (see Washington, DC).
• 1862 - American Civil War: David G. Farragut becomes the first United States Navy rear admiral.
• 1880 - First woman licensed to practice medicine in Canada - Dr. Emily Howard Stowe.
• 1914 - Hellenic Holocaust: According to the German Consul Kuchhoff: "The entire Greek population of Sinope and the coastal region of the county of Kastanome has been exiled. Exile and extermination in Turkish are the same, for whoever is not murdered, will die from hunger or illness."
• 1918 - Russian Revolution: At Ekaterinburg, Bolsheviks execute Czar Nicholas II of Russia and his family.
• 1930 - Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia signs the first constitution of Ethiopia.
• 1942 - Holocaust: On order from the Vichy France government headed by Pierre Laval, French police officers round-up 13,000-20,000 Jews and imprison them in the Winter Velodrome .
• 1945 - Manhattan Project: The Atomic Age begins when the United States successfully detonates a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon at the Trinity site near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
• 1951 - The novel Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger published.
• 1951 - King Leopold III of Belgium abdicates.
• 1957 - United States Marine Major John Glenn flies a F8U supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds setting a new transcontinental speed record.
• 1969 - Apollo program: Apollo 11 launches off from Cape Kennedy, Florida with the goal to become the first manned space mission to land on the moon.
• 1973 - Watergate Scandal: Former White House aide Alexander P. Butterfield informs the United States Senate committee investigating scandal that President Richard Nixon had secretly recorded potentially incriminating conversations.
• 1979 - Iraqi President Hasan al-Bakr resigns and Saddam Hussein replaces him.
• 1990 - In the Philippines, an earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter Scale kills over 1600.
• 1994 - The planet Jupiter is hit by fragments of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet.
• 1994 - The civil war in Rwanda comes to an end.
• 1999 - Off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, a plane piloted by John F. Kennedy Jr. crashes with his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and her sister Lauren Bessette on board. All three are killed in the crash.
• 1999 - Star Wars Epizode 1 is Released in the United Kingdom.
• 2001 - The FBI arrests Dmitry Sklyarov at a convention in Las Vegas, Nevada for violating a provision of the DMCA.
• 2002 - Simon & Garfunkel release the album Live In New York City, 1967, a live recording of their January 22, 1967 concert at Philharmonic Hall.
• 2003 - An Australian research team led by Graham Giles of The Cancer Council published a medical study which concluded that frequent masturbation by males may help prevent the development of prostate cancer, marking the almost complete rehabilitation of the sexual practice from a dangerous health risk to a beneficial preventative health measure.
• 2003 - The Corsicans reject a referendum for increased autonomy from France by a very thin majority: 50.98 percent against, and 49.02 percent for.
• 2004 - Millennium Park, considered the first and most ambitious architectural project in the early 21st century for Chicago, is opened to the public by Mayor of Chicago Richard M. Daley.
• 2004 - Barclays Bank freezes the bank accounts of the British National Party.
• 2004 - A fire at a private school in Kumbakonam, India kill over 80 people.
• 2005 - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, the latest in J.K. Rowling's hugely popular Harry Potter series is published in English speaking countries.

Births

• 1486 - Andrea del Sarto, painter (d. 1530)
• 1821 - Mary Baker Eddy, founded Christian Science (d. 1910)
• 1834 - Franz Adolf Lüderitz , salesman and politician (d. 1886)
• 1872 - Roald Amundsen, explorer, discovered South Pole (d. 1928)
• 1888 - Percy Kilbride, actor (Pa Kettle) (d. 1964)
• 1889 - Joe Jackson, American baseball player (d. 1951)
• 1896 - Trygve Lie, the first United Nations Secretary General (d. 1968)
• 1902 - Georg Schwarz , writer (d. 1991)
• 1903 - Carmen Lombardo - singer, saxophonist, composer, arranger (d. 1971)
• 1907 - Dr. Frances Horwich , "Miss Francis" from Ding Dong School (d. 2001)
• 1907 - Barbara Stanwyck, actress d. 1990
• 1911 - Ginger Rogers, actress and dancer (d. 1995)
• 1913 - Peter van Eyck , actor (d. 1969)
• 1919 - Choi Kyuha, President of South Korea
• 1924 - Bess Myerson, former Miss America, television personality
• 1925 - Cal Tjader, musician (d. 1982)
• 1946 - Ron Yary, Pro Football Hall of Famer
• 1948 - Rubén Blades, actor, musician, politician
• 1948 - Pinchas Zukerman, Israeli violinist
• 1952 - Stewart Copeland, musician
• 1956 - Tony Kushner, playwright
• 1959 - Gary Anderson, American football player
• 1963 - Phoebe Cates, actress
• 1963 - Fatboy Slim, musician
• 1963 - Srečko Katanec, Slovenian football player, coach
• 1964 - Phil Hellmuth, professional poker player
• 1964 - Miguel Induráin, Spanish cyclist
• 1968 - Barry Sanders, Pro Football Hall of Famer
• 1971 - Corey Feldman, Actor
• 1989 - Eric Reynolds, American Student

Deaths

• 1770 - Francis Cotes, English painter
• 1882 - Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady of the United States (b. 1818)
• 1953 - Hilaire Belloc, French writer and journalist
• 1979 - Alfred Deller, English countertenor
• 1981 - Harry Chapin, singer and songwriter
• 1985 - Heinrich Böll, German writer (b. 1917)
• 1989 - Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (b. 1908)
• 1995 - Stephen Spender, American poet (b. 1909)
• 1999 - John F. Kennedy Jr., son of John F. Kennedy
• 2002 - John Cocke, computer scientist
• 2003 - Celia Cruz, Cuban musician
• 2003 - Carol Shields, Canadian author

Holidays and observances

• Botswana - President's Day (2nd day)
• Catholic - Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

External links

• BBC: On This Day

July 15 - July 17 - June 16 - August 16 -- listing of all days