12
February
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February 12 in History
2009
Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashes into a house in Clarence Center, New York while on approach to Buffalo-Niagara International Airport, killing all on board and one on the ground.
2004
The city of San Francisco, California begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in response to a directive from Mayor Gavin Newsom.
2002
An Iran Air Tours Tupolev Tu-154 crashes in the mountains outside Khorramabad, Iran while descending for a landing at Khorramabad Airport, killing 119.
US Secretary of Energy makes the decision that Yucca Mountain is a suitable site for a deep geological repository for the United States.
The trial of former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević begins at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague. He dies four years later before its conclusion.
2001
NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touchdown in the "saddle" region of 433 Eros becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
1999
President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.
1997
Hwang Jang-yop, secretary in the Workers' Party of Korea and a prime architect of North Korea's Juche doctrine, defects at the South Korean embassy in Beijing along with his aide, Kim Dok-hong.
1990
Carmen Lawrence becomes the first female Premier in Australian history when she becomes Premier of Western Australia.
1976
Actor Sal Mineo is stabbed to death in West Hollywood.
1974
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature in 1970, is exiled from the Soviet Union.
1973
Vietnam War: The first United States prisoners of war are released by the Viet Cong.
1966
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, announces the ''Six Points'' in Karachi as the election manifesto of Awami League, that later led to formation of Bangladesh.
1961
U.S.S.R. launches Venera 1 towards Venus.
1947
A meteor creates an impact crater in Sikhote-Alin, in the Soviet Union.
1946
World War II: Operation Deadlight ends after scuttling 121 of 154 captured U-boats.
1940
FBLA-PBL organization is founded.
1934
In Spain the national council of ''Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista'' is inaugurated. The council decides to merge the movement with the ''Falange Española''.
The Export-Import Bank of the United States is incorporated.
The Austrian Civil War begins.
1924
Calvin Coolidge becomes the first President of the United States to deliver a political speech on radio.
1914
In Washington, D.C., the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.
1912
Xuantong Emperor of the Manchu Qing dynasty, the last Emperor of China, abdicates.
1909
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is founded.
1894
Anarchist Émile Henry hurls a bomb into Paris's Cafe Terminus, killing one and wounding 20.
1879
The first artificial ice rink in North America opens at Gilmore's Park in New York City.
1870
Women gain the right to vote in the Utah Territory.
1855
Michigan State University is established.
1832
Ecuador annexes the Galápagos Islands.
1825
The Creek cede the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States government, and migrate west.
1818
Bernardo O'Higgins formally approved the Chilean Declaration of Independence near Concepción, Chile.
1817
An Argentine/Chilean patriotic army, after crossing the Andes, defeats Spanish troops on the Battle of Chacabuco.
1816
The Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is destroyed by fire.
1809
Abraham Lincoln is born in a one-room cabin in Kentucky
1771
Gustav III becomes the King of Sweden.
1733
Englishman James Oglethorpe founds Georgia, the 13th colony of the Thirteen Colonies, and its first city at Savannah (known as Georgia Day).
1719
The Onderlinge van 1719 u.a., the oldest existing life insurance company in the Netherlands is founded.
1700
The Great Northern War begins in Northern Europe.
1689
The Convention Parliament convenes and declares that the flight to France in 1688 by James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch, constitutes an abdication.
1554
A year after claiming the throne of England for nine days, Lady Jane Grey is beheaded for treason.
1541
Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.
1502
Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India.
1429
English forces under Sir John Fastolf defend a supply convoy carrying rations to the army besieging Orleans from attack by the Comte de Clermont and Sir John Stewart of Darnley in the Battle of Rouvray (also known as the Battle of the Herrings).
881
Pope John VIII crowns Charles the Fat, the King of Italy: Emperor