July 16



Events

Up to 1950 
 622 – Start of the Islamic calendar.
 1212 - The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa marks a turning point of the Spanish Reconquista over the Moors.
 1377 – King Richard II of England is crowned.
 1661 - The first banknotes in Europe are issued in Sweden.
 1683 - Manchu Qing Dynasty naval forces under traitorous commander Shi Lang defeat the Kingdom of Tungning in the Battle of Penghu near the Pescadores Islands.
 1769 - Father Junipero Serra founds California's first mission, which becomes the city of San Diego. 
 1790 – The District of Columbia is established as the capital of the US.
 1809 - La Paz, Bolivia, declares independence from Spain.
 1861 - American Civil War: Under orders from Abraham Lincoln, Union troops begin a 25-mile march into Virginia for what will become the First Battle of the Bull Run.
 1862 - American Civil War: David Farragut is promoted to rear admiral.
 1931 – Haile Selassie signs the first Ethiopian Constitution.
 1935 – A 6.5 magnitude earthquake hits Taiwan, killing around 2,700 people.
 1935 – The first parking meter is installed in Oklahoma City.
 1945 – Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, US President Harry S. Truman and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill meet in Potsdam to discuss the future of a defeated Germany after World War II.
 1945 – First atomic bomb test occurs at Alamagordo, New Mexico.
 1950 – 1950 FIFA World Cup: Uruguay wins the FIFA World Cup for the second time, with a 2-1 win over the host nation Brazil in the final, with Alcides Ghiggia scoring the winning goal. In Brazil, the event is remembered as the "Maracanazo", and the country went into mourning after the defeat.

From 1951 
 1951 – The famous novel The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger is published.
 1951 - King Leopold III of Belgium decides to abdicate the throne in favor of his then-20-year-old son, who becomes King Baudouin I of Belgium.
 1965 – The Mont Blanc tunnel between France and Italy is opened.
 1969 – Apollo 11 launched for the first moon landing.
 1979 – Saddam Hussein becomes President of Iraq.
 1981 – Mahathir bin Mohamad becomes Prime Minister of Malaysia, serving until October 31, 2003.
 1983 - A Sikorsky S-61 helicopter crashes near the Isles of Scilly off the Southwest coast of England, killing 20 people.
 1984 – San Ysidro massacre: 21 people are killed and 19  injured in a shooting in a fast food restaurant in San Diego, California. The perpetrator is then killed by police.
 1990 – A 7.8 magnitude earthquake hits the Philippine island of Luzon, killing 1,621 people.
 1990 - Then-West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl travels to the Soviet Union to meet with Mikhail Gorbachev and discuss German reunification.
 1994 – Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collides with the planet Jupiter.
 1999 - John F. Kennedy Jr., piloting a piper Saratoga aircraft, dies when his plane crashes into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha's Vineyard off the US State of Massachusetts. His wife Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette are also killed.
 2004 - The Millennium Park architectural project in Chicago is opened by Mayor Richard M. Daley.
 2007 – A 6.8 magnitude earthquake strikes near Niigata, Japan, killing 8 people and injuring more than 800.
 2008 - 16 young children in Gansu province, China, are diagnosed with kidney stones after being fed tainted milk.
 2013 - Around 27 children die and 25 are hospitalized after eating lunch served in their school canteen in Eastern India.
 2017 - Tennis: Roger Federer wins a record-breaking 8th Wimbledon men's singles title, defeating Marin Cilic in straight sets.
 2017 - Jodie Whittaker is revealed as the first woman to play the role of Doctor Who in the British science fiction television series of the same name. 
 2018 - US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet for talks in Helsinki, Finland.
 2019 - Ursula von der Leyen is chosen to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as President of the European Commission, becoming the first woman to chosen to hold this position.

Births

Up to 1900 
 1194 – Saint Clare of Assisi, Italian saint (d. 1355).
 1486 – Andrea del Sarto, Italian painter (d. 1530).
 1611 - Caecilia Renata of Austria (d. 1644).
 1661 - Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, Canadian captain, explorer and politician (d. 1706).
 1715 - Charles, Prince of Soubise, French general and statesman (d. 1787).
 1722 - Joseph Wilton, English sculptor (d. 1803)
 1723 – Joshua Reynolds, English painter (d. 1792).
 1731 – Samuel Huntington, American statesman  (d. 1796).
 1746 – Giuseppe Piazzi, Italian astronomer, mathematician and theologian (d. 1826).
 1749 - Cyrus Griffin, American politician (d. 1810).
 1769 - Edmund Fanning, American explorer and sea captain (d. 1841).
 1796 – Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French painter (d. 1875).
 1821 – Mary Baker Eddy, American religious leader (d. 1910).
 1858 - Eugene Ysaye, Belgian composer and violinist (d. 1931)..
 1862 - Ida B. Wells, American journalist and activist (d. 1931).
 1872 – Roald Amundsen, Norwegian polar explorer (d. 1928).
 1875 - Emil Voigt, American gymnast (d. 1961).
 1877 - Vasil Kolarov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria (d. 1950).
 1880 - Kathleen Norris, American author (d. 1966).
 1883 - Charles Sheeler, American photographer and painter (d. 1965).
 1884 – Anna Vyrubova, Russian writer (d. 1964).
 1888 – Frits Zernike, Dutch physicist (d. 1966).
 1888 – Shoeless Joe Jackson, American baseball player (d. 1951).
 1889 - Larry Semon, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter (d. 1928).
 1895 - Wilfrid Hamel, Canadian politician, 35th Mayor of Quebec City (d. 1968).
 1896 – Trygve Lie, Norwegian diplomat, UN Secretary-General (d. 1968).

