1870 CE

The first message by electric telegraph using the Great Britain to India submarine cable is sent from London. Reconstruction: Georgia becomes the last former Confederate state to be readmitted to the Union, and the C.S.A. is dissolved. Capture of Rome; With Bersaglieri soldiers entering Rome at Porta Pia, the unification of Italy is completed, ending the last remnant of the Papal States and Papal temporal power.

In the 1870s, the 19th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

January 6 – The Musikverein, Vienna, is inaugurated in Austria-Hungary.source
January 15 – A political cartoon for the first time symbolizes the United States Democratic Party with a donkey (A Live Jackass Kicking a Dead Lion by Thomas Nast for Harper's Weekly).source
January 26 – Reconstruction Era (United States): Virginia rejoins the Union. This year it adopts a new Constitution, drawn up by John Curtiss Underwood, expanding suffrage to all male citizens over 21, including freedmen.source
February 3 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing African American men the right to vote, is passed.source
February 12 – Women's suffrage: Women gain the right to vote in Utah Territory.source
February 23 – Military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.source
February 25 – Hiram Rhodes Revels, a Republican from Mississippi, is sworn into the United States Senate, becoming the first African American to sit in the U.S. Congress.source
February 28 – The Bulgarian Exarchate is established, by decree of Sultan Abdülaziz of the Ottoman Empire.source
1 March - End of the Paraguayan War. Following this, Argentina seeks to enforce one of the secret clauses of the Treaty of the Triple Alliance, which would have permitted it to annex a large portion of the Gran Chaco region. The Brazilian government, wishing to maintain Paraguay as a buffer with Argentina, it rejects the Argentine proposal.Argentina source
March 19 – The Ohio Legislature passes the Cannon Act, thereby establishing the Ohio Agriculture and Mechanical College, later Ohio State University.source
March 30 – Reconstruction: Texas is readmitted to the Union.source
March 30 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, giving African American men the right to vote, is ratified.source
March 31 – Thomas Mundy Peterson is the first African American to vote in an election.source
20 April – A second state flag of New South Wales is adopted, similar to the current flag of Victoria: a crown above the Southern Cross.Australia source
April 27 – Antonio Guzmán Blanco begins his first term as President of Venezuela.source
May 12 – The Canadian Parliament's Manitoba Act receives royal assent. The act provides for the establishment of the province Manitoba when Rupert's Land is transferred to Canada.Canada source
19 May – João Carlos Saldanha de Oliveira Daun, 1st Duke of Saldanha takes over as Prime MinisterPortugal source
June 22 – The office of the Solicitor General of the United States is set up, to supervise and conduct government litigation in the United States Supreme Court.source
June 22 – The U.S. Congress creates the United States Department of Justice.source
July 15 – Reconstruction Era: Georgia becomes the last former Confederate state of America to be readmitted to the Union.source
July 15 – The British government admits the former Hudson's Bay Company territory of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory to the Dominion of Canada.source
July 15 – Reconstruction: Georgia becomes the last former Confederate state to be readmitted to the Union, and the C.S.A. is dissolved.United States source
July 30 – The 'Diggers' Republic' is proclaimed at Klipdrift in South Africa by diamond miners, with Stafford Parker as president.source
July 30 – The Klipdrift Republic is proclaimed by a group of diamond miners with Stafford Parker as their president.South Africa source
11 August – France and Prussia give assurances to Britain that Belgian neutrality will be respected during the Franco-Prussian War.Belgium source
October 6 – Rome becomes the capital of unified Italy.source
November 16 – The Spanish Cortes Generales proclaims Amadeo de Saboya as King Amadeo I of Spain.source
10 December – The Reichstag of the North German Confederation renames the Confederation the "North German Confederation of the German Empire".Germany source
December 12 – Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina becomes the second black U.S. congressman (following Hiram Rhodes Revels in February).source

