Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/April 2

Eligible

 * 1513 – Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León sighted land in North America, naming the area La Florida.
 * 1865 – American Civil War: On the third attempt, Union forces captured Petersburg, Virginia, although Confederate officials and most of their remaining troops were able to escape.
 * 1911 – The Australian Bureau of Statistics conducted the first national census of the country.
 * 1968 – 2001: A Space Odyssey, an epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick (pictured), premiered at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C.
 * 1992 – John Gotti (pictured), the head of the Gambino crime family of New York City, was convicted of racketeering, murder, conspiracy to commit murder, loansharking, obstruction of justice, illegal gambling, and tax evasion.
 * 2002 – Second Intifada: Palestinian militants sought refuge from advancing Israeli forces in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, beginning a month-long siege.


 * 2015 – Six elderly men burgled a safe-deposit facility in Hatton Garden, London, and stole items worth up to an estimated £14 million.
 * 2015 – Gunmen attacked Garissa University College in Kenya, killing 148 people and wounding 79 others.
 * Born/died: | Charlemagne |b|747|Maria Sibylla Merian |b|1647| Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin |b|1755|  Clément Ader |b|1841| Albert Pike |d|1891|  Sue Townsend |b|1946| Juanito |d|1992|  Arthur Kopit |d|2021