Events for February 2
1868 – Pro-Imperial forces capture Osaka Castle from the Tokugawa shogunate and burn it to the ground.
1848 – Mexican–American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed.
1982 – Hama massacre: The government of Syria attacks the town of Hama.
880 – Battle of Lüneburg Heath: King Louis III of France is defeated by the Norse Great Heathen Army at Lüneburg Heath in Saxony.
1990 – Apartheid: F. W. de Klerk announces the unbanning of the African National Congress and promises to release Nelson Mandela.
2007 – Police officer Filippo Raciti is killed when a clash breaks out in the Sicily derby between Catania and Palermo, in the Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. This event led to major changes in stadium regulations in Italy.
1653 – New Amsterdam (later renamed The City of New York) is incorporated.
1850 – Brigham Young declares war on Timpanogos in the Battle at Fort Utah.
1934 – The Export-Import Bank of the United States is incorporated.
2004 – Swiss tennis player Roger Federer becomes the No. 1 ranked men's singles player, a position he will hold for a record 237 weeks.
2000 – First digital cinema projection in Europe (Paris) realized by Philippe Binant with the DLP CINEMA technology developed by Texas Instruments.
1887 – In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the first Groundhog Day is observed.
1870 – The Seven Brothers (Seitsemän veljestä), a novel by Finnish author Aleksis Kivi, is published first time in several thin booklets.
1645 – Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Battle of Inverlochy.
1032 – Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor becomes king of Burgundy.
1900 – Boston, Detroit, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Chicago and St. Louis, agree to form baseball's American League.
2012 – The ferry MV Rabaul Queen sinks off the coast of Papua New Guinea near the Finschhafen District, with an estimated 146–165 dead.
1922 – Ulysses by James Joyce is published.
1998 – Cebu Pacific Flight 387 crashes into Mount Sumagaya in the Philippines, killing all 104 people on board.
1989 – Soviet–Afghan War: The last Soviet armoured column leaves Kabul.
1913 – Grand Central Terminal opens in New York City.
1536 – Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina.
1920 – The Tartu Peace Treaty is signed between Estonia and Russia.
1942 – The Osvald Group is responsible for the first, active event of anti-Nazi resistance in Norway, to protest the inauguration of Vidkun Quisling.
Notable Births & Deaths for February 2
2000 – Munetaka Murakami, Japanese baseball player
2014 – Nicholas Brooks, English historian (b. 1941)
2013 – Walt Sweeney, American football player (b. 1941)
2016 – Bob Elliott, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1923)
2013 – Chris Kyle, American soldier and sniper (b. 1974)
2013 – Guy F. Tozzoli, American architect (b. 1922)
2013 – Lino Oviedo, Paraguayan general and politician (b. 1943)
2021 – Captain Sir Tom Moore, British Army officer and charity campaigner (b. 1920)
2014 – Bunny Rugs, Jamaican singer (b. 1948)
2013 – John Kerr, American actor and lawyer (b. 1931)
1994 – Caterina Bosetti, Italian volleyball player
2015 – Dave Bergman, American baseball player (b. 1953)
2013 – Pepper Paire, American baseball player (b. 1924)
1991 – Shohei Nanba, Japanese actor
1988 – Zosia Mamet, American actress
2015 – Stewart Stern, American screenwriter (b. 1922)
1998 – Shiho Katō, Japanese idol
1987 – Javon Ringer, American football player
1987 – Faydee, Australian singer
1993 – Bobby Decordova-Reid, English born Jamaican international footballer
2013 – P. Shanmugam, Indian politician, 13th Chief Minister of Puducherry (b. 1927)
2014 – Tommy Aquino, American motorcycle racer (b. 1992)
1995 – Arfa Karim, Pakistani student and computer prodigy (d. 2012)
1991 – Nathan Delfouneso, English footballer
1987 – Martin Spanjers, American actor and producer
1996 – Harry Winks, English international footballer
1991 – Gregory Mertens, Belgian footballer (d. 2015)
1995 – Paul Digby, English footballer
1987 – Athena Imperial, Filipino journalist, Miss Earth-Water 2011
2015 – Joseph Alfidi, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1949)
2015 – Molade Okoya-Thomas, Nigerian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1935)
2015 – The Jacka, American rapper and producer (b. 1977)
2014 – Gerd Albrecht, German conductor (b. 1935)
1987 – Mimi Page, American singer-songwriter and composer
2014 – Philip Seymour Hoffman, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1967)
2014 – Nigel Walker, English footballer (b. 1959)
2014 – Luis Raúl, Puerto Rican comedian and actor (b. 1962)
2020 – Bernard Ebbers, Canadian businessman, the co-founder and CEO of WorldCom (b. 1941)
2015 – Andriy Kuzmenko, Ukrainian singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1968)
1987 – Gerard Piqué, Spanish footballer
2014 – Eduardo Coutinho, Brazilian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1933)
1992 – Joonas Tamm, Estonian footballer
1995 – Aleksander Jagiełło, Polish footballer
1987 – Jill Scott, English footballer
1993 – Ravel Morrison, English footballer
Quick Start
Our API is incredibly easy to use, check out the code samples below to get started:
Fetch Historical Events
All you need to do is send a request to https://today.zenquotes.io/api/[month]/[day]/[key] in order to generate a JSON array of historical events, including notable births and deaths. API data pulled from WikiPedia.
*[key] not required but recommended.
Sample Requests
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/1/1 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for January 1.
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/5/5 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for May 5.
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/12/25 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for December 25.
Response
The result data is formatted as a JSON array, grouped by event type.
{ "info":"OnThisDay API", "date":"April_20", "updated":"1615972324",
"data":{
"Events":[ { "text":"1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII.[1]", "html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/1303\" title=\"1303\">1303</a> – The <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapienza_University_of_Rome\" title=\"Sapienza University of Rome\">Sapienza University of Rome</a> is instituted by a <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_bull\" title=\"Papal bull\">bull</a> of <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Boniface_VIII\" title=\"Pope Boniface VIII\">Pope Boniface VIII</a>." },
//.. MORE DATA ..//
"Births":[ { "text":"1494 – Johannes Agricola, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)[8]", "html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/1494\" title=\"1494\">1494</a> – <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Agricola\" title=\"Johannes Agricola\">Johannes Agricola</a>, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)" },
//.. MORE DATA ..//
"Deaths":[ { "text":"689 – Cædwalla, king of Wessex (b. 659)[21]", "html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/689\" title=\"689\">689</a> – <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A6dwalla_of_Wessex\" title=\"Cædwalla of Wessex\">Cædwalla</a>, king of <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Wessex\" title=\"Wessex\">Wessex</a> (b. 659)" },
//.. MORE DATA ..//
} }Usage Limits and Attribution
Requests are restricted to 5 per 30 second period, an API key or registered IP is required for unlimited access and to enable Access-Control-Allow-Origin headers. We require that you show attribution with a link back to https://today.zenquotes.io/ when using the free version of this API. Contact support@zenquotes.io to chat with our friendly dev team and get registered.
Historical event data provided by <a href="https://today.zenquotes.io/" target="_blank">ZenQuotes.io</a>