1867 CE

There were only 354 days this year in the newly purchased territory of Alaska. When the territory transferred from the Russian Empire to the United States, the calendric transition from the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar was made with only 11 days instead of 12 during the 19th century. This change was made due to the territorial and geopolitical shift from the Asian to the American side of the International Date Line.

In the 1860s, the 19th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

January 7 - Maximilian I met with Marshal Bazaine at the Hacienda de la Teja, where Bazaine advised him to abdicate the throne.Mexico source
January 8 – African-American men are granted the right to vote in the District of Columbia.source
January 11 – Benito Juárez becomes Mexican president again.source
February 12 - February 1867 North German federal electionGermany source
February 28 – The United States Congress forbids taxpayer funding of diplomatic envoys to the Holy See (Vatican), begun in 1848, and breaks off relations. Funding resumes, along with relations, in 1984.source
March 1 – Nebraska is admitted as the 37th U.S. state.source
March 29 – The British North America Act receives royal assent, forming the Dominion of Canada, in an event known as the Confederation. This unites the Province of Canada (Quebec and Ontario), New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia on July 1. Ottawa will become the capital.source
March 30 – Alaska Purchase: Alaska is purchased for US$7.2 million from Alexander II of Russia, about 2 cents/acre ($4.19/km 2 ), by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward. Newspapers call this Seward's Folly.source
April 1 – The Strait Settlement of Singapore, formerly ruled from Calcutta, becomes a Crown colony, under the jurisdiction of the Colonial Office in London.source
May 11 – Treaty of London: The great powers of Europe reaffirm the neutrality of Luxembourg, ending the Luxembourg Crisis. The Duchy of Limburg is formally re-incorporated into the Kingdom of the Netherlands.source
20 May: Alexandra is proclaimed a borough.New Zealand source
May 24 – Robert William Keate becomes Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal.source
May 24 – Robert William Keate is appointed as Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal.South Africa source
May 29 – The Austro-Hungarian Compromise (called Ausgleich in German or kiegyezés in Hungarian (The Compromise)) is born through Act 12, which establishes the Austro-Hungarian Empire; on June 8 Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria is crowned King of Hungary.source
May 29 – Canadian Confederation: Queen Victoria signs the British North America Act, creating the Dominion of Canada, effective July 1.source
July 1 – Canadian Confederation: The British North America Act of 29 March comes into force, creating the Dominion of Canada, the first independent dominion in the British Empire.source
July 1 – The Constitution of the North German Confederation comes into effect, creating a confederation of states, under the leadership of Prussia and Otto von Bismarck.source
July 15 – France declares Cambodia's independence from Siam; Cambodia becomes a protectorate of France and Britain.source
August 7–September 20 – The first Canadian election sees John A. Macdonald's Conservatives elected to government and Macdonald becomes the Dominion's first prime minister.source
August 15 – Benjamin Disraeli's Second Reform Act enfranchises many men in cities for the first time, and adds 938,000 to an electorate of 1,057,000 in England and Wales.source
September 30 – The United States takes control of Midway Island.source
October 18 – Alaska is transferred from Russia to the United States, becoming the Department of Alaska.source
October 21 – 'Manifest destiny': Medicine Lodge Treaty – Near Medicine Lodge Creek, Kansas, a landmark treaty is signed by southern Great Plains Indian leaders, requiring Native American Plains tribes to relocate to a reservation in western Oklahoma.source
November 19 – Shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigns the shogunate.Japan source
25 November – establishment of the Olavarría PartidoArgentina source
The three western provinces of Lower Cochinchina (Vĩnh Long, An Giang, and Hà Tiên) are annexed into the colony of French Cochinchina.source
The modern rose is born, with the introduction of Rosa 'La France' by Jean-Baptiste André Guillot.source
treaty of limits between Brazil and Bolivia was signedBrazil source
Hakka-Punti Clan Wars end, Hakka were allocated their own independent sub-prefecture, Chixi (赤溪镇), which was carved out of south-eastern Taishan, while others were relocated to Guangxi Province, mass emigrationChina source

