13 February, 2000 – The last Peanuts comic strip is published

The 17,897th-and-last installment was published in newspapers around the world on the day following the death of its creator, Charles M. Schulz.

14 February, 1876 – The telephone is patented

Both Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray applied for a patent on that day - Bell won.

15 February, 1965 – Canada adopts its current national flag showing a maple leaf

The leaf symbolises the country's forests, the middle white stripe the arctic snow, and the red stripes the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

16 February, 2005 – The Kyoto Protocol goes into effect

The global warming pact was ratified by 191 countries to date - excluding the United States.

17 February, 1904 – Madama Butterfly is premiered

Giacomo Puccini's opera, one of the world's most performed works of musical theater, was poorly received in its first performance.

18 February, 1930 – Pluto is discovered

Clyde W. Tombaugh discovered the dwarf planet when sifting through photographs taken a month earlier.

19 February, 1945 – U.S. troops land on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima

The photo showing four marines erecting a U.S. flag on the island has become one of the best-known images of World War II.