Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/February 2
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.
| ← February 1 | February 3 → |
|---|
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
-
Roger Federer -
The Iditarod in 2003 -
James Joyce -
Zimbabwean 500 dollar note -
Vineyard in Stellenbosch, South Africa
.jpg)
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| Candlemas (Western Christianity) | 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 section |
| 1709 – Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk was rescued by English captain Woodes Rogers and the crew of the Duke after spending four years as a castaway on an uninhabited island in the Juan Fernández archipelago, providing the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe. | Selkirk: original research |
| 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, unreferenced sections |
Eligible
- 1207 – Terra Mariana, comprising present-day Estonia and Latvia, was established as a principality of the Holy Roman Empire.
- 1659 – Jan van Riebeeck, the founder of Cape Town, produced the first bottle of South African wine.
- 1920 – The signing of the Treaty of Tartu ended the Estonian War of Independence, with Russia agreeing to recognize the independence of Estonia and renounce in perpetuity all rights to that territory.
- 1922 – The novel Ulysses was first published in its entirety after this material by author James Joyce first appeared in serialized parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, becoming one of the most important works of Modernist literature.
- 1934 – The Export-Import Bank, the United States' official export credit agency, was established.
- 1971 – The international Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands was signed in Ramsar, Mazandaran, Iran.
- 1974 – The F-16 Fighting Falcon, one of the best-selling jet fighters ever built, had its first flight.
- 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.
- 2004 – Swiss tennis player Roger Federer became the No. 1 ranked men's singles player, a position he held for a record 237 weeks.
- 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.
February 2: Groundhog Day in Canada and the United States
- 962 – Pope John XII crowned Otto the Great as Holy Roman Emperor, the first in nearly 40 years.
- 1536 – An expedition to the New World led by Spanish conquistador Pedro de Mendoza founded what is now Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 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.
- 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.
- 1990 – President F. W. de Klerk (pictured) declared the end of apartheid in South Africa.