THURSDAY, July 16, 2026

622-Islamic Era begins: Muhammad and his followers begin migration from Mecca to Medina (Hijra)

1054-The Great Schism between Western and Eastern churches begins when Roman Cardinal Humbert issues a bull of excommunication against Cerularius, Patriarch of Constantinople, on the altar of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople

1517-Copy of Martin Luther's 95 theses, the publication of which began the Protestant Reformation in EuropeThe Protestant Reformation

1519-Public debate between Martin Luther and theologian Johann Eck at Pleissenburg Castle in Liepzig, during which Luther denies the divine right of the Pope

1809-La Paz, Bolivia, declares its independence from the Spanish Crown and forms the Junta Tuitiva led by Pedro Domingo Murillo, the first independent government in Spanish America

1940-Adolf Hitler orders preparations for the invasion of Britain (Operation Sealion)

1945-First test detonation of an atomic bomb occurs at Trinity Site, Alamogordo, New Mexico, as part of the U.S. Manhattan Project

1966-72 year-old Mao Zedong swims the Yangtze River near Wuhan to prove his strength as part of his launch of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

1979-Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr is succeeded by Saddam Hussein