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On this day in History Archives
 
At PaulsQuiz.com we aim to provide you with as much information as we possibly can. That's why we have built our On This Day in History section, to do just that. Our database is forever growing, we're adding more and more events from history to help you write your quiz questions.

Simply enter a date using the drop-down boxes below and click the 'Go' button to display events from the past that ocurred on that day.
 

 
16 January, 2006
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberias new president. She becomes Africas first female elected head of state.
16 January, 2005
Adriana Iliescu becomes the oldest woman in the world to give birth, at age 66.
16 January, 2003
Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which will be its final one. Columbia disintegrates 16 days later on re-entry.
16 January, 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.
16 January, 2001
Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.
16 January, 2001
US President Bill Clinton awards former US President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish-American War.
16 January, 1996
Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou resigns from office for health reasons.
16 January, 1992
El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City ending a 12-year civil war that claimed at least 75,000.
16 January, 1991
The United States of America declares war on Iraq, beginning the Persian Gulf War (U.S.Time).
16 January, 1986
First meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force.
16 January, 1979
The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt.
16 January, 1970
Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects.
16 January, 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.
16 January, 1969
The Metroliner train enters into service.
16 January, 1968
The Youth International Party (Yippies) is founded.
16 January, 1956
President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine.
16 January, 1945
Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker.
16 January, 1920
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. was founded on the campus of Howard University.
16 January, 1919
Temperance movement: The United States of America ratifies the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, authorizing Prohibition in the United States one year after ratification.
16 January, 1909
Ernest Shackletons expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.
16 January, 1900
The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the Samoan islands.
16 January, 1896
Defeat of Cymru Fydd at South Wales Liberal Federation AGM, Newport, Monmouthshire.
16 January, 1883
The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil Service, is passed.
16 January, 1878
Captain Burago with a squadron of Russian Imperial army dragoons liberates Plovdiv from Ottoman rule.
16 January, 1864
Danish-Prussian War (Second war of Schleswig): King Christian IX of Denmark declares war on the German Confederation in order to occupy Schleswig
16 January, 1847
John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.
16 January, 1809
Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Coruña.
16 January, 1795
France occupies Utrecht, Netherlands.
16 January, 1780
American Revolution: Battle of Cape St. Vincent.
16 January, 1777
Vermont declares its independence from New York.
16 January, 1761
British capture Pondicherry, India from the French.
16 January, 1707
The Scottish Parliament ratifies the Act of Union, paving way for the creation of Great Britain.
16 January, 1605
The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid.
16 January, 1581
The English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism.
16 January, 1572
The Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.
16 January, 1556
Philip II becomes King of Spain.
16 January, 1547
Ivan the Terrible becomes Tsar of Russia.
16 January, 1492
The first grammar of a modern language, in Spanish, is presented to Queen Isabella.
16 January, 1456
Painter Filippo Lippi elopes with Lucrezia Buti, a young nun from the convent of Saint Margherita.
16 January, 1412
The Medici family is appointed official banker of the Papacy.
16 January, 1362
A great storm tide in the North Sea destroys the German island of Strand and the city of Rungholt.
16 January, 1120
The Council of Nablus is held, establishing the earliest surviving written laws of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.
16 January, 929
Emir Abd-ar-Rahman III of Cordoba declares himself caliph, thereby establishing the Caliphate of Cordoba.
16 January, 550
Gothic War (535–552): The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.

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January

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February

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March

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April

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May

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June

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July

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August

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September

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16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30

October

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November

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December

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