3 February in history
9 events that happened on 3 February, from 1451 to 1959.
✦ Anniversary of the day
1451 CE 575 years ago
Murad II dies, and Mehmed II takes the Ottoman throne for good
The death of Sultan Murad II brought his 18-year-old son Mehmed II back to power. Two years later Mehmed captured Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire.
1488 CE 538 years ago
Bartolomeu Dias lands at Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape
Having been driven round the southern tip of Africa by storms, Dias landed on the South African coast east of the Cape. His voyage showed that ships could sail from the Atlantic into the Indian Ocean.
1690 CE 336 years ago
Massachusetts Bay Colony issues paper money
To pay soldiers back from a failed expedition against Quebec, Massachusetts issued bills of credit, the first government paper money in the Americas (dated 1690 under the Old Style calendar).
1870 CE 156 years ago
Fifteenth Amendment ratified, barring racial bars to voting
The amendment forbade denying citizens the vote on grounds of race, colour or previous servitude. Southern states later evaded it with poll taxes, literacy tests and intimidation for almost a century.
1913 CE 113 years ago
Sixteenth Amendment allows a US federal income tax
Ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment gave Congress power to tax incomes without dividing the tax among states by population. Income tax became the main source of federal revenue.
1959 CE 67 years ago
Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper die in a plane crash
Their light aircraft crashed in snow near Clear Lake, Iowa, shortly after take-off, killing all aboard. Don McLean later called it 'the day the music died' in his song 'American Pie'.
Born on 3 February 8
Died on 3 February 7
Dates as the sources give them: in the Julian calendar before 1582, and in some countries for longer (Britain until 1752, Russia until 1918). Only people whose day of birth or death the records agree on are listed.