This Year in History:
2016
Discover what happened in this year with HISTORY’s summaries of major events, anniversaries, famous births and notable deaths.
In the early hours of January 8, 2016, Mexican authorities apprehend the drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. It was the third time that the law caught up to El Chapo,…
On the morning of April 21, 2016, Prince, the virtuosic musician who created more than 30 albums and won seven Grammy Awards over a 40‑year career, is found dead in…
On May 19, 2016, 66 passengers and crew flying from Cairo to Paris on EgyptAir flight 804 disappeared over the Mediterranean Sea. It took a month to find the wreckage.…
As Latin music blared inside Pulse, one of Orlando’s biggest nightclubs on June 12, 2016, a gunman forced his way inside and opened fire on the predominantly gay crowd. In…
On July 14, 2016, thousands gathered along the seafront of Nice, France to celebrate Bastille Day—the country’s independence holiday. The mood turned from joy to horror, when a white truck…
Ninety‑five years after women were first granted the right to vote, on July 28, 2016, former Secretary of State, Senator and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton makes history by accepting…
At an NFL preseason game on August 26, 2016, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick remains seated as other players stand to observe the national anthem. This simple action, which…
On September 4, 2016, Mother Teresa, a Roman Catholic nun who dedicated her life to caring for the destitute in India, officially becomes Saint Teresa of Calcutta, almost two decades…
More than 15 years after it was first established, the National Museum of African American History and Culture opens on the National Mall on September 24, 2016. Barack Obama, the…
On November 2, 2016, the Chicago Cubs win their first World Series championship since 1908, beating the Cleveland Indians, 8‑7, in a thrilling Game 7 delayed by rain. “Let It Reign,”…
On November 4, 2016, the Paris Agreement comes into effect. A sweeping international pledge to dramatically reduce carbon emissions, the agreement remains a potential turning point in the history of human…
On December 9, 2016, the World Anti‑Doping Agency details a vast “institutional conspiracy” involving Russian officials and more than 1,000 athletes in systematic doping at major athletic competitions, including the Olympics. A…
