March 16 is the 75th day of the year according to the Gregorian calendar (76th in leap days). 290 days remain until the end of the year.

Events
1521 - Fernando Magellan arrives in the Philippines, crossing the Pacific.
1769 - French seafarer Louis Antoine de Bougainville completes his round-the-world voyage to the port of Saint-Malo.
1792 - The assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden, who died 2 weeks later, took place.
1802 - The West Point Military Academy was established.
1907 - The 29th Government of Bulgaria was formed, headed by Peter Gudev.
1911 - Ivan Geshov becomes Prime Minister of Bulgaria.
1913 - After the merger of several smaller Varna football clubs, SK Ticha was established, with the date being considered as the date when the Black Sea FC was founded.
1917 - The February Revolution ends and the Provisional Russian Government is created.
1925 - The State Protection Act is amended.
1935 - In violation of the Treaty of Versailles, Nazi Germany introduces universal service and the German armed forces are named Wehrmacht.
1939 - At the Royal Palace in Prague, Adolf Hitler declares Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate.
1945 - World War II: British aviation launches massive bombing of the German city of Würzburg - 90% of buildings destroyed and killed over 5,000 people in 20 minutes.
1963 - About 2100 people die in the eruption of Agung volcano on Bali Island (Indonesia).
1978 - BGA Balkan airliner Tu-134 crashes near the villages of Tlachene and Gabare, performing a regular Sofia-Warsaw flight, killing 73 people - 27 Bulgarians, 39 Poles and a 7-member crew.
1978 - Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped by a left-wing terrorist group and later killed.
1988 - Iran-Iraq War: The city of Halabja in Iraq is attacked by Saddam Husseins regime with combat toxic fumes, killing 5,000 Kurds.
1994 - Josef Moravczyk becomes Prime Minister of Slovakia.
1995 - Norman Tagard becomes the first American astronaut to enter a Soviet orbiting station.
1995 - Mississippi becomes the last US state to ratify the 13th Amendment to the Constitution that bans slavery.
1998 - Pope John Paul II apologizes to the Vatican for the silence of the Roman Catholic Church during the Holocaust during World War II.
2001 - According to statistics in the UK, this is the only day between 1993 and 2002 where no suicide was registered.

Born
1687 - Sofia-Dorothea von Braunschweig-Lüneburg, Queen of Prussia († 1757)
1750 - Carolyn Herschel, British astronomer of German descent († 1848)
1751 - James Madison, 4th President of the United States († 1836)
1774 - Matthew Flinders, British navigator and explorer († 1814)
1789 - Georg Om, German physicist († 1854)
1794 - Ami Bue, French geologist († 1881)
1839 - Renee Sully Prudom, French poet, Nobel Laureate († 1907)
1853 - Heinrich Kaiser, German physicist († 1940)
1859 - Alexander Popov, Russian scientist († 1906)
1868 - Maxim Gorky, Russian writer († 1936)
1873 - Mikhail Chakov, Bulgarian revolutionary († 1938)
1877 - Reza Shah Pahlavi, Iranian Chess († 1941)
1879 - Grigor Cheshmedzhiev, Bulgarian politician († 1945)
1884 - Alexander Belyaev, Russian writer († 1942)
1892 - Cesar Vayjo, Peruvian poet († 1938)
1900 - Mencha Karnicheva, Bulgarian revolutionary († 1964)
1911 - Josef Mengele, German physician, war criminal († 1979)
1912 - Patricia Nixon, First Lady of the United States (1969 - 1974) († 1993)
1913 - Dimitar Tishin, Bulgarian writer († 1992)
1915 - Kunichiko Kodaira, Japanese mathematician († 1997)
1918 - Frederick Raines, American Physicist, Nobel Laureate in 1995 († 1998)
1920 - Dencho Znepolski, PA activist, partisan, military activist († 1989)
1920 - Ivan Gaydardjiev, Bulgarian actor († 2005)
1922 - Vela Peeva, Bulgarian partisan († 1944)
1926 - Jerry Lewis, American Artist († 2017)
1927 - Vladimir Komarov, Soviet astronaut († 1967)
1932 - Metodi Andonov, Bulgarian theater and film director († 1974)
1937 - Yanko Dinkov, Bulgarian football player and coach
1941 - Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian director († 2018)
1948 - Margaret Weiss, American writer
1952 - Alice Hoffman, American writer
1953 - Richard Stallman, American Free Software Activist
1953 - Isabelle Huppert, French actress
1955 - Bruno Barreto, Brazilian director
1966 - Dirk von Petersdorf, German writer
1967 - Lauren Graham, American actress
1970 - Mihail Hristov, Bulgarian football player
1976 - Zhuo Cheng, Chinese chess player
1976 - Sylvia Trendafilova, Bulgarian journalist
1985 - Delyan Madjarov, Bulgarian political scientist and politician
1990 - Alexander Metodiev, Bulgarian football player
1986 - Svetozar Knezovski, Bulgarian actor

Died
37 AD - Tiberius, Roman emperor (* 42 BC)
455 - Valentinian III, Roman emperor (* 419)
1457 - Laszlo Hunyadi, Hungarian statesman (* 1433)
1736 - Giovanni Batista Pergolesi, Italian composer (* 1710)
1801 - Alexandra Pavlovna, Grand Duchess of Russia (* 1783)
1839 - August Tsivolka, Russian explorer (* 1810)
1861 - Victoria von Sachs-Coburg-Saalfeld, Duchess of Kent (* 1786)
1888 - Hippolyte Carnot, French politician (* 1801)
1898 - Aubrey Beardsley, English painter (* 1872)
1903 - Roy Bean, American Judge (* 1825)
1914 - Charles Albert Goba, Swiss politician, Nobel Laureate in 1902 (* 1843)
1914 - John Murray, British Oceanographer (* 1841)
1915 - Ivan Iliev, Bulgarian revolutionary (* 1850)
1923 - Alexander Lodigin, Russian electrician (* 1847)
1925 - August von Wasserman, German bacteriologist (* 1866)
1930 - Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish dictator (* 1870)
1935 - John McLeod, Scottish physicist, Nobel Laureate in 1923 (* 1876)
1935 - Aaron Nimtsovich, Danish chess player (* 1886)
1937 - Mara Belcheva, Bulgarian poet (* 1868)
1940 - Selma Lagerloff, Swedish writer and Nobel laureate in 1909 (* 1858)
1942 - Jacob Perelman, Russian scientific promoter (* 1882)
1943 - Georges Giroud, French mathematician (* 1889)
1957 - Constantin Brancush, Romanian sculptor (* 1876)
1958 - Nikola Ganushev, Bulgarian artist (* 1889)
1979 - Jean Monnet, French statesman (* 1888)
1992 - Yves Roccaire, French physicist (* 1903)
1995 - Rashko Sugarev, Bulgarian writer (* 1941)
1998 - Derek Barton, British chemist, Nobel Laureate in 1969 (* 1918)
2000 - Azarya Polikarov, Bulgarian philosopher (* 1921)
2010 - Xenia Pajcin, Serbian singer (* 1977)