Today in History in 1919 The American Legion is incorporated; in 1966 the Metropolitan Opera House opens in New York City; and in 1983 Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes a US citizen.

The on this day in history archives at “Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia” contains over 200,000 events, birthdays and deaths from 6,000 years of history. Here is a roundup of a few of them:

September 16 is the 259th day of the year (260th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 106 days remaining until the end of the year.

EVENTS

1400 – Owain Glyndŵr is declared Prince of Wales.

1620 – The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth, England, for America.

1701 – James Francis Edward Stuart, referred to as the 'Old Pretender', becomes the Jacobite claimant to the thrones of Scotland and England.

1776 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Harlem Heights is fought.

1779 – American Revolutionary War: The French-American Siege of Savannah begins.

1795 – The first British occupation of the Cape Colony, South Africa, begins.

1810 – Grito de Dolores: Miguel Hidalgo begins Mexico's fight for independence from Spain.

1812 – The Fire of Moscow begins. Three quarters of the city are destroyed.

1859 – David Livingstone reaches Lake Malawi.

1893 – Settlers make a land run for prime land in the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma.

1902 – Alagoas becomes a state of Brazil.

1908 – General Motors is founded.

1918 – On the British Monitor (a type of warship), a munitions explosion occurs while it is located in Dover Harbour, killing 77 people.

1919 – The American Legion is incorporated

1920 – Wall Street bombing: A bomb in a horse wagon explodes in front of the J. P. Morgan building in New York City, killing 38 people and injuring over 400.

1925 – HC Rotterdam, the biggest field hockey team in the Netherlands, is founded.

1928 – The Okeechobee hurricane in Florida kills 2500 people.

1939 – The Japanese-Soviet border conflict is settled.

1941 – The Shah of Iran is forced to resign by the United Kingdom and Soviet Union.

1943 – World War II: The Allied invasion of Italy concludes.

1945 – Japanese forces in Hong Kong surrender.

1947 – Typhoon Kathleen hits Saitama, Tokyo and the Tone River in Japan, killing at least 1,930 people.

1947 – The United Kingdom formally ends its state of war with Austria.

1955 – Juan Peron is removed from power in a coup in Argentina.

1955 – A Soviet Navy Zulu class submarine becomes the first submarine to launch a ballistic missile.

1959 – The first successful photocopier, the Xerox 914, is introduced in a demonstration in live television in New York City.

1961 – The remainder of Hurricane Debbie causes damage in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

1963 – Malaysia is formed by the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, British North Borneo (Sabah), and Sarawak. Singapore withdraws a short time later.

1966 – The Metropolitan Opera House opens in New York City.

1970 – King Hussein of Jordan declares military rule following the hijacking of four civilian airlineers by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

1971 – Typhoon Nancy makes landfall in Osaka, Japan, killing 173 people.

1975 – Papua New Guinea becomes independent from Australia.

1975 – Cape Verde, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe join the UN.

1976 – Sharvash Karapetyan saves 20 people from a trolleybus that had fallen into a Yerevan reservoir.

1978 – An earthquake with a magnitude of over 7.5 hits Tabas in Iran, killing at least 25,000 people.

1980 – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines join the UN.

1982 – Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon.

1983 – Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes a US citizen.

1987 – The Monntreal Protocol for preservation of ozone layer against ozone depletion enters into force.

1990 – The railroad connecting China and Kazakhstan is completed.

1991 – The trial of the deposed Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega begins in the United States.

1992 – The pound sterling, the UK's currency, is forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.

1995 – Greece ends its embargo on the Republic of Macedonia.

1998 – Meryl Streep receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2005 – Camorra organised crime boss Paolo Di Lauro is arrested in Naples, Italy.

2007 – An aircraft carrying 128 people crashes in Phuket, Thailand, killing 89 people.

2009 – Yukio Hatoyama becomes Prime Minister of Japan, after just under a year with Taro Aso in this position.

2013 – A gunman kills 12 people at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC.