Template:On this day - January 16

Miguel de Cervantes

• 929 – In the Caliphate of Córdoba (present-day Spain), Abd al-Rahman III proclaims himself Emir.
• 1391 – Death of Muhammad V, Sultan of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada (present-day Spain) (b. 1339).
• 1493 – From the island of Hispaniola (present-day Dominican Republic), Christopher Columbus and his sailors begin the return voyage to Spain.
• 1556 – In Spain, Charles I cedes to his son Philip II the crown of Castile and Aragon.
• 1605 – In Madrid (Spain), the first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de La Mancha, by Miguel de Cervantes, is published.
• 1606 – Death of Baltasar del Alcázar, Spanish poet (b. 1530).
• 1745 – Birth of Antonio José de Cavanilles, Spanish botanist and scientist (d. 1804).
• 1809 – In Spain, Napoleon's French army defeats the British army at La Coruña.
• 1834 – In Spain, the judicial division of the country is established in accordance with the territorial organization into provinces.
• 1861 – In Spain, submarine telegraph communication between the peninsula and the Balearic Islands begins to operate.
• 1869 – In Mexico, President Benito Juárez creates by decree the State of Hidalgo.
• 1906 – The Algeciras Conference begins in Spain to settle the so-called first Moroccan crisis between France and Germany. Besides these countries, Spain and the United Kingdom took part.
• 1915 – In Mexico, General Eulalio Gutiérrez Ortiz, finding himself manipulated by the troops of Pancho Villa, decides to leave the capital and move his government to San Luis Potosí, where he declared Villa and Venustiano Carranza traitors to the "revolutionary spirit".
• 1916 – Death of Juana María Condesa Lluch, Spanish nun, founder of the Congregation of the Handmaids of Mary Immaculate (b. 1862).
• 1928 – In Havana (Cuba), the Sixth Pan-American Conference opens, at which the Code of Private International Law is approved.
• 1929 – Paraguay informs Bolivia that all Paraguayan forces have been demobilized.
• 1941 – Chile and Bolivia sign a non-aggression pact.
• 1952 – In Mexico, the State of Baja California is created.
• 1958 – Death of Sofía Casanova, Spanish journalist, poet, novelist and war correspondent (b. 1851).
• 1962 – In the Dominican Republic, a coup d'état deposes President Joaquín Balaguer and installs a Government Junta for 48 hours.
• 1966 – In Havana (Cuba), the 27 Latin American delegations taking part in the Tricontinental Conference agree, on the initiative of Salvador Allende, to create the Latin American Solidarity Organization (OLAS).
• 1970 – In La Paz (Bolivia), large demonstrations take place in support of President Alfredo Ovando Candía.
• 1971 – In Chile, an attempt to assassinate the socialist President Salvador Allende fails.
• 1992 – At Chapultepec Castle in Mexico, the Peace Accords are signed between the government of El Salvador and the FMLN guerrillas, ending twelve years of civil war in that country.
• 2011 – Death of Augusto Algueró, Spanish composer, arranger and conductor (b. 1934).