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HISTORY & TIMELINE
16 January

A journey through
16 January in history

The sixteenth day of the year has seen Abd al-Rahman III declare himself caliph in Córdoba, Sir John Moore fall at Corunna, three explorers reach the South Magnetic Pole and two cosmonauts walk from one spacecraft to another. This timeline follows 16 January from the tenth century to the twenty-first.

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JUMP THROUGH TIME
II
THE MIDDLE AGES

Medieval History

Kingdoms, conflict, faith, power and the changing medieval world.

929
A silver dirham struck under Abd al-Rahman III in the year 335 of the Hijra (946-47).A silver dirham struck under Abd al-Rahman III in the year 335 of the Hijra (946-47).Image: Numismática Pliego · CC BY-SA 3.0
culture · Europe

Abd al-Rahman III proclaims the Caliphate of Córdoba

Abd al-Rahman III, Umayyad emir of Córdoba since 912, took the title of caliph on 16 January 929, claiming leadership of the Muslim world against the Fatimids of North Africa and the Abbasids of Baghdad. Under him Córdoba became one of the largest and richest cities in Europe; the caliphate broke up into rival kingdoms in 1031.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica: Caliphate of Córdoba ↗
III
A CHANGING WORLD

Early Modern Era

Exploration, political change, scientific development and expanding global connections.

1547
A bust of Ivan IV made by the scientist Mikhail Gerasimov, who reconstructed his face from his skull.A bust of Ivan IV made by the scientist Mikhail Gerasimov, who reconstructed his face from his skull.Image: Shakko · CC BY-SA 3.0
politics · Europe

Ivan IV is crowned the first Tsar of Russia

Ivan IV became Grand Prince of Moscow at the age of three, and grew up amid the feuds of the great noble families who ruled in his name. At sixteen he decided to take power himself, and with a grander title than any of his forebears. On 16 January 1547, in the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Moscow Kremlin, Metropolitan Macarius crowned him ‘Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia’, the first ruler of Moscow formally crowned with that title, taken from the Latin caesar. Ivan expanded Russia to the Volga and into Siberia, but his later reign of terror earned him the name by which he is remembered: Ivan the Terrible.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica: Ivan the Terrible ↗
IV
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

The 1800s

Industry, empire, invention, reform and a century of enormous transformation.

1809
The Battle of Corunna, painted by Hippolyte Bellangé in 1843.The Battle of Corunna, painted by Hippolyte Bellangé in 1843.Image: Hippolyte Bellangé · Public domain
world · Europe

Sir John Moore falls at Corunna

After a winter retreat across the mountains of north-west Spain, the British army of Sir John Moore turned to fight Marshal Soult’s pursuing French at Corunna (A Coruña) on 16 January 1809. They held off the attack and were able to sail for home, but Moore was mortally wounded by a cannonball and was buried on the town’s ramparts.

Source: National Army Museum: John Moore, alone with his glory ↗
V
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

The 1900s

War and peace, technological leaps, social change, politics, sport and popular culture.

1909
Alistair Mackay, Edgeworth David and Douglas Mawson at the South Magnetic Pole, 16 January 1909.Alistair Mackay, Edgeworth David and Douglas Mawson at the South Magnetic Pole, 16 January 1909.Image: Edgeworth David · Public domain
science · Global

Three explorers reach the South Magnetic Pole

While Ernest Shackleton headed for the geographic South Pole in 1908, three men from his Nimrod expedition set out to find the South Magnetic Pole, the point to which compass needles dip straight down. The geologist Edgeworth David, the physicist Douglas Mawson and the doctor Alistair Mackay hauled their own sledges, with no dogs or ponies. On 16 January 1909 they reached the pole’s position on the high Antarctic plateau, raised the Union flag and took a photograph. Their journey there and back covered about 1,260 miles and lasted four months, one of the longest unsupported sledging journeys ever made.

Source: Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge: the Nimrod expedition ↗
1969
A Soviet stamp showing the Soyuz 5 crew: Boris Volynov, Alexei Yeliseyev and Yevgeny Khrunov.A Soviet stamp showing the Soyuz 5 crew: Boris Volynov, Alexei Yeliseyev and Yevgeny Khrunov.Image: Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain
science · Global

Cosmonauts walk from one spacecraft to another

In January 1969 the Soviet Union launched Soyuz 4, with one cosmonaut, and Soyuz 5, with three. The two ships met and docked in orbit, the first docking of two crewed spacecraft. On 16 January 1969 Yevgeny Khrunov and Alexei Yeliseyev put on spacesuits, climbed out of Soyuz 5 and made their way hand over hand to Soyuz 4, in which they returned to Earth the next day. They were the first people to return to Earth in a different spacecraft from the one they had flown up in, a rehearsal for Soviet plans to land on the Moon.

Source: European Space Agency: EVA, a chronology of walking in space ↗
1979
An official portrait of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, 1973.An official portrait of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, 1973.Image: Ghazarians · Public domain
politics · Asia

The Shah leaves Iran for the last time

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi had ruled Iran since 1941, modernising the country with the help of its oil wealth while crushing dissent with his secret police. During 1978 protests against him grew into a revolution, led from exile by the cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, with strikes and huge marches that the army could not stop. On 16 January 1979 the Shah and his wife flew out of Tehran, officially on holiday. He never returned. Khomeini came back from Paris on 1 February, the monarchy fell days later, and Iran became an Islamic republic. The Shah died in exile in Egypt in 1980.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica: Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi ↗
1992
Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City, where the peace agreement was signed; photographed in 2023.Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City, where the peace agreement was signed; photographed in 2023.Image: Sisgeo · CC BY-SA 4.0
politics · Americas

El Salvador’s civil war ends at Chapultepec

From 1980 El Salvador’s military-backed government fought the left-wing guerrillas of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). The war killed more than 75,000 people, most of them civilians, many at the hands of army units and death squads. After talks led by the United Nations, the two sides signed a peace agreement at Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City on 16 January 1992. The FMLN laid down its arms and became a political party, the army was cut and purged, a new civilian police force was created and a Truth Commission investigated the worst crimes of the war.

Source: UN Peacemaker: Chapultepec Agreement ↗
VI
2000 TO TODAY

Modern Day

The events of recent decades that have already become part of the historical record.

2006
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia, in 2022.Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia, in 2022.Image: PMO Barbados · Public domain
politics · Africa

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf becomes Africa’s first elected woman president

Liberia had been torn apart by two civil wars between 1989 and 2003. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a Harvard-trained economist who had worked for the World Bank and the United Nations and had been jailed and exiled by earlier regimes, stood for president in the elections that followed, and beat the footballer George Weah in a run-off. She was sworn in on 16 January 2006, the first woman elected head of state of an African country. She led Liberia for twelve years, through rebuilding, debt relief and the Ebola epidemic, and shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her work for women’s rights and peace.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf ↗
RESEARCH

Sources & Further Reading

Selected authoritative references supporting the events on this page.

WHY THESE MOMENTS?

Significance before volume

This page is not the longest possible list of events. It is a chronological journey through 16 January, where each entry is chosen for historical significance, human interest and reliability.

Facts are checked against authoritative museums, archives, universities and reference works. Where sources disagree, the page says so.

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Return to the highlights of 16 January

Discover the lighter side of the date with famous birthdays, culture, firsts and lives remembered.

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