Calendar date · July
What happened on July 16
On July 16, 622: The Hijrah of Muhammad begins, marking the beginning of the Islamic calendar.
Events
56
across history
Notable births
50
Notable deaths
50
Zodiac
Cancer
Featured moment · 622
The Hijrah of Muhammad begins, marking the beginning of the Islamic calendar.
The Hijrah, also Hegira, was the journey the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers took from Mecca to Medina. The year in which the Hijrah took place is also identified as the epoch of the Lunar Hijri and Solar Hijri calendars; its date equates to 16 July 622 in the Julian calendar.
People
Born on July 16
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Died on July 16
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Timeline
Every July 16 on record
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622 The Hijrah of Muhammad begins, marking the beginning of the Islamic calendar. Journey of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina
The Hijrah, also Hegira, was the journey the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers took from Mecca to Medina. The year in which the Hijrah took place is also identified as the epoch of the Lunar Hijri and Solar Hijri calendars; its date equates to 16 July 622 in the Julian calendar.
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997 Battle of Spercheios: Bulgarian forces of Tsar Samuel are defeated by a Byzantine army under general Nikephoros Ouranos at the Spercheios River in Greece. 997 battle of the Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars
The Battle of Spercheios took place in 997 AD, on the shores of the Spercheios river near the city of Lamia in central Greece. It was fought between a Bulgarian army led by Tsar Samuil, which in the previous year had penetrated south into Greece, and a Byzantine army under the command of General Nikephoros Ouranos. The Byzantine victory virtually destroyed the Bulgarian army, and ended its raids in the southern Balkans and Greece.
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1054 Three Roman legates break relations between Western and Eastern Christian churches through the act of placing a papal bull of excommunication on the altar of Hagia Sophia during Saturday afternoon divine liturgy. Historians frequently describe the event as the formal start of the East–West Schism. Personal representative of the Pope
A papal legate or apostolic legate is a personal representative of the Pope to foreign nations, to some other part of the Catholic Church, or to representatives of a state or monarchy. A legate is empowered in matters of Catholic faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters.
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1212 Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa: After Pope Innocent III calls European knights to a crusade, the forces of kings Alfonso VIII of Castile, Sancho VII of Navarre, Peter II of Aragon and Afonso II of Portugal defeat those of the Berber Muslim leader Almohad, thus marking a significant turning point in the Reconquista and in the medieval history of Spain. Part of the Reconquista in Spain (1212)
The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, known in Islamic history as the Battle of Al-Uqab, took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the Reconquista and the history of medieval Spain. The Christian forces were led by King Alfonso VIII of Castile, joined by his rivals, Kings Sancho VII of Navarre and Peter II of Aragon. The Muslim army was led by caliph al-Nasir, ruler of the Almohad Caliphate, which included the southern half of the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco.
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1228 Saint Francis of Assisi was canonized. Italian Catholic saint (c. 1181 – 1226)
Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, known as Francis of Assisi, was an Italian mystic, poet and Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. Inspired to lead a Christian life of poverty, he became a beggar and an itinerant preacher.
- 1232 The Spanish town of Arjona declares independence and names its native Muhammad ibn Yusuf as ruler. This marks the Muhammad's first rise to prominence; he later established the Nasrid Emirate of Granada, the last independent Muslim state in Spain.
- 1251 Celebrated by the Carmelite Order–but doubted by modern historians–as the day when Saint Simon Stock had a vision of the Virgin Mary.
- 1377 King Richard II of England is crowned.
- 1536 Jacques Cartier, navigator and explorer, returns home to St. Malo after claiming Stadacona (Quebec), Hochelaga (Montreal) and the River of Canada (St. Lawrence River) region for France.
- 1661 The first banknotes in Europe are issued by the Swedish bank Stockholms Banco.
- 1683 Manchu Qing dynasty naval forces under commander Shi Lang defeat the Kingdom of Tungning in the Battle of Penghu near the Pescadores Islands.
- 1769 Father Junípero Serra founds California's first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Over the following decades, it evolves into the city of San Diego, California.
- 1779 American Revolutionary War: Light infantry of the Continental Army seize a fortified British Army position in a midnight bayonet attack at the Battle of Stony Point.
- 1790 The District of Columbia is established as the capital of the United States after signature of the Residence Act.
- 1809 The city of La Paz, in what is today Bolivia, declares its independence from the Spanish Crown during the La Paz revolution and forms the Junta Tuitiva, the first independent government in Spanish America, led by Pedro Domingo Murillo.
Show 15 earlier entries from July 16
- 1849 Antonio María Claret y Clará founds the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, popularly known as the Claretians in Vic, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
- 1858 The last apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France.
- 1861 American Civil War: At the order of President Abraham Lincoln, Union troops begin a 25-mile march into Virginia for what will become the First Battle of Bull Run, the first major land battle of the war.
- 1862 American Civil War: David Farragut is promoted to rear admiral, becoming the first officer in United States Navy to hold an admiral rank.
- 1909 Persian Constitutional Revolution: Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar is forced out as Shah of Persia and is replaced by his son Ahmad Shah Qajar.
- 1910 John Robertson Duigan makes the first flight of the Duigan pusher biplane, the first aircraft built in Australia.
- 1915 Henry James becomes a British citizen to highlight his commitment to Britain during the first World War.
- 1915 At Treasure Island on the Delaware River in the United States, the First Order of the Arrow ceremony takes place and the Order of the Arrow is founded to honor American Boy Scouts who best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law.
- 1916 Max Reger's Hebbel Requiem is first performed in a memorial concert for the composer, conducted by Philipp Wolfrum.
- 1927 Augusto César Sandino leads a raid on U.S. Marines and Nicaraguan Guardia Nacional that had been sent to apprehend him in the village of Ocotal, but is repulsed by one of the first dive-bombing attacks in history.
- 1931 Emperor Haile Selassie signs the first constitution of Ethiopia.
- 1935 The world's first parking meter is installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
- 1941 Joe DiMaggio hits safely for the 56th consecutive game, a streak that still stands as an MLB record.
- 1942 Holocaust: Vel' d'Hiv Roundup (Rafle du Vel' d'Hiv): The government of Vichy France orders the mass arrest of 13,152 Jews who are held at the Vélodrome d'Hiver in Paris before deportation to Auschwitz.
- 1945 Manhattan Project: The Atomic Age begins when the United States successfully detonates a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
Around the world
Holidays on July 16
- Christian feast day: Gondulphus of Tongeren
- Christian feast day: Helier
- Christian feast day: Our Lady of Mount Carmel Fiesta de La Tirana (Tarapacá Region, Chile)
- Christian feast day: Reineldis
- Christian feast day: July 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Engineer's Day (Honduras)
- Holocaust Memorial Day (France)
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