Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/February 2
February 2: Candlemas in Western Christianity; Groundhog Day in Canada and the United States.
- 1536 – An expedition to the New World led by Spanish conquistador Pedro de Mendoza founded what is now Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 1709 – Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk was rescued after spending four years as a castaway on an uninhabited island in the Juan Fernández archipelago, providing the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe.
- 1848 – The Mexican–American War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, granting the United States the Mexican Cession.
- 1925 – Medical supplies to combat an outbreak of diphtheria reached Nome, Alaska Territory on dog sleds after a five and a half-day journey, inspiring the annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race (pictured in 2003) across Alaska.
- 1943 – World War II: The Soviet Red Army captured 91,000 tired and starving German soldiers, ending the Battle of Stalingrad, one of the bloodiest battles in human history.
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