December 16: What Happened on This Day in History (High_school Level)?

(Page last edited 10/12/2017)

1. 1431 - Henry VI of England is crowned King of France at Notre Dame in Paris, France.
2. 1497 - Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope, the point where Bartolomeu Dias had previously turned back to Portugal.
3. 1707 - Last recorded eruption of Mount Fuji in Japan.
4. 1773 - American Revolution: Boston Tea Party - Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawks dump crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tea Act.
5. 1903 - Taj Mahal Palace & Tower first opened its doors to the guests.
6. 1937 - Theodore Cole and Ralph Roe attempt to escape from the American federal prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay; neither is ever seen again.
7. 1944 - World War II: The Battle of the Bulge begins with the surprise offensive of three German armies through the Ardennes forest.
8. 1947 - William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain build the first practical point-contact transistor.
9. 1979 - Libya joins four other OPEC nations in raising crude oil prices, having an immediate dramatic effect on the United States.
10. 2003 - President George W. Bush signs the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 into law. The law establishes the United States' first national standards for the sending of commercial e-mail and requires the Federal Trade Commission to enforce its provisions.
11. Famous Birthdays: Catherine of Aragon, Jane Austen (English author), V. S. Pritchett (English author and critic), Margaret Mead (American anthropologist), Adam Riess (American astrophysicist, Nobel Prize Laureate)

For famous birthdays and other daily events in history, visit our Daily Dose Activities.

Click Here for Yesterday in History: December 15

Click Here for Tomorrow in History: December 17

For more history resources on Internet 4 Classrooms, visit our Social Studies and History index. For Pre K-8th Grade Level History and Social Studies Resources, visit our Grade Level Index.