On This Day — 4 February

2025

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

Örebro school shooting

2020

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

COVID-19 pandemic

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.

TransAsia Airways Flight 235

2008

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

Colombia

2004

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

Facebook

2003

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

Serbia and Montenegro

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.

Jacques Chirac

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.

Killing of Amadou Diallo

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.

February 1998 Afghanistan earthquake

1997

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

Lebanon

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.

1997 Bojnurd earthquake

1992

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

February 1992 Venezuelan coup attempt

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.

Chicago Transit Authority

1976

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

Guatemala

1975

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

1975 Haicheng earthquake

1974

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

Symbionese Liberation Army

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.

M62 coach bombing

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.

Lunar Orbiter program

1966

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

All Nippon Airways Flight 60

1961

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

Angolan War of Independence

1948

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

Dominion of Ceylon

1945

World War II: Santo Tomas Internment Camp is liberated from Japanese authority.

World War II

1945

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

Yalta Conference

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.

British Indian Army

1941

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

United Service Organizations

1938

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

Adolf Hitler

1932

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

Second Sino-Japanese War

1899

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

Philippine–American War

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.

American Civil War

1859

The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.

Codex Sinaiticus

1846

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

Mormon pioneers

1825

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

Ohio General Assembly

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.

Chilean Navy

1810

Napoleonic Wars: Britain seizes Guadeloupe.

Invasion of Guadeloupe (1810)

1801

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

John Marshall

1797

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

1797 Riobamba earthquake

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.

Slavery

1789

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

George Washington

1758

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

Macapá

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.

Edo

1555

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

John Rogers (Bible editor and martyr)

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.

Thirteen Years' War (1454–1466)

1169

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

1169 Sicily earthquake

960

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

Emperor Taizu of Song

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.

Septimius Severus