December 16

Events
Up to 1900
1431 - Henry VI of England is crowned King of France.
1497 - Vasco da Gama sails around the Cape of Good Hope in present-day South Africa, the point where Bartolomeu Dias had previously turned back to Portugal.
1575 - A massive earthquake hits Valdivia, Chile.
1598 - Second War of Jeong-yu: Battle of Noryang - Chinese general Chen Lin heavily damages the Japanese fleet, which successfully retreats.
1631 - An eruption of Mount Vesuvius kills around 4,000 people.
1653 - Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1689 - Convention Parliament: In England, the Declaration of the Right is embodied in the Bill of Rights.
1707 - The last eruption of Mount Fuji, to date, occurs.
1761 - Seven Years' War: After a four-month siege, Russians under Pyotr Rumyantsev take the Prussian fortress in Kolobrzeg.
1773 - Boston Tea Party: American patriots dump crates of tea into Boston Harbor at protest against the tea act.
1796 - French ship Seduisant sinks off Brest, Brittany, France, killing 680.
1811 - The first in a series of strong earthquakes hits New Madrid, Missouri.
1830 - Uruguay adopts its current flag.
1838 - Great Trek: Battle of Blood River - Voortrekkers under Andries Pretorius and Sarel Cilliers defeat Zulu "impis" led by Dambuza (Nzobo) and Ndlela kaSompisi in present-day KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
1857 - An earthquake strikes the Basilicata region of Italy, killing 11,000 people.
1863 - American Civil War: Joseph E. Johnston replaces Braxton Bragg as commander of the Confederate army of Tennessee.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Nashville - Major General George Thomas' Union forces defeat Lieutenant General John Bell Hood's Confederate army of Tennessee.
1880 - The Boer Republic Transvaal declares independence from the United Kingdom under the name of "South African Republic". The first shots of the First Boer War are fired.
1899 - AC Milan FC is founded.
1900 - German ship Gneisenau sinks in a storm off Malaga, Spain, killing 40 people.
1901 2000
1903 - The Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel in Bombay, India, opens to guests for the first time.
1912 - First Balkan War: The Royal Hellenic Navy defeats the Ottoman Empire Navy at the Battle of Elli.
1914 - World War I: German battleships under Franz von Hipper bombard the English ports of Hartlepool and Scarborough.
1918 - Vincas Mickevicius-Kapsukas declares the formation of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.
1920 - An earthquake in Gansu province in China kills an estimated 200,000 people.
1922 - Polish President Gabriel Narutowicz is assassinated.
1927 - Donald Bradman first appears in a first-class cricket match, for New South Wales against South Australia.
1937 - Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe attempt to escape from Alcatraz, but are never seen again.
1941 - World War II: Japanese forces occupy Miri, Sarawak.
1942 - Holocaust: Heinrich Himmler orders Roma candidates for extermination to be deported to Auschwitz.
1944 - World War II: The Battle of the Bulge begins with a surprise offensive of three German armies through the Ardennes forest.
1946 - Thailand joins the UN.
1947 - William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain build the first practical point-contact transistor.
1950 - Korean War: Harry S. Truman declares a state of emergency, after Chinese troops enter the war in support of North Korea.
1957 - Feroz Khan Noon replaces Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar as Prime Minister of Pakistan.
1960 - New York City Air Disaster: Approaching New York Idlewild Airport from Chicago, a United Airlines Douglas DC-8 collides with a TWA Lockheed Super Constellation Aircraft during a snowstorm on Staten Island, killing 134 people.
1965 - Taufa'ahau Tupou IV becomes King of Tonga.
1965 - The Pioneer 6 space probe is launched.
1966 - South Korean ferry Namjung-Ho sinks, killing 270 people.
1966 - International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights are adopted.
1971 - Bahrain becomes independent.
1971 - The Bangladesh War of Independence and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 come to an end.
1972 - Vietnam War: Henry Kissinger announces that North Vietnam has left peace negotiations.
1979 - Libya increases crude oil prices.
