February 16
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Events


Pre-1600

* 1249Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by Louis IX of France as his ambassador to meet with the Khagan of the Mongol Empire. * 1270 – The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Livonian Order in the Battle of Karuse.


1601–1900

* 1630 – Dutch forces led by Hendrick Lonck capture Olinda in what was to become part of Dutch Brazil. * 1646Battle of Torrington, Devon: The last major battle of the First English Civil War. * 1699 – First Leopoldine Diploma is issued by the Holy Roman Emperor, recognizing the Greek Catholic clergy enjoyed the same privileges as Roman Catholic priests in the Principality of Transylvania. * 1742Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, becomes British Prime Minister. * 1796Colombo in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) falls to the British, completing their invasion of Ceylon. * 1804First Barbary War: Stephen Decatur leads a raid to burn the pirate-held frigate . * 1862American Civil War: General Ulysses S. Grant captures Fort Donelson, Tennessee. * 1866Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington becomes British Secretary of State for War. * 1881 – The Canadian Pacific Railway is incorporated by Act of Parliament at Ottawa (44th Vic., c.1). * 1899Iceland's first football club, Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur, is founded. * 1900 – The Southern Cross expedition led by Carsten Borchgrevink achieved a new Farthest South of 78° 50'S, making the first landing at the Great Ice Barrier.


1901–present

* 1918 – The Council of Lithuania unanimously adopts the Act of Independence, declaring Lithuania an independent state. * 1923Howard Carter unseals the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. * 1930 – The Romanian Football Federation joins FIFA. * 1934 – The Austrian Civil War ends with the defeat of the Social Democrats and the Republikanischer Schutzbund. * 1936 – The Popular Front wins the 1936 Spanish general election. * 1937Wallace H. Carothers receives a United States patent for nylon. * 1940World War II: Altmark incident: The German tanker Altmark is boarded by sailors from the British destroyer . A total of 299 British prisoners are freed. * 1942 – World War II: In Athens, the Greek People's Liberation Army is established * 1942 – World War II: Attack on Aruba, first World War II German shots fired on a land based object in the Americas. * 1943 – World War II: In the early phases of the Third Battle of Kharkov, Red Army troops re-enter the city. * 1945 – World War II: American forces land on Corregidor Island in the
Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
. * 1945 – The Alaska Equal Rights Act of 1945, the first anti-discrimination law in the United States, was signed into law. * 1959Fidel Castro becomes Premier of Cuba after dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown on January 1. * 1960 – The U.S. Navy submarine begins Operation Sandblast, setting sail from New London, Connecticut, to begin the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe. * 1961Explorer program: Explorer 9 (S-56a) is launched. * 1962 – The Great Sheffield Gale impacts the United Kingdom, killing nine people; the city of Sheffield is devastated, with 150,000 homes damaged. * 1962 – Flooding in the coastal areas of West Germany kills 315 and destroys the homes of about 60,000 people. * 1968 – In Haleyville, Alabama, the first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system goes into service. * 1968 – Civil Air Transport Flight 010 crashes near Shongshan Airport in Taiwan, killing 21 of the 63 people on board and one more on the ground. * 1978 – The first computer bulletin board system is created ( CBBS in Chicago). * 1983 – The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
kill 75. * 1984Iran launches Operation Dawn 5, a major offensive during the Iran–Iraq War targeting the Basra–Baghdad highway, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides. * 1985Hezbollah is founded. * 1986 – The Soviet liner runs aground in the Marlborough Sounds, New Zealand. * 1986 – China Airlines Flight 2265 crashes into the Pacific Ocean near Penghu Airport in Taiwan, killing all 13 aboard. * 1991Nicaraguan Contras leader Enrique Bermúdez is assassinated in Managua. * 1996 – A Chicago-bound Amtrak train, the '' Capitol Limited'', collides with a MARC commuter train bound for Washington, D.C., killing 11 people. * 1998China Airlines Flight 676 crashes into a road and residential area near Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taiwan, killing all 196 aboard and six more on the ground. * 2000Emery Worldwide Airlines Flight 17 crashes near Sacramento Mather Airport in Rancho Cordova, California, killing all three aboard. * 2005 – The Kyoto Protocol comes into force, following its ratification by Russia. * 2005 – The National Hockey League cancels the entire 2004–05 regular season and playoffs. * 2006 – The last Mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army. * 2013 – A bomb blast at a market in Hazara Town, Quetta, Pakistan kills more than 80 people and injures 190 others. * 2021 – Five thousand people gathered in the town of Kherrata, Bejaia Province to mark the second anniversary of the Hirak protest movement. Demonstrations had been suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Algeria.


