What happened this day in history December 16

What are the important events that happened on December 16? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

December 16: Facts & Myths About This Day

December 16 is the 351st day of the year 2024 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 15 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Monday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is December 3, 2024 – a Monday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 28,905,120 minutes has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘trihectapentacontahenagon’ day.

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Sagittarius is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Turquoise is the modern birthstone for this month. Onyx is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 44 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,378 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

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December 16 Historical Events

  • 1653
    English Interregnum: The Protectorate – Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.
  • 1811
    The first two in a series of four severe earthquakes occur in the vicinity of New Madrid, Missouri. These four so-called mega-quakes are believed to be an ongoing cataclysmic danger that could reprise the 1811-12 series of 2,000 quakes that affected the lands of what would be eight of today’s heartland states of the United States.
  • 1937
    Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe attempt to escape from the American federal prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay; neither is ever seen again.
  • 1938
    Adolf Hitler institutes the Cross of Honor of the German Mother
  • 1944
    World War II: The Battle of the Bulge begins with the surprise offensive of three German armies through the Ardennes forest.
  • 1957
    Sir Feroz Khan Noon replaces Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar as Prime Minister of Pakistan.
  • 1965
    Vietnam War: General William Westmoreland sends U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara a request for 243,000 more men by the end of 1966.
  • 1978
    Cleveland, Ohio becomes the first post-Depression era city to default on its loans, owing $14,000,000 to local banks.
  • 1979
    Libya joins four other OPEC nations in raising crude oil prices, having an immediate dramatic effect on the United States.
  • 2003
    President George W. Bush signs the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 into law. The law establishes the United States’ first national standards for the sending of commercial e-mail and requires the Federal Trade Commission to enforce its provisions.

Who were born on December 16?

  • 1888
    Alphonse Juin, marshal of France (d. 1967)
  • 1901
    Margaret Mead, American anthropologist (d. 1978)
  • 1945
    Yukio Hattori, Japanese television commentator
  • 1948
    Christopher Biggins, English actor
  • 1950
    Claudia Cohen, American gossip columnist and socialite (d. 2007)
  • 1979
    Trevor Immelman, South African golfer
  • 1981
    Krysten Ritter, American actress
  • 1982
    Justin Mentell, American artist and actor (d. 2010)
  • 1987
    Beau Dowler, Australian rules footballer
  • 1990
    Julito McCullum, American actor

Who died on December 16?

  • 1470
    John II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1425)
  • 1783
    Johann A. Hasse, German composer (b. 1699)
  • 1783
    Sir William James, British naval commander (b. 1720)
  • 1945
    Fumimaro Konoye, Japanese politician (b. 1891)
  • 1945
    Giovanni Agnelli, Italian automobile manufacturer (b. 1866)
  • 1968
    General Muhammad Suheimat, Jordanian military commander and statesman (b.1916)
  • 1977
    Risto Jarva, Finnish filmmaker (b. 1934)
  • 1982
    Colin Chapman, English engineer and automobile manufacturer (b. 1928)
  • 1996
    Quentin Bell, English art historian (b. 1910)
  • 1998
    William Gaddis, American writer (b. 1922)

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