1985 - New York City crime: Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti are shot dead on the orders of John Gotti.
1988 - In the UK, Edwina Currie resigns as junior health minister, after suggesting that most eggs contain salmonella.
1989 - Romanian Revolution: Clashes begins between protestors and Securitate in Timisoara, Romania.
1991 - Egyptian ferry Salem Express crashes into a reef and sinks, killing over 700 people. 200 can be rescued.
1991 - Kazakhstan becomes independent from the Soviet Union.
1997 - A Japanese airing of the Denno Senshi-Porygon episode of Pokemon causes seizures in 685 viewers.
1998 - Iraq disarmament crisis: The United Kingdom and United States bomb targets in Iraq.
From 2001
2011 - Typhoon Washi hits the Philippines in the night to December 17.
2012 - 2012 Delhi gang rape case: A 23-year-old female student is gang-raped by a group of men while getting off a bus in Delhi. She dies on December 29 and the attack attracts much attention and debate around the world.
2014 - The 2014 Sydney hostage crisis comes to an end, as police storm the cafe in Sydney, Australia, where Man Haron Monis had held people hostage since the previous day. Three people are killed, including the hostage taker.
2014 - Members of the Pakistani Taliban carry out a massacre at an army school in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing at least 141 people, most of them children.
Births
Up to 1900
868 - Emperor Yozei of Japan (d. 949)
1364 - Emperor Manuel III of Trebizond (d. 1417)
1485 - Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England (d. 1536)
1584 - John Selden, English polymath (d. 1654)
1614 - Eberhard III, Duke of Wurttemberg (d. 1674)
1714 - George Whitefield, English clergyman (d. 1770)
1716 - Louis Jules Mancini Mazarini, French diplomat (d. 1798)
1717 - Elizabeth Carter, English poet (d. 1806)
1742 - Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher, Prussian field marshal (d. 1819)
1770 - Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer (d. 1827)
1775 - Jane Austen, English novelist (d. 1817)
1775 - Francois Adrien Boieldieu, French composer (d. 1834)
1776 - Johann Wilhelm Ritter, German physicist (d. 1810)
1787 - Mary Russell Mitford, English author and playwright (d. 1855)
1790 - King Leopold I of Belgium (d. 1865)
1804 - Viktor Bunyakovsky, Russian mathematician (d. 1889)
1808 - Kinsley S. Bingham, 11th Governor of Michigan (d. 1864)
1826 - Giambattista Donati, Italian astronomer (d. 1873)
1834 - Leon Walras, French economist (d. 1910)
1858 - Agnes Baden-Powell, English Girl Scout leader (d. 1945)
1861 - Antonio de la Gandara, French painter (d. 1917)
1863 - George Santayana, Spanish philosopher (d. 1962)
1865 - Olavo Bilac, Brazilian poet (d. 1918)
1866 - Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-born abstract painter (d. 1944)
1869 - Hristo Tatarchev, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1952)
1872 - Anton Ivanovich Denikin, Russian general (d. 1947)
1876 - Rodolphe Seeldrayers, Belgian FIFA President (d. 1955)
1882 - Walther Meissner, German physicist (d. 1974)
1882 - Zoltan Kodaly, Hungarian composer (d. 1967)
1883 - Karoly Kos, Hungarian-Romanian architect, ethnologist and politician (d. 1977)
1883 - Max Linder, French actor, director, screenwriter and producer (d. 1925)
1884 - Seibo Kitamura, Japanese sculptor (d. 1987)
1888 - King Alexander I of Yugoslavia (d. 1934)
1889 - Kim Chwa-chin, South Korean guerrilla leader (d. 1930)
1899 - Noel Coward, English playwright, actor and composer (d. 1973)
1900 - Horatio Fitch, American sprinter (d. 1985)
