March 16 is the 75th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (76th in Leap years). There are 290 days remaining.
- 1190 - Crusaders start to massacre the Jews of York, England.
- 1521 - Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Philippines.
- 1621 - Samoset[?] , a Mohegan, visits the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them, "Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset."
- 1660 - The Long Parliament disbands
- 1792 - King Gustav III of Sweden is shot; he dies on March 29
- 1802 - West Point is established
- 1815 - Willem I becomes King of the Netherlands
- 1850 - Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter[?] is published for the first time.
- 1900 - Sir Arthur Evans discovers the ruins of Knossos on Crete
- 1926 - Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts
- 1935 - Adolf Hitler orders Germany to rearm herself in violation of the Versailles Treaty.
- 1945 - World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ends but small pockets of Japanese resistance persist.
- 1968 - Vietnam War: My Lai massacre American troops kills scores of women and children.
- 1978 - Aldo Moro is kidnapped by left-wing urban guerrillas in Italy and is later killed by his captors.
- 1984 - CIA station chief stationed in Beirut, William Buckley[?], is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists and later dies in captivity.
- 1985 - Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson[?] is taken hostage in Beirut. He would later be released on December 4, 1991.
- 1988 - Iran-Contra Affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
- 1988 - Iraq attacks the Kurdish town of Halabjah[?] with mix of poison gas and nerve agents killing 5000.
- 1993 - A blizzard on the east coast of the United States kills 184.
- 1994 - In Portland, Oregon Tonya Harding pleads guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for trying to cover-up an attack on figure skating rival Nancy Kerrigan[?]. She is fined $100,000 and banned from the sport.
- 2003 - Largest co-ordinated worldwide vigil, as part of the global protests against war on Iraq.
- 1751 - James Madison, 4th President of the United States (+ 1836)
- 1789 - Georg Simon Ohm[?], physicist and discoverer of Ohm's law (+ 1854)
- 1829 - Rene Francois Prudhomme[?], laureate of the first Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901
- 1878 - Clemens August Graf von Galen[?], archbishop of Münster and cardinal (+ 1946)
- 1902 - Leon Roppolo, jazz clarinetist (+ 1943)
- 1905 - Elisabeth Flickenschildt[?], actress (+ 1977)
- 1906 - Henny Youngman, comedian (+ 1998)
- 1911 - Josef Mengele, Nazi war criminal (+ 1979)
- 1912 - Pat Nixon[?], actress, First Lady (+ 1993)
- 1918 - Frederick Reines, physicist (1995 Nobel Prize in Physics)
- 1920 - Leo McKern, actor (+ 2002)
- 1926 - Jerry Lewis, comedian
- 1927 - Vladimir Komarov, cosmonaut
- 1927 - Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Senator from New York
- 1929 - Nadja Tiller[?], actress
- 1934 - Ray Hnatyshyn, former Governor-General of Canada
- 1941 - Bernardo Bertolucci, film director
- 1949 - Erik Estrada, actor
- 1953 - Isabelle Huppert, actress
- 1953 - Richard Stallman, Free software proponent
- 1954 - Nancy Wilson[?], guitarist, singer, actress
- 1955 - Jiro Watanabe, Japanese boxing world champion
- 1959 - Flavor Flav[?], rap musician
See Also: March 15 -
March 17 -
February 16 -
April 16 --
listing of all days
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
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