December 16

Today in History
• 1497 - Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama is 1st European to sail along Africa's East Coast
• 1538 - King Francois I orders renewed pursuit of Protestants
• 1631 - Mount Vesuvious, Italy erupts, destroys 6 villages and kills 4,000
• 1707 - Last recorded eruption of Mount Fuji in Japan
• 1773 - Boston tea party - protesters throw tea shipments into Boston harbour, imposed Tea Act
• 1775 - Richard Arkwright receives a patent for his carding machine for use in cotton mills
• 1835 - Fire consumes over 600 buildings in NYC
• 1897 - 1st submarine with an internal combustion engine demonstrated


Holidays - Traditional and Obscure
• Bahrain National Day
• Bangladesh Victory Day
• Day of Reconciliation
• Kazakhstan Independence Day
• National Underdog Day
• Stupid Toy Day
• Vijay Diwas
• Las Posadas

Birthdays
• 1485 - Catherine of Aragon, Spanish princess, 1st wife of Henry VIII, Queen of England
• 1775 - Jane Austen, English novelist (Pride and Prejudice)
• 1790 - Leopold I, King of Belgium (1831-65)
• 1830 - John Frederick Hartranft, American politician, 17th Governor of Pennsylvania (1873-1879)
• 1851 - Theodoor de Meester, Dutch premier (1905-08)
• 1863 - Ralph Adams Cram, American gothic architect (Cathedral of St Joan NYC)
• 1888 - Alexander I, king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (1921–29)
• 1895 - Lidj Jasu [Iyasu], Emperor of Ethiopia (1913-16)