Editing May 16 (section)

===1601–1900===
*[[1739]] &ndash; The [[Battle of Vasai]] concludes as the [[Maratha Confederacy|Marathas]] defeat the [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] army.
*[[1770]] &ndash; The 14-year-old [[Marie Antoinette]] marries 15-year-old [[Louis XVI of France|Louis-Auguste]], who later becomes king of [[Early modern France|France]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Lever|first=Evelyne|title=Marie Antoinette: The Last Queen of France|location=New York|publisher=St. Martin's Griffin|date=2001|isbn=9780312283339|url=https://archive.org/details/marieantoinette00evel|url-access=registration|pages=[https://archive.org/details/marieantoinette00evel/page/22 22]–24}}</ref>
*[[1771]] &ndash; The [[Battle of Alamance]], a pre-[[American Revolution|American Revolutionary War]] battle between local [[militia]] and a group of rebels called The "[[War of the Regulation|Regulators]]", occurs in present-day [[Alamance County, North Carolina]].
*[[1777]] &ndash; [[Continental Army]] officer [[Lachlan McIntosh]] fatally wounds [[Button Gwinnett]], a signer of the [[United States Declaration of Independence]], in [[Gwinnett–McIntosh duel|a duel]] in [[Savannah, Georgia]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gamble |first=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Gamble (mayor) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d5U-AAAAYAAJ |title=Savannah Duels and Duellists, 1733–1877 |publisher=Review Publishing & Printing Company |year=1923 |location=Savannah, Georgia |page=15 |oclc=1450131}}</ref> 
*[[1811]] &ndash; [[Peninsular War]]: The allies Spain, Portugal and United Kingdom fight an inconclusive battle against the French at the [[Battle of Albuera|Albuera]].<ref name="Esdaile340">{{cite book| last = Esdaile| first = Charles| publication-date = 2002| year = 2002| title = The Peninsular War| publisher = [[Penguin Books]]| isbn = 978-0-14-027370-0| page = 340}}</ref> It is, in proportion to the numbers involved, the bloodiest battle of the war.<ref name="Oman393">{{cite book| last = Oman| first = Sir Charles| author-link = Charles Oman| publication-date = 2004| year = 1911| title = A History of the Peninsular War: Volume IV, December 1810 to December 1811| publisher = Greenhill Books| isbn = 978-1-85367-618-5| page = 393}}</ref>
*[[1812]] &ndash; [[Imperial Russia]] signs the [[Treaty of Bucharest (1812)|Treaty of Bucharest]], ending the [[Russo-Turkish War (1806–12)|Russo-Turkish War]]. The [[Ottoman Empire]] cedes [[Bessarabia]] to Russia.<ref>{{cite book|last=Crowe|first=David|title=A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia|location=New York|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|date=2011|isbn=9781403980090|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jVQBDgAAQBAJ|page=158}}</ref>
*[[1822]] &ndash; [[Greek War of Independence]]: The [[Turkey|Turks]] capture the Greek town of [[Souli]].
*[[1832]] &ndash; [[Juan Godoy]] discovers the rich silver outcrops of [[Chañarcillo]] sparking the [[Chilean silver rush]].<ref name=Sonia2015>{{Cite book|title=Mitos de Chile: Enciclopedia de seres, apariciones y encantos|last=Montecino Aguirre|first=Sonia|publisher=[[Catalonia (publisher)|Catalonia]] |year=2015|isbn=978-956-324-375-8 |pages=47–48|chapter=Alicanto |language=es}}</ref><ref name=Hist>{{cite book | title        = Historia de Chile | language     = es | trans-title  = History of Chile | editor-last1  = Villalobos R. | editor-first1 = Sergio | editor-link1  = Sergio Villalobos | editor-last2  = Silva G. | editor-first2 = Osvaldo | editor-link2  = Osvaldo Silva | editor-last3  = Silva V. | editor-first3 = Fernando | editor-last4  = Patricio | editor-first4 = Estelle M. | year = 1995 | orig-year = 1974 | publisher    = [[Editorial Universitaria]] | location     = [[Santiago de Chile]] | pages = 469–472}}</ref>
*[[1834]] &ndash; The [[Battle of Asseiceira]] is fought; it was the final and decisive engagement of the [[Liberal Wars]] in Portugal. 
