Date·Lore

On This Day · The 320th day of the year

November 16

November 16 carries 10 recorded events spanning between 1632 and 2002. King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden was killed at the Battle of Lützen during the Thirty Years' War.

♏ZodiacScorpio ◈BirthstoneTopaz ❀Birth flowerChrysanthemum

Compiled & reviewed by · Last reviewed July 13, 2026

What happened on November 16?

November 16 is the 320th day of the year. It marks 10 notable events in history, dated between 1632 and 2002. Famous people born on November 16 include Tiberius, William Bonner (newscaster) and Mika Aaltonen.

The shape of the day

250 years on from American Revolutionary War, November 16 is a date with an anniversary worth pausing on. Most of the weight falls in the 20th century, where conflict is a recurring thread.

Scorpio is the sign for November 16 — read more on the Scorpio page, or see November's birthstone & birth flower.

Released on November 16

Movies, games, albums & shows

2023

  • TV Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

2022

  • Game Call of Duty: Warzone
  • Game Goat Simulator 3

2021

  • Game Moncage
  • Game Ruined King: A League of Legends Story
  • Game Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One
  • Game Dysmantle

Release data from TMDB & IGDB.

Events

10 notable moments
  1. 1632

    Gustavus Adolphus

    King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden was killed at the Battle of Lützen during the Thirty Years' War.

  2. 1776

    American Revolutionary War

    American Revolutionary War: British and Hessian units capture Fort Washington from the Patriots.

  3. 1849

    Fyodor Dostoevsky

    A Russian court sentences writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky to death for anti-government activities linked to a radical intellectual group; his sentence is later commuted to hard labor.

  4. 1940

    World War II

    World War II: In response to the leveling of Coventry by the German Luftwaffe two days before, the Royal Air Force bombs Hamburg.

  5. 1940

    The Holocaust

    The Holocaust: In occupied Poland, the Nazis close off the Warsaw Ghetto from the outside world.

  6. 1967

    Aeroflot Flight 2230

    Aeroflot Flight 2230 crashes near Koltsovo Airport, killing 107.

  7. 1973

    Richard Nixon

    U.S. president Richard Nixon signs the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act into law, authorizing the construction of the Alaska Pipeline.

  8. 1988

    Pakistan

    In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan elect populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister of Pakistan.

  9. 1997

    China

    After nearly 18 years of incarceration, China releases Wei Jingsheng, a pro-democracy dissident, from jail for medical reasons.

  10. 2002

    2002–2004 SARS outbreak

    The first cases of the 2002–2004 SARS outbreak are traced to Foshan, Guangdong Province, China.

Famous birthday twins

Born on November 16

Tiberius

b. -42

Roman emperor (died 37 AD)

William Bonner (newscaster)

b. 1963

Brazilian newscaster, publicist and journalist

Mika Aaltonen

b. 1965

Finnish footballer

José Saramago

b. 1922

Portuguese novelist and Nobel laureate in Literature

Paul Scholes

b. 1974

English footballer and sportscaster

Harvey Martin

b. 1950

American football player

Andrea Barrett

b. 1954

American novelist and short story writer

Zina Garrison

b. 1963

American tennis player

Deaths

  • 2006Milton Friedman
  • 1974Walther Meissner
  • 1922Max Abraham
  • 1264Emperor Lizong
  • 1240Ibn Arabi
  • 1005Ælfric of Abingdon

Holidays & observances

  • —Christian feast day: Africus
  • —Christian feast day: Agnes of Assisi
  • —Christian feast day: Edmund of Abingdon
  • —Christian feast day: Elfric of Abingdon
  • —Christian feast day: Eucherius of Lyon
  • —Christian feast day: Gertrude the Great (Roman Catholic Church)
  • —Christian feast day: Giuseppe Moscati
  • —Christian feast day: Gobrain

Historical facts, event summaries, and biographical lines above are adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. DateLore adds curation, structure, and original editorial commentary. DateLore is not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.

About the author

Roman Tailor compiles and reviews every date on DateLore. He's the writer and editor behind the site's editorial essays and the day-by-day almanac. Corrections and questions are welcome — read more about DateLore or get in touch.

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