November 16 through History

Explanation: Atahualpa was captured by Francisco Pizarro at the Battle of Cajamarca. Despite the payment of an enormous ransom in gold and silver, he was executed by the Spanish in 1533, marking the collapse of the Inca Empire.

Explanation: The Hôtel des Invalides was built to house wounded or disabled soldiers of the royal army. Inaugurated in 1676, it has been home to Napoleon Bonaparte's tomb under its gilded dome since 1840.

Explanation: UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, was founded in Paris in the immediate aftermath of World War II. Its constitution opens with the famous phrase: "Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed."

Explanation: Missak Manouchian led the FTP-MOI, Francs-Tireurs et Partisans - Main-d'Œuvre Immigrée. After his arrest, he and his comrades were used as propaganda tools by the Nazis in the famous "Affiche Rouge" (Red Poster). He was inducted into the Panthéon in February 2024.

Explanation: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, directed by Chris Columbus, was the first film in the saga adapted from J.K. Rowling's novels. It grossed more than 974 million dollars at the worldwide box office, launching one of the most lucrative film franchises in history.

Explanation: The Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO, led to the creation of the World Heritage List. It now includes more than 1,100 sites inscribed around the world, including natural and cultural wonders such as the Taj Mahal, the Great Barrier Reef, and Mont-Saint-Michel.

Explanation: Clemenceau, nicknamed "the Tiger" for his combative character, played a decisive role in the 1918 victory by restoring the morale of the French after a series of defeats. He was also one of the architects of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, which officially ended the First World War.

Explanation: Shigeru Miyamoto is the creator of Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, and Donkey Kong. Often nicknamed the "father of modern video games", he is vice president of Nintendo and continues to influence the development of games at the Japanese company.

Explanation: José Saramago is the only Portuguese-language writer to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature. His most famous novel, Blindness (1995), describes an epidemic of sudden blindness affecting an entire city, a work that resonates particularly in the era of modern pandemics.

Explanation: Gustavus II Adolphus, nicknamed "the Lion of the North", died during this battle of the Thirty Years' War, under circumstances still debated by historians. His death hastened the rise to the throne of his daughter Christina of Sweden, who was only six years old and reigned until her voluntary abdication in 1654.