Conflict & Security

January 31 – Maronite nationalist leader Youssef Bey Karam leaves Lebanon aboard a French ship for Algeria.source
February 3 (Keiō 2, 29th day of the 12th month) – Mutsuhito ascended to the throne as Emperor Meiji.Japan source
February 19 – Battle of Inlon River: The Qing dynasty defeats the Nien rebels in Hubei, China.source
March 5 – The Fenian Rising breaks out in Ireland.source
5 March – Fenian Rising in Ireland.United Kingdom source
March 9 - The Republican army, commanded by General Porfirio Díaz, laid siege to the Imperial forces in Puebla. Díaz established his headquarters on Cerro de San Juan, while the Imperial defenders held the forts of Loreto and Guadalupe.Mexico source
June 19 – A firing squad executes Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico and two of his lieutenants.source
June 29 – Kidder massacre: A Sioux and Cheyenne war party kills U.S. Second Lieutenant Lyman Kidder, along with an Indian scout and ten enlisted men in Kansas.United States source
8 July – Paraguayan War: Staff Sergeant Roberto A. Chodasiewicz uses an observation balloon during the battle of Humaitá.Argentina source
July 18 – The Battle of Fandane-Thiouthioune: The Serer people defeat the Muslim Marabouts of Senegambia.source
November 9 – The last shōgun of Japan, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, tenders his resignation to Emperor Meiji.source
December 13 – The Clerkenwell explosion, the most infamous action carried out by the Fenians in Britain in the 19th century.source
Battle of Inlon River, Nian forces lose entire Hubei regionChina source
Major Charles Heaphy is awarded the Victoria Cross. He is the first soldier from any colony to be so decorated.New Zealand source
Charles Octavius Swinnerton Morgan - Penhow CastleWales source

Exploration & Expansion

January – Clara Schumann and Joseph Joachim tour to Edinburgh and Glasgow.Scotland source
April 1–November 3 – Exposition Universelle, an international exhibition in Paris. Among the visitors is Abdülaziz, making the first visit of a Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to Western Europe.source
4 April – Natal – Durban to Umgeni, 3 mi.South Africa source
Delhaize Brothers begin trading.Belgium source
December 4 – Beginning of British expedition to Abyssinia.source
Carl Neumann is awarded the Thorvaldsen Exhibition Medal for the painting Skibe under land efter en byge.Denmark source
British Indian soldiers participate in the British Expedition to Abyssinia from 1867 to 1868India source
Augusta Lundin open her fashion studio in Stockholm.Sweden source
Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts opens its doors for the first time, becoming the first school for the deaf in the United States to teach deaf children how to communicate with others using the "oral method".United States source
Alfred Russel Wallace – The Malay ArchipelagoWales source

Religion & Belief

January 14 - a meeting of imperial advisers was held at the National Palace in the absence of Maximilian I, owing to the political and military situation. The meeting was presided over by Teodosio Lares, president of the Supreme Court of Justice. During the session, Marshal Achille Bazaine presented abdication as the only viable course for the emperor. The bishops withdrew their support for the Empire, while the imperial ministers continued to express confidence in defeating the Republican forces and restoring order.Mexico source
13 February – Work starts on Covering of the SenneBelgium source
February 22 - In Querétaro, Maximilian I and his generals held a council of war to determine their strategy. It was agreed that the Imperial army would leave the city on the 26th of that month to engage the Republican forces, a course of action that may have prevented the subsequent siege. The plan was not carried out, however, and Maximilian remained in Querétaro rather than launching the attack.Mexico source
October 27 – Italian unification: Giuseppe Garibaldi's troops march into the Papal States.source
8 December – Victor-Auguste-Isidor Deschamps named Archbishop of Mechelen in succession to the recently deceased Engelbert Sterckx (enthroned 28 January 1868).Belgium source
Saint Mary MacKillop and Fr Julian Tenison Woods found the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred HeartAustralia source
Ohel David Synagogue was constructed in Pune by David SassoonIndia source
24–28 September – First of the Lambeth Conferences held.United Kingdom source
William Thomas (Islwyn) – CaniadauWales source

Economy & Finance

15 March – 'Conference of Trades' first meets; later forming the nucleus of the Trades Union Congress.United Kingdom source
March 23 – William III of the Netherlands accepts an offer of 5,000,000 guilders from Napoleon III for the sale of Luxembourg, leading to the Luxembourg Crisis.source
24 July - Law on Sociétés anonymes.France source
16 October – English immigrant James Nash reports to authorities that he has discovered 75 ounces of alluvial gold in a creek at Gympie, Queensland. The find sparks a gold rush to the area, saving the colony of Queensland from bankruptcy.Australia source
Margarine Unie, at the time named Antoon Jurgens United, a predecessor of the Unilever, worldwide toiletries, beauty care and beverage brand, is founded in Netherlands.source
Delhaize, as predecessor for Ahold Delhaize, a major retail group in Europe, is founded in Belgium.source
Date unknown - Germanischer Lloyd was founded.Germany source
Balmer Lawrie manufacturing company was founded in CalcuttaIndia source
The scandal of the great bankruptcy of the heiress Louise von Fersen (1816–1879) attracts attention.Sweden source
Artizans, Labourers & General Dwellings Company formed.United Kingdom source

