FEB 12
- 1502 - Vasco da Gama sailed on his second voyage to India.
- 1554 - Lady Jane Grey, Queen of England executed for treason.
- 1771 - Gustav III became the King of Sweden after the death of Adolf Frederick.
- 1809 - Birthday: Abraham Lincoln, 16th US President born in Hardin County, Kentucky.
- 1809 - Birthday: Charles Darwin, English naturalist (Origin of species) born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK.
- 1818 - Chile became independent from Spain.
- 1915 - Adolf Hitler received the relatively common Iron Cross second class for his bravery in World War I.
- 1960 - Chinese army killed 12 Indian soldiers.
- 1991 - Birthday: Faisal bin Hamad Al Khalifa, prince of Bahrain, born in Riffa, Bahrain. He was killed in a car crash on 12 January 2006. He collided with a bus at high speed and impacted the base of an advertising sign displaying his father's picture.
- 1994 - Norway: "The Scream" by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch (1893 pastel version) was stolen in Oslo.
- 1999 - USA: President Bill Clinton was acquitted by the Senate in his impeachment trial.
- 2019 - NASA data shows the world has got greener since early 2000s, mostly due to tree planting in China and intensive farming in India.