Editing February 4 (section)

===1601–1900===
*[[1703]] &ndash; In [[Edo (Tokyo)|Edo]] (now Tokyo), all but one of the [[Forty-seven Ronin]] commit [[seppuku]] (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master's death.<ref>{{cite book|last=Coffey|first=Thomas M.|title=Imperial Tragedy: Japan in World War II, the First Days and the Last|location=New York|publisher=World Publishing Co.|date=1971|oclc=713931898|pages=214–215}}</ref>
*[[1758]] &ndash; The city of [[Macapá]] in Brazil is founded by Sebastião Veiga Cabral.
*[[1789]] &ndash; [[George Washington]] is unanimously elected as the first [[President of the United States]] by the [[U.S. Electoral College]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=Merrill|last1=Jensen|author-link1=Merrill Jensen|first2=Lucy Trumbull|last2=Brown|first3=Robert A.|last3=Becker|title=The Documentary History of the First Federal Elections, 1788–1790|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rklx9c7MJFoC&pg=PR15|year=1976|publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press|isbn=978-0-299-10650-8|pages=15}}</ref>
*[[1794]] &ndash; The French legislature abolishes [[slavery]] throughout all territories of the [[French First Republic]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Filip|last=Batselé|title=Liberty, Slavery and the Law in Early Modern Western Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4tHHDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA53|publisher=Springer Nature|isbn=978-3-030-36855-5|pages=53|year=2020}}</ref> It would be reestablished in the [[French West Indies]] in 1802.
*[[1797]] &ndash; The [[1797 Riobamba earthquake|Riobamba earthquake]] strikes [[Ecuador]], causing up to 40,000 casualties.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal: Exhibiting a View of the Progressive Discoveries and Improvements in the Sciences and the Arts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=avgyAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA293|year=1837|pages=293}}</ref>
*[[1801]] &ndash; [[John Marshall]] is sworn in as [[Chief Justice of the United States]].
*[[1810]] &ndash; Napoleonic Wars: Britain [[Invasion of Guadeloupe (1810)|seizes Guadeloupe]].
*[[1820]] &ndash; The [[Chilean Navy]] under the command of [[Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald|Lord Cochrane]] completes the two-day long [[Capture of Valdivia]] with just 300 men and two ships.
*[[1825]] &ndash; The [[Ohio Legislature]] authorizes the construction of the [[Ohio and Erie Canal]] and the [[Miami and Erie Canal]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Huntington|first1=C.C.|last2=McClelland|first2=C.P.|title=History of the Ohio Canals: Their Construction, Cost, Use and Partial Abandonment|location=Columbus, Ohio|publisher=Press of F.J. Heer|date=1905|oclc=7004707|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UC9AAAAAIAAJ|page=18}}</ref>
*[[1846]] &ndash; The first [[Mormon pioneers]] make their exodus from [[Nauvoo, Illinois]], westward towards [[Salt Lake Valley]].
*[[1859]] &ndash; The [[Codex Sinaiticus]] is discovered in [[Egypt]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Calvin Ellis|last=Stowe|author-link=Calvin Ellis Stowe|title=Origin and History of the Books of the Bible|url=https://archive.org/details/originhistoryofb02stow|year=1868|publisher=Denison|pages=[https://archive.org/details/originhistoryofb02stow/page/72 72]}}</ref>
*[[1861]] &ndash; [[American Civil War]]: In [[Montgomery, Alabama]], delegates from six breakaway [[U.S. state]]s meet and initiate the process that would form the [[Confederate States of America]] on [[February 8]].
*[[1899]] &ndash; The [[Philippine–American War]] begins when four Filipino soldiers enter the "American Zone" in Manila, igniting the [[Battle of Manila (1899)|Battle of Manila]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Nickeson|first=Dawn Ottevaere|chapter=Philippine Islands, U.S. Acquisition of|title=The Encyclopedia of the Spanish–American and Philippine–American Wars: A Political, Social, and Military History|editor-last=Tucker|editor-first=Spencer|location=Santa Barbara, Calif.|publisher=ABC-CLIO|date=2009|isbn=9781851099511|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8V3vZxOmHssC|page=491}}</ref>