1901  1950 
 1902 - Heo Jong-suk, Korean writer and politician (d. 1991).
 1903 - Mary Philbin, American actress (d. 1993).
 1904 - Gaffredo Petrassi, Italian composer and conductor (d. 2003).
 1906 - Vincent Sherman, American actor, director and screenwriter (d. 2006).
 1907 - Orville Redenbacher, American farmer and businessman (d. 1995).
 1907 – Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (d. 1990).
 1911 – Ginger Rogers, American actress and dancer (d. 1995).
 1918 - Müzeyyen Senar, Turkish singer (d. 2015).
 1919 – Choi Kyu-ha, President of South Korea (d. 2006).
 1919 - Hermine Braunsteiner, Austrian concentration camp overseer (d. 1999).
 1924 – Bess Myerson, American beauty queen (d. 2014).
 1925 - Frank Jobe, American surgeon (d. 2014).
 1926 – Heinz Kwiatkowski, German footballer (d. 2008).
 1926 – Alfred Pfaff, German footballer (d. 2008).
 1926 – Irwin Rose, American biologist (d. 2015).
 1928 - Anita Brookner, English writer (d. 2016).
 1928 – Ticho Parly, Danish tenor (d. 1993).
 1928 – Andrzej Zawada, Polish mountaineer (d. 2000).
 1928 - Dave Treen, American politician, 50th Governor of Louisiana (d. 2009).
 1930 - Guy Béart, French singer and songwriter (d. 2015).
 1930 - Bert Rechichar, American football player (d. 2019).
 1932 - Bill Byrge, American actor and comedian.
 1933 - John Baddeley, British diplomat
 1934 - George Hilton, Uruguayan-Italian actor (d. 2019).
 1935 - Carl Epting Mundy, Jr., American general (d. 2014).
 1936 – Yasuo Fukuda, former Prime Minister of Japan.
 1936 - Venkataraman Subramanyan, Indian cricketer.
 1937 - Richard Bryan, American politician, 25th Governor of Nevada.
 1937 - John Daly, English director, producer and screenwriter (d. 2008).
 1939 – Corin Redgrave, English actor and political activist (d. 2010).
 1939 – Lido Vieri, Italian footballer.
 1939 - Mariele Ventre, Italian singer and conductor (d. 1995).
 1941 – Desmond Dekker, Jamaican singer (d. 2006).
 1941 – Dag Solstad, Norwegian writer and dramatist.
 1941 - Hans Wiegel, Dutch politician.
 1941 - George Young, English politician.
 1942 – Margaret Court, Australian tennis player.
 1942 - Frank Field, English politician.
 1943 - Patricia Churchland, Canadian philosopher.
 1946 - Louise Fréchette, Canadian civil servant and diplomat. 
 1946 – Toshio Furukawa, Japanese voice actor.
 1946 - Richard LeParmentier, American-English actor (d. 2013).
 1947 - Alexis Herman, American politician.
 1948 – Lars Lagerback, Swedish football coach.
 1948 – Pinchas Zukerman, Israeli violinist.
 1950 - Dennis Priestley, English darts player.

1951  1975 
 1951 - Lorraine Chase, English actress and model.
 1952 - Stewart Copeland, American drummer.
 1952 - Marc Esposito, French director and screenwriter.
 1958 – Michael Flatley, American dancer.
 1959 - James MacMillan, Scottish composer and conductor.
 1959 – Zoran Joleski, Macedonian diplomat, Ambassador to the US.
 1960 - Terry Pendleton, American baseball player.
 1963 – Phoebe Cates, American actress.
 1963 - Norman Cook, English musician (Fatboy Slim).
 1964 – Nino Burjanadze, Georgian politician.
 1964 - Miguel Indurain, Spanish cyclist.
 1965 - Michel Desjoyeaux, French sailor.
 1965 - Claude Lemieux, Canadian-American ice hockey player
 1965 - Sherri Stoner, American actress and writer.
 1966 - Jyrki Lumme, Finnish ice hockey player.
 1966 - Mikhail Tatarinov, Russian ice hockey player.
 1967 - Jonathan Adams, American actor
 1967 – Will Ferrell, American comedian and actor.
 1968 – Larry Sanger, American computer scientist, philosopher and co-founder of Wikipedia.
 1969 - Jules De Martino, English musician and singer-songwriter.
 1969 - Daryl Mitchell, American actor and singer.
 1969 - Sahra Wagenknecht, German politician.
 1970 – Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thai movie director.
 1971 - Corey Feldman, American actor and singer.
 1973 - Shaun Pollock, South African cricketer.
 1974 - Ryan McCombs, American singer-songwriter and activist.
 1975 - Jamie Oliver, Welsh singer and keyboardist.

