February 4

Historic Events

2025

Ten people are killed in a mass shooting at an adult education centre in Örebro, Sweden. ›

2020

The COVID-19 pandemic causes all casinos in Macau to be closed down for 15 days. ›

2015

TransAsia Airways Flight 235, with 58 people on board, en route from the Taiwanese capital Taipei to Kinmen, crashes into the Keelung River just after takeoff, killing 43 people. ›

2008

Civic mobilizations in Colombia against FARC, under the name A million voices against the FARC. ›

2004

Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, is founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin. ›

2003

The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia adopts a new constitution, becoming a loose confederacy between Montenegro and Serbia. ›

2000

The World Summit Against Cancer for the New Millennium, Charter of Paris is signed by the President of France, Jacques Chirac and the Director General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, initiating World Cancer Day which is held on February 4 every year. ›

1999

Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot 19 times by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race relations in the city. ›

1998

The 5.9 Mw Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). With 2,323 killed, and 818 injured, damage is considered extreme. ›

1997

En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel, killing 73. ›

1997

The Bojnurd earthquake measuring Mw 6.5 strikes Iran. With a Mercalli intensity of VIII, it kills at least 88 and damages 173 villages. ›

1992

A coup d'état is led by Hugo Chávez against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez. ›

1977

A Chicago Transit Authority elevated train rear-ends another and derails, killing 11 and injuring 180, the worst accident in the agency's history. ›

1976

In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000. ›

1975

Haicheng earthquake (magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale) occurs in Haicheng, Liaoning, China. ›

1974

The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California. ›

1974

M62 coach bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) explodes a bomb on a bus carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel in Yorkshire, England. Nine soldiers and three civilians are killed. ›

1967

Lunar Orbiter program: Lunar Orbiter 3 lifts off from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft. ›

1966

All Nippon Airways Flight 60 plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133. ›

1961

The Angolan War of Independence and the greater Portuguese Colonial War begin. ›

1948

Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth. ›

1945

World War II: The Yalta Conference between the "Big Three" (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) opens at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea. ›

1945

World War II: The British Indian Army and Imperial Japanese Army begin a series of battles known as the Battle of Pokoku and Irrawaddy River operations. ›

1941

The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops. ›

1938

Adolf Hitler appoints himself as head of the Armed Forces High Command. ›

1932

Second Sino-Japanese War: Harbin, Manchuria, falls to Japan. ›

1899

The Philippine–American War begins when four Filipino soldiers enter the "American Zone" in Manila, igniting the Battle of Manila. ›

1861

American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from six breakaway U.S. states meet and initiate the process that would form the Confederate States of America on February 8. ›

1859

The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt. ›

1846

The first Mormon pioneers make their exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, westward towards Salt Lake Valley. ›

1825

The Ohio Legislature authorizes the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal. ›

1820

The Chilean Navy under the command of Lord Cochrane completes the two-day long Capture of Valdivia with just 300 men and two ships. ›

1810

Napoleonic Wars: Britain seizes Guadeloupe. ›

1801

John Marshall is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States. ›

1797

The Riobamba earthquake strikes Ecuador, causing up to 40,000 casualties. ›

1794

The French legislature abolishes slavery throughout all territories of the French First Republic. It would be reestablished in the French West Indies in 1802. ›

1789

George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College. ›

1758

The city of Macapá in Brazil is founded by Sebastião Veiga Cabral. ›

1703

In Edo (now Tokyo), all but one of the Forty-seven Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master's death. ›

1555

John Rogers is burned at the stake, becoming the first English Protestant martyr under Queen Mary I. ›

1454

Thirteen Years' War: The Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, sparking the Thirteen Years' War. ›

1169

A strong earthquake strikes the Ionian coast of Sicily, causing tens of thousands of injuries and deaths, especially in Catania. ›

960

Zhao Kuangyin declares himself Emperor Taizu of Song, ending the Later Zhou and beginning the Song dynasty. ›

211

Following the death of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus at Eboracum (modern York, England) while preparing to lead a campaign against the Caledonians, the empire is left in the control of his two quarrelling sons, Caracalla and Geta, whom he had instructed to make peace. ›