February 6Birthdays & History

On this day: February 6 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 337Election of Pope Julius I.Europe
2. 590Hormizd IV, king of the Sasanian Empire, is overthrown and blinded by his brothers-in-law Vistahm and Vinduyih.Middle East
3. 1579The Diocese of Manila is erected by papal bull, with Domingo de Salazar appointed its first bishop.Asia
4. 1685James II of England and VII of Scotland is proclaimed King upon the death of his brother Charles II.Europe
5. 1694Dandara dos Palmares, leader of the runaway slaves in Quilombo dos Palmares, Brazil, is captured and commits suicide rather than be returned to a life of slavery.Latin America
6. 1778New York became the third state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.North America
7. 1778American Revolutionary War: In Paris the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce are signed by the United States and France signaling official recognition of the new republic.North AmericaEurope
8. 1788Massachusetts becomes the sixth state to ratify the United States Constitution.North America
9. 1806Battle of San Domingo: British naval victory against the French in the Caribbean.EuropeLatin America
10. 1819The Treaty of Singapore was signed by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, Hussein Shah of Johor, and Temenggong Abdul Rahman, and it is now recognised as the founding of modern Singapore.Asia
11. 1820The first 86 African American immigrants sponsored by the American Colonization Society depart New York to start a settlement in present-day Liberia.AfricaNorth America
12. 1833Otto becomes the first modern King of Greece.Europe
13. 1840Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, establishing New Zealand as a British colony.OceaniaEurope
14. 1843The first minstrel show in the United States, The Virginia Minstrels, opens (Bowery Amphitheatre in New York City).North America
15. 1851The largest Australian bushfires in a populous region in recorded history take place in the state of Victoria.Oceania
16. 1862American Civil War: Forces under the command of Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew H. Foote give the Union its first victory of the war, capturing Fort Henry, Tennessee in the Battle of Fort Henry.North America
17. 1865The municipal administration of Finland is established.Europe
18. 1899Spanish–American War: The Treaty of Paris, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain, is ratified by the United States Senate.EuropeNorth America
19. 1900The Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international arbitration court at The Hague, is created when the Senate of the Netherlands ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.Europe
20. 1918British women over the age of 30 who meet minimum property qualifications, get the right to vote when Representation of the People Act 1918 is passed by Parliament.Europe
21. 1919The five-day Seattle General Strike begins, as more than 65,000 workers in the city of Seattle, Washington, walk off the job.North America
22. 1922The Washington Naval Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C., limiting the naval armaments of United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.North AmericaEuropeAsia
23. 1934Far-right leagues rally in front of the Palais Bourbon in an attempted coup against the French Third Republic, creating a political crisis in France.Europe
24. 1944World War II: The Great Raids Against Helsinki begins.Europe
25. 1951The Broker, a Pennsylvania Railroad passenger train derails near Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The accident kills 85 people and injures over 500 more. The wreck is one of the worst rail disasters in American history.North America
26. 1951The Canadian Army enters combat in the Korean War.North AmericaAsia
27. 1952Elizabeth II becomes Queen of the United Kingdom and her other Realms and Territories and Head of the Commonwealth upon the death of her father, George VI. At the exact moment of succession, she was in a tree house at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya.EuropeAfrica
28. 1958Eight Manchester United F.C. players and 15 other passengers are killed in the Munich air disaster.Europe
29. 1959Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments files the first patent for an integrated circuit.North America
30. 1959At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.North America
31. 1973The Ms 7.6 Luhuo earthquake strikes Sichuan Province, causing widespread destruction and killing at least 2,199 people.Asia
32. 1976In testimony before a United States Senate subcommittee, Lockheed Corporation president Carl Kotchian admits that the company had paid out approximately $3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.North AmericaAsia
33. 1978The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst Nor'easters in New England history, hit the region, with sustained winds of 65 mph and snowfall of four inches an hour.Europe
34. 1981The National Resistance Army of Uganda launches an attack on a Ugandan Army installation in the central Mubende District to begin the Ugandan Bush War.Africa
35. 1987Justice Mary Gaudron becomes the first woman to be appointed to the High Court of Australia.Oceania
36. 1989The Round Table Talks start in Poland, thus marking the beginning of the overthrow of communism in Eastern Europe.Europe
37. 1996Willamette Valley Flood: Floods in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, United States, causes over US$500 million in property damage throughout the Pacific Northwest.North America
38. 1996Birgenair Flight 301 crashed off the coast of the Dominican Republic, killing all 189 people on board. This is the deadliest aviation accident involving a Boeing 757.Latin America
39. 1998Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.North America
40. 2000Second Chechen War: Russia captures Grozny, Chechnya, forcing the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government into exile.Europe
41. 2006Stephen Harper becomes Prime Minister of Canada.North America
42. 2012A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hits the central Philippine island of Negros, leaving 112 people dead.Asia
43. 2016An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 strikes southern Taiwan, killing 117 people.Asia
44. 2018SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, a super heavy launch vehicle, makes its maiden flight.North America
45. 2021U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken suspends agreements with Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to send asylum seekers back to their home countries.North AmericaLatin America
46. 2023Two earthquakes measuring Mww 7.8 and 7.5 struck near the border between Turkey and Syria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XII (Extreme). The earthquakes resulted in numerous aftershocks and a death toll of 57,658 people.Middle East

Source: Wikipedia "February 6" / CC BY-SA 4.0