1901 1950
1901 - Margaret Mead, American anthropologist (d. 1978)
1902 - Rafael Alberti, Spanish poet (d. 1999)
1903 - Misao Tamai, Japanese footballer (d. 1978)
1905 - Piet Hein, Danish mathematician and inventor (d. 1996)
1913 - George Ignatieff, Russian-Canadian diplomat (d. 1989)
1915 - Turk Murphy, American trombonist and singer (d. 1987)
1916 - Birgitta Valberg, Swedish actress (d. 2014)
1917 - Arthur C. Clarke, British writer (d. 2008)
1918 - Pierre Delanoe, French songwriter and lyricist (d. 2006)
1923 - Ernst Florian Winter, Austrian-American historian, political scientist and author (d. 2014)
1925 - Geir Hallgrimsson, Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1990)
1926 - A. N. R. Robinson, 3rd President of Trinidad and Tobago (d. 2014)
1927 - Peter Dickinson, British writer (d. 2015)
1928 - Terry Carter, American actor, director and producer
1928 - Philip K. Dick, American writer (d. 1982)
1929 - Nicholas Courtney, English actor (d. 2012)
1932 - Rodion Shchedrin, Russian pianist and composer
1932 - Quentin Blake, English illustrator
1934 - Nobuyuki Aihara, Japanese gymnast (d. 2013)
1934 - Rodolfo Llinas, Colombian-American neuroscientist
1935 - Nikos Sampson, President of Cyprus (d. 2001)
1936 - Morris Dees, American lawyer and Civil Rights activist
1937 - Mitsuo Kamata, Japanese footballer
1938 - Liv Ullmann, Norwegian actress
1939 - Philip Langridge, English tenor (d. 2010)
1939 - Barney McKenna, Irish musician (Dubliners) (d. 2012)
1941 - Lesley Stahl, American TV host
1942 - Donald Carcieri, American politician, former Governor of Rhode Island
1943 - Tony Hicks, English guitarist (The Hollies)
1943 - Steven Bochco, American television producer and writer (d. 2018)
1944 - N!xau, Namibian actor and bush farmer (d. 2003)
1945 - Bobby George, English darts player
1946 - Benny Andersson, Swedish musician, singer and songwriter (ABBA)
1946 - Christopher Ellison, English actor
1946 - Trevor Pinnock, English conductor
1947 - Vince Matthews, American athlete
1948 - Christopher Biggins, English actor
1948 - Pat Quinn, American politician, former Governor of Illinois
1949 - Billy Gibbons, American musician, songwriter and actor
1951 1975
1952 - Francesco Graziani, Italian footballer
1952 - Joel Garner, Barbadian cricketer
1953 - Rebecca Forstadt, American voice actress
1955 - Xander Berkeley, American actor
1955 - Carol Browner, American lawyer, environmentalist and businesswoman
1955 - Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este
1956 - Liliane Maury Pasquier, Swiss politician
1956 - Lizzy Mercier Descloux, French singer-songwriter, musician and actress (d. 2004)
1956 - Tommy Burns, Scottish footballer (d. 2008)
1957 - Antonio Vega, Spanish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2009)
1958 - Cathy Inglese, American football coach (d. 2019)
1958 - Katie Leigh, American actress
1959 - Alison LaPlaca, American actress
1959 - H. D. Kumaraswamy, Indian politician, 18th Chief Minister of Karnataka
1959 - Alexander Lebedev, Russian businessman
1960 - Pat Van Den Hauwe, Belgian footballer and manager
1961 - Bill Hicks, American comedian (d. 1994)
1961 - Jon Tenney, American actor
1962 - Melanie Smith, American actress
1963 - Benjamin Bratt, American actor
1964 - Heike Drechsler, German athlete
1964 - Paul Vogt, American actor and comedian
1966 - Paul McGinley, Irish golfer
1966 - Dennis Wise, English footballer
1967 - Donovan Bailey, Canadian sprinter
1968 - Ross Burden, New Zealand chef (d. 2014)
1969 - Kevin McCowne, Scottish footballer
1969 - Adam Riess, American physicist and astronomer
