Browse Historical Events by Day: What Happened on April 26th?

Pope Damasus II is consecrated as the 151st pope.

The Pisan fleet sacks the North African city of Mahdia.

The Order of the Garter, the most prestigious chivalric order in England, is founded by King Edward III.

The Pazzi conspiracy: A failed attempt by the Pazzi family to overthrow the Medici family in Florenceto by assassinating Lorenzo de Medici and his brother Giulianoto. Lorenzo survived the plot but Giulianoto de' Medici was killed. More

English colonists establish the first permanent English settlement in America at Jamestown, Virginia.

The worst nuclear accident in history occurs at the Chernobyl nuclear site in Ukraine. The accident was the result of a flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel who were running a poorly designed test. About 350,000 people were evacuated as a result of the accident. The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation has concluded that, apart from some 5000 thyroid cancers (resulting in 15 fatalities), "there is no evidence of a major public health impact attributable to radiation exposure 20 years after the accident." More

Syria ends 29-year military presence in Lebanon as the last of Syria's soldiers and intelligence agents leave Lebanon. Syria's chief of staff General Ali Habib declared that Damascus had fulfilled its obligations under a U.N. Security Council resolution that called for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon.