| 26 January 1531 | Portugal [natural disasters] | An earthquake destroys the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, killing 50,000 people. The superstitious associate the disaster with the appearance of a ‘Great Comet’ in the sky. |
| 26 January 1699 | Austria, Holy Roman Empire, Ottoman Empire, Venice, Italy, Poland, Habsburg Monarchy [Ottoman–Russian Wars (1686–1739)] | The Peace of Carlowitz is signed by Austria, Russia, Poland, and Venice with the Ottoman Empire. By its terms, all of the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I's conquests during the war, including Hungary, Transylvania, Croatia, and Slavonia, are confirmed. Poland gains Podolia and the Ukraine. Venice gains the Morea. Russia retains its conquest of Azov, but only consents to a two-year armistice. |
| 26 January 1823 | England [births and deaths] | Edward Jenner, English surgeon who discovered and developed a smallpox vaccination, dies in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England (73). |
| 26 January 1885 | Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, England, Egypt [wars] | The Sudanese followers of the dervish Mahdi (prophet) Mohammed Ahmed of Dongola capture the city of Khartoum, capital of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, massacring the inhabitants and the occupying Anglo-Egyptian forces, including the Anglo-Egyptian commander, British general Charles Gordon. |
| 26 January 1885 | Germany [motor vehicles] | German mechanical engineer Karl Friedrich Benz patents a three-wheeled vehicle powered by a two-cycle, single-cylinder internal combustion engine, pioneering the development of the motorcar. His car achieves a speed of 14.4 kph/9 mph. |
| 26 January 1907 | Austria-Hungary [suffrage] | Following a long campaign for reform, a bill that extends suffrage to all males aged 24 or over is passed in Austria. |
| 26 January 1918 | [births and deaths] | Nicolae Ceausescu, president of the Socialist Republic of Romania 1967–89, born in Scornicesti, Romania (–1989). |
| 26 January 1922 | Southern Rhodesia [political events] | The legislative council of British Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) accepts a draft constitution conferring limited self-government. |
| 26 January 1939 | Spain [Spanish Civil War (1936–39)] | Nationalist forces, assisted by Italian troops, take the city of Barcelona, the last major stronghold of the Republican government in northeastern Spain. |
| 26 January 1998 | Japan [births and deaths] | Shinichi Suzuki, Japanese violinist and teacher of the Suzuki method, dies in Matsumoto, Japan (99). |
| 26 January 1998 | Iraq [United Nations] | US and British naval forces begin to assemble in the Gulf and to draw up plans for a bombing campaign against Iraq because Iraqi president Saddam Hussein continues to hinder the work of United Nations (UN) weapons inspectors. |
| 26 January 1998 | world [space exploration] | Analysis of high-resolution images from the Galileo spacecraft suggests that the icy crust of Europa, Jupiter's fourth-largest moon, may hide a vast ocean that might be warm enough to support life. |
| 26 January 2001 | India [natural disasters] | The state of Gujarat in western India is devastated by an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, killing as many as 20,000 people. |
