History Events on February 04

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

#Dominion_of_Ceylon

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

Yasser Arafat takes over as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

#Yasser_Arafat

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

#1797_Riobamba_earthquake

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

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

#Lebanon

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

#John_Marshall

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

#Guatemala

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

#All_Nippon_Airways_Flight_60

The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.

#Codex_Sinaiticus

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

#John_Rogers_(Bible_editor_and_martyr)

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

#Second_Sino-Japanese_War

Following the death of Rome's 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, instructing them to make peace.

#Septimius_Severus

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

#George_Washington

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

#Angolan_War_of_Independence

Macapá, Brazil is founded.

#Macapá

The Chilean Navy under the command of Lord Cochrane completes the 2-day long Capture of Valdivia with just 300 men and 2 ships.

#Chilean_Navy

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

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

#Symbionese_Liberation_Army

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

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

#1975_Haicheng_earthquake

The Royal Navy seizes Guadeloupe.

#Royal_Navy

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

The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of Song, initiating the Song dynasty period of China that would last more than three centuries.

#Emperor_Taizu_of_Song

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

#1169_Sicily_earthquake

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

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

#Mormon_pioneers

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

#Yalta_Conference

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

#World_War_II

American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from six break-away U.S. states meet and form the Confederate States of America.

#American_Civil_War

The Philippine-American War begins with the Battle of Manila.

#Philippine-American_War

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

#Slavery

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

#Oberkommando_der_Wehrmacht

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

#1992_Venezuelan_coup_d'état_attempts

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 take-off, killing 43 people.

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

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

Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot 41 times by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race relations in the city.

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.

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

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

In the Thirteen Years' War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master.