Anniversaries, Holidays, and Observances for August 16, 2021
Many days there are far too many anniversaries, holidays, and observances to post about individually on social media, so in an effort to have more of them available, LLPHP is going to experiment with posting them daily. If there are other items you feel should be included, please email contact@llphp.org and share!
Please note all holidays and observances listed as “National” days are American holidays and observances unless it is stated otherwise.
On This Day
- Surveillance Day
- True Love Forever Day
- 1819: During the Peterloo Massacre in Manchester, England, cavalry charged demonstrators, killing 15 people killed and injuring 400–700 more people
- 1865: The Dominican Republic regained its independence after 4 years of fighting against Spanish Annexation.
- 1869: A Paraguay battalion of children was massacred by the Brazilian Army in the War of the Triple Alliance’s Battle of Acosta Ñu
- 1906: An 8.6 earthquake destroyed Valparaiso, Chile and sparked fires that killed 20,000 people
- 1924: A Dutch-Turkish peace treaty was signed
- 1934: The US ended its occupation of Haiti after having been there since 1915
- 1946: Widespread riots erupted in Calcutta between Muslims and Hindus over whether Pakistan should be a separate state. In the clashes over 4,000 people were killed, and 100,000 were left homeless
- 1954: 200 pilgrims drowned in Farahzad, Iran after rain storms caused significant flooding
- 1960: Great Britain granted independence to Cyprus
- 1961: Martin Luther King Jr. protested for black voting rights in Miami, Florida
- 1963: Independence was restored to the Dominican Republic
- 1971: Over 8,000 workers went on strike in Derry, Northern Ireland, to protest the introduction of Internment (allowing suspected terrorists to be indefinitely detained without trial)
- 1989: A solar flare created a geomagnetic storm affecting micro chips and causing trading in Toronto’s stock market to be halted
- 1993: South Africa relinquished sovereignty over Walvis Bay
- 2012: Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange was granted political asylum by Ecuador
- 2016: A wildfire started in San Bernardino County, California, that engulfed 15,000 acres and prompted the evacuation of 82,000 people
- 2017: Lebanon’s Parliament abolished article 522, which exempted rapists from prosecution if they married their victim
- 2018: Unprecedented flooding and landslides in Kerala, India, killed 106 people and left 150,000 people homeless
- 2018: British Columbia, Canada, declared a State of Emergency with 566 wildfires burning. 3,000 people were evacuated
- 2019: A Huge fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s Chalantika slum destroyed 1,200 houses and left about 10,000 people homeless
- 2020: Belarus experienced its largest-ever demonstration as 100,000 people gathered in Minsk to protest against controversial election results and the regime of Alexander Lukashenko
Weekly Holidays and Observances including August 16, 2021
- n/a
August Monthly Holidays and Observances
- American Indian Heritage Month
- Black Business Month
- Cataract Awareness Month
- Fall of Empires Month
- Happiness Happens Month
- Home Business Month
- National Canning Month
- National FAS Disorders Awareness Month
- National Immunization Awareness Month
- National Inventors Month
- National Publish Your eBook Month
- National Runaway Prevention Month
- National Water Quality Month
- National Wellness Month
- National Win With Civility Month
- Professional Speakers Month
- What Will Be Your Legacy Month