From 1976 
 1976 – Bobby Lashley, American wrestler.
 1976 – Carlos Humberto Paredes, Paraguayan footballer.
 1976 – Anna Smashnova, Israeli tennis player.
 1980 - Adam Scott, Australian golfer.
 1982 - André Greipel, German cyclist.
 1982 - Steve Hooker, Australian pole vaulter.
 1982 - Carli Lloyd, American soccer player.
 1982 - Michael Umaña, Costa Rican footballer.
 1983 – Duncan Keith, NHL ice hockey defenceman for the Chicago Blackhawks.
 1985 - Dejan Jakovic, Croatian-Canadian soccer player
 1987 – AnnaLynne McCord, American actress.
 1987 - Mousa Dembélé, Belgian footballer.
 1988 – Sergio Busquets, Spanish footballer.
 1989 – Gareth Bale, Welsh footballer.
 1990 - James Maslow, American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter.
 1991 - Andros Townsend, English footballer.
 1994 – Mark Indelicato, American singer and actor.
 1996 - Lucas Hemmings, Australian singer, 5 Seconds of Summer.

Deaths

Up to 1950 
 1216 – Pope Innocent III (b. 1160/1161).
 1324 – Emperor Go-Uda of Japan (b. 1267).
 1342 - Charles I of Hungary (b. 1288).
 1557 – Anne of Cleves, wife of Henry VIII of England (b. 1515).
 1647 - Masaniello, Italian rebel (b. 1622).
 1664 - Andreas Gryphius, German poet and playwright (b. 1616).
 1747 - Giuseppe Crespi, Italian painter (b. 1655).
 1764 – Tsar Ivan VI of Russia (b. 1740).
 1882 – Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady of the United States (b. 1818).
 1896 - Edmond de Gontcourt, French critic and publisher (b. 1822).
 1916 – Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, Russian biologist, won the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1845).
 1917 - Philipp Scharwenka, German composer and educator (b. 1847).
 1943 – Helga Deen, German Holocaust victim (b. 1925).
 1947 – Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish diplomat (disappeared on this date) (b. 1912).

1951  2010 
 1953 – Hilaire Belloc, British writer (b. 1870).
 1976 – Carmelo Soria, Spanish diplomat (b. 1921).
 1979 - Alfred Deller, English singer (b. 1912).
 1982 – Charles Robberts Swart, South African politician (b. 1894).
 1985 – Heinrich Böll, German writer (b. 1917).
 1989 – Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (b. 1908).
 1994 - Julian Schwinger, American physicist (b. 1918).
 1995 - Stephen Spender, British poet (b. 1909).
 1996 - John Panozzo, American drummer (Styx) (b. 1948).
 1999 – John F. Kennedy Jr., American publisher (b. 1960).
 1999 – Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, wife of John F. Kennedy Jr. (b. 1966).
 2001 – Morris, Belgian cartoonist (b. 1923).
 2003 – Celia Cruz, Cuban singer (b. 1924).
 2003 – Carol Shields, Canadian writer (b. 1935).
 2004 - George Busbee, American politician, 77th Governor of Georgia (b. 1927)
 2005 - Camillo Felgen, Luxembourg singer-songwriter and radio host (b. 1920)
 2010 - James Gammon, American actor (b. 1940).

From 2011 
 2012 - Stephen Covey, American author (b. 1932).
 2012 - Jon Lord, English musician (Deep Purple) (b. 1941).
 2012 - Kitty Wells, American singer (b. 1919).
 2014 - Szymon Szurmiej, Polish actor and director (b. 1923).
 2014 - Johnny Winter, American musician (b. 1944).
 2014 - Heinz Zemanek, Austrian computer pioneer (b. 1920).
 2014 - Karl Albrecht, German businessman (b. 1930).
 2015 - Alcides Ghiggia, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1926).
 2015 - Alan Kupperberg, American comic artist (b. 1953).
 2015 - Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, Kuwaiti shooting suspect (b. 1991)
 2015 - Jack Goody, British social anthropologist (b. 1919)
 2016 - Robert Burren Morgan, American politician (b. 1925)
 2016 - Nate Thurmond, American basketball player (b. 1941)
 2016 - Kazimieras Uoka, Lithuanian politician (b. 1951)
 2017 - Trevor Baxter, British actor (b. 1932)
 2017 - George A. Romero, American-Canadian film director and producer (b. 1940)
 2017 - Wilfried, Austrian singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1950)
 2018 - Gabriel Caruana, Maltese artist (b. 1929)
 2019 - Ernie Broglio, American baseball player (b. 1935)
 2019 - Johnny Clegg, South African musician (b. 1953)
 2019 - Raja Dhale, Indian writer and political activist (b. 1940)
 2019 - Chung Doo-un, South Korean politician (b. 1957)
 2019 - Howard Engel, Canadian writer (b. 1931)
 2019 - John Paul Stevens, United States Supreme Court justice (b. 1920)

Observances 
 Engineer's Day (Honduras)
 Holocaust Memorial Day (France)

Days of the year