On this day: 16 May

Emperor Suzaku abdicates the throne in favor of his brother Murakami who becomes the 62nd emperor of Japan.

Rebel Turkish warlord Mahmud of Ghazni defeats Samanid Emir Mansur II in battle at Merv.

Patrician John II Crescentius, who has seized control of Rome, selects Pope John XVII as the new pope.

Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire.

Hundred Years' War: Bertrand du Guesclin and a French army defeat the Anglo-Navarrese army of Charles the Bad at Cocherel.

Mohnyin Thado captured Sagaing to become the king of Ava, in present-day Myanmar.

The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time and Florence re-establishes itself as a republic.

Santiago de Vera becomes sixth governor-general of the Spanish colony of the Philippines.

After a scuffle in which one cardinal had several bones broken, a papal conclave convened in Rome elected Camillo Borghese as Pope Paul V.

The Battle of Vasai concludes as the Marathas defeat the Portuguese army.

The 14-year-old Marie Antoinette marries 15-year-old Louis-Auguste, Dauphin de France, who later becomes king of France.

The Battle of Alamance, a pre-American Revolutionary War battle between local militia and a group of rebels called The "Regulators", occurs in present-day Alamance County, North Carolina.

Imperial Russia signs the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the Russo-Turkish War. The Ottoman Empire cedes Bessarabia to Russia.

The Conference of Dresden began, an attempt by Napoleon to secure support for his planned invasion of Russia.

Greek War of Independence: The Turks capture the Greek town of Souli.

Prospector Juan Godoy discovered a silver outcrop in Chañarcillo, sparking the Chilean silver rush.

The Battle of Asseiceira is fought; it was the final and decisive engagement of the Liberal Wars in Portugal.

The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail from Elm Grove, Missouri, with 100 pioneers.

American Civil War: During the Vicksburg campaign, the decisive Union victory by Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Champion Hill drives the Confederate army under John C. Pemberton back towards Vicksburg, Mississippi.

The United States Congress authorized the minting of the Shield nickel (example pictured), the country's first five-cent piece to be made of a copper–nickel alloy.

The United States Senate fails to convict President Andrew Johnson by one vote.

The 16 May 1877 crisis occurs in France, ending with the dissolution of the National Assembly 22 June and affirming the interpretation of the Constitution of 1875 as a parliamentary rather than presidential system. The elections held in October 1877 led to the defeat of the royalists as a formal political movement in France.

Nikola Tesla delivers a lecture describing the equipment which will allow efficient generation and use of alternating currents to transmit electric power over long distances.

The International Electrotechnical Exhibition opens in Frankfurt, Germany, featuring the world's first long-distance transmission of high-power, three-phase electric current (the most common form today).

The victory military parade by the Finnish White Guard is held in Helsinki celebrating their decisive victory in the Finnish Civil War. The day also begin to be celebrated on the Defence Forces Flag Day before it is moved in 1942 to the June 4th.

A naval Curtiss NC-4 aircraft commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight.

In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc.

The first modern performance of Claudio Monteverdi's opera Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria occurred in Paris.

The first Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, California.

The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, a supersonic interceptor aircraft, set a world flight airspeed record of 1,404.012 mph (2,259.538 km/h).

The Tritons' Fountain in Valletta, one of Malta's most important Modernist landmarks, was turned on for the first time.

American physicist Theodore Maiman operated the first working laser at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu.

The Chinese Communist Party issues the "May 16 Notice", marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet space probe, lands on Venus.

Josip Broz Tito is elected president for life of Yugoslavia.

Japanese climber Junko Tabei (pictured) became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

Based on the results of a referendum held about one month earlier, the Kingdom of Sikkim (flag pictured) abolished its monarchy and was annexed to become the 22nd state of India.

The first Chuck E. Cheese location, the first family restaurant to integrate food, animated entertainment (example pictured), and an indoor arcade, opened in San Jose, California.

Mobutu Sese Seko, the President of Zaire, flees the country.

Kuwait permits women's suffrage in a 35–23 National Assembly vote.

STS-134 (ISS assembly flight ULF6), launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the 25th and final flight for Space Shuttle Endeavour.