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

May 26: Facts & Myths About This Day

May 26 is the 146^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 219 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Monday.

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

When this day started, 29,136,960 minutes 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 ‘hectatetracontahexagon’ day.

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

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 267 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 4,539 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

May 26 Historical Events

• 1135 –
  Alfonso VII of León and Castile is crowned in the Cathedral of Leon as Imperator totius Hispaniae, “Emperor of all of Spain”.
• 1736 –
  Battle of Ackia: British and Chickasaw soldiers repel a French and Choctaw attack on the Chickasaw village of Ackia, near present-day Tupelo, Mississippi. The French, under Louisiana governor Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, had sought to link Louisiana with Acadia and the other northern colonies of New France.
• 1770 –
  The Orlov Revolt, an attempt to revolt against the Ottoman Empire before the Greek War of Independence, ends in disaster for the Greeks.
• 1828 –
  Feral child Kaspar Hauser is discovered wandering the streets of Nuremberg.
• 1865 –
  American Civil War: Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi division, is the last general of the Confederate Army to surrender, at Galveston, Texas.
• 1868 –
  The impeachment trial of U.S. President Andrew Johnson ends with Johnson being found not guilty by one vote.
• 1896 –
  Nicholas II becomes Tsar of Russia.
• 1970 –
  The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
• 1983 –
  A strong 7.7 magnitude earthquake strikes Japan, triggering a tsunami that kills at least 104 people and injures thousands. Many people go missing and thousands of buildings are destroyed.
• 2008 –
  Severe flooding begins in eastern and southern China that will ultimately cause 148 deaths and force the evacuation of 1.3 million.

Who were born on May 26?

• 1915 –
  Antonia Forest, British children’s author (d. 2003)
• 1926 –
  Phyllis Gotlieb, Canadian author
• 1946 –
  Mick Ronson, English musician (d. 1993)
• 1949 –
  Pam Grier, American actress
• 1956 –
  Frédéric Dutoit, French politician
• 1975 –
  Nicki Aycox, American actress
• 1979 –
  Elisabeth Harnois, American actress
• 1981 –
  Jason Manford, British comedian
• 1982 –
  David Reed, British writer and comedian
• 1987 –
  Olcay Şahan, Turkish footballer

Who died on May 26?

• 1595 –
  Philip Neri, Italian churchman (b. 1515)
• 1799 –
  James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, Scottish judge (b. 1714)
• 1840 –
  Sidney Smith, Royal Navy admiral (b. 1764)
• 1883 –
  Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri, Algerian political and military leader (b. 1808)
• 1951 –
  Lincoln Ellsworth, American scientist (b. 1880)
• 1966 –
  Elizabeth Dilling, American author and activist (b. 1894)
• 1976 –
  Juan Maino, Chilean leader of MAPU, “disappeared”
• 1999 –
  Waldo Semon, American inventor (b. 1898)
• 2001 –
  Anne Haney, American actress (b. 1934)
• 2008 –
  Sydney Pollack, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1934)