On This Day — 7 February
2000s
2024
Pakistan election offices are hit by twin bombings, killing at least 24 people a day before general elections.
February 2024 Balochistan bombings
2021
The 2021 Uttarakhand flood begins.
2021 Uttarakhand flood
2016
North Korea launches Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4 into outer space violating multiple UN treaties and prompting condemnation from around the world.
Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4
2014
Scientists announce that the Happisburgh footprints in Norfolk, England, date back to more than 800,000 years ago, making them the oldest known hominid footprints outside Africa.
Happisburgh footprints
2013
The U.S. state of Mississippi officially certifies the Thirteenth Amendment, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was formally ratified by Mississippi in 1995.
Mississippi
2012
President Mohamed Nasheed of the Republic of Maldives resigns, after 23 days of anti-governmental protests calling for the release of the Chief Judge unlawfully arrested by the military.
Mohamed Nasheed
2009
Bushfires in Victoria leave 173 dead in the worst natural disaster in Australia's history.
Black Saturday bushfires
2001
Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on mission STS-98, carrying the Destiny laboratory module to the International Space Station.
Space Shuttle Atlantis
1900s
1999
Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the King of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein.
Abdullah II of Jordan
1995
Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, is arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Ramzi Yousef
1992
The Maastricht Treaty is signed, leading to the creation of the European Union.
Maastricht Treaty
1991
Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is sworn in.
Haiti
1991
The Troubles: The Provisional IRA launches a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street in London, the headquarters of the British government.
The Troubles
1990
Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly on power.
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
1986
Twenty-eight years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.
Haiti
1984
Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B Mission: astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU).
Space Shuttle program
1981
A plane crash at Pushkin Airport kills 50 people, including 16 members of the Pacific Fleet.
1981 Pushkin Tu-104 crash
1979
Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either was discovered.
Pluto
1974
Grenada gains independence from the United Kingdom.
Grenada
1966
The Great Fire of Iloilo breaks out in a lumber yard in Iznart Street and burns for almost half a day destroying nearly three-quarters of the City Proper area and Php 50 million pesos in total properties' damage.
1966 Iloilo City fire
1964
The Beatles land in the United States for the first time, at the newly renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The Beatles
1962
The United States bans all Cuban imports and exports.
United States embargo against Cuba
1951
Korean War: More than 700 suspected communist sympathizers are massacred by South Korean forces.
Korean War
1944
World War II: In Anzio, Italy, German forces launch a counteroffensive during the Allied Operation Shingle.
Anzio
1943
World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy forces complete the evacuation of Imperial Japanese Army troops from Guadalcanal during Operation Ke, ending Japanese attempts to retake the island from Allied forces in the Guadalcanal campaign.
World War II
1940
The second full-length animated Walt Disney film, Pinocchio, premieres.
Walt Disney
1904
The Great Baltimore Fire begins in Baltimore, Maryland; it destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
Great Baltimore Fire
1900
Second Boer War: British troops fail in their third attempt to lift the Siege of Ladysmith.
Second Boer War
1900
A Chinese immigrant in San Francisco falls ill to bubonic plague in the first plague epidemic in the continental United States.
Bubonic plague
1800s
1898
Dreyfus affair: Émile Zola is brought to trial for libel for publishing J'Accuse...!
Dreyfus affair
1894
The Cripple Creek miner's strike, led by the Western Federation of Miners, begins in Cripple Creek, Colorado, United States.
Cripple Creek miners' strike of 1894
1863
HMS Orpheus sinks off the coast of Auckland, New Zealand, killing 189.
HMS Orpheus (1860)
1854
A law is approved to found the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. Lectures started October 16, 1855.
ETH Zurich
1842
Battle of Debre Tabor: Ras Ali Alula, Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia defeats warlord Wube Haile Maryam of Semien.
Battle of Debre Tabor
1819
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles leaves Singapore after just taking it over, leaving it in the hands of William Farquhar.
Stamford Raffles
1813
In the action of 7 February 1813 near the Îles de Los, the frigates Aréthuse and Amelia batter each other, but neither can gain the upper hand.
Action of 7 February 1813
1812
The strongest in a series of earthquakes strikes New Madrid, Missouri.
1811–1812 New Madrid earthquakes
1807
Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon finds Bennigsen's Russian forces taking a stand at Eylau. After bitter fighting, the French take the town, but the Russians resume the battle the next day.
Napoleonic Wars
Before 1800
1795
The 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.
Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution
1783
American Revolutionary War: French and Spanish forces lift the Great Siege of Gibraltar.
American Revolutionary War
1756
Guaraní War: The leader of the Guaraní rebels, Sepé Tiaraju, is killed in a skirmish with Spanish and Portuguese troops.
Guaraní War
1497
In Florence, Italy, supporters of Girolamo Savonarola burn cosmetics, art, and books, in a "Bonfire of the vanities".
Florence
1365
Albert III of Mecklenburg (King Albert of Sweden) grants city rights to Ulvila (Swedish: Ulvsby).
House of Mecklenburg
1313
King Thihathu founds the Pinya Kingdom as the de jure successor state of the Pagan Kingdom.
Thihathu
1301
Edward of Caernarvon (later King Edward II of England) becomes the first English Prince of Wales.
Caernarfon
1285
A synod at Blachernae convened by anti-Unionist Greek clergy condemns the former pro-Unionist patriarch John XI of Constantinople.
Council of Constantinople (1285)
987
Bardas Phokas the Younger and Bardas Skleros, Byzantine generals of the military elite, begin a wide-scale rebellion against Emperor Basil II.
Bardas Phokas the Younger
457
Leo I becomes the Eastern Roman emperor.
Leo I (emperor)