February 7

1301 – Edward of Caernarvon, son of King Edward I (known as Longshanks), later King Edward II of England, is invested by his father as the first English Prince of Wales and heir to the throne.

1497 – In Florence, Italy, supporters of Girolamo Savonarola burn cosmetics, art, and books, in a “Bonfire of the vanities”.

1795 – The 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.

1812 – The strongest in a series of earthquakes that began the previous December, strikes New Madrid, Missouri.

1894 – The Cripple Creek miner’s strike, led by the Western Federation of Miners, begins in – you guessed it – Cripple Creek, Colorado.

1900 – A Chinese immigrant in San Francisco falls ill to bubonic plague in the first plague epidemic in the continental United States.

1904 – A fire begins in Baltimore, Maryland, destroying over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.

1943 – Imperial Japanese Navy forces complete the evacuation of Imperial Japanese Army troops from Guadalcanal, ending attempts to retake the island.

1962 – The United States bans all Cuban imports and exports.

1979 – The body of fugitive war criminal, Josef Mengele is found in the waters off the coast of Bertioga, Brazil, purported drowned after suffering a stroke while swimming.

1984 – On Mission STS-41-B,  aboard Shuttle Challenger,  Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert Stewart make the first untethered space walk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU).

1991 – USAF Air Combat Victories: Rick Parsons-1 SU-7, Randy May-1 Mi-24, and Anthony Murphy-2 SU-22s

1992 – The Maastricht Treaty is signed, leading to the creation of the European Union.

1995 – Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, is arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan.

2001 – Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on mission STS-98, carrying the Destiny laboratory module to the International Space Station.

2013 – Mississippi officially ratifies the 13th Amendment, becoming the last state to approve it after Mississippi in 1995.

2016 – North Korea demonstrates it ability to launch to orbit by launching the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4 reconnaissance satellite, in violation of multiple UN treaties.