June 16 facts for kids

June 16 is the 167th day of the year (168th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 198 days remain until the end of the year. June 16th is a day filled with many important events throughout history, from ancient battles to modern space missions and the founding of major companies. It's also a day when many famous people were born or passed away. Let's explore some of the most interesting moments from this date!

Historic Events

Early History (Before 1600)

• 363 – Roman Emperor Julian leads his army back up the Tigris River and burns his supply ships. During their retreat, Roman soldiers face several attacks from the Persians.
• 632 – Yazdegerd III becomes the king (called shah) of the Persian Empire. He was the very last ruler of this ancient dynasty in what is now Iran.
• 1407 – During the Ming–Hồ War, the former King Hồ Quý Ly and his son, King Hồ Hán Thương, from the Hồ dynasty are captured by the Ming armies.
• 1487 – The Battle of Stoke Field takes place. King Henry VII of England defeats the leaders of a rebellion, marking the final battle of the Wars of the Roses.

From 1601 to 1900

• 1632 – The Plymouth Company gives a land grant to Thomas Purchase, who becomes the first settler in Pejepscot, Maine.
• 1745 – During the War of the Austrian Succession, colonial troops from New England, led by William Pepperrell, capture the Fortress of Louisbourg in Louisbourg, New France.
• 1755 – In the French and Indian War, the French surrender Fort Beauséjour to the British. This event leads to the forced removal of the Acadians from their homes.
• 1779 – During the American Revolutionary War, Spain declares war on Great Britain. This marks the beginning of the Great Siege of Gibraltar.
• 1795 – In the French Revolutionary Wars, a British Royal Navy group, led by Vice Admiral William Cornwallis, bravely fights off a much larger French Navy force. They manage to retreat mostly unharmed, setting up a French defeat later.
• 1815 – The Battle of Ligny and Battle of Quatre Bras take place, just two days before the famous Battle of Waterloo.
• 1819 – A huge earthquake hits the Kutch district in western India. It kills over 1,543 people and creates a new ridge of land, about 6 meters (20 feet) high and 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) wide, stretching for at least 80 kilometers (50 miles). This ridge became known as the Allah Bund, or "Dam of God."
• 1824 – A meeting in London leads to the creation of what is now the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), an important organization for animal welfare.
• 1836 – The London Working Men's Association is formed, which helps start the Chartist Movement in Britain, pushing for more rights for working people.
• 1846 – The Papal conclave of 1846 chooses Pope Pius IX. His time as Pope becomes the longest in the history of the papacy.
• 1858 – Abraham Lincoln gives his famous House Divided speech in Springfield, Illinois.
• 1871 – The Universities Tests Act 1871 is passed in England. This law allows students to attend the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham without having to pass religious tests, unless they wanted to study theology.
• 1883 – The Victoria Hall theatre panic in Sunderland, England, tragically kills 183 children.
• 1884 – The very first roller coaster built specifically for amusement, LaMarcus Adna Thompson's "Switchback Railway", opens at Coney Island amusement park in New York.
• 1897 – A treaty is signed to make the Republic of Hawaii part of the United States. Hawaii officially becomes a U.S. territory a year later.

Modern History (1901–Present)

