TODAY IN HISTORY: December 16

1497: Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama becomes the first European to sail along Africa's east coast, names it Natal.

1689: The English Parliament passes the Bill of Rights establishing limits on Crown powers and requirement for regular elections.

1773: Sons of Liberty protesters throw tea shipments into Boston harbour in protest against British imposed Tea Act.

1880: Beginning of the first Boer War between the British Empire and Boer South African Republic.

1921: The Anglo-Irish Treaty, agreed to by the British parliament and Sinn Fein, is ratified.

1944: Nazi Germany launches a counteroffensive against the Allies in the Ardennes region of Belgium, beginning the Battle of the Bulge.

1950: Child star Shirley Temple announces her retirement from films at age 22.

1969: The British House of Commons votes 343-185 to abolish the death penalty.

1972: The Miami Dolphins become the first National Football League team to go undefeated in a regular season (14-0).

1985: John Gotti assumes leadership of New York's Gambino crime family after ordering the executions of Paul Castellano and Thomas Bilotti.

1990: Jean-Bertrand Aristide is elected president of Haiti.