Births


Pre-1600

* 1222Nichiren, founder of Nichiren Buddhism (died 1282) * 1304Jayaatu Khan Tugh Temür, Chinese emperor (died 1332) * 1331Coluccio Salutati, Italian political leader (died 1406) * 1419John I, Duke of Cleves (died 1481) * 1470Eric I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (died 1540) * 1471Krishnadevaraya, emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire (died 1529) * 1497Philip Melanchthon, German astronomer, theologian, and academic (died 1560) * 1514Georg Joachim Rheticus, Austrian cartographer and instrument maker (died 1574) * 1519Gaspard II de Coligny, French admiral (died 1572) * 1543Kanō Eitoku, Japanese painter and educator (died 1590)


1601–1900

* 1620Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg (died 1688) * 1643John Sharp, English archbishop (died 1714) * 1698Pierre Bouguer, French mathematician, geophysicist, and astronomer (died 1758) * 1727Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, Austrian botanist, chemist, and mycologist (died 1817) * 1740Giambattista Bodoni, Italian publisher and engraver (died 1813) * 1761Jean-Charles Pichegru, French general (died 1804) * 1774Pierre Rode, French violinist and composer (died 1830) * 1786Maria Pavlovna, Russian Grand Duchess (died 1859) * 1802Phineas Quimby, American mystic and philosopher (died 1866) * 1804Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, German physiologist and zoologist (died 1885) * 1812Henry Wilson, American colonel and politician, 18th Vice President of the United States (died 1875) * 1821Heinrich Barth, German explorer and scholar (died 1865) * 1822Francis Galton, English biologist and statistician (died 1911) * 1824Peter Kosler, Slovenian lawyer, geographer, and cartographer (died 1879) * 1826Joseph Victor von Scheffel, German poet and author (died 1886) * 1830Lars Hertervig, Norwegian painter (died 1902) * 1831Nikolai Leskov, Russian author, playwright, and journalist (died 1895) * 1834Ernst Haeckel, German biologist, physician, and philosopher (died 1919) * 1838Henry Adams, American journalist, historian, and author (died 1918) * 1841Armand Guillaumin, French painter (died 1927) * 1843Henry M. Leland, American engineer and businessman, founded Cadillac and Lincoln (died 1932) * 1845George Kennan, American journalist and explorer (died 1924) * 1848Hugo de Vries, Dutch botanist, geneticist, and academic (died 1935) * 1848 – Octave Mirbeau, French journalist, novelist, and playwright (died 1917) * 1856Ossian Everett Mills, American academic, founded Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (died 1920) * 1866Billy Hamilton, American baseball player and manager (died 1940) * 1873Radoje Domanović, Serbian journalist and author (died 1908) * 1876G. M. Trevelyan, English historian and academic (died 1962) * 1877Tom Crean, Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer (died 1938) * 1878Pamela Colman Smith, English occultist and illustrator (died 1951) * 1878 – James Colosimo, Italian-American mob boss (died 1920) * 1884Robert J. Flaherty, American director and producer (died 1951) * 1887Kathleen Clifford, American actress (died 1962) * 1891Hans F. K. Günther, German eugenicist and academic (died 1968) * 1893Katharine Cornell, American actress and producer (died 1974) * 1896Eugénie Blanchard, French super-centenarian (died 2010)


