February 12

Events

• 1541 - Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia
• 1554 - Nine days after claiming the throne of England, Lady Jane Grey is beheaded for treason.
• 1733 - English colonist James Oglethorpe[?] founds Savannah, Georgia.
• 1818 - Chile gains its independence from Spain
• 1825 - Creek Indians cede the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government, and migrate west
• 1832 - Ecuador annexes the Galapagos Islands
• 1870 - Women gain the right to vote in Utah Territory.
• 1879 - At New York City's Madison Square Garden the first artificial ice rink[?] in North America opens.
• 1892 - Former President Abraham Lincoln's birthday is declared a national holiday in the United States.
• 1909 - The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded
• 1912 - China adopts the Gregorian calendar
• 1915 - In Washington, DC the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.
• 1924 - Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to deliver a political speech on radio.
• 1934 - The Export-Import Bank[?] is incorporated.
• 1938 - World War II: German troops enter Austria
• 1973 - Ohio becomes the first U.S. state to post distance in metric on signs.
• 1973 - Vietnam War: The first American prisoners of war are released by the Viet Cong.
• 1994 - 1994 Winter Olympic Games open in Lillehammer, Norway
• 1998 - The presidential line-item veto is declared unconstitutional by United States federal judge.
• 1999 - President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial
• 2001 - NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touchdown in the "saddle" region of 433 Eros becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
• 2002 - The trial of former President of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic begins at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague
• 2002 - Nuclear waste: US Secretary of Energy makes the decision that Yucca Mountain is suitable to be the United States' nuclear repository.

Births

• 1567 - Thomas Campion, composer, poet
• 1768 - Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (+ 1835)
• 1775 - Louisa Adams[?], First Lady, wife of President John Quincy Adams
• 1777 - Friedrich de la Motte Fouque, poet (+ 1843)
• 1809 - Charles Darwin, naturalist
• 1809 - Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (+ 1865)
• 1861 - Lou Andreas-Salome[?], author (+ 1937)
• 1880 - John L. Lewis, labor union leader (+ 1969)
• 1881 - Anna Pavlova, ballerina (+ 1931)
• 1884 - Max Beckmann, painter and graphic artist (+ 1950)
• 1884 - Marie Vassilieff, artist (+ 1957)
• 1893 - Omar Bradley, general (+ 1981)
• 1914 - Tex Beneke[?], musician, band leader (+ 2000)
• 1915 - Lorne Greene, actor (+ 1987)
• 1919 - Forrest Tucker[?], actor (+ 1986)
• 1923 - Franco Zeffirelli, film director
• 1925 - Sir Anthony Berry, British politician (+ 1984)
• 1933 - Costa-Gavras[?], director, writer
• 1934 - Bill Russell[?], basketball star
• 1938 - Judy Blume, author
• 1939 - Ray Manzarek[?], keyboardist
• 1942 - Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel
• 1950 - Michael Ironside[?], actor
• 1954 - Philip Zimmermann, cryptographer
• 1955 - Arsenio Hall[?], actor, talk show host
• 1980 - Christina Ricci, actress

Deaths

• 1554 - Lady Jane Grey, briefly Queen of England
• 1916 - Richard Dedekind, mathematician
• 1929 - Lily Langtry[?], singer, actress
• 1954 - Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker
• 1976 - Sal Mineo, actor
• 1979 - Jean Renoir, director
• 1982 - Victor Jory[?], actor
• 1983 - Eubie Blake, musician, songwriter
• 1995 - Robert Bolt, writer (+ 1995)
• 2000 - Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip
• 2000 - Screamin' Jay Hawkins, musician
• 2000 - Tom Landry, American football coach

Holidays and observances

• United States - Lincoln's Birthday[?] (traditionally)
• 2002 Chinese new year
• 1991, 2002, 2013 Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras)

February 11 - February 13 - January 12 - March 12 - more historical anniversaries