February 12

1502 – Queen Isabella I of Spain issues an edict outlawing Islam, forcing virtually all her moslem subjects to convert to Christianity.

1541 – Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.

1733 –  Englishman James Oglethorpe settling at Savannah, founds Georgia, the 13th American colony

1825 – Under terms of the Treaty of Indian Springs, the Creek nation cedes the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States.

1832 – Ecuador annexes the Galápagos Islands.

1855 – Michigan State University is established at East Lansing.

1901 – The state of Delaware finally ratifies the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments

1915 – In Washington, D.C., the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.

1935 – USS Macon, one of the two largest helium filled airships ever created, crashes into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and sinks, resulting in the death of 2 crewmembers, 1 jumping from the ship too high to survive the impact with the water and the 2nd drowning while attempting to salvage gear.

1963 – Construction begins in St. Louis, on the Gateway Arch of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.
Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 705, a Boeing 720, crashes into the Everglades shortly after takeoff from Miami International Airport, killing all 45 passengers and crew on board.

1974 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is exiled from the Soviet Union.

1988 – The U.S. missile cruiser USS Yorktown is intentionally rammed by the Soviet frigate Bezzavetnyy, off Crimea, claimed to be in Soviet territorial waters, while Yorktown claimed innocent passage.

1999 – President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.

2001 – The U.S. NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touches down in the “saddle” region of 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.

2009 – Colgan Air Flight 3407, a Bombardier Dash-8 Q400, crashes into a house in Clarence Center, New York, while on approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all 49 passengers and crew on board and 1 person on the ground.

2016 – Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill sign an Ecumenical Declaration in the first such meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches since the ‘Great Schism’ in 1054.