February 2 – The Day in History

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Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela

THUNDER BAY – HISTORY – It was on this day in history in 1990, that the path to freedom for Nelson Mandela started. F. W. de Klerk announced the unbanning of the African National Congress and promised to release Nelson Mandela.

South Africa had been under increasing world pressure and sanctions over the policy of apartheid.

In 1989, the last of the Soviet Union forces left Afghanistan. This ended what many called the USSR’s “Vietnam”.

Significant Events in History on February 2

  • 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.
  • 1141 – The Battle of Lincoln, at which King Stephen was defeated and captured by the allies of Empress Matilda, presenting her with the unfulfilled opportunity to become the first queen of medieval England.
  • 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 forces under Cristovão 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.
  • 1709 – Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being shipwrecked on a desert island, inspiring the book Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.
  • 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.
  • 1868 – Pro-Imperial forces captured Osaka Castle from the Tokugawa shogunate and burned it to the ground.
  • 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.
  • 1914 – Charlie Chaplin’s first film appearance, Making a Living premiered.
  • 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.
  • 1933 – Working as maids, the sisters Christine and Léa Papin murder their employer’s wife and daughter in Le Mans, France. The case is the subject of a number of French films and plays.
  • 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.
  • 1959 – Dyatlov Pass incident
  • 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.
  • 1971 – The international Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands is signed in Ramsar, Mazandaran, Iran.
  • 1972 – The British embassy in Dublin is destroyed in protest at Bloody Sunday.
  • 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 – 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 is 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 announces the unbanning of the African National Congress and promises to release Nelson Mandela.
  • 2000 – First digital cinema projection in Europe (Paris) realized by Philippe Binant with the DLP CINEMA technology developed by Texas Instruments.
  • 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.
  • 2007 – The worst flooding in Indonesia in 300 years begins.
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