February 2 - Events

Events

• 506 – Alaric II, eighth king of the Visigoths promulgates The Breviary of Alaric (Breviarium Alaricianum or Lex Romana Visigothorum) a collection of Roman law.
• 962 – Translatio imperii: Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, the first Holy Roman Emperor in nearly 40 years.
• 1032 – Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes King of Burgundy.
• 1207 – Terra Mariana, comprising present-day Estonia and Latvia, is established.
• 1461 – Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Mortimer's Cross is fought in Herefordshire, England.
• 1536 – Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• 1542 – Portuguese under Christovão da Gama capture a Muslim-occupied hill fort in northern Ethiopia in the Battle of Baçente.
• 1653 – New Amsterdam (later renamed The City of New York) is incorporated.
• 1848 – Mexican-American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed.
• 1848 – California Gold Rush: The first ship with Chinese immigrants arrives in San Francisco, California.
• 1876 – The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.
• 1887 – In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.
• 1899 – The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia's capital city, Canberra, between Sydney and Melbourne.
• 1901 – Funeral of Queen Victoria
• 1913 – Grand Central Terminal is opened in New York City.
• 1920 – The Tartu Peace Treaty is signed between Estonia and Russia.
• 1920 – France occupies Memel.
• 1922 – Ulysses by James Joyce is published.
• 1925 – Serum run to Nome: Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring the Iditarod race.
• 1925 – The Charlevoix-Kamouraska earthquake strikes northeastern North America.
• 1934 – The Export-Import Bank of the United States is incorporated.
• 1935 – Leonarde Keeler tests the first polygraph machine.
• 1943 – World War II: The Battle of Stalingrad comes to conclusion as Soviet troops accept the surrender of 91,000 remnants of the Axis forces.
• 1957 – Iskander Mirza of Pakistan lays the foundation-stone of the Guddu Barrage.
• 1966 – Pakistan suggests a six-point agenda with Kashmir after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
• 1971 – Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader of Uganda.
• 1972 – The British embassy in Dublin is destroyed in protest at Bloody Sunday.
• 1974 – The F-16 Fighting Falcon flies for the first time.
• 1976 – The Groundhog Day gale hits the north-eastern United States and south-eastern Canada.
• 1980 – Reports surface that the FBI is targeting allegedly corrupt Congressmen in the Abscam operation.
• 1982 – February 1982 Hama massacre: the government of Syria attacks the town of Hama.
• 1987 – After the 1986 People Power Revolution, the Philippines enacts a new constitution.
• 1988 – Auntie Anne's was founded by Anne F. Beiler in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
• 1989 – Soviet war in Afghanistan: The last Soviet armoured column leaves Kabul.
• 1990 – Apartheid: F.W. de Klerk allows the African National Congress to function legally and promises to release Nelson Mandela.
• 2004 – Swiss tennis player Roger Federer becomes the No. 1 ranked men's singles player, a position he will hold for a record 237 weeks.
• 2009 – The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe devalues the Zimbabwean dollar for the third and final time, making Z$1 trillion now only Z$1 of the new currency (this is equivalent to Z$10 septillion before the first devaluation).