February 2 is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 332 days remaining, (333 in leap years).
Events:
- 1536 - Spainiard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 1653 - New Amsterdam (later renamed New York City) is incorporated.
- 1848 - Mexican-American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is singed ending the war.
- 1848 - California Gold Rush: The first ship with Chinese emigrants seeking fortune in California's gold country arrive in San Francisco.
- 1870 - It is revealed that the famed Cardiff Giant was just carved gypsum and not the petrified remains of a human.
- 1878 - Greece declares war on Turkey.
- 1887 - In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.
- 1897 - The Pennsylvania state capitol is destroyed by fire.
- 1899 - The Australian Premiers' Conference held in Melbourne agrees Australia's capital (Canberra) should be located between Sydney and Melbourne.
- 1935 - The polygraph machine is tested for the first time. Leonard Keeler conducted the experiment in Portage, Wisconsin.
- 1943 - World War II: The last Nazi forces surrender to the Soviets following the Battle of Stalingrad.
- 1945 - World War II: American President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill leave to meet with Soviet leader Josef Stalin at the Yalta Conference.
- 1962 - For the first time in 400 years Neptune and Pluto align.
- 1967 - The American Basketball Association is formed.
- 1971 - In Uganda after a coup, Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader.
- 1980 - Abscam: Reports surface that FBI personnel were targeting members of the United States Congress in a sting operation.
- 1989 - Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: The last Soviet Union armored column leaves Kabul ending nine years of military occupation.
- 1990 - Apartheid: In South Africa President F.W. de Klerk allows the African National Congress to legally function again and promises to set Nelson Mandela free.
- 1999 - A cargo plane crashes after takeoff in at Luanda International Airport in Angola killing 19.
Births:
- 1711 - Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz, diplomat (+ 1794)
- 1754 - Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, politician (+ 1838)
- 1829 - Alfred Brehm, zoologist (+ 1884)
- 1905 - Ayn Rand, author
- 1926 - Valery Giscard d'Estaing, politican
- 1927 - Stan Getz
- 1937 - Tom Smothers, comedian, half of the Smothers Brothers
- 1942 - Graham Nash
- 1950 - Barbara Sukowa, actress
Deaths:
- 1959 - rock and roll performers Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper, in a plane crash outside Mason City, Iowa.
- 1970 - Bertrand Russell, mathematician and philosopher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in literature 1950 (+ 1970)
- 1979 - Sid Vicious of Sex Pistols
Holidays and observances:
- Catholicism - Presentation of the Lord.
- Catholicism - World Day for Consecrated Life (Feb. 2-3 in the U.S)
- Ancient Latvia - Veja Diena observed
- United States - Groundhog Day
- Candlemas is one of the Scottish quarter days in the Christian calendar
See Also: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
February 1 - February 3 - January 2 - March 2 - Historical anniversaries - (Please read this before editing or creating a date page)