Conflict & Security

January 23 – Marias Massacre: U.S. soldiers attack a peaceful camp of Piegan Blackfeet Indians, led by chief Heavy Runner.source
February 9 – The U.S. Army Weather Bureau is created within the Army Signal Corps.source
March 1 – Battle of Cerro Corá, Paraguay: Marshal Francisco Solano López's last troops are cornered by those of the Triple Alliance. López refuses to surrender and is killed, ending the Paraguayan War.source
May 3 – Liberian constitutional referendum, 1870Liberia source
May 12 – The Canadian province of Manitoba is created, in response to Louis Riel's Red River Rebellion.source
May 25 The Fenian Brotherhood attacks Eccles hill in Quebec.source
May - The Chilean Army resumes operations against the MapuchesChile source
June 21 – The Tianjin Massacre of 17 foreigners (mostly European Christian priests and nuns) and 40 Chinese people who had converted to Christianity, takes place in China when an angry mob attacks churches established in the city.source
16 July – In response to Bismarck's refusal to cede parts of the Rhineland to Emperor Napoleon III of France, the near succession of a Hohenzollern to the Spanish throne, and the Ems telegram, France declares war on Prussia, beginning the Franco-Prussian War.Germany source
July 19 – Franco-Prussian War: France declares war on Prussia.source
August 8 – The Republic of Ploiești, an uprising against Domnitor Carol of Romania, fails.source
August 24 – The Red River Rebellion in Canada ends with the arrival of the Wolseley Expedition and the flight of Louis Riel.source
September 2 – Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Sedan – Prussian forces defeat the French armies and take Emperor Napoleon III and 100,000 of his soldiers prisoner at Sedan, France.source
2 September – Belgian Red Cross despatches medical units to Lorraine in the wake of the Battle of Sedan.Belgium source
September 4 – Emperor Napoleon III of France is deposed and the Third Republic is declared. Empress Eugénie flees to England with her son.source
12 September – A Nelson team, the "Lunatics", defeats Wellington at Petone.New Zealand source
September 12 - Revolution of the Lances: Battle of Paso SeverinoUruguay source
September 19 – Franco-Prussian War: The Siege of Paris (1870–1871) begins. From September 23, balloon mail is sent out of the city.source
October 2 – A plebiscite held in Rome supports, by 133,681 votes to 1,507, the annexation of the city by Italy.source
October 8 – Léon Gambetta escapes besieged Paris in a hot-air balloon.source
October 27 – Franco-Prussian War: Siege of Metz – Marshal François Achille Bazaine, commanding the French left wing, is forced by starvation to surrender the fortifications of Metz.source
October – Battle of the Belly River: the Blackfoot Confederacy decisively defeats the Iron Confederacy.Canada source
Just one of the 916 members of the Indian Civil Service is Indian.source
Foreign Enlistment Act (British statute)India source

Exploration & Expansion

January 28 – British SS City of Boston departs Halifax, Nova Scotia, on a transatlantic passage with 191 people aboard and is lost with all hands.source
February 27 – The Nisshoki 'circle of the sun' flag of Japan is adopted as the national flag for Japanese merchant ships, by proclamation of the Daijō-kan.source
March 24 – A Chilean prospecting party led by José Díaz Gana discovers the silver ores of Caracoles in the Bolivian portion of Atacama Desert, leading to the last of Chilean silver rushes and a diplomatic dispute over its taxation between Chile and Bolivia.source
August 24 – The Wolseley expedition arrives at Upper Fort Garry, ManitobaCanada source
27 August – John Forrest successfully arrives in Adelaide from Perth, leading an expedition along the south coast via the Great Australian Bight.Australia source
September 18 – Old Faithful Geyser is observed and named by Henry D. Washburn, during the Washburn–Langford–Doane Expedition to Yellowstone in Wyoming.source
September 18 – Old Faithful Geyser is observed and named by Henry D. Washburn during the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition to Yellowstone.United States source
William Morris visits Iceland for the first time.Iceland source
Augustus Halvorsen Hilton, migrated from Norway to San Antonio, New Mexico, establishing the American branch of the Hilton family.Norway source
Undated – the David Greig grocery chain begins with a store in London.United Kingdom source

