Today in History: The Soweto uprising

The following is a chronological list of notable events that occurred on June 16 throughout history:

632 – Yazdegerd III ascends the throne as king (shah) of the Persian Empire. He becomes the last ruler of the Sasanian dynasty (modern Iran).

1746 – War of the Austrian Succession: Austria and Sardinia defeat a Franco-Spanish army at the Battle of Piacenza.

1811 – Survivors of an attack the previous day by Tla-o-qui-aht on board the Pacific Fur Company’s ship Tonquin, intentionally detonate a powder magazine on the ship, destroying it and killing about 100 attackers.

1846 – The Papal conclave of 1846 elects Pope Pius IX, beginning the longest reign in the history of the papacy.

1897 – A treaty annexing the Republic of Hawaii to the United States is signed; the Republic would not be dissolved until a year later.

1904 – Irish author James Joyce begins a relationship with Nora Barnacle and subsequently uses the date to set the actions for his novel Ulysses; this date is now traditionally called “Bloomsday”.

1976 – Soweto uprising: A non-violent march by 15,000 students in Soweto, South Africa, turns into days of rioting when police open fire on the crowd.

1995 – The Astronomy Picture of the Day website is launched.

2015 – American businessman Donald Trump announces his campaign to run for President of the United States in the upcoming election.

2019 – Upwards of 2,000,000 people participate in the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, the largest in Hong Kong’s history.