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

(Page last edited 10/12/2017)

1. 1521 - Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Philippines.
2. 1621 - Samoset, a Mohegan, visited the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them, "Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset."
3. 1802 - The Army Corps of Engineers is established to found and operate the United States Military Academy at West Point.
4. 1900 - Sir Arthur Evans purchased the land around the ruins of Knossos, the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete.
5. 1926 - History of Rocketry: Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts.
6. 1935 - Adolf Hitler orders Germany to rearm herself in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Conscription is reintroduced to form the Wehrmacht.
7. 1945 - World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ended, but small pockets of Japanese resistance persisted.
8. 1966 - Launch of Gemini 8, the 12th manned American space flight and first space docking with the Agena Target Vehicle.
9. 1995 - Mississippi formally ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was officially ratified in 1865.
10. 2005 - Israel officially hands over Jericho to Palestinian control.
11. Famous Birthdays: James Madison (American politician, 4th President of the United States), Georg Ohm (German physicist), Rosa Bonheur (French painter and sculptor), Sully Prudhomme (French poet, Nobel Prize laureate), Frederick Reines (American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate)

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

Click Here for Yesterday in History: March 15

Click Here for Tomorrow in History: March 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.