Technology & Infrastructure

January 1 – The Covington–Cincinnati Suspension Bridge opens between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky, in the United States, becoming the longest single-span bridge in the world. It is renamed after its designer, John A. Roebling, in 1983.source
January 1 – The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge opens between Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky, becoming the longest suspension bridge in the world.United States source
5 February: Opening of New Zealand's third railway line: 27 km connecting Invercargill and Bluff.New Zealand source
May 7 – Alfred Nobel patents dynamite in the United Kingdom.source
June 15 – The Atlantic Cable Quartz Lode gold mine is named in Montana.source
July 15 – Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau becomes the first premier of Quebec.Canada source
19 August – The Victoria pier at Rhyl, built at a cost of £23,000, opens to the public.Wales source
15 November – Ferrocarril Andino, the first state-owned railway in Argentina, is founded.Argentina source
Pierre Michaux invents the front wheel-driven velocipede, the first mass-produced bicycle.source
1867–1873 – Chinese, Scandinavian and Irish immigrants lay 30,000 mi of railroad tracks in the United States.source
At Fountain Point, Michigan, an artesian water spring, begins to gush continuously.source
Clarke School for the Deaf in Western Massachusetts opens its doors for the first time, becoming the first school for the deaf in the United States to teach its children how to communicate using the oral method.source
Euphrosine Beernaert, Pond in Villers-la-VilleBelgium source
Great Indian Peninsula Railway's Allahabad-Jubbulpore branch line was opened in JuneIndia source
Berdichev machine-building plantRussia source

Science & Discovery

1 April–3 November - Exposition Universelle in Paris.France source
17 May – New criminal code published.Belgium source
22 May – Maria Fedeorowna arrives to Copenhagen.Denmark source
June 20 – The first recorded association football match in Argentina takes place in Buenos Aires.source
14 July – Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel demonstrates dynamite in a quarry in Redhill, Surrey, having patented it in the UK on 7 May.United Kingdom source
South African diamond fields are discovered.source
Date unknown - Volume I of Das Kapital by Karl Marx was published in Hamburg by Verlag Otto MeisnerGermany source
Royal Irish Constabulary granted its "Royal" prefix by Queen Victoria.Ireland source
New Zealand Cup winner: MagentaNew Zealand source
The Bronze Age cairns at Llanmadoc Hill are excavated and finds recorded.Wales source

Health & Medicine

March 1 – Nebraska is admitted as the 37th U.S. state (see History of Nebraska).United States source
March 16 – An article by Joseph Lister outlining his use of antiseptic surgery is first published in The Lancet.source
16 March – first publication of an article by Joseph Lister outlining the discovery of antiseptic surgery, in The Lancet.United Kingdom source
10 April - Victor Duruy introduces legislation for female education.France source
July – The Reverend Thomas Baker, a Wesleyan Methodist missionary (born in Playden, East Sussex, England) is cooked and eaten by Navatusila tribespeople at Nabutautau, Fiji, together with eight of his local followers, the only missionary in that country to suffer cannibalism.source
The Prohibition National Committee is formed in the United States.source
Yellow fever kills 3,093 in New Orleans.source
The board game Parcheesi is introduced in the United States.source
Sassoon Hospital was built in Pune by David SassoonIndia source
Public Gambling Act of 1867 is passed, prohibiting the running or being in charge of a public gaming houseIndia source
While Henry Jenner is fundraising in England for his new diocese there are increasing concerns over his appointment among the New Zealand clergy and the citizens of Dunedin.New Zealand source
Emmy Rappe becomes head nurse in the newly established Surgical Clinic at the Uppsala Academic Hospital, where she opened the first professional training courses for nurses in Sweden.Sweden source
Edward Hamer – The Chartist Outbreak at LlanidloesWales source

