This is a list of selected February 16 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Before doing so, please review the selected anniversaries guidelines. If your suggestion is potentially controversial or relates to a day currently or soon to appear on the Main Page, post it on the talk page instead.
Please note:
- Events listed on the Main Page are selected based on article quality and to provide a diverse range of topics, rather than solely on the importance or significance of the events.
- Only four or five events are featured each day; therefore, not all important or significant events can be included.
- An event is generally excluded if it is already the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error in content currently on the Main Page, see Wikipedia:Main Page/Errors. If a listed event is inaccurate, please first seek consensus and update the corresponding article before making changes here.
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Spencer Compton
Tutankhamun's funerary mask
Félix Faure
Painting of Philadelphia burning by Edward Moran
Sikorsky S-51
Act of Independence of Lithuania
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| Chinese New Year, Korean New Year, Losar in Bhutan and Tibet, Tsagaan Sar in Mongolia, and others (2018); | only Losar is eligible |
| 1742 – Spencer Compton became British prime minister, but ended up being a figurehead for the true leader of the British government: Lord Carteret, the Secretary of State for the Northern Department. | unreferenced section |
| 1899 – French president Félix Faure suddenly died from apoplexy while having sexual activities with Marguerite Steinheil in his office. | Blurb not confirmed in article |
| 1923 – English Egyptologist and archaeologist Howard Carter unsealed Tutankhamun's tomb, KV62, in the Valley of the Kings. | Article states unsealed on 17 February |
| 1934 – The Austrian Civil War ended with the military of the First Austrian Republic defeating the Social Democrats and the Republikanischer Schutzbund, leaving at least several hundred people dead in the five-day conflict. | needs more footnotes |
| 1940 – Second World War: The Royal Navy boarded and captured the German tanker Altmark and freed 299 captured British sailors. | refimprove |
| 1943 – World War II: Norwegian commandos destroyed a factory to prevent the German nuclear weapon project from acquiring heavy water. | Too much uncited |
| 1946 – The Sikorsky S-51, the first helicopter to be built for civilian instead of military use, made its first flight. | lots of CN tags |
| 1960 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton set sail from New London, Connecticut, to begin the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe. | both featured on April 25 |
| 1968 – The first 9-1-1 emergency telephone system for the North American Numbering Plan went into service in Haleyville, Alabama. | refimprove section |
| 1977 – Archbishop Janani Luwum of the Church of Uganda, a leading voice against the regime of Idi Amin, was arrested for treason and murdered the next day. | refimprove |
| 1978 – The first computer bulletin board system, CBBS, was established by Ward Christensen during a blizzard in Chicago. | refimprove |
| 2005 – The Kyoto Protocol, an extension to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, entered into force. | Update needed orange bannet |
| Thomas Bracken |d|1898 | lots of CN tags (8) |
Eligible
- 1249 – King Louis IX dispatched André de Longjumeau as the French ambassador to the Mongol Empire.
- 1804 – First Barbary War: Lieutenant Stephen Decatur led a U.S. Navy raid to destroy the captured USS Philadelphia in the harbor of Tripoli (depicted), denying her use to the Barbary States.
- 1859 – The French government passed a law setting the musical note A4 to a frequency of 435 hertz, in the first attempt to standardize concert pitch.
- 1862 – American Civil War: A Union victory at the Battle of Fort Donelson gave General Ulysses S. Grant the nickname "Unconditional Surrender".
- 1918 – The Council of Lithuania signed the Act of Independence (pictured), proclaiming the restoration of an independent Lithuania.
- 1922 – A landslide in Byblos revealed a sarcophagus in an underground tomb that was later discovered to be part of a large Bronze Age necropolis.
- 1959 – Fidel Castro was sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba, beginning his decades-long rule over the country.
- 1983 – The Ash Wednesday bushfires burned over half a million acres (over 2,000 km2) each in both South Australia and Victoria, killing 75 people and injuring 2,676 others.
- 1985 – The Lebanese Shia political and paramilitary organization Hezbollah released a manifesto describing its ideology and goals.
- 1996 – Eleven people died in a train collision in Silver Spring, Maryland, leading to the creation of comprehensive U.S. federal rules for the design of passenger cars.
- 1998 – While on approach to Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, China Airlines Flight 676 crashed due to an over-reliance of the autopilot, which resulted in the deaths of 202 people.
- Born/died: | Mary the Younger |d|902| Richard of Dover |d|1184|Henry Raspe |d|1247| Coluccio Salutati |b|1331| Henry Wilson |b|1812| Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer |b|1922| Lanny McDonald |b|1953| Michael Holding |b|1954|Eluned Morgan |b|1967| Theresa Goh |b|1987| Elizabeth Olsen |b|1989|The Weeknd |b|1990| Mary Amdur |d|1998|
February 16: J'ouvert morning, Carnival begins in Trinidad and Tobago; Chinese New Year's Eve (2026); Day of the Shining Star in North Korea; Presidents' Day in the United States (2026); Elizabeth Peratrovich Day in Alaska; Daisy Gatson Bates Day in Arkansas (2026)
Carsten Borchgrevink
- 1270 – Livonian Crusade: In the Battle of Karuse, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania achieved a decisive victory over the Livonian Order on the frozen surface of the Baltic Sea.
- 1900 – The Southern Cross Expedition led by Carsten Borchgrevink (pictured) achieved a new Farthest South of 78° 50'S, making the first landing at the Great Ice Barrier.
- 1936 – The Popular Front, a coalition of left-wing parties, came to power in the Spanish general election, a factor in the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War five months later.
- 1961 – The DuSable Museum, the first museum dedicated to the study and conservation of African American history, culture, and art, was chartered.
- 2013 – At least 91 people were killed and 190 others injured after a bomb hidden in a water tank exploded at a market in Hazara Town, Pakistan.
- Roberta Williams (b. 1953)
- Valentino Rossi (b. 1979)
- Yan Bingtao (b. 2000)
- Boutros Boutros-Ghali (d. 2016)
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