November 16: Facts & Historical Events On This Day

The city of Havana, Cuba, celebrated its 500th birthday.

The celebration included a massive restoration and infrastructure initiative that restored public monuments and many of the city's shops & businesses.

Nineteen countries vowed to gradually phase out coal at the United Nations Summit in Bonn, Germany.

Pollution from coal kills an estimated 800,000 people every year.

The fourth largest diamond was found in Karowe Mine, Botswana.

The diamond was named Lesedi La Rona and is 1.11 carats.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 earned a staggering $500 million within 24 hours of release.

It was the largest entertainment opening release for that year.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon premiered in Los Angeles.

American singer Mario released his hit single “Let Me Love You.”

The song became Billboard's Song of the Year for 2005.

Rapper Dr. Dre released his second album, “The Chronic 2001.”

Queen Elizabeth II had hip surgery at King Edward VII Hospital.

The Skylab 4 mission was launched by NASA, taking a crew of three astronauts to the US space station.

The Soviet Union’s Venera 3 space probe was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

The probe, which was sterilized before launch, was on a mission to land on the surface of Venus. It missed Venus on its first attempt, and after its course was corrected, contact with the probe was lost. On March 1, 1966, Venera crash-landed onto Venus' surface, making it the first spacecraft to reach another planet's surface.

The Model M Postage Meter was put into commercial use.

American inventor Arthur Pitney and industrialist Walter Bowes teamed together to form Pitney-Bowes Postage Meter Company in April 1920. Together they designed the US's first postage meter.

Oklahoma became the 46th state to join the United States of America.

The first edition of America’s oldest newspaper, The New York Evening Post, was published.

Spanish conquistadors captured Atahualpa, the last Inca emperor.

Atahualpa had only just become the Inca emperor earlier that year after defeating the former emperor, his brother, in battle. His capture marked the downfall of the Inca Empire, as the Spanish invaders used him to control the Inca populace.

Due to mosquito infestations, the city of Havana was relocated to its final location.

This was not the first time the city's location was moved, as it had been relocated twice before, within the first four years of establishing Havana.