This is a list of selected February 2 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
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Images
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The Iditarod in 2003 -
James Joyce -
Zimbabwean 500 dollar note -
Roger Federer -
President F.W. de Klerk -
Statue of Alexander Selkirk -
Seal of the U.S. Export–Import Bank -
Vineyard in Stellenbosch, South Africa -
The White Tower, Tower of London
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Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| 962 – Pope John XII crowned Otto the Great as Holy Roman Emperor, the first in nearly 40 years. | refimprove section |
| 1141 – Stephen, King of England was captured by forces loyal to the Empress Matilda at the Battle of Lincoln. | refimprove |
| 1536 – An expedition to the New World led by Spanish conquistador Pedro de Mendoza founded what is now Buenos Aires, Argentina. | refimprove section |
| 1653 – The Dutch colony of New Amsterdam received municipal rights, thus becoming a city on territory that is now New York City. | refimprove |
| 1848 – The Mexican–American War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which gave 1.36 million square kilometres (530,000 sq mi) of Mexican territory known as the Mexican Cession to the United States in exchange for US$15 million. | refimprove section |
| 1922 – The novel Ulysses by James Joyce was first published in its entirety, becoming one of the most important works of modernist literature. | refimprove sections |
| 1925 – Medical supplies to combat an outbreak of diphtheria reached Nome, Alaska, on dog sleds after a five and a half-day journey, inspiring the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across Alaska. | Serum run: original research; Iditarod: refimprove sections |
| 1971 – The international Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands was signed in Ramsar, Mazandaran, Iran. | needs more footnotes |
| 1982 – The Syrian army bombarded the town of Hama in order to quell a revolt by the Muslim Brotherhood, killing about 7,000–25,000 people. | disagreement in sources on actual date bombing began. See article talk page |
| 1990 – President F. W. de Klerk declared the end of apartheid in South Africa. | refimprove section |
| 2009 – The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe devalued the Zimbabwean dollar for the third and final time, making Z$1 trillion now only Z$1 of the new currency. | refimprove section |
| Agha Petros |d|1932 | citation needed for the date of death |
| Christie Brinkley |b|1954| | Expansion needed banner |
Eligible
- 506 – Alaric II, King of the Visigoths, promulgated a collection of Roman law known as the Breviary of Alaric.
- 1101 – By descending from a window while his gaolers were getting drunk, Ranulf Flambard, the first recorded prisoner in the Tower of London (pictured), became the first to escape the building.
- 1438 – Nine leaders of the Transylvanian peasant revolt were executed at Torda.
- 1659 – Jan van Riebeeck, the founder of Cape Town, produced the first bottle of South African wine (vineyard pictured).
- 1850 – Ute Wars: Brigham Young announced his decision to go to war against the Timpanogos, who were hostile to the Mormon settlement at Fort Utah.
- 1913 – New York City's Grand Central Terminal, the world's largest train station by number of platforms, opened immediately after midnight.
- 1920 – The signing of the Treaty of Tartu ended the Estonian War of Independence, with Soviet Russia agreeing to recognize the country's independence and renounce in perpetuity all rights to its territory.
- 1942 – The first act of the Norwegian resistance movement took place with the bombing of Oslo East Station by the Osvald Group to protest the inauguration of Vidkun Quisling.
- 1943 – World War II: The Soviet Red Army captured 91,000 tired and starving German soldiers, ending the Battle of Stalingrad, one of the bloodiest battles in human history.
- 1963 – 113 alleged communists were arrested and detained without trial by Singapore's security agencies.
- 1972 - Protestors burned the British Embassy in Ireland following the massacre of 14 civilians in Derry by British forces.
- 2007 – Following a Derby di Sicilia match in Catania, football violence caused the death of police officer Filippo Raciti, leading to new safety regulations at Italian sporting events.
- 2009 – Omid, Iran's first domestically made satellite, was successfully launched from Semnan Space Center.
- 2012 – The passenger ferry MV Rabaul Queen capsized and sank in rough conditions in the Solomon Sea, resulting in at least 88 deaths.
- Born/died this day: | Piotr Skarga |b|1536| Alix Le Clerc |b|1576| Isaac Titsingh |d|1812| Vincenzo Dimech |d|1831| José Guadalupe Posada |b|1852| Frederick William Vanderbilt |b|1856| Alexander Cameron Rutherford |b|1857| Julia Nava de Ruisánchez |b|1883| Alfred Delp |d|1945 | Abraham Iyambo |bd|1961; 2013| Peter Lundgren |b|1963| Mary Docherty |d|2000| Abu Salman Shahjahanpuri |d|2021
February 2: Candlemas (Western Christianity); Groundhog Day in Canada and the United States
F-16 Fighting Falcon
- 1709 – Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk was rescued by English captain Woodes Rogers and his crew after spending four years as a castaway on an uninhabited island in the Pacific, providing the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe.
- 1934 – The Export–Import Bank of the United States, the country's official export credit agency, was established.
- 1974 – The F-16 Fighting Falcon (pictured), the most numerous fixed-wing aircraft currently in military service, made its first flight.
- 2004 – Swiss tennis player Roger Federer became the top-ranked men's singles player, a position he held for a record 237 consecutive weeks.
- William Stanley (b. 1829)
- Likelike (d. 1887)
- Marian Cruger Coffin (d. 1957)
- Philip Seymour Hoffman (d. 2014)
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