1901–present

* 1901Wayne King, American singer-songwriter and conductor (died 1985) * 1901 – Chester Morris, American actor (died 1970) * 1902Cyril Vincent, South African cricketer (died 1968) * 1903Edgar Bergen, American ventriloquist and actor (died 1978) * 1904James Baskett, American actor and singer (died 1948) * 1904 – George F. Kennan, American historian and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union (died 2005) * 1905Henrietta Barnett, English Women's Royal Air Force officer (died 1985) * 1906Vera Menchik, Russian-Czechoslovak-British chess player (died 1944) * 1909Hugh Beaumont, American actor and director (died 1982) * 1909 – Richard McDonald, American businessman, co-founded McDonald's (died 1998) * 1914Jimmy Wakely, American country music singer-songwriter and actor (died 1982) * 1916Bill Doggett, American pianist and composer (died 1996) * 1919Georges Ulmer, Danish-French actor and composer (died 1989) * 1920Anna Mae Hays, American general (died 2018) * 1921Jean Behra, French race car driver (died 1959) * 1921 – John Galbraith Graham, English priest and academic (died 2013) * 1921 – Vera-Ellen, German-American actress, singer, and dancer (died 1981) * 1922Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, German soldier and pilot (died 1950) * 1923Samuel Willenberg, Polish-Israeli sculptor and painter (died 2016) * 1925Ed Emshwiller, American illustrator and experiment film maker (died 1990) * 1926Margot Frank, German-Dutch holocaust victim (died 1945) * 1926 – John Schlesinger, English actor and director (died 2003) * 1927June Brown, English actress (died 2022) * 1929Gerhard Hanappi, Austrian footballer and architect (died 1980) * 1929 – Peter Porter, Australian-English poet and educator (died 2010) * 1931Otis Blackwell, American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 2002) * 1931 – Bernie Geoffrion, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 2006) * 1931 – Ken Takakura, Japanese actor and singer (died 2014) * 1932Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, Sierra Leonean economist, lawyer, and politician, 3rd President of Sierra Leone (died 2014) * 1932 – Gretchen Wyler, American actress, singer, and dancer (died 2007) * 1934August Coppola, American author and academic (died 2009) * 1934 – Marlene Hagge, American golfer (died 2023) * 1935Brian Bedford, English-American actor and director (died 2016) * 1934Ken Brown, English footballer and manager * 1935 – Sonny Bono, American actor, singer, and politician (died 1998) * 1935 – Stephen Gaskin, American activist, co-founded The Farm (died 2014) * 1935 – Bradford Parkinson, American colonel and engineer * 1935 – Kenneth Price, American painter and sculptor (died 2012) * 1936Carl Icahn, American businessman and investor * 1937Paul Bailey, British novelist, critic, and biographer * 1937 – Valentin Bondarenko, Soviet aviator and cosmonaut (died 1961) * 1937 – Yuri Manin, Russian-German mathematician and academic (died 2023) * 1938John Corigliano, American composer and academic * 1939Adolfo Azcuna, Filipino lawyer and judge * 1940Hannelore Schmatz, German mountaineer (died 1979) * 1941Kim Jong Il, North Korean commander and politician, 2nd Supreme Leader of North Korea (died 2011) * 1942Yang Jen-fu, Taiwanese politician (died 2024) * 1944Glyn Davies, Welsh farmer and politician * 1944 – Richard Ford, American novelist and short story writer * 1944 – António Mascarenhas Monteiro, Cape Verdean politician, 2nd President of Cape Verde (died 2016) * 1947Jaroslav Kubera, Czech politician (died 2020) * 1948Kaiketsu Masateru, Japanese sumo wrestler and coach (died 2014) * 1950Peter Hain, Welsh politician, Secretary of State for Wales * 1951William Katt, American actor * 1952James Ingram, American singer-songwriter and producer (died 2019) * 1952 – Peter Kitchen, English footballer * 1953John Bradbury, English musician, songwriter, and producer (died 2015) * 1953 – Lanny McDonald, Canadian ice hockey player and manager * 1953 – Roberta Williams, American video game designer, co-founded Sierra Entertainment * 1954Iain Banks, Scottish author and playwright (died 2013) * 1954 – Margaux Hemingway, American model and actress (died 1996) * 1954 – Michael Holding, Jamaican cricketer and sportscaster * 1956Vincent Ward, New Zealand director