December 16

December 16: This Day in History

• 1653— Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
• 1773— American colonists boarded British ships in Boston Harbor and dumped 342 chests of tea into the water in protest of British taxation — the Boston Tea Party.
• 1838— Boer Voortrekkers defeated a Zulu army at the Battle of Blood River in present-day South Africa.
• 1944— Nazi Germany launched a major surprise offensive in the Ardennes region of Belgium and Luxembourg, beginning the Battle of the Bulge.
• 1991— Kazakhstan declared independence from the Soviet Union, becoming the last Soviet republic to do so.

Famous Birthdays on December 16

• Ludwig van Beethoven (1770) — german composer
• Jane Austen (1775) — english novelist
• Liv Tyler (1977) — actress
• Benjamin Bratt (1963) — actor
• Krysten Ritter (1981) — actress

What Happens on December 16?

Did You Know? December 16 Fun Facts

• Ludwig van Beethoven and Jane Austen share December 16 as their birthday — both were born in 1770 and 1775 respectively, pillars of Western culture in their fields.
• The Boston Tea Party involved 342 chests of tea worth about £10,000 at the time — roughly $1.7 million in today's money.