What happened on 16 January?

11 events from the Ever-When timeline, ranked by how much they mattered.

1. 27 BCE Reign of Augustus Octavian, having defeated Mark Antony at Actium, is granted the title Augustus by the Senate on 16 Jan 27 BCE — the conventional start of the Roman Empire. Augustus refounds Rome o
2. 1605 Don Quixote Cervantes' satirical novel about a deluded knight; often called the first modern novel.
3. 27 BCE Augustus becomes first Roman Emperor Octavian takes the title Augustus.
4. 1556 Reign of Philip II of Spain Ruler of Spain and its empire at its height: the Escorial, Lepanto, the annexation of Portugal, the Dutch revolt and the Armada.
5. 1917 Zimmermann Telegram German foreign minister proposes a Mexico-Germany alliance against the US; intercepted by British intelligence.
6. 1913 Ramanujan's letter to G. H. Hardy The unknown Indian clerk sends Hardy a letter of mathematical results that lead to his Cambridge collaboration.
7. 1979 Shah flees Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi leaves Iran amid mass protests, ending the monarchy.
8. 1969 Jan Palach's torch A 20-year-old philosophy student sets himself alight at the top of Wenceslas Square, in protest not at the occupation but at the resignation settling over his countrymen. Hundreds
9. 1888 Fauré's Requiem A requiem with no Day of Judgement — Fauré called death 'a happy deliverance' — ending in the weightless In Paradisum.
10. 1919 Eighteenth Amendment ratified The US constitutionally bans alcohol, launching the Prohibition era of bootlegging and organised crime.
11. 378 Teotihuacan conquers Tikal A Teotihuacan-backed coup ('the Entrada') installs a new dynasty at Tikal, projecting central-Mexican power into the Maya world.