1970 - Daniel Cosgrove, American actor
1971 - Scott Booth, Scottish footballer
1972 - Zeljko Kalac, Australian footballer
1972 - Paul Leyden, Australian actor, director, producer and screenwriter
1972 - Julia Klockner, German politician
1973 - Mariza, Portuguese singer
From 1976
1976 - Geoff Norcott, English comedian
1977 - Sylvain Distin, French footballer
1979 - Trevor Immelman, South African golfer
1979 - Daniel Narcisse, French handball player
1981 - Krysten Ritter, American actress
1981 - Anna Sedokova, Ukrainian-American singer and actress
1982 - Stanislav Sestak, Slovakian footballer
1982 - Justin Mentell, American actor (d. 2010)
1983 - Kelenna Azubuike, American basketball player
1983 - Danielle Lloyd, English model
1984 - Theo James, English actor
1986 - Candice Crawford, American model and journalist
1986 - Alcides Escobar, Venezuelan baseball player
1987 - Mame Biram Diouf, Senegalese footballer
1988 - Mats Hummels, German footballer
1988 - Anna Popplewell, English actress
1988 - Park Seo-jeon, South Korean actor and model
1988 - Alexey Shved, Russian basketball player
1989 - Vera Nebolsina, Russian chess player
1989 - Lee Biran, Israeli singer, actor and composer
1992 - Lieke Martens, Dutch footballer
1992 - Tom Rogic, Australian footballer
1993 - Jyoti Amge, Indian actress and world's smallest living woman
1994 - Stephen Sutton, English activist, blogger and cancer charity fundraiser (d. 2014)
1996 - Wilfred Ndidi, Nigerian footballer
1997 - Zara Larsson, Swedish singer
1999 - Bryce Robinson, American actor
Deaths
Up to 1900
401 - Pope Anastasius I
705 - Empress Wu of Zhou (China; b. 625)
714 - Pippin of Herstal, Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia
867 - Eberhard of Friuli, Frankish literary patron, diplomat and saint (b. 815)
999 - Saint Adelaide of Italy (b. 931)
1263 - King Haakon IV of Norway (b. 1204)
1325 - Charles of Valois, son of Philip III of France (b. 1270)
1379 - John Fitzalan, Marshal of England (drowned)
1470 - John II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1425)
1474 - Ali Qushji, astronomer, mathematician and physicist (b. 1403)
1515 - Afonso de Albuquerque Portuguese naval general (b. 1453)
1598 - Yi Sun-sin, Korean admiral (b. 1515)
1669 - Nathaniel Fiennes, English politician
1687 - William Petty, English scientist and philosopher (b. 1623)
1751 - Leopold II of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian general (b. 1700)
1774 - Francois Quesnay, French economist (b. 1694)
1783 - Johann A. Hasse, German composer (b. 1699)
1783 - Sir William James British naval commander (b. 1720)
1801 - Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden (b. 1755)
1809 - Antoine Francois, comte de Fourcroy, French chemist (b. 1755)
1859 - Wilhelm Grimm, German writer and folklorist (b. 1786)
1865 - Philip Allen, American politician, Governor of Rhode Island (b. 1785)
1892 - Henry Yesler, 7th Mayor of Seattle (b. 1810)
1897 - Alphonse Daudet, French author (b. 1840)
1898 - Pavel Tretyakov, Russian businessman and art collector (b. 1832)
1901 2000
1914 - Ivan Zajc, Austro-Hungarian composer (b. 1832)
1916 - Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk (b. 1869)
1921 - Camille Saint-Saens, French composer (b. 1835)
1922 - Gabriel Narutowicz, first President of Poland (b. 1865)
1928 - Elinor Wylie, American poet and writer (b. 1885)
1935 - Thelma Todd, American actress (b. 1905)
1944 - Betsie ten Boom, Dutch Holocaust victim (b. 1885)
1945 - Giovanni Agnelli, Italian automobile manufacturer (b. 1866)