Religion & Belief

January — Francis Kilvert begins his famous diary.Wales source
May 2 – William J. Seymour, one of the two Primary Founders of American Pentecostalism was born.United States source
18 June – Affligem Abbey, closed in 1796, refounded.Belgium source
July 18 – Pastor aeternus: Pope Pius IX declares papal infallibility, in matters of faith and morals.source
September 20 – Capture of Rome; With Bersaglieri soldiers entering Rome at Porta Pia, the unification of Italy is completed, ending the last remnant of the Papal States and Papal temporal power.source
Belfast Hebrew Congregation is established.Ireland source
First service is held in the new Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral, Cork (Church of Ireland).Ireland source
David Lloyd Davies — Ceinwen Morgan neu y Rian DdiwylliedigWales source
Jacob Lloyd is created a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great by Pope Pius IX.Wales source
Sir George Gilbert Scott completes the restoration of Bangor Cathedral.Wales source

Economy & Finance

January 10 – John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil.source
February 10 – Anaheim, California, is incorporated.source
February 26 – The German Commerzbank is founded in Hamburg.source
26 February – German company Commerzbank is founded in Hamburg.Germany source
March 10 – Deutsche Bank is founded in Berlin.source
March – The Mitsubishi Company is established in Japan as a shipping firm, by Iwasaki Yatarō with Thomas Blake Glover.source
19 May – the Home Government Association is established in Ireland by Isaac Butt to argue for devolution for Ireland and repeal of the Act of Union 1800.United Kingdom source
6 July – Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland founded, the world's oldest such organisation.Scotland source
Gulgong, New South Wales, is founded.Australia source
Botanical Garden of Brussels (founded 1826) bought by the Belgian state.Belgium source
National income - ₹3,332 millionIndia source
The Russian Tax Debate of 1870–1871Russia source

Technology & Infrastructure

January 1 – Plans for the Brooklyn Bridge are completed.source
January 3 – Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge begins in New York City.source
January 26 - The first public utility, Denshin, is established. (Traditional Japanese Date: Twenty-fifth Day of the Twelfth Month, Meiji 2)Japan source
February 12 – Women gain the right to vote in Utah Territory. On February 14, in a Salt Lake City municipal election, Seraph Young Ford becomes the first woman in the U.S. to cast her vote.United States source
February 26 – In New York City, the first pneumatic subway, Beach Pneumatic Transit, is opened.source
June 8 – The final splice on the first telegraph submarine cable between Great Britain and India is made.source
June 23 –The first message by electric telegraph using the Great Britain to India submarine cable is sent from London.source
August 2 – The Tower Subway beneath the River Thames in London, the world's first underground passenger "tube" railway, officially opens. Although this lasts as a railway operation only until November, it demonstrates the technologically successful first use of the cylindrical wrought iron tunnelling shield, devised by Peter W. Barlow and James Henry Greathead, and of a permanent tunnel lining of cast iron segments.source
September – Work begins on the Australian Overland Telegraph Line linking Port Augusta to Darwin.Australia source
4 October – The railway line South Line (Sydbanen), between Roskilde and Vordingborg by way of Køge and Næstved, is opened.Denmark source
November 1 – In the United States, the newly created Weather Bureau (later renamed the National Weather Service) makes its first official meteorological forecast: "High winds at Chicago and Milwaukee... and along the Lakes".source
December 31 – The 12.8 km Fréjus Rail Tunnel through the Alps is completed.source
The Alfred Basin in Table Bay Harbour, named after Prince Alfred, is completed.South Africa source
David Kenyon invents the fireman's pole in Chicago.source
Graeter's ice cream is originated in Cincinnati, Ohio.source
The first submarine telegraph cable from UK landed in Bombay.India source
New Zealand's first golf course was opened in Dunedin.New Zealand source
Thomas William Rhys Davids begins a series of articles for the Ceylon branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Journal.Wales source

Science & Discovery

March 18 – Female Infanticide Prevention Act, 1870, passed in British India by Natalia Fish.source
17 May – The turreted ironclad Gorm is launched from the Naval Dockyard in Copenhagen.Denmark source
July 28 – Start of Solar Saros 153. The final eclipse in this series will be in 3114.source
27 August – White Star's first ocean liner RMS Oceanic is launched by Harland and Wolff in Belfast.Ireland source
Ludimar Hermann observes the Hermann grid illusion.Germany source
Rudolf Clausius proves the scalar virial theorem.Germany source
Torrens system of registered land titles adopted.New Zealand source
In India, Timothy Richards Lewis discovers a nematoid worm, which he calls Filaria sanguinis hominis (later "Wuchereria bancrofti").Wales source

