February 6 facts for kids

February 6 is a special day in the calendar! Many important events have happened on this date throughout history. It's a day when new leaders have taken power, big treaties have been signed, and famous people were born or passed away. Let's explore some of the most interesting moments from February 6!

Historical Events

Early History (Before 1600)

• 590 – Hormizd IV, who was the king of the Sasanian Empire, was removed from power. His brothers-in-law, Vistahm and Vinduyih, took over.
• 1579 – The Diocese of Manila was officially created by the Pope. Domingo de Salazar became its first bishop.

Important Moments (1601–1900)

• 1685 – James II became the new King of England and Scotland after his brother Charles II died.
• 1694 – The brave warrior queen Dandara, a leader of runaway slaves in Quilombo dos Palmares, Brazil, was captured. She chose to take her own life rather than return to slavery.
• 1778 – During the American Revolutionary War, the United States and France signed two important agreements in Paris: the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce. This showed that France officially recognized the new American republic.
• 1778 – New York became the third state to approve the Articles of Confederation, which was the first constitution of the United States.
• 1788 – Massachusetts became the sixth state to approve the U.S. Constitution.
• 1806 – The British navy won a big battle against the French in the Caribbean, known as the Battle of San Domingo.
• 1819 – The Treaty of Singapore was signed. This agreement, made by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles and local leaders, is seen as the start of modern Singapore.
• 1820 – The first 86 African Americans who were supported by the American Colonization Society left New York. They went to start a new settlement in what is now Liberia.
• 1833 – Otto became the first modern King of Greece.
• 1840 – The Treaty of Waitangi was signed, which made New Zealand a British colony.
• 1843 – The first minstrel show in the United States, called The Virginia Minstrels, opened in New York City.
• 1851 – Some of the largest bushfires ever recorded in a populated area of Australia happened in Victoria. This day is known as Black Thursday.
• 1862 – During the American Civil War, forces led by Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew H. Foote won the Union's first major victory. They captured Fort Henry, Tennessee.
• 1865 – The way local governments work in Finland was officially set up.
• 1899 – After the Spanish–American War, the Treaty of Paris was approved by the United States Senate. This treaty officially ended the war between the United States and Spain.
• 1900 – The Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international court for solving disagreements, was created in The Hague.

Recent History (1901–Present)

• 1918 – British women over 30 who owned property gained the right to vote. This happened when the Representation of the People Act 1918 was passed by Parliament.
• 1919 – The five-day Seattle General Strike began in Seattle, Washington. More than 65,000 workers stopped working to protest.
• 1922 – The Washington Naval Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C. This treaty limited the number of naval ships for the United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.
• 1934 – Far-right leagues gathered in front of the Palais Bourbon in France. They tried to overthrow the government, causing a big political crisis.
• 1944 – During World War II, major air attacks against Helsinki, Finland, began. These are known as the Great Raids Against Helsinki.
• 1951 – The Canadian Army began fighting in the Korean War.
• 1951 – A passenger train called The Broker crashed near Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. This terrible accident killed 85 people and injured more than 500. It was one of the worst train disasters in American history.
• 1952 – Elizabeth II became Queen of the United Kingdom and the Head of the Commonwealth when her father, George VI, passed away. At that exact moment, she was in a tree house at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya.
• 1958 – Eight Manchester United F.C. football players and 15 other passengers died in the Munich air disaster.
• 1959 – Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments filed the very first patent for an integrated circuit, which is a tiny electronic chip.
• 1959 – The first successful test of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile happened at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
• 1973 – A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 struck Sichuan Province, China. The Luhuo earthquake caused a lot of damage and killed at least 2,199 people.
• 1976 – The president of Lockheed Corporation admitted that the company had paid about $3 million in bribes to the office of the Japanese Prime Minister.
• 1978 – The Blizzard of 1978, one of the worst snowstorms in New England history, hit the region. It brought strong winds and heavy snowfall.
• 1981 – The National Resistance Army of Uganda attacked a Ugandan Army base, starting the Ugandan Bush War.
• 1987 – Justice Mary Gaudron became the first woman to be appointed to the High Court of Australia.
• 1988 – Basketball legend Michael Jordan made his famous slam dunk from the free throw line. This inspired the Air Jordan shoes and the Jumpman logo.
• 1989 – The Round Table Talks began in Poland. These talks marked the start of the end of communism in Eastern Europe.
• 1996 – The Willamette Valley Flood in Oregon, United States, caused over $500 million in damage.
• 1996 – Birgenair Flight 301 crashed off the coast of the Dominican Republic, killing all 189 people. This was the deadliest accident involving a Boeing 757 plane.
• 1998 – Washington National Airport was renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.
• 2000 – During the Second Chechen War, Russia captured Grozny, Chechnya. This forced the Chechen government to go into exile.
• 2006 – Stephen Harper became Prime Minister of Canada.
• 2012 – A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.7 hit the central Philippine island of Negros, killing 112 people.
• 2016 – An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 struck southern Taiwan, killing 117 people.
• 2018 – SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, a very powerful launch vehicle, made its first flight.
• 2021 – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stopped agreements with Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. These agreements had sent asylum seekers back to their home countries.
• 2023 – Two massive earthquakes, measuring 7.8 and 7.5, struck near the border between Turkey and Syria. These earthquakes caused widespread destruction and led to the deaths of 57,658 people.

Famous Birthdays

Born Before 1600

• 885 – Emperor Daigo of Japan.
• 1452 – Joanna, Princess of Portugal.
• 1465 – Scipione del Ferro, an Italian mathematician.
• 1582 – Mario Bettinus, an Italian mathematician and astronomer.

