What are the important events that happened on February 26? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

February 26: Facts & Myths About This Day

February 26 is the 57^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 308 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is February 13, 2025 – a Wednesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 1,740,528,000 seconds has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘pentacontaheptagon’ day.

Pisces is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Amethyst is the modern birthstone for this month. Bloodstone is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 356 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,450 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

February 26 Historical Events

• 747 BCE –
  Epoch (origin) of Ptolemy’s Nabonassar Era.
• 364 –
  Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman Emperor.
• 1658 –
  Treaty of Roskilde: After a devastating defeat in the Northern Wars (1655–1661), the King of Denmark-Norway is forced to give up nearly half his territory to Sweden to save the rest.
• 1876 –
  Japan and Korea sign a treaty granting Japanese citizens extraterritoriality rights, opening three ports to Japanese trade, and ending Korea’s status as a tributary state of Qing Dynasty China.
• 1917 –
  The Original Dixieland Jass Band records the first jazz record, for the Victor Talking Machine Company in New York.
• 1919 –
  President Woodrow Wilson signs an act of the U.S. Congress establishing most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park (see Grand Canyon National Park).
• 1920 –
  The first German Expressionist film and early horror movie, Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, premièred in Berlin.
• 1946 –
  Finnish observers report the first of many thousands of sightings of ghost rockets.
• 1960 –
  A New York bound Alitalia airliner crashed into a cemetery at Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board.
• 1995 –
  The United Kingdom’s oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses after a securities broker, Nick Leeson, loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts.

Who were born on February 26?

• 1564 –
  Christopher Marlowe, English dramatist (d. 1593)
• 1903 –
  Orde Charles Wingate, British Major-General, prominent Zionist, eccentric (d. 1944)
• 1926 –
  Verne Gagne, American wrestler
• 1928 –
  Monique Leyrac, Canadian singer and actress
• 1944 –
  Ronald Lauder, American philanthropist and president of the World Jewish Congress
• 1945 –
  Giannis Ioannidis, Greek basketball coach and politician
• 1945 –
  Peter Brock, Australian motorsports champion (d. 2006)
• 1954 –
  Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkish politician, Prime Minister (2003–present)
• 1971 –
  Erykah Badu, American singer
• 1982 –
  Song Hye Kyo, South Korean model and actress

Who died on February 26?

• 1200 –
  Symeon, former Serbian ruler and saint (b. 1109)
• 1266 –
  King Manfred of Sicily (b. 1232)
• 1723 –
  Thomas d'Urfey, English writer (b. 1653)
• 1864 –
  Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, Canadian politician (b. 1807)
• 1903 –
  Richard Jordan Gatling, American inventor (b. 1818)
• 1913 –
  Felix Draeseke, German composer (b. 1835)
• 1950 –
  Sir Harry Lauder, Scottish Music Hall Entertainer, Knighted for WWI War Work (b. 1870)
• 1989 –
  Roy Eldridge, American musician (b. 1911)
• 2000 –
  George L. Street III American Navy submariner and Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1913)
• 2009 –
  Wendy Richard, English actress (b. 1943)