Imprtant Events on March 16

March 16

• 597 BC – Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II captured Jerusalem and installed Zedekiah as King of Judah.
• 1190 – Around 150 Jews inside York Castle in York, England, committed mass suicide rather than be killed by a mob.
• 1621 – Samoset became the first Native American to make contact with the Pilgrims when he strolled straight through the middle of the encampment at Plymouth Colony and greeted them in English.
• 1978 – The oil tanker Amoco Cadiz (pictured) split in two after running aground on Portsall Rocks, about 3 miles (5 km) off the coast of Brittany, France, resulting in one of the largest oil spills ever.
• 1988 – Iran–Iraq War: Iraqi forces began attacking the Kurdish town of Halabja with chemical weapons, killing up to 5,000 people.