Some of the significant events which took place on July 16 taken from the leaf of History:

463- Start of Lunar Cycle of Hilarius

622- Muslim Era begins – Muhammad begins flight from Mecca to Medina (Hijra)

1054- Michael Caerularius excommunicated of Constantinople

1054- Three Roman legates fracture relations between Western and Eastern Christian churches by placing invalid Papal Bull of Excommunication on altar of Hagia Sophia during liturgy. Often dated start of the East-West Schism.

1099- Crusaders herd Jews of Jerusalem into a synagogue & set it afire

1212- Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa; end of Muslim power in Spain

1338- The six Electors of the Holy Roman Empire signed the Agreement of Rhense confirming Emperor Louis IV.

1856 – The remarriage of Hindu widows was legalized across all jurisdictions under the rule of the East India Company.

1905: A decision to boycott British made goods is taken at Bagarhat.

1909 – Aruna Asaf Ali, social worker and freedom fighter, is born in Kalka, Haryana.

1918 – Czar Nicholas II and his family are executed by the Bolsheviks, bringing an end to the three-century-old Romanov dynasty.

1928 – The Bureau of Agricultural Economics part of the Department of Agriculture has reported that the wages for farm industry are lower than last year’s levels as the supply of farm workers is more plentiful.

1945 – U.S.A. Atomic Bomb: The world’s first atomic bomb was detonated near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

1955 – UK Sterling Moss: Sterling Moss won his first Formula One Grand Prix race, the British Grand Prix in Aintree, Sterling Moss never won a World Championship, having finished second to Juan Manuel Fangio for four consecutive years.

1957 – U.S.A. Record Flight: A new transcontinental record was set travelling across the United States in 3 hours, 23 minutes in a Navy jet plane by Major John Glenn Jr.

1969 – U.S.A. Apollo 11 astronauts were launched into space on a Saturn 5 rocket launched from Cape Kennedy at 9:32 a.m. hoping to be the first men to land on the moon. The crew consisted of Neil Armstrong (Commander), Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin (Lunar Module Pilot), and Michael Collins (Command Module Pilot). It’s estimated more than a million people watched the launch at Cape Kennedy in Florida. Apollo 11 is scheduled to make its moon landing in four day time on Sunday July 20 if all goes well.

1970 – The British Home Secretary Reginald Maudling declares a state of emergency to deal with dock strikes, this will allow the use of The Army, Navy and Air-force to be on standby to handle cargo from ships affected.

1973 – U.S.A. White House Tapes Revealed: During a senate investigation into the Watergate Affair a former White House aide reveals the existence of a secret taping system which would contain tapes possibly incriminating President Nixon.

1979 – Iraq Saddam Hussein: Following a period of building his power base in Iraq Saddam Hussein forces the ailing president of Iraq (al-Bakr) to resign and takes over as the president of Iraq. On his first assembly of Ba’ath party leaders following gaining control he lists 68 “disloyal” members of the party to be removed (Later tried and Many sentenced to death) to ensure his rule would be safe from dissenters.

1984 – Philippines President Marcos: President Ferdinand E Marcos wearing full battle fatigues led his troops to battle communist rebels in forested mountains.

1990 – Philippines Earthquake: The 7.7-magnitude earthquake strikes Luzon Island in the Philippines with Baguio City suffering the worst effects with more than 1,000 people killed.

1992: Hindi author, director and producer Amar Verma dies.

1999 – John F. Kennedy, Jr. his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy; and her sister, Lauren Bessette, die when the single-engine plane that Kennedy was piloting crashes into the Atlantic Ocean near Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

2002 – U.S.A. Department of Homeland Security: President George W. Bush announces his plan for strengthening homeland security in the wake of the September 11, 2001, (9/11) terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., in which nearly 3,000 people had been killed. He created the Department of Homeland Security and the color-coded warning system that identified different levels of threat.

2006 – South Korea Severe Flooding: Over 2,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes as monsoon rains produced flash floods and landslides in the Gangwon province of South Korea. Mudslides killed least ten people, while many others were reported missing.

2011 –   Israeli aircraft struck Gaza overnight for the fourth time in as many days, wounding a militant who was about to fire a rocket.

2011 – In Syria security forces continued a weekslong operation in the restive Idlib province, near the Turkish border. Authorities raided homes in the village Kfar Nabl and made scores of arrests. A civilian was killed in Al-Bukamal when security forces opened fire to break up a demonstration against the regime of President Assad. 3 security personnel were killed and two kidnapped in an attack on a government building. An opposition conference in Turkey, called the National Salvation Conference, was attended by some 400 dissidents looking to form a unified opposition to Pres. Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for more than 40 years. The corpses of 3 Alawite government supporters were dumped in Homs with their eyes gouged out.

2014 – The United Arab Emirates announced it will create a space agency with the aim of sending the first Arab unmanned probe to Mars by 2021.