Born Between 1601 and 1900

• 1608 – António Vieira, a Portuguese priest and philosopher.
• 1611 – Chongzhen Emperor of China.
• 1665 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain, who ruled England, Scotland, and Ireland.
• 1732 – Charles Lee, an English-American general.
• 1748 – Adam Weishaupt, a German philosopher who founded the Illuminati.
• 1756 – Aaron Burr, an American politician who was the 3rd Vice President of the United States.
• 1802 – Charles Wheatstone, an English-French physicist.
• 1838 – Henry Irving, a famous English actor.
• 1845 – Isidor Straus, a German-American businessman.
• 1872 – Robert Maillart, a Swiss engineer known for designing bridges.
• 1890 – Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a Pakistani activist and politician.
• 1892 – William P. Murphy, an American physician who won a Nobel Prize.
• 1895 – Babe Ruth, a legendary American baseball player.

Born After 1900

• 1903 – Claudio Arrau, a Chilean pianist.
• 1908 – Amintore Fanfani, who was the 32nd Prime Minister of Italy.
• 1911 – Ronald Reagan, an American actor and the 40th President of the United States.
• 1913 – Mary Leakey, an English-Kenyan archaeologist.
• 1917 – Zsa Zsa Gabor, a Hungarian-American actress.
• 1922 – Patrick Macnee, an English-American actor.
• 1924 – Jin Yong, a famous Hong Kong author.
• 1929 – Colin Murdoch, a New Zealand pharmacist who invented the tranquilliser gun.
• 1931 – Rip Torn, an American actor.
• 1932 – François Truffaut, a French director.
• 1939 – Mike Farrell, an American actor and activist.
• 1940 – Tom Brokaw, a well-known American journalist.
• 1945 – Bob Marley, a famous Jamaican singer-songwriter and guitarist.
• 1950 – Natalie Cole, an American singer-songwriter.
• 1952 – Ric Charlesworth, an Australian cricketer and coach.
• 1957 – Kathy Najimy, an American actress and comedian.
• 1962 – Axl Rose, an American singer-songwriter.
• 1964 – Gordon Downie, a Canadian singer-songwriter.
• 1966 – Rick Astley, an English singer-songwriter.
• 1969 – Masaharu Fukuyama, a Japanese singer and actor.
• 1975 – Orkut Büyükkökten, a Turkish computer scientist who created Orkut.
• 1982 – Alice Eve, an English actress.
• 1984 – Darren Bent, an English international footballer.
• 1986 – Yunho, a South Korean singer and actor.
• 1993 – Tinashe, an American singer-songwriter and dancer.
• 1994 – Charlie Heaton, an English actor.
• 1995 – Leon Goretzka, a German footballer.

Notable Deaths

Passed Away Before 1600

• 743 – Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, a caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate.
• 1140 – Thurstan, the Archbishop of York.
• 1215 – Hōjō Tokimasa, a Japanese leader.
• 1497 – Johannes Ockeghem, a Flemish composer.
• 1515 – Aldus Manutius, an Italian publisher.
• 1593 – Emperor Ōgimachi of Japan.

Passed Away Between 1601 and 1900

• 1612 – Christopher Clavius, a German mathematician and astronomer.
• 1685 – Charles II of England, the King of England.
• 1740 – Pope Clement XII.
• 1783 – Capability Brown, a famous English gardener and architect.
• 1793 – Carlo Goldoni, an Italian-French playwright.
• 1804 – Joseph Priestley, an English chemist.
• 1865 – Isabella Beeton, an English author known for her household management book.
• 1899 – Leo von Caprivi, a German general and Chancellor of Germany.

Passed Away After 1900

• 1916 – Rubén Darío, a Nicaraguan poet.
• 1918 – Gustav Klimt, an Austrian painter.
• 1931 – Motilal Nehru, an Indian lawyer and politician.
• 1952 – George VI of the United Kingdom, the father of Queen Elizabeth II.
• 1958 – Several players and passengers died in the Munich air disaster, including:
  • Roger Byrne, English footballer
  • Tommy Taylor, English footballer
• 1964 – Emilio Aguinaldo, the first President of the Philippines.
• 1976 – Vince Guaraldi, an American pianist and composer.
• 1986 – Minoru Yamasaki, an American architect who designed the original World Trade Center.
• 1991 – Salvador Luria, an Italian biologist who won a Nobel Prize.
• 1993 – Arthur Ashe, a famous American tennis player.
• 1994 – Jack Kirby, an American comic book artist and writer.
• 1998 – Falco, an Austrian pop-rock musician.
• 2002 – Max Perutz, an Austrian-English biologist who won a Nobel Prize.
• 2007 – Frankie Laine, an American singer.
• 2009 – James Whitmore, an American actor.
• 2011 – Gary Moore, an Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist.
• 2012 – Antoni Tàpies, a Spanish painter and sculptor.
• 2014 – Ralph Kiner, an American baseball player.
• 2019 – Manfred Eigen, a German chemist who won a Nobel Prize.
• 2021 – George Shultz, an American politician who served as Secretary of State.
• 2022 – Lata Mangeshkar, a famous Indian singer.
• 2024 – Sebastian Piñera, a former president of Chile.

Holidays and Observances

February 6 is celebrated in different ways around the world:

• Many Christians observe feast days for saints like Amand, Dorothea of Caesarea, and Paul Miki and the Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan.
• In California, United States, it's Ronald Reagan Day, honoring the former president.
• The Sami National Day is celebrated by the Sami people in Russia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.
• Waitangi Day is a national holiday in New Zealand, celebrating the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.