Crime & Justice

January 9 - Jesús González Ortega was arrested in Zacatecas by General Auza on the orders of Benito Juárez.Mexico source
February - Strike of bronzeworkers in Paris.France source
June 19 – Maximilian I of Mexico, 2nd emperor of Mexico, 1864-1867; executed (born 1832)Mexico source
11 September – Thomas J. Kelly and Timothy Deasy are arrested in Manchester.Ireland source
November 23 – The three 'Manchester Martyrs' are hanged in England for the murder of a policeman whilst attempting to rescue two Irish Republican Brotherhood members from imprisonment on 18 September.source
23 November – The three 'Manchester Martyrs' are hanged in Salford for the murder of a policeman whilst attempting to rescue two Irish Republican Brotherhood members from imprisonment on 18 September.United Kingdom source
New Zealand Derby winner: ScandalNew Zealand source
Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy BoulevardRussia source
Rhoda Broughton – Cometh Up as a FlowerWales source

Disasters & Accidents

7 January – Riots at the Crocodile Creek goldfield destroyed the property of Chinese miners.Australia source
January 7 – Kingstree jail fire kills 22 in South Carolina.United States source
January 15 – Regent's Park skating disaster in London: 40 people die when ice on a lake breaks.source
16 January – Emil Messershcmidt's Tannery on Gammel Kongevej in Copenhagen is hit by fire.Denmark source
2 February – Mines across the Charleroi coalfield closed by strikes.Belgium source
October 12 – End of penal transportation from Britain as the last convict ship, the Hougoumont, departs from Portsmouth on an 89-day passage to Western Australia. 62 Fenians are among the transportees.source
12 October – The transportation of convicts to Western Australia ceases when the last convict ship to Western Australia, the Hougoumont, left Britain.Australia source
8 November – An underground explosion at Ferndale Colliery in the Rhondda kills 178.United Kingdom source
Jesuits destroy the ruins of the Chudamani ViharaIndia source
26–27 October – Barque Earl of Chester is wrecked off Rhosneigr, Anglesey, with the loss of at least 17 lives.Wales source

Climate & Environment

1 June – Greatest recorded flood of the Hawkesbury River at 19.2 metres.Australia source
29 October – A hurricane hits the Danish West Indies.Denmark source
18 November – The 1867 Virgin Islands earthquake and tsunami hits the Danish West Indies.Denmark source
The Swedish famine of 1867–1869 begins.source
Gorse is naturalised in New Zealand, where it soon becomes the worst invasive weed.source
The great Swedish emigration to the United States begun, in part caused by the great famine.Sweden source
The great Swedish famine of 1867-1869 spreads from Finland to Sweden, where it lasts until 1868. This is the last famine to take place in Sweden.Sweden source
Jabez Edmund Jenkins – Egin Awen, yn cynnwys awdlau, cywyddauWales source

Culture & Society

February 3 – The late Emperor Kōmei's 14-year-old son, Prince Mutsuhito, becomes Emperor Meiji of Japan in a brief ceremony in Kyoto, ending the Late Tokugawa shogunate.source
February 7 – West Virginia University is established in Morgantown.source
February 13 – The Covering of the Senne in Brussels begins.source
February 14 – Augusta Institute is founded in Augusta, Georgia, later known as Morehouse College.source
February 15 – Johann Strauss II's waltz The Blue Danube (An der schönen blauen Donau) is first performed, at a concert of the Vienna Men's Choral Association. Later this year, Strauss will adapt it into its popular purely orchestral version for the Exposition Universelle in Paris.source
February 16 – John A. Macdonald marries his second wife Susan Agnes Bernard.Canada source
February 22 – The Indiana Daily Student is established at Indiana University in Bloomington.source
March – The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is established (opened one year later).source
March – The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is established (it opens for classes on March 2, 1868).United States source
April 28 – I.C. Sorosis, the first women's fraternity (sorority) founded upon the men's fraternity model, with Pi Beta Phi as its motto, is founded at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois. In 1888, the motto becomes the name of the organization.source
May 1 – The first political May Day march takes place in Chicago.source
9 May – British immigrants Thomas and James Hogg found the Buenos Aires Football Club, effectively marking the beginning of the sport in Argentina.Argentina source
May 11 – Cox and Box, by Francis Burnand and Arthur Sullivan, is first publicly performed, at the Adelphi Theatre, London.source
3 June: The Evening Herald is founded in Wanganui. Around the turn of the 20th century, it changed its name to The Wanganui Herald, and continued to publish until 1986.New Zealand source
July 9 – Queen's Park F.C., the oldest association football league team in Scotland, is founded.source
July 17 – In Boston, Massachusetts, the Harvard School of Dental Medicine is established as the first dental school in the United States.source
July 24 − Reykjavik Shooting Association, Iceland's oldest sport association is foundedIceland source
11-18 July – 2,400 Belgian Volunteers visit London, received by the Lord Mayor, entertained by the Wimbledon Volunteers, and a ball held in their honour at the Agricultural Hall, Islington, attended by Prince Albert.Belgium source
September 2 – Emperor Meiji of Japan marries Empress Shōken (née Masako Ichijō). The Empress consort is thereafter known as Lady Haruko.source
September 4 – The Sheffield Wednesday F.C. is founded, at the Adelphi Hotel in Sheffield.source
September 14 – The first volume of Das Kapital (later translated into English as Capital) is published by Karl Marx.source
November 2 – The first issue of the women's fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar is published. It is issued weekly, but later monthly.source
November 21 – American temperance crusader Carrie Nation marries Charles Gloyd.source
December 2 – In a New York City theater, English author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.source
The Wasps Rugby Football Club is formed in Middlesex, England.source
National Gallery of Victoria Art School accepts its first studentsAustralia source
Dadabhai Naoroji established the East India Association, one of the predecessor organisations of the Indian National CongressIndia source

