Monday, October 26, 1693

Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, considered one of the best video games ever made, in North America.

President George W. Bush signed the Patriot Act into law, significantly expanding the authority of United States law enforcement agencies.

Following protests against military leader Robert Guéï, Laurent Gbagbo (pictured) became the president of Ivory Coast.

Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty, settling relations between the two countries and pledging that neither would allow its territory to become a staging ground for military strikes by a third country.

Somali hospital cook Ali Maow Maalin began displaying symptoms of smallpox, becoming the last person known to be naturally infected by the disease.

Ngô Đình Diệm proclaimed himself president of the newly created Republic of Vietnam after defeating former emperor Bảo Đại in a fraudulent referendum supervised by his brother Ngô Đình Nhu.

The Chicago Theatre (pictured), the oldest surviving grand movie palace, opened.

The Illinois Memorial, honoring Union army soldiers from Illinois who fought at the Siege of Vicksburg, was dedicated at Vicksburg National Military Park.

The Saint Petersburg Soviet held its first meeting, becoming the first elected body in Russia to represent workers.

A group of Russian explorers led by Baron von Toll left their camp on Bennett Island and disappeared without a trace.

Ida B. Wells (pictured) began publishing her research on lynching in the United States, for which she was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2020.

Liberian president Edward James Roye was overthrown in modern Africa's first coup d'état.