February 26 is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 308 days remain until the end of the year (309 in leap years). 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.
320 – Chandragupta I is officially crowned as the first Gupta emperor.
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.