and screenwriter * 1957LeVar Burton, American actor, director, and producer * 1958Natalie Angier, American author * 1958 – Ice-T, American rapper and actor * 1958 – Oscar Schmidt, Brazilian basketball player * 1958 – Herb Williams, American basketball player and coach * 1959John McEnroe, American tennis player and sportscaster * 1959 – Kelly Tripucka, American basketball player and sportscaster * 1960Pete Willis, English guitarist and songwriter * 1961Niko Nirvi, Finnish journalist * 1961 – Andy Taylor, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer * 1962John Balance, English singer-songwriter (died 2004) * 1964Bebeto, Brazilian footballer and manager * 1964 – Christopher Eccleston, English actor * 1965Dave Lombardo, Cuban-American musician and songwriter * 1967Keith Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player and coach * 1968Warren Ellis, English author and screenwriter * 1970Angelo Peruzzi, Italian footballer and manager * 1971Michael Avenatti, American attorney and pundit * 1971 – Craig Laundy, Australian politician * 1972Jerome Bettis, American football player * 1972 – Zoran Čampara, Bosnian football player * 1972 – Sarah Clarke, American actress * 1972 – Naomi Nishida, Japanese actress * 1973Cathy Freeman, Australian sprinter * 1974Mahershala Ali, American actor * 1974 – José Dominguez, Portuguese footballer and manager * 1976Eric Byrnes, American baseball player and sportscaster * 1976 – Kyo, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer * 1977Ian Clarke, Irish-American computer scientist, founded Freenet * 1977 – Ahman Green, American football player * 1977 – Alexei Morozov, Russian ice hockey player and executive * 1978Tia Hellebaut, Belgian high jumper and chemist * 1978 – Wasim Jaffer, Indian cricketer * 1978 – John Tartaglia, American actor, singer, and puppeteer * 1979Stéphane Dalmat, French footballer * 1979 – Eric Mun, American-South Korean singer and actor * 1979 – Valentino Rossi, Italian motorcycle racer * 1980Longineu W. Parsons III, French-American musician and songwriter * 1981Jay Howard, English race car driver * 1981 – Susanna Kallur, Swedish sprint hurdler * 1981 – Jerry Owens, American baseball player * 1981 – Qyntel Woods, American basketball player * 1982Manny Delcarmen, American baseball player * 1982 – Aleksandr Dmitrijev, Estonian footballer * 1982 – Lupe Fiasco, American rapper * 1982 – Rickie Lambert, English footballer * 1983Agyness Deyn, English model, actress, and singer * 1983 – Tuomo Ruutu, Finnish ice hockey player and coach * 1984Sofia Arvidsson, Swedish tennis player * 1984 – Oussama Mellouli, Tunisian swimmer * 1985Simon Francis, English footballer * 1985 – Stacy Lewis, American golfer * 1985 – Ron Vlaar, Dutch footballer * 1986Diego Godín, Uruguayan footballer * 1986 – Shawne Williams, American basketball player * 1987Luc Bourdon, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2008) * 1987 – Theresa Goh, Singaporean swimmer * 1987 – Tommy Milone, American baseball player * 1987 – Jon Ossoff, American politician and filmmaker * 1987 – Hasheem Thabeet, Tanzanian basketball player * 1988Diego Capel, Spanish footballer * 1988 – Denílson, Brazilian footballer * 1988 – Korbinian Holzer, German ice hockey player * 1988 – Zhang Jike, Chinese table tennis player * 1988 – Andrea Ranocchia, Italian footballer * 1988 – Kim Soo-hyun, South Korean actor and singer * 1989Elizabeth Olsen, American actress * 1990The Weeknd, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer * 1991Sergio Canales, Spanish footballer * 1992Nicolai Boilesen, Danish footballer * 1992 – Zsófia Susányi, Hungarian tennis player * 1994Annika Beck, German tennis player * 1994 – Federico Bernardeschi, Italian footballer * 1994 – Ava Max, American singer and songwriter * 1995Denzel Curry, American rapper * 1995 – Katy Dunne, English tennis player * 1995 – Carina Witthöft, German tennis player * 1997Jordan Greenway, American ice hockey player * 1998An Hyejin, South Korean volleyball player * 1998 – Kim Suji, South Korean diver * 1999Ignatius Ganago, Cameroonian footballer * 1999 – Marie Ulven Ringheim, Norwegian singer, songwriter and music producer * 2000Koffee, Jamaican singer, songwriter and rapper * 2000 – Coby White, American basketball player * 2001Yuki Naito, Japanese tennis player


