Year 1515
Affonso de Albuquerque, who is regarded as the real founder of Portuguese power in India, died at the age of 73 years.
DECEMBER 16
Daily Historical Chronicle
UPSC CSE • State PSC • SSC CGL Matrix
16 December: What Happened On This Day in History
Curated historical timeline of momentous political pacts, freedom struggle uprisings, constitutional developments, scientific breakthroughs, and prominent birthdays recorded on 16 December.
Observances & Special Days
Victory Day (India)
Year 1631
A volcanic eruption on Mount Vesuvius in Italy destroys six villages, killing more than 4,000 people.
Year 1707
Mount Fuji in Japan erupted for the last time.
Year 1773
American Revolution – Boston Tea Party.
Year 1854
India’s first engineering college was established in Pune.
Year 1862
Nepal adopted the constitution.
Year 1903
The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai opened to customers.
Year 1921
Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation started tunnel construction under Hoogly river.
Year 1922
Parvati Devi, orator, was arrested for delivering revolutionary speeches in meetings at Hapud and Merrut. She was the first Indian women to get two years long imprisionment during the freedom struggle.
Year 1927
Australia’s great batsman Sir Don Bradman began his first-class cricket career with a match between New South Wales and South Australia.
Year 1946
Thailand joined the United Nations.
Year 1951
The Salar Jung Museum was established in Hyderabad.
Year 1952
Sri Ramalu Potiu sacrificed his life for the demand of seperate Andhra Pradesh state for the Telugu- speaking people.
Year 1971
Bangladesh seceded from Pakistan after India and Pakistan agree to a ceasefire. Commemorated every 16th December in India and Bangladesh, to observe India’s victory over Pakistan in War
Year 1985
Experimental First Breeder Reactor at Indira Gandhi Atomic Research Center at Kalpakkam dedicated to the nation.
Year 1991
Kazakhstan became an independent state after splitting from the former Soviet Union (USSR).
Year 2006
Astronaut Sunita Williams went out of space with a companion and repaired the electrical system in 7 hours and 31 minutes.
Year 2014
Tehreek-e-Taliban attacked a school in Peshawar, Pakistan, killed 145 people, 132 of them schoolchildren.
Year 1773
American Revolution: Boston Tea Party: Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawk Indians dump hundreds of crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tea Act.
Year 1930
Bank robber Herman Lamm and members of his crew are killed by a 200-strong posse, following a botched bank robbery, in Clinton, Indiana.
Year 1990
Dr. M. Channa Reddy resigned as Andhra Pradesh CM.
Year 1992
The Parliament adopts resolution condemning the demolition of the mosque at Ayodhya and centre appoints a one-man judicial commission to enquire into the Ayodhya incidents.
Year 1994
Pratap Singh Rane of Congress (I) takes oath of office.
Year 1997
Mamata Banerjee, Congress(I) rebel, declares that she would seek recognition and separate symbol for her "Trinamul Congress'' and contest elections on her own.
Year 1998
The Government introduces in the Rajya Sabha the Patents (Amendments) Bill 1998 amid Left protests.
Year 1999
Bill on Cyber law is introduced in the Lok Sabha.
Year 1999
India agrees to Financial System Stability Assessment (FSSA) by the IMF.
Year 1999
Likhiram Karve, Madhya Pradesh's Minister for Transport, is hacked to death by naxalites.
Year 1999
The second phase of national AIDS programme is launched.
Year 2000
Indian Airlines wins the 60th National Hockey championship in Jammu.
Year 2000
Kalyan Banerjee becomes the first Indian to head the Rotary Foundation, one of the richest bodies of the Rotary International.
Born 1775
Jane Austen, an English novelist.
Born 1770
Ludwig van Beethoven, a German composer, and pianist.
Born 1790
Leopold I, a German prince who became the first King of the Belgians.
Born 1863
George Santayana, a philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist.
Born 1867
Amy Carmichael, Scotch Irish missionary, was born. She went to India in 1895 under the Zenana Missionary Society, remaining there without furlough until her death 56 years later. An invalid during her last 20 years, she worked to rescue children from the Hindus.
Born 1878
Vallathol Narayana Menon, an Indian poet of the Malayalam language.
Born 1901
Margaret Mead, an American cultural anthropologist.
Born 1909
Lal Singh Narayan Singh, cricketer (scored 15 & 29 in India's 1st Test match), was born near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Born 1917
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, an English science-fiction writer, science writer, and futurist.
Born 1924
Nissim Ezekiel, educationist and author, was born.
Born 1959
H. D. Kumaraswamy, an Indian politician, businessman, and the former Chief Minister of Karnataka.
Born 1959
H. D. Kumaraswamy, Indian social worker and politician, 18th Chief Minister of Karnataka
Died 1921
Camille Saint-Saëns, a French composer, organist, conductor, and pianist of the Romantic era.
Died 1960
Ganesh Chintaman Karve, creator of Marathi dictionary and author, passed away.
Died 1965
W. Somerset Maugham, an English playwright, novelist, and short-story writer.
Died 1971
Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal, an officer of the Indian Army and a posthumous recipient of the Param Vir Chakra.
Died 1980
Colonel Sanders, an American businessman, best known for founding fast-food chicken restaurant chain Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Died 1980
Fisher Wealthy Hornsinger, an American social worker and who worked for Adult Education in India, passed away.
Died 2003
Giovanni Agnelli, an Italian industrialist and principal shareholder of Fiat.
Died 2004
Laxmikant Berde, an Indian actor.
Died 2009
Roy Edward Disney, a longtime senior executive for the Walt Disney Company.