On This Day: 4 February

4 February in Indian history

• 1488Bartolomeu 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.India

4 February in world history

• 2025Ten people are killed in a mass shooting at an adult education centre in Örebro, Sweden.
• 2008The London low emission zone, charging certain diesel-powered commercial vehicles to enter Greater London, came into operation.
• 2008Civic mobilizations in Colombia against FARC, under the name A million voices against the FARC.
• 1999The Philippine-flagged freighter New Carissa ran aground near Coos Bay, Oregon, causing one of the worst oil spills in the state's history.
• 1992A coup d'état is led by Hugo Chávez against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez.
• 1975Haicheng earthquake (magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale) occurs in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.
• 1974The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army bombed a motor coach carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel and their family members, killing twelve people.
• 1967Lunar 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.
• 1945World War II: American forces liberated the Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila, the largest Japanese-run internment camp for enemy civilians in the Philippines.
• 1945World War II: The Yalta Conference between the "Big Three" (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) opens at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea.
• 1932Second Sino-Japanese War: Harbin, Manchuria, falls to Japan.
• 1899The Philippine–American War began when an American soldier, under orders to keep insurgents away from his unit's encampment, fired on a Filipino soldier in Manila.
• 1861American 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.
• 1859The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.
• 1846The first Mormon pioneers make their exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, westward towards Salt Lake Valley.
• 1801John Marshall, whose court opinions helped lay the basis for U.S. constitutional law and made the Supreme Court a coequal branch of government, took office as chief justice.
• 1555Marian Restoration: Because he opposed Catholicism, John Rogers was burned at the stake as the first English Protestant executed for heresy under the reign of Mary I.

Born on 4 February

• 1962Clint Black, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
• 1937Birju Maharaj, Indian dancer, composer, singer and exponent of the Lucknow "Kalka-Bindadin" Gharana of Kathak dance (died 2022)India
• 1922Bhimsen Joshi, Indian vocalist of the Hindustani classical music tradition (died 2011)India
• 1891M. A. Ayyangar, Indian lawyer and politician, second Speaker of the Lok Sabha (died 1978)India
• 1881Eulalio Gutiérrez, Mexican general and politician, President of Mexico (died 1939)
• 1879Varia Kipiani, Georgian scientist

Died on 4 February

• 2023Vani Jairam, Indian playback singer (born 1945)India
• 1974Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist, mathematician, and academic (born 1894)India
• 1936Wilhelm Gustloff, German-Swiss soldier, founded Swiss NSDAP/AO (born 1895)
• 870Ceolnoth, archbishop of Canterbury

Frequently asked questions

What happened on 4 February in history?

2025: Ten people are killed in a mass shooting at an adult education centre in Örebro, Sweden. 2008: The London low emission zone, charging certain diesel-powered commercial vehicles to enter Greater London, came into operation. 2008: Civic mobilizations in Colombia against FARC, under the name A million voices against the FARC. 1999: The Philippine-flagged freighter New Carissa ran aground near Coos Bay, Oregon, causing one of the worst oil spills in the state's history.

What happened on 4 February in Indian history?

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.

Which famous people were born on 4 February?

Clint Black, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (1962); Birju Maharaj, Indian dancer, composer, singer and exponent of the Lucknow "Kalka-Bindadin" Gharana of Kathak dance (died 2022) (1937); Bhimsen Joshi, Indian vocalist of the Hindustani classical music tradition (died 2011) (1922); M. A. Ayyangar, Indian lawyer and politician, second Speaker of the Lok Sabha (died 1978) (1891).

Which day is observed on 4 February?

World Cancer Day; Day of the Armed Struggle (Angola); Earliest day on which Ash Wednesday can fall, while March 10 is the latest; celebrated on the first day of Lent (Western Christianity); Independence Day (Sri Lanka); Rosa Parks Day (California and Missouri, United States).