• 1903 – The Ford Motor Company is officially started.
• 1903 – Roald Amundsen leaves Oslo, Norway, to begin the first journey from east to west through the Northwest Passage, a sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic.
• 1904 – Eugen Schauman assassinates Nikolay Bobrikov, who was the Governor-General of Finland.
• 1904 – Irish author James Joyce begins his relationship with Nora Barnacle. He later uses this date as the setting for his famous novel Ulysses. This day is now celebrated as "Bloomsday".
• 1911 – IBM is founded as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in Endicott, New York.
• 1922 – In the general election in the Irish Free State, the Sinn Féin party, which supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty, wins a large majority.
• 1925 – Artek, the most famous Young Pioneer camp of the Soviet Union, is opened.
• 1933 – The National Industrial Recovery Act is passed in the United States. This law allowed businesses to work together on rules for wages, prices, and working conditions without being accused of unfair competition.
• 1940 – World War II: Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain becomes the leader of Vichy France.
• 1948 – Members of the Malayan Communist Party kill three British plantation managers in Sungai Siput. In response, British Malaya declares a state of emergency.
• 1955 – In Buenos Aires, Argentina, pilots from the Argentine Navy drop bombs on a peaceful crowd supporting President Juan Perón. This attack kills 364 people and injures at least 800.
• 1958 – Imre Nagy, Pál Maléter, and other leaders of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising are executed.
• 1961 – While on tour with the Kirov Ballet in Paris, dancer Rudolf Nureyev leaves the Soviet Union.
• 1963 – Soviet Space Program: The Vostok 6 mission launches, and Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova becomes the first woman to travel into space.
• 1972 – The largest single hydroelectric power project in Canada begins operating at Churchill Falls Generating Station.
• 1976 – The Soweto uprising begins in South Africa. A peaceful march by 15,000 students in Soweto turns into days of riots when police open fire on the crowd.
• 1977 – Oracle Corporation is started in Redwood Shores, California, as Software Development Laboratories (SDL), by Larry Ellison, Bob Miner, and Ed Oates.
• 1981 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan gives the Congressional Gold Medal to Ken Taylor, Canada's former ambassador to Iran. This was for helping six Americans escape from Iran during the hostage crisis of 1979–81. He is the first foreign citizen to receive this honor.
• 1989 – As part of the Revolutions of 1989, Imre Nagy, the former Hungarian prime minister, is reburied in Budapest after the fall of Communism in Hungary.
• 2000 – The Secretary-General of the UN announces that Israel has followed United Nations Security Council Resolution 425 and completely left Lebanon, 22 years after the resolution was issued.
• 2002 – Padre Pio is made a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.
• 2010 – Bhutan becomes the first country to put a total ban on tobacco.
• 2012 – China successfully launches its Shenzhou 9 spacecraft. It carries three astronauts, including the first female Chinese astronaut Liu Yang, to the Tiangong-1 orbital module.
• 2013 – A multi-day heavy rainfall in the North Indian state of Uttarakhand causes terrible floods and landslides. It becomes the country's worst natural disaster since the 2004 tsunami.
• 2015 – American businessman Donald Trump announces his campaign to run for President of the United States.
• 2016 – Shanghai Disneyland Park, the first Disney Park in Mainland China, opens to the public.
• 2019 – More than 2,000,000 people take part in the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, which are the largest in Hong Kong's history.

Notable Births

Born Before 1900

• 1454 – Joanna of Aragon, Queen of Naples, who became a queen.
• 1583 – Axel Oxenstierna, an important Swedish politician who was the Lord High Chancellor of Sweden.
• 1723 – Adam Smith, a famous Scottish philosopher and economist.
• 1738 – Mary Katharine Goddard, an American publisher.
• 1821 – Old Tom Morris, a Scottish golfer and golf course designer.
• 1858 – Gustaf V of Sweden, who became the King of Sweden.
• 1874 – Arthur Meighen, a Canadian lawyer and the 9th Prime Minister of Canada.
• 1882 – Mohammad Mosaddegh, an Iranian educator and the 60th Prime Minister of Iran.
• 1890 – Stan Laurel, a famous English actor and comedian, known for his work with Oliver Hardy.
• 1897 – Georg Wittig, a German chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
• 1899 – Helen Traubel, a well-known American opera singer.