Health & Medicine

May 20 – Charles Craufurd Hay becomes acting Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa.South Africa source
15 July – General mobilisation in response to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian WarBelgium source
1 August – Burgh Customs (Scotland) Act enables burghs to abolish petty customs (local duties and tolls) and substitute local rates for them.Scotland source
26 September – George Watson's Hospital in Edinburgh reopens as reconstituted as a fee-paying day school, George Watson's College Schools for Boys.Scotland source
Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act 1870 passed in an attempt to secure greater security of tenure for landholders.Ireland source

Crime & Justice

February 2 – It is revealed that the famed Cardiff Giant in the U.S. is just carved gypsum and not the petrified remains of a human.source
February 2 – The Cardiff Giant is proven a hoax.United States source
February 26 – Wyatt Outlaw, the first African American town commissioner in Graham, North Carolina, is lynched by mob of Ku Klux Klan on Alamance County courthouse square.United States source
February – Denis Vrain-Lucas is sentenced to 2 years in prison for multiple forgery, in Paris.source
4 October – first non-public hanging in Scotland: George Chalmers of Fraserburgh, 45, is hanged in Perth county jail by the London hangman William Calcraft for the murder of a toll-keeper at Braco.Scotland source
December 28 – Juan Prim, Prime Minister of Spain, is shot by unknown assassins on leaving the Cortes. He dies two days later.source
Extradition Act (British statute)India source
The Water Colour Society of Ireland is founded as the Amateur Drawing Society by an informal group of six well-connected women from County Waterford.Ireland source
Richard Davies (Mynyddog) — Yr Ail GynnigWales source
John Ceiriog Hughes — Oriau'r HafWales source

Disasters & Accidents

28 January – Inman Line's SS City of Boston departs Halifax, Nova Scotia, on a passage for Liverpool on which it will be lost with all 191 aboard.United Kingdom source
7 September – masted turret ship HMS Captain capsizes off Cape Finisterre, less than 5 months after commissioning, due to design flaws, with the loss of 481 lives.United Kingdom source
19 October – SS Cambria is wrecked on Inishtrahull with the loss of 179 lives.Ireland source
19 October – SS Cambria is wrecked on Inishtrahull (Ireland) with the loss of 179 lives.United Kingdom source
William Thomas Lewis, 1st Baron Merthyr of Senghenydd, begins acquiring the collieries later known as the Lewis Merthyr collieries in Rhondda.Wales source

Climate & Environment

April 11 – A 7.3 magnitude earthquake shakes the Chinese county of Batang causing a fire that leaves about 5,000 dead.source
October 20 – A 6.6 earthquake shakes the Canadian province of Quebec, killing 6 people.source

Culture & Society

January 1 – The first edition of The Northern Echo newspaper is published in Priestgate, Darlington, England.source
February 1 – Goodna State School in Goodna, Queensland, Australia, is founded.source
February 2 – The Seven Brothers (Seitsemän veljestä), a novel by Finnish author Aleksis Kivi, is published first time in several thin booklets.source
February 14 – Schoolteacher Seraph Young Ford becomes the first woman to vote under a women’s equal suffrage law in the USA, casting her ballot in the Salt Lake City municipal election.source
March 5 – The first ever international Association football match, England v Scotland, takes place under the auspices of the Football Association at The Oval, London.source
22 March – A state flag of Queensland is adopted, with a portrait of Queen Victoria.Australia source
22 March – La Monnaie in Brussels stages first performance in French of Richard Wagner's Lohengrin.Belgium source
March 24 – Syracuse University is established in New York (state) and officially opens.source
April 13 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is established.source
April 29 – The Chicago Base Ball Club, later to be known as the Chicago White Stockings and ultimately the Chicago Cubs, play their first game against the St. Louis Unions of the National Association of Base Ball Players, an amateur league.source
April — George Osborne Morgan introduces the Burials Bill and the Places of Worship (Acquisition of Land) Bill to Parliament.Wales source
May 12 – The Port Adelaide Football Club is founded.source
May 14 – The first rugby match is played in New Zealand, between the Nelson Football Club and Nelson College.source
June 26 – Richard Wagner's opera Die Walküre is first performed at Munich's National Theatre.source
June 28 – American President Ulysses S. Grant signs an act making the United States Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day federal holidays in the United States.source
June 28 – Congress creates federal holidays (New Year's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day), initially applicable only to federal employees.United States source
July 14 – The Ems Dispatch is published, serving as casus belli for a war between Prussia and France.source
27 August – 3 September: Second visit by Prince Alfred, returning briefly to Wellington before departing for Sydney.New Zealand source
September 6 – Louisa Swain of Laramie, Wyoming, becomes the first woman in the United States to cast a vote legally since 1807.source
September/October – The literary fairy tale "The Most Incredible Thing", by poet and author Hans Christian Andersen, is published in the United States and Denmark.Denmark source
30 November – the first unofficial international Association football match, England v Scotland, takes place under the approval of the Football Association (FA) at The Oval, London. The Scotland team is selected by the FA from players in the London area with Scottish connections.Scotland source
December 31 – Sir Henry Barkly is appointed Governor of the Cape of Good Hope and High Commissioner for Southern Africa.source
Indian Reform Association was formed on 29 October with Keshab Chandra Sen as president. It represented the secular side of the Brahmo Samaj and included many who did not belong to the Brahmo Samaj. The objective was to put into practice some of the ideas Sen was exposed to during his visit to Great Britain.India source