Births

January 18 – Rubén Darío, Nicaraguan poet (died 1916)source
January 21 – Maxime Weygand, French general (died 1965)source
February 7 – Laura Elizabeth Wilder, née Ingalls, American children's author (died 1957)source
February 9 – Natsume Sōseki, novelist and writer (died 1916)Japan source
23 March – José Norton de Matos, military officer and politician (died 1955)Portugal source
March 25 – Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor (died 1957)source
April 9 – Chris Watson, 3rd Prime Minister of Australia (died 1941)source
April 13 – Sammy Woods, English cricketer (died 1931)source
April 16 – Wilbur Wright, American aviation pioneer, co-inventor of the airplane with brother Orville (died 1912)source
19 April – Elvira Rawson de Dellepiane, first woman in Argentina to obtain a medical degree and "the mother of women's rights in Argentina" (died 1954)Argentina source
June 4 – Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, Finnish military leader and 6th President of Finland (died 1951)source
June 8 – Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect (died 1959)source
August 3 – Stanley Baldwin, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1947)source
August 14 – John Galsworthy, English writer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1933)source
September 5 – Amy Beach, American pianist, composer (died 1944)source
November 7 – Marie Curie, Polish-born scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and physics (died 1934)source
December 5 – Józef Piłsudski, Polish statesman, field marshal (died 1935)source
? – David Benjamin Keldani, Catholic convert to Islam.Iran source

Deaths

January 14 – Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, French painter (born 1780)source
January 30 – Emperor Kōmei of Japan dies suddenly, age 36, leaving his son Mutsuhito to succeed him.source
January 30 – Emperor Kōmei, 121st Emperor of Japan (born 1831)source
January 30 (Keiō 2, 25th day of the 12th month) – Emperor Kōmei dies of smallpox. He had suffered a fatally violent bout of vomiting and diarrhea. Since he had consistently opposed the anti-bakufu forces this was distinctly convenient for them and it was rumored that he was assassinated, either by radicals from Choshu or radical officials in the court. However, there is no evidence of this and it is generally believed that he was simply one more victim of what was a worldwide pandemic at the time.Japan source
April 18 – Robert Smirke, British architect (born 1780)source
April 27 – Benjamin Hall, 1st Baron Llanover, after whom Big Ben may be named (born 1802)source
May 30 – Ramón Castilla, Peruvian military leader and politician, three times President of Peru (born 1797)source
2 June – Pascual Echagüe, soldier and politician (born 1797)Argentina source
June 19 – Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico (executed) (born 1832)source
July 1 – Thomas Francis Meagher, American Civil War general (born 1823)source
July 26 – King Otto of Greece (born 1815)source
July – Thomas Baker, Methodist missionary to Fiji (born 1832)source
August 25 – Michael Faraday, English chemist and physicist (born 1791)source
August 31 – Charles Baudelaire, French writer (born 1821)source
October 11 – Gunatitanand Swami, Indian paramahamsa of the Hindu Swaminarayan Sampraday sect (born 1785)source
3 November - Segundo Ruiz Belvis (born 1829)Chile source
December 4 − Helgi G. Thordersen, the third Bishop of Iceland, served in office until 1866Iceland source
December 18 – Angola Horror (Buffalo, New York-area train wreck): The fiery death of 49 people leads John D. Rockefeller to develop and sell his Mineral Seal 300 °F Fire-Tested Burning Oil, and George Westinghouse to invent the railway air brake, which is mandated in the United States in 1893.source