Born After 1900

• 1902 – Barbara McClintock, an American geneticist who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
• 1907 – Jack Albertson, an American actor.
• 1910 – Juan Velasco Alvarado, a Peruvian general and the 1st President of Peru.
• 1915 – John Tukey, an American mathematician.
• 1917 – Katharine Graham, an American publisher.
• 1920 – José López Portillo, a Mexican lawyer and the 31st President of Mexico.
• 1929 – Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, who became the Emir of Kuwait.
• 1934 – Eileen Atkins, an English actress and screenwriter.
• 1937 – Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a Bulgarian politician and the 48th Prime Minister of Bulgaria.
• 1938 – Joyce Carol Oates, a famous American novelist, short story writer, and poet.
• 1941 – Lamont Dozier, an American songwriter and producer.
• 1946 – Jodi Rell, an American politician and the 87th Governor of Connecticut.
• 1950 – Mithun Chakraborty, an Indian actor and politician.
• 1951 – Roberto Durán, a famous Panamanian boxer.
• 1952 – George Papandreou, a Greek politician and the 182nd Prime Minister of Greece.
• 1955 – Laurie Metcalf, an American actress.
• 1959 – The Ultimate Warrior, a well-known American wrestler.
• 1961 – Steve Larmer, a Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1962 – Arnold Vosloo, a South African-American actor.
• 1966 – Phil Vischer, an American voice actor, director, and producer, who co-created VeggieTales.
• 1966 – Jan Železný, a Czech javelin thrower and coach, known for his Olympic medals.
• 1967 – Jürgen Klopp, a German football manager.
• 1970 – Cobi Jones, an American soccer player and manager.
• 1970 – Phil Mickelson, a famous American golfer.
• 1971 – Tupac Shakur, a very influential American rapper and producer.
• 1972 – John Cho, an American actor.
• 1978 – Daniel Brühl, a Spanish-German actor.
• 1984 – Rick Nash, a Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1991 – Siya Kolisi, a South African rugby player and captain of the national team.
• 1993 – Park Bo-gum, a South Korean actor.
• 1995 – Joseph Schooling, a Singaporean swimmer who won an Olympic gold medal.
• 2000 – Bianca Andreescu, a Canadian tennis player.
• 2003 – Anna Cathcart, a Canadian actress.

Notable Deaths

Died Before 1900

• 956 – Hugh the Great, a powerful Frankish nobleman.
• 1286 – Hugh de Balsham, an English bishop.
• 1487 – John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln, an English nobleman.
• 1722 – John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, a famous English general and politician.
• 1858 – John Snow, an English doctor who is considered one of the founders of modern epidemiology (the study of how diseases spread).
• 1869 – Charles Sturt, an Indian-English botanist and explorer.

Died After 1900

• 1925 – Chittaranjan Das, an Indian lawyer and politician.
• 1930 – Elmer Ambrose Sperry, an American inventor who helped create the gyrocompass.
• 1939 – Chick Webb, an American drummer and bandleader.
• 1944 – Marc Bloch, a French historian.
• 1944 – George Stinney, a young African-American teenager who was wrongfully convicted and executed.
• 1958 – Imre Nagy, a Hungarian politician and the 3rd Prime Minister of Hungary.
• 1959 – George Reeves, an American actor, famous for playing Superman.
• 1969 – Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, an English field marshal and the 17th Governor General of Canada.
• 1977 – Wernher von Braun, a German-American physicist and engineer who was a key figure in rocket development.
• 1979 – Nicholas Ray, an American director, known for films like Rebel Without a Cause.
• 1996 – Mel Allen, a well-known American sportscaster.
• 2010 – Ronald Neame, an English director, producer, and cinematographer.
• 2016 – Jo Cox, an English political activist and Member of Parliament.
• 2017 – Helmut Kohl, a German politician who served as the Chancellor of Germany.
• 2023 – Gino Mäder, a Swiss cyclist.

Holidays and Observances

• Bloomsday (Dublin, Ireland) – A day celebrating the life of Irish writer James Joyce and his novel Ulysses.
• Engineer's Day (Argentina) – A day to recognize engineers in Argentina.
• Father's Day (Seychelles) – A day to celebrate fathers in Seychelles.
• International Day of the African Child (Organisation of African Unity) – A day to raise awareness about the challenges faced by children in Africa.
• Martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev (Sikhism) – A day of remembrance in Sikhism.
• Sussex Day (Sussex) – A day celebrating the county of Sussex in England.
• Youth Day (South Africa) – A day in South Africa that remembers the Soweto Uprising and celebrates young people.

See also

In Spanish: 16 de junio para niños