Deaths


Pre-1600

* 549Zhu Yi, Chinese general (born 483) * 902Mary the Younger, Byzantine saint (born 875) * 1184Richard of Dover, Archbishop of Canterbury * 1247Henry Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia (born 1204) * 1279Afonso III of Portugal (born 1210) * 1281Gertrude of Hohenberg, queen consort of Germany (born c. 1225) * 1390Rupert I, Elector Palatine (born 1309) * 1391John V Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (born 1332) * 1531Johannes Stöffler, German mathematician and astronomer (born 1452) * 1560Jean du Bellay, French cardinal and diplomat (born 1493) * 1579Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, Spanish explorer (born 1509)


1601–1900

* 1645Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, Spanish general and politician, 24th Governor of the Duchy of Milan (born 1585) * 1710Esprit Fléchier, French bishop and author (born 1632) * 1721James Craggs the Younger, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (born 1686) * 1754Richard Mead, English physician (born 1673) * 1820Georg Carl von Döbeln, Swedish general (born 1758) * 1862William Pennington, American lawyer and politician, 13th Governor of New Jersey, 23rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (born 1796) * 1898Thomas Bracken, Irish-New Zealand journalist, poet, and politician (born 1843) * 1899Félix Faure, French merchant and politician, 7th President of France (born 1841)


