On this day: February 4

Events on February 4

• 1169 A strong earthquake struck the eastern coast of Sicily, causing at least 15,000 deaths. Wikipedia
• 1169 A strong earthquake strikes the Ionian coast of Sicily, causing tens of thousands of injuries and deaths, especially in Catania. Wikipedia
• 1488 Bartolomeu Dias landed in Mossel Bay, becoming the first European known to have sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, the southern tip of Africa, beginning Portuguese influence and trade in the Indian Ocean. Wikipedia
• 1555 John Rogers is burned at the stake, becoming the first English Protestant martyr under Queen Mary I. Wikipedia
• 1789 George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 1797 The Riobamba earthquake strikes Ecuador, causing up to 40,000 casualties. Wikipedia
• 1859 The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 1932 Second Sino-Japanese War: Harbin, Manchuria, falls to Japan. Wikipedia
• 1938 Adolf Hitler appoints himself as head of the Armed Forces High Command. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: American forces liberated the Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila, the largest Japanese-run internment camp for enemy civilians in the Philippines. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: Santo Tomas Internment Camp is liberated from Japanese authority. Wikipedia
• 1945 World War II: The Yalta Conference between the "Big Three" (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) opens at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea. Wikipedia
• 1948 Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth. Wikipedia
• 1969 Yasser Arafat was elected chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Wikipedia
• 1976 In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000. Wikipedia
• 1992 A coup d'état is led by Hugo Chávez against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez. Wikipedia
• 1997 En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel, killing 73. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 2003 The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia adopts a new constitution, becoming a loose confederacy between Montenegro and Serbia. Wikipedia
• 2004 Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, is founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin. Wikipedia
• 2008 Civic mobilizations in Colombia against FARC, under the name A million voices against the FARC. Wikipedia
• 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. Wikipedia
• 2020 The COVID-19 pandemic causes all casinos in Macau to be closed down for 15 days. Wikipedia
• 2025 Ten people are killed in a mass shooting at an adult education centre in Örebro, Sweden. Wikipedia

Born on February 4

• 1688 Pierre de Marivaux, French author and playwright (died 1763) Wikipedia
• 1868 Constance Markievicz, Irish revolutionary and first woman elected to the UK House of Commons (died 1927) Wikipedia
• 1871 Friedrich Ebert, German lawyer and politician, first President of Germany (died 1925) Wikipedia
• 1881 Kliment Voroshilov, Soviet politician and Marshal of the Soviet Union, People's Commissar for Defence (died 1969) Wikipedia
• 1883 Reinhold Rudenberg, German-American inventor and a pioneer of electron microscopy (died 1961) Wikipedia
• 1897 Ludwig Erhard, German soldier and politician, second Chancellor of West Germany (died 1977) Wikipedia
• 1900 Jacques Prévert, French poet and screenwriter (died 1977) Wikipedia
• 1902 Charles Lindbergh, American pilot and explorer (died 1974) Wikipedia
• 1906 Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer and academic, discovered Pluto (died 1997) Wikipedia
• 1906 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor and theologian (died 1945) Wikipedia
• 1913 Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist (died 2005) Wikipedia
• 1917 Yahya Khan, Pakistan general and politician, third President of Pakistan (died 1980) Wikipedia
• 1918 Ida Lupino, English-American actress and director (died 1995) Wikipedia
• 1921 Betty Friedan, American author and feminist (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1921 Lotfi Zadeh, Iranian-American mathematician and computer scientist and founder of fuzzy logic (died 2017) Wikipedia
• 1923 Conrad Bain, Canadian-American actor (died 2013) Wikipedia
• 1931 Isabel Perón, Argentinian dancer and politician, 41st President of Argentina Wikipedia
• 1940 George A. Romero, American director and producer (died 2017) Wikipedia
• 1943 Ken Thompson, American computer scientist and programmer, co-developed the B programming language Wikipedia
• 1947 Dan Quayle, American sergeant, lawyer, and politician, 44th Vice President of the United States Wikipedia
• 1948 Alice Cooper, American singer-songwriter Wikipedia
• 1975 Natalie Imbruglia, Australian singer-songwriter and actress Wikipedia

Died on February 4

• 211 Septimius Severus, Roman emperor (born 145) Wikipedia
• 708 Pope Sisinnius (born 650) Wikipedia
• 1891 Pelagio Antonio de Labastida y Dávalos, Roman Catholic archbishop and Mexican politician who served as regent during the Second Mexican Empire (born 1816) Wikipedia
• 1928 Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1853) Wikipedia
• 1936 Wilhelm Gustloff, German-Swiss soldier, founded Swiss NSDAP/AO (born 1895) Wikipedia
• 1940 Nikolai Yezhov, Russian police officer and politician (born 1895) Wikipedia
• 1974 Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist, mathematician, and academic (born 1894) Wikipedia
• 1983 Karen Carpenter, American singer (born 1950) Wikipedia
• 1987 Carl Rogers, American psychologist and academic (born 1902) Wikipedia
• 1995 Patricia Highsmith, American novelist and short story writer (born 1921) Wikipedia
• 2006 Betty Friedan, American author and activist (born 1921) Wikipedia
• 2019 Matti Nykänen, Finnish Olympic-winning ski jumper and singer (born 1963) Wikipedia
• 2020 Daniel arap Moi, Former President of Kenya (born 1924) Wikipedia
• 2021 Millie Hughes-Fulford, American astronaut, molecular biologist and NASA payload specialist (born 1945) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Andrew Corsini Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Eduardo Francisco Pironio Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gilbert of Sempringham Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: John de Brito Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Goldrofe of Arganil Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Rabanus Maurus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Rimbert Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: February 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Day of the Armed Struggle (Angola) Wikipedia
• Earliest day on which Ash Wednesday can fall, while March 10 is the latest; celebrated on the first day of Lent (Western Christianity) Wikipedia
• Independence Day (Sri Lanka) Wikipedia
• Rosa Parks Day (California and Missouri, United States) Wikipedia
• World Cancer Day Wikipedia
• International Day of Human Fraternity Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “February 4” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.