On This Day — 16 March

2000s

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2026

A series of Boko Haram bombings leave 26 dead and 146 injured in Maiduguri, Nigeria.

2026 Maiduguri bombings

2025

A fire breaks out in a nightclub in Kočani, North Macedonia, killing at least 59 people and injuring 155 others.

Kočani nightclub fire

2022

A 7.4-magnitude earthquake occurs off the coast of Fukushima, Japan, killing 4 people and injuring 225.

2022 Fukushima earthquake

2022

Mariupol theatre airstrike during the siege of Mariupol.

Mariupol theatre airstrike

2021

Atlanta spa shootings: Eight people are killed and one is injured in a trio of shootings at spas in and near Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. A suspect is arrested the same day.

2021 Atlanta spa shootings

2020

The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 2,997.10, the single largest point drop in history and the second-largest percentage drop ever at 12.93%, an even greater crash than Black Monday (1929). This follows the U.S. Federal Reserve announcing that it will cut its target interest rate to 0–0.25%.

2020 stock market crash

2016

A bomb detonates in a bus carrying government employees in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing 15 and injuring at least 30.

2016 Peshawar bus bombing

2016

Two suicide bombers detonate their explosives at a mosque during morning prayer on the outskirts of Maiduguri, Nigeria, killing 24 and injuring 18.

March 2016 Maiduguri bombings

2014

Crimea votes in a controversial referendum to secede from Ukraine to join Russia.

Crimea

2012

Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar becomes the first batter in history to score 100 centuries in international cricket.

Sachin Tendulkar

2010

The Kasubi Tombs, Uganda's only cultural World Heritage Site, are destroyed in a fire.

Kasubi Tombs

2005

Israel officially hands over Jericho to Palestinian control.

Israel

2003

American activist Rachel Corrie is killed in Rafah by being run over by an Israel Defense Forces bulldozer while trying to obstruct the demolition of a home.

Rachel Corrie

2002

Sofia Gubaidulina's Johannes-Ostern is premiered, together with her earlier Johannes-Passion, at Hamburg's Michaeliskirche, performed by soloists, choir and orchestra from the Mariinsky Theatre combined with NDR choir and orchestra, conducted by Valery Gergiev.

Sofia Gubaidulina

2001

A series of bomb blasts in the city of Shijiazhuang, China kill 108 people and injure 38 others, the biggest mass murder in China in decades.

2001 Shijiazhuang bombings

1900s

1995

Mississippi formally ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was officially ratified in 1865.

Mississippi

1988

Iran–Contra affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Iran–Contra affair

1988

Halabja chemical attack: The Kurdish town of Halabja in Iraq is attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents on the orders of Saddam Hussein, killing 5,000 people and injuring about 10,000 people.

Halabja massacre

1988

The Troubles: Ulster loyalist militant Michael Stone attacks a Provisional IRA funeral in Belfast with pistols and grenades. Three persons, one of them a member of PIRA, are killed, and more than 60 others are wounded.

The Troubles

1985

Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut; he is not released until December 1991.

Associated Press

1984

William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Lebanon, is kidnapped by Hezbollah; he later dies in captivity.

William Francis Buckley

1979

Sino-Vietnamese War: The People's Liberation Army crosses the border back into China, ending the war.

Sino-Vietnamese War

1978

Former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped; he is later murdered by his captors.

Aldo Moro

1978

A Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Tupolev Tu-134 crashes near Gabare, Bulgaria, killing 73.

Balkan Bulgarian Airlines

1978

Supertanker Amoco Cadiz splits in two after running aground on the Portsall Rocks, three miles off the coast of Brittany, resulting in the largest oil spill in history at that time.

Amoco Cadiz

1977

Assassination of Kamal Jumblatt, the main leader of the anti-government forces in the Lebanese Civil War.

Kamal Jumblatt

1969

A Viasa McDonnell Douglas DC-9 crashes in Maracaibo, Venezuela, killing 155.

Viasa

1968

Vietnam War: My Lai massacre occurs; between 347 and 500 Vietnamese villagers are killed by American troops.

Vietnam War

1966

Launch of Gemini 8 with astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott. It would perform the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit.

Gemini 8

1962

Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 disappears in the western Pacific Ocean with all 107 aboard missing and presumed dead.

Flying Tiger Line Flight 739

1945

World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ends, but small pockets of Japanese resistance persist.

World War II

1945

World War II: Ninety percent of Würzburg, Germany is destroyed in only 20 minutes by British bombers, resulting in at least 4,000 deaths.

Bombing of Würzburg in World War II

1941

Operation Appearance takes place to re-establish British Somaliland.

Operation Appearance

1939

From Prague Castle, Hitler proclaims Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate.

Prague Castle

1936

Warmer-than-normal temperatures rapidly melt snow and ice on the upper Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, leading to a major flood in Pittsburgh.

Allegheny River

1935

Adolf Hitler orders Germany to rearm itself in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Conscription is reintroduced to form the Wehrmacht.

Adolf Hitler

1926

History of rocketry: Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts.

Rocket

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1925

An earthquake (measuring around 7.0 magnitude) occurs in Dali, China, killing an estimated 5,000 people.

1925 Dali earthquake

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1924

In accordance with the Treaty of Rome, Fiume becomes annexed as part of Italy.

Treaty of Rome (1924)

1918

Finnish Civil War: Battle of Länkipohja is infamous for its bloody aftermath as the Whites execute 70–100 capitulated Reds.

Finnish Civil War

1916

The 7th and 10th US cavalry regiments under John J. Pershing cross the US–Mexico border to join the hunt for Pancho Villa.

John J. Pershing

1800s

1898

In Melbourne, the representatives of five colonies adopt a constitution, which would become the basis of the Commonwealth of Australia.[page needed]

Melbourne

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1872

The Wanderers F.C. win the first FA Cup, the oldest football competition in the world, beating Royal Engineers A.F.C. 1–0 at The Oval in Kennington, London.

Wanderers F.C.

1815

Prince Willem proclaims himself King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the first constitutional monarch in the Netherlands.

William I of the Netherlands

1802

The Army Corps of Engineers is established to found and operate the United States Military Academy at West Point.

United States Army Corps of Engineers

Before 1800

1792

King Gustav III of Sweden is shot; he dies on March 29.

Gustav III

1696

The Dutch bombard Givet during the Nine Years' War.

Bombardment of Givet

1660

The Long Parliament of England is dissolved so as to prepare for the new Convention Parliament.

Long Parliament

1621

Samoset, an Abenaki, visits the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them, "Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset."

Samoset

1355

Amidst the Red Turban Rebellions, Han Lin'er, a claimed descendant of Emperor Huizong of Song, is proclaimed emperor of the restored Song dynasty in Bozhou.

Red Turban Rebellions

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1244

Over 200 Cathars who refuse to recant are burnt to death after the Fall of Montségur.

Catharism