Births

January 11 – Alexander Stirling Calder, American sculptor (died 1945)source
February 7 – Alfred Adler, Austrian psychologist (died 1937)source
February 12 – Marie Lloyd, English singer (died 1922)source
21 February – Victor Mercante, educationist (died 1934)Argentina source
March 20 – Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, German general (died 1964)source
April 19 – J. Howard Crocker, Canadian educator and sports executive (died 1959)source
April 22 – Vladimir Lenin, Russian revolutionary, first Premier of the Soviet Union (died 1924)source
May 24 – Jan Smuts, South African soldier, statesman (died 1950)source
July 3 – R. B. Bennett, 11th Prime Minister of Canada (died 1947)source
July 27 – Hilaire Belloc, French/English man of letters (died 1953)source
July 29 – George Dixon, Canadian boxer (died 1909)source
August 12 – Hubert Gough, British general (died 1963)source
August 31 – Maria Montessori, Italian educator (died 1952)source
October 10 – Ivan Bunin, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1953)source
October 12 – Mirza Jahangir Khan, Iranian writer.Iran source
October 29 – Samuel Alfred Ross, Vice President of Liberia (1920–1924), in Greenville (died 1929)Liberia source
1 December – Artur Ivens Ferraz, military officer and politician (died 1933)Portugal source
December 31 (alleged) – Mbah Gotho, Indonesian man, alleged oldest human (died 2017)source

Deaths

March 1 – Francisco Solano López, 2nd President of Paraguay (killed in action) (born 1827)source
March 4 – Red River Rebellion: Thomas Scott is executed by Louis Riel's provisional government, in modern-day Manitoba, Canada.source
11 March – Moshoeshoe I, King of Lesotho. (born c. 1786)South Africa source
12 March – Pastor Obligado, lawyer, Governor of the secessionist State of Buenos Aires 1853–1858 (born 1818)Argentina source
March 28 – George Henry Thomas, American general (born 1816)source
28 March - Candelaria Pérez (born 1810)Chile source
April 11 – Justo José de Urquiza, General, First constitutional President of Argentina (assassinated) (born 1801)source
April 16 – Domnița Rallou Caragea, Greek princess, independence activist (born 1799)source
May 6 – Sir James Young Simpson, Scottish physician, researcher (born 1811)source
June 9 – Charles Dickens, British novelist (born 1812)source
June 9 – English novelist Charles Dickens dies at Gads Hill Place in Kent, leaving his last book, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished.source
August 14 – David Farragut, American admiral (born 1801)source
September 23 – Prosper Mérimée, French writer (born 1803)source
October 12 – Robert E. Lee, Confederate general (born 1807)source
October 26 – The Chinese leaders of June's Tianjin Massacre of foreigners are executed by China's Imperial government.source
November 24 – Comte de Lautréamont, French poet, writer (born 1846)source
December 5 – Alexandre Dumas, père, French author (born 1802)source
December 9 – Alexander Kasimovich Kazembek, Russian orientalist, historian and philologist.Iran source