1901–present

* 1907Giosuè Carducci, Italian poet and educator, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1835) * 1912Nicholas of Japan, Russian-Japanese monk and saint (born 1836) * 1917Octave Mirbeau, French journalist, novelist, and playwright (born 1848) * 1919Vera Kholodnaya, Ukrainian actress (born 1893) * 1928Eddie Foy Sr., American actor and dancer (born 1856) * 1932Ferdinand Buisson, French academic and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1841) * 1932 – Edgar Speyer, American-English financier and philanthropist (born 1862) * 1941Frida Felser, German opera singer and actress (born 1872) * 1944Dadasaheb Phalke, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1870) * 1957Josef Hofmann, Polish-American pianist and composer (born 1876) * 1961Dazzy Vance, American baseball player (born 1891) * 1964James M. Canty, American educator, school administrator, and businessperson (born 1865) * 1967Smiley Burnette, American singer-songwriter and actor (born 1911) * 1974John Garand, Canadian-American engineer, designed the M1 Garand Rifle (born 1888) * 1975Morgan Taylor, American hurdler and coach (born 1903) * 1977Janani Luwum, bishop, Church of Uganda, martyr (born c.1922) * 1977 – Rózsa Péter, Hungarian mathematician (born 1905) * 1980Erich Hückel, German physicist and chemist (born 1895) * 1984M. A. G. Osmani, Bangladeshi general (born 1918) * 1988Ye Shengtao, Chinese writer, educator, and politician (born 1894) * 1990Keith Haring, American painter and activist (born 1958) * 1991Enrique Bermúdez, Nicaraguan lieutenant and engineer (born 1932) * 1992Angela Carter, English novelist, short story writer (born 1940) * 1992 – Jânio Quadros, Brazilian politician, 22nd President of Brazil (born 1917) * 1992 – Herman Wold, Norwegian-Swedish economist and statistician (born 1908) * 1996Roberto Aizenberg, Argentinian painter and sculptor (born 1922) * 1996 – Roger Bowen, American actor and author (born 1932) * 1996 – Pat Brown, American lawyer and politician, 32nd Governor of California (born 1905) * 1996 – Brownie McGhee, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1915) * 1997Chien-Shiung Wu, Chinese-American physicist and academic (born 1912) * 1998Mary Amdur, American toxicologist and public health researcher (born 1908) * 1998 – Sheu Yuan-dong, Taiwanese politician (born 1927) * 2000Marceline Day, American actress (born 1908) * 2000 – Lila Kedrova, Russian-French actress and singer * 2000 – Karsten Solheim, Norwegian-American businessman, founded PING (born 1911) * 2001Howard W. Koch, American director and producer (born 1916) * 2001 – William Masters, American gynecologist and sexologist (born 1915) * 2002Walter Winterbottom, English footballer and manager (born 1913) * 2003Rusty Magee, American actor and composer (born 1955) * 2004Doris Troy, American singer-songwriter (born 1937) * 2006Johnny Grunge, American wrestler (born 1966) * 2006 – Ernie Stautner, German-American football player and coach (born 1925) * 2009Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, South Korean cardinal (born 1921) * 2011Len Lesser, American actor (born 1922) * 2011 – Justinas Marcinkevičius, Lithuanian poet and playwright (born 1930) * 2012Gary Carter, American baseball player and coach (born 1954) * 2012 – Elyse Knox, American model, actress, and fashion designer (born 1917) * 2012 – John Macionis, American swimmer and lieutenant (born 1916) * 2012 – Anthony Shadid, American journalist (born 1968) * 2013Colin Edwards, Guyanese footballer (born 1991) * 2013 – Grigory Pomerants, Russian philosopher and author (born 1918) * 2013 – Tony Sheridan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1940) * 2014Ken Farragut, American football player (born 1928) * 2014 – Kralle Krawinkel, German guitarist (born 1947) * 2014 – Michael Shea, American author (born 1946) * 2015Lasse Braun, Algerian-Italian director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1936) * 2015 – Lesley Gore, American singer-songwriter (born 1946) * 2015 – R. R. Patil, Indian lawyer and politician, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra (born 1957) * 2015 – Lorena Rojas, Mexican actress and singer (born 1971) * 2016Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Egyptian politician and diplomat, 6th Secretary-General of the United Nations (born 1922) * 2019Bruno Ganz, Swiss actor (born 1941) * 2021Gustavo Noboa, Ecuadorian politician, 42nd President of Ecuador (born 1937) * 2024Alexei Navalny, Russian activist (born 1976) * 2025Viktor Antonov, Bulgarian artist (born 1972)


Holidays and observances

*Christian feast day: ** Abda of Edessa ** Elias and companions ** Juliana of Nicomedia ( Catholic Church) ** Onesimus ** Charles Todd Quintard ( Episcopal Church (USA)) ** February 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) * Day of the Shining Star (Kim Jong Il's birthday) ( North Korea) * Restoration of Lithuania's Statehood Day, celebrate the independence of Lithuania from Russia and Germany in 1918 ( Lithuania) * Elizabeth Peratrovich Day ( Alaska)


References


External links


BBC: On This Day
*
Historical Events on February 16
{{months Days of February