![[e]Photo Stream](/logo.png){kind=logo}
August 16
5 moments across history
Marikana Massacre
On August 16, 2012, South African police shot and killed 34 striking workers near Lonmin’s Marikana platinum mine. The massacre exposed bitter disputes over wages, policing, union representation, and enduring economic inequality. It was South Africa’s deadliest police action since apartheid, evoking the era’s state violence nearly two decades after democratic rule began.
Marikana Massacre
Usain Bolt Sets 100-Meter World Record
Usain Bolt Sets 100-Meter World Record
Year: 2008
On August 16, 2008, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt won the Beijing Olympic 100-meter final in a world-record 9.69 seconds. The victory mattered because it earned Bolt his first Olympic gold and lowered the 9.72-second record he had set earlier that year. It began his historic Beijing sprint treble, as he also won the 200 meters and 4×100-meter relay in world-record times.
Elvis Presley Dies at Graceland
Elvis Presley Dies at Graceland
Year: 1977
On August 16, 1977, Elvis Presley died at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, at age 42. His death ended the career of a singer and actor whose performances helped transform popular music and youth culture worldwide. Presley rose during the postwar emergence of rock and roll, drawing on rhythm and blues, gospel, and country traditions.
Cyprus Gains Independence
Cyprus Gains Independence
Year: 1960
On August 16, 1960, Cyprus became an independent republic, ending decades of British colonial rule. Independence established a power-sharing constitution for Greek and Turkish Cypriots, while Britain retained two sovereign military base areas. The change formed part of postwar decolonization but did not resolve communal tensions over Cyprus’s political future.
Klondike Gold Discovery
Klondike Gold Discovery
Year: 1896
On August 16, 1896, prospectors discovered gold near Bonanza Creek, a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada’s Yukon Territory. The discovery triggered extensive mining claims and, once news spread in 1897, drew tens of thousands of fortune seekers to the region. The Klondike Gold Rush became a major episode in the late-19th-century expansion and settlement of northwestern Canada and Alaska.