1945 - Fumimaro Konoe, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1891)
1949 - Sidney Olcott, Canadian movie director (b. 1873)
1956 - Nina Hamnett, British artist (b. 1890)
1963 - Nam Phuong, Empress of Vietnam (b. 1914)
1965 - Salote Tupou III, Queen of Tonga (b. 1900)
1965 - W. Somerset Maugham, British writer (b. 1874)
1968 - Futabayama Sadaji, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1912)
1968 - Muhammad Suheimat, Jordanian general and politician (b. 1916)
1977 - Risto Jarva, Finnish movie maker (b. 1934)
1980 - Colonel Harland Sanders, American fast food entrepreneur (b. 1890)
1980 - Hellmuth Walter, German engineer and inventor (b. 1900)
1982 - Colin Chapman, British engineer and automobile manufacturer, founder of Lotus Cars (b. 1928)
1985 - Paul Castellano, American mafioso (b. 1915)
1985 - Thomas Bilotti, American mafioso (b. 1940)
1989 - Silvana Mangano, Italian actress (b. 1930)
1989 - Lee Van Cleef, American actor (b. 1925)
1989 - Aileen Pringle, American actress (b. 1895)
1990 - Douglas Campbell, American pilot (b. 1896)
1993 - Moses Gunn, American actor (b. 1929)
1993 - Tanaka Kakuei, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1918)
1995 - Mariele Ventre, Italian choir director (b. 1939)
1996 - Quentin Bell, British art historian (b. 1910)
From 2001
2001 - Stuart Adamson, British singer-songwriter and musician (b. 1958)
2001 - Stefan Heym, German writer (b. 1913)
2003 - Robert Stanfield, Premier of Nova Scotia (b. 1914)
2003 - Gary Stewart, American musician, singer and songwriter (suicide) (b. 1945)
2004 - Ted Abernathy, American baseball player (b. 1933)
2004 - Deyda Hadara, Gambian journalist (b. 1946)
2005 - Kenneth Bulmer, British writer (b. 1921)
2005 - John Spencer, American actor (b. 1946)
2007 - Dan Fogelberg, American musician (b. 1951)
2009 - Roy E. Disney, American businessman (b. 1930)
2009 - Yegor Gaidar, Soviet politician (b. 1956)
2009 - Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, South African physician and politician (b. 1940)
2011 - Bob Brookmeyer, American jazz musician (b. 1929)
2013 - Ray Price, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1926)
2014 - Man Haron Monis, Iranian-Australian self-styled Muslim cleric and hostage taker (b. 1964)
2014 - Tim Cochran, American mathematician (b. 1955)
2014 - Martin Brasier, English biologist (b. 1947)
2014 - Phillip Archuleta, American politician (b. 1949)
2014 - Sultan Singh, Indian politician, 5th Governor of Tripura (b. 1923)
2015 - Peter Dickinson, British writer (b. 1927)
2015 - Gabre Gabric, Croatian-Italian athlete (b. 1914)
2016 - Faina Melnyk, Ukrainian-Russian discus thrower (b. 1945)
2017 - Tu An, Chinese poet and translator (b. 1923)
2017 - Ralph Carney, American saxophonist (b. 1956)
2017 - Len Ceglarski, American ice hockey player and coach (b. 1926)
2017 - Richard Dobson, American singer-songwriter (b. 1942)
2017 - E. Hunter Harrison, American railroad executive (b. 1944)
2017 - Sharon Laws, British racing cyclist (b. 1974)
2017 - Keely Smith, American singer (b. 1928)
2017 - Z'EV, American percussionist and poet (b. 1951)
2017 - Muriel Turner, Baroness Turner of Camden, British politician (b. 1927)
2018 - Eraldo Isidori, Italian politician (b. 1940)
2018 - T. K. Wetherell, American politician (b. 1945)
2019 - Dmitri Chesnokov, Russian footballer (b. 1973)
2019 - Hans Kornberg, German-born British-American biochemist; (b. 1928)
2019 - Bill Simpson, American racing driver; (b. 1940)
Observances
Independence Day (Kazakhstan)
Day of Reconciliation (South Africa)
Victory Day (India and Bangladesh)
Days of the year