This Day in History - April 26th

April 26th is the 116th day of the calendar year. This day in history has been known for many significant events. Here is a quick overview of some of the more memorable moments in this day in history.

On April 26, 1607 the first English settlement in the western hemisphere was being set up at Cape Henry, Virginia. April 16th is also the date in 1785 that artist John James Audubon was born.

On April 26, 1862 the famous cartoon of the navy ships of the Union states beating the Confederate navy was printed in Harpers Weekly. This day in history is also well known for the killing of Abraham Lincoln’s assassin john Wilkes Booth in 1865.

 This day in history is also the birthday of Pulitzer Prize winner Bernard Malamud in 1914. It is also the date in 1964 that the nations of Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to create the nation known as Tanzania.

On April 26, 1986, the worst nuclear accident in global history took place. The Chernobyl plant, located in the Soviet Union, resulted in the immediate deaths of over 30 Soviets. The number 4 reactor exploded and radioactive materials were sent directly into the atmosphere on this day in history.

On this day in history in 1998 Bishop Juan Gerardi Coneders was killed. This human rights leader had released a compilation of wrong doings in the Guatemalan Civil War.

On April 26, 2001 Junichiro Koizumi was elected prim minister of Japan. On that same date in 2003 a disgruntled student went on a shooting spree in Germany, killing 17 people including him.

On April 26, 2004 the United States government released the new colored fifty dollar bill. And in this day in history in 2005 Syrian soldiers finally withdrew from Lebanon after 29 years of unwanted military presence.