122 things happened on 6 February, from AD 337 to 2024. UK stories come first, then the rest of the world.
1819 · 207 years ago
British official Stamford Raffles signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah of Johor. It set up Singapore as a trading post for the East India Company, a key step in the founding of modern Singapore. Raffles also wrote a book called The History of Java. The Ra…
UK history first: stories from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
UK story
British official Stamford Raffles signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah of Johor. It set up Singapore as a trading post for the East India Company, a key step in the founding of modern Singapore. Raffles also wrote a book called The History of Java. The Rafflesia flowers are named after him.
UK story
Representatives of the British Crown and Māori chiefs first signed the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand. The Māori are the native people of New Zealand. The treaty was an agreement towards British rule, and New Zealand became a British colony. Many see it as the nation's founding document, and the date is now Waitangi Day, New Zealand's national day.
UK story
Parliament passed the Representation of the People Act, giving some women the right to vote in general elections for the first time. Women over 30 could vote if they, or their husbands, met a property rule. The act also gave the vote to all men over 21, whether or not they owned property. Women did not win the vote on equal terms with men until 1928.
UK story
The British Empire, the United States, France, Italy and Japan signed the Washington Naval Treaty. These countries had been allies in the First World War. They agreed to limit how many battleships, battlecruisers and aircraft carriers they built. The aim was to prevent an arms race, where countries compete to build bigger and stronger armed forces.
UK story
Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II when her father, King George VI, died. At that moment she was far from home, staying in a tree house at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya. She also became Head of the Commonwealth. Her reign lasted 70 years and 214 days, longer than any other British monarch and longer than any other queen in history.
UK story
Napoleonic Wars: A British naval squadron captured or destroyed five French ships of the line at the Battle of San Domingo (pictured) in the Caribbean Sea.
American engineer Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments filed the first patent for an integrated circuit, often called a microchip. A patent protects an inventor's idea so others cannot copy it. Kilby had helped create the first integrated circuit in 1958, alongside Robert Noyce of another company, Fairchild Semiconductor. Kilby shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics for this invention.
Talks began in Warsaw between Poland's communist government and the banned trade union Solidarity, along with other opposition groups. The government hoped the talks would calm growing unrest in the country. They lasted until 5 April 1989. The talks are seen as the beginning of the end of communist rule in Eastern Europe.
The American company SpaceX launched its Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time. The successful test made it the most powerful rocket in use at the time. It could carry more than twice as much as the next most powerful rocket. Falcon Heavy can carry cargo into orbit around the Earth and beyond, and parts of it can be reused.
Election of Pope Julius I.
Vistahm and Vinduyih deposed their brother-in-law Hormizd IV, King of Kings of the Sasanian Empire.
Domingo de Salazar, a Spanish Dominican friar, was appointed the first bishop of Manila.
France and the United States signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance, respectively establishing commercial and military ties between the two nations.
New York became the third state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.
Massachusetts became the sixth state to ratify the constitution of the United States.
The first ship of the American Colonization Society departed from New York for West Africa with 86 African-American emigrants aboard to found the colony of Liberia.
Otto becomes the first modern King of Greece.
The largest Australian bushfires in a populous region in recorded history take place in the state of Victoria.
Union forces earned one of their first important victories in the American Civil War at the Battle of Fort Henry in western Tennessee.
Finland established its modern system of secular municipalities, separate from church parishes.
Spanish–American War: The Treaty of Paris, a peace treaty between the United States and Spain, is ratified by the United States Senate.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration, an international arbitration court at The Hague, is created when the Senate of the Netherlands ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.
World War I: More than 65,000 workers in Seattle began a five-day general strike to gain higher wages after two years of wage controls in the United States.
Far-right leagues rally in front of the Palais Bourbon in an attempted coup against the French Third Republic, creating a political crisis in France.
The Canadian Army enters combat in the Korean War.
At Cape Canaveral, Florida, the first successful test firing of a Titan intercontinental ballistic missile is accomplished.
The National Resistance Army of Uganda launches an attack on a Ugandan Army installation in the central Mubende District to begin the Ugandan Bush War.
Mary Gaudron became the first woman to be appointed a justice of the High Court of Australia.
Willamette Valley Flood: Floods in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, United States, causes over US$500 million in property damage throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Washington National Airport is renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport.
Second Chechen War: Russia captures Grozny, Chechnya, forcing the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government into exile.
Stephen Harper becomes Prime Minister of Canada.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken suspends agreements with Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras to send asylum seekers back to their home countries.
Every answer is somewhere on this page. Have a go, then check!
In which year did this happen: “Stamford Raffles signs a treaty to set up a trading post at Singapore”?
B: 1819. 1819 — that’s 207 years ago. Find it on the page
In which year did this happen: “Elizabeth II becomes Queen of the United Kingdom”?
B: 1952. 1952 — that’s 74 years ago. Find it on the page
Which of these happened first?
B: Stamford Raffles signs a treaty to set up a trading post at Singapore. 1922: Five powers sign the Washington Naval Treaty to limit warships · 1819: Stamford Raffles signs a treaty to set up a trading post at Singapore · 1952: Elizabeth II becomes Queen of the United Kingdom Find it on the page
“Five powers sign the Washington Naval Treaty to limit warships” happened in 1922. How many years ago was that?
C: 104 years. 2026 − 1922 = 104. Find it on the page
Famous people whose birthday is 6 February.
UK story
Anne became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1702. In 1707 the Acts of Union joined England and Scotland together, making her the first monarch of the new Kingdom of Great Britain. She was the last monarch of the House of Stuart. When she died in 1714, her second cousin George I of the German House of Hanover became king.
UK story
Mary Leakey was a British scientist who studied the fossils of early humans and their ancestors. She found the first fossil skull of Proconsul, an extinct ape. With her husband Louis, she uncovered ancient fossils and stone tools at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. At Laetoli she discovered ancient footprints, along with fossils more than 3.75 million years old.
Well-known people who died on 6 February.
Festivals, holidays and saints’ days celebrated on 6 February somewhere in the world.
Sámi National Day is a celebration for the Sámi people, held in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. It marks the date of the first Sámi congress, held in Trondheim, Norway, in 1917. At that meeting, Sámi people from Norway and Sweden came together across national borders for the first time. They worked together to find solutions to shared problems.
Content note: these entries mention things like war, violence, deaths, disasters or crime. They are part of history, but they can be upsetting. Grown-ups and teachers: you may want to read them first. They come straight from Wikipedia and have not been rewritten for children.
Stories with a heading have been written for young readers by A Day in the Past, using the linked articles as sources. Other entries show text from Wikipedia’s “February 6” page and its “On this day” feed, written by Wikipedia contributors and shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. Each “Read more” link goes to the article an entry is based on. Photos are credited under each picture. Spotted a mistake? Please tell us.