*[[1842]] &ndash; The first major [[wagon train]] heading for the [[Pacific Northwest]] sets out on the [[Oregon Trail]] from [[Elm Grove, Missouri]], with 100 pioneers.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dicken|first1=Samuel N.|last2=Dicken|first2=Emily F.|title=The Making of Oregon: A Study in Historical Geography|location=Portland, Ore.|publisher=Oregon Historical Society|date=1979|isbn=9780875950631|page=72|postscript=none}}; {{cite book|last=Byers|first=Roland O.|title=The Linchpin: The Oregon Trail in 1843|location=Moscow, Idaho|publisher=University Press of Idaho|date=1984|isbn=9780893010942|page=22|postscript=none}}; {{cite book|last=Manwelleer|first=Mathew|title=Chronology of the U.S. Presidency|location=Santa Barbara, Calif.|publisher=ABC-CLIO|date=2012|isbn=9781598846454|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uqB3ehA7M0oC|page=315}}</ref>
*[[1863]] &ndash; [[American Civil War]]: During the [[Vicksburg campaign]], the decisive [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] victory by [[Ulysses S. Grant]] at the [[Battle of Champion Hill]] drives the [[Confederate army]] under [[John C. Pemberton]] back towards [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Battle of Champion Hill (May 16)|url=https://www.nps.gov/vick/learn/historyculture/championhill.htm|website=NPS.gov|publisher=National Park Service|date=April 7, 2017|access-date=May 17, 2024}}</ref>
*[[1866]] &ndash; The [[United States Congress]] establishes the [[nickel (United States coin)|nickel]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hudgeons|first1=Marc|last2=Hudgeons|first2=Tom|title=Official 2009 Blackbook Price Guide to United States Coins|location=New York|publisher=Random House Reference|date=2008|isbn=9780375721700|url=https://archive.org/details/official2009blac00hudg|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/official2009blac00hudg/page/290 290]}}</ref>
*[[1868]] &ndash; The [[United States Senate]] fails to [[Impeachment of Andrew Johnson|convict]] President [[Andrew Johnson]] by one vote.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hearn|first=Chester G.|title=The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson|location=Jefferson, N.C.|publisher=McFarland & Co.|date=2007|isbn=9780786430963|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Tld3CpYawwC|page=201}}</ref>
*[[1874]] &ndash; A flood on the [[Mill River (Northampton, Massachusetts)|Mill River]] in [[Massachusetts]] destroys much of four villages and kills 139 people.  
*[[1877]] &ndash; The [[16 May 1877 crisis]] occurs in [[French Third Republic|France]], ending with the dissolution of the [[French Parliament|National Assembly]] 22 June and affirming the interpretation of the [[French Constitutional Laws of 1875|Constitution of 1875]] as a [[parliamentary]] rather than [[presidential system]]. The elections held in October 1877 led to the defeat of the [[Monarchism in France|royalists]] as a formal political movement in France.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fortescue|first=William|title=The Third Republic in France, 1870-1940: Conflicts and Continuities|location=London|publisher=Routledge|date=2001|isbn=0415169445|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4CMxDwAAQBAJ|pages=33–34}}</ref>
*[[1888]] &ndash; [[Nikola Tesla]] delivers a lecture describing the equipment which will allow efficient generation and use of [[alternating current]]s to [[electric power transmission|transmit electric power]] over long distances.
*[[1891]] &ndash; The [[International Electrotechnical Exhibition]] opened in [[Frankfurt]], Germany, featuring the world's first long-distance transmission of high-power, [[Three-phase electric power|three-phase electric current]] (the most common form today).