TODAY IN HISTORY: FEBRUARY 26

 

February 26

 

747 BC – According to Ptolemy, the epoch (origin) of the Nabonassar Era began at noon on this date. Historians use this to establish the modern BC chronology for dating historic events.

364 – Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman emperor.

1266 – Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by Manfred, King of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily and Naples.

1365 – The Ava Kingdom and the royal city of Ava (Inwa) founded by King Thado Minbya.

1606 – The Janszoon voyage of 1605–06 becomes the first European expedition to set foot on Australia, although it is mistaken as a part of New Guinea.

1616 – Galileo Galilei is formally banned by the Roman Catholic Church from teaching or defending the view that the earth orbits the sun.

1775 – The British East India Company factory on Balambangan Island is destroyed by Moro pirates.

1794 – The first Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen burns down.

1815 – Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from exile on the island of Elba.

1870 – The Beach Pneumatic Transit in New York City, intending as a demonstration for a subway line opens.

1876 – Japan and Korea sign the Treaty of Kangwha, which grants Japanese citizens extraterritoriality rights in Korea, opens three Korean ports to Japanese trade, and ends Korea's status as a tributary state of Qing dynasty China.

1909 – Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London.

1914 – HMHS Britannic, sister to the RMS Titanic, is launched at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.

1919 – President Woodrow Wilson signs an act of Congress establishing the Grand Canyon National Park.

1929 – President Calvin Coolidge signs legislation establishing the 96,000 acres (390 km) Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

1935 – Adolf Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to be re-formed, violating the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.

1935 – Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of radar in the United Kingdom.

1936 – In the February 26 Incident, young Japanese military officers attempt to stage a coup against the government.

1945 – World War II: US troops reclaim the Philippine island of Corregidor from the Japanese.

1952 – Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada.

1960 – A New York-bound Alitalia airliner crashes into a cemetery in Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board.

1966 – Apollo program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket.

1971 – U.N. Secretary-General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.

1979 – The Superliner railcar enters revenue service with Amtrak.

1980 – Egypt and Israel establish full diplomatic relations.

1987 – Iran–Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.

1992 – First Nagorno-Karabakh War: Khojaly Massacre: Armenian armed forces open fire on Azeri civilians at a military post outside the town of Khojaly leaving hundreds dead.

1993 – World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six and injuring over a thousand people.

1995 – The UK's oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses after a rogue securities broker Nick Leeson loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts.

2008 – The New York Philharmonic performs in Pyongyang, North Korea; this is the first event of its kind to take place in North Korea.

2012 – A train derails in Burlington, Ontario, Canada killing at least three people and injuring 45.

2012 – Seventeen-year-old African-American student Trayvon Martin is shot to death by neighborhood watch coordinator George Zimmerman in an altercation in Sanford, Florida.

2013 – A hot air balloon crashes near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people.

2019 – Indian Air Force fighter-jets targeted Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camps in Balakot.

2021 – A total of 279 female students aged between 10 and 17 are kidnapped by bandits in the Zamfara kidnapping in Zamfara State, Nigeria.