date: July 22

text: July 22 – Aarnoud van Heemstra, Dutch nobleman, jurist and politician (d. 1951)

source_section: Births › July–August


date: August 3

section: Births

text: August 3 – Augusta Holtz, Polish-American supercentenarian, last surviving person born in 1871 (d. 1986)


date: August 30

text: August 30 – Ernest Rutherford, New Zealand physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (d. 1937)


date: August 31

text: August 31 – Syed Hasan Imam, Indian politician and served as President of the Indian National Congress (d. 1933)


date: September 1

text: September 1 – J. Reuben Clark, Under Secretary of State for U.S. President Calvin Coolidge (d. 1961)

source_section: Births › September–October


date: September 7

text: September 7 – Francis Aylmer Maxwell, British-Indian Army officer in the Second Boer War and WWI (d. 1917)


date: October 27

text: October 27 – Vatslav Vorovsky, Russian Bolshevik, Marxist revolutionary, literary critic, publicist and Soviet diplomat (d. 1923)


date: November 27

text: November 27 – Giovanni Giorgi, Italian physicist and electrical engineer (d. 1950)

source_section: Births › November–December


date: January 13

section: Deaths

text: January 13 – Kawakami Gensai, Japanese swordsman of the Bakumatsu period (b. 1834)

source_section: Deaths › January–June


date: January 21

text: January 21 – Jan Jacob Rochussen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (b. 1797)


date: January 25

text: January 25 – Jeanne Villepreux-Power, French marine biologist (b. 1794)


date: February 20

text: February 20 – Paul Kane, Irish-born painter (b. 1810)


date: February 22

text: February 22 – Sir Charles Shaw, British army officer and police commissioner (b. 1795)


date: March 18

text: March 18 – Augustus De Morgan, English professor of mathematics, mathematician (b. 1806)


date: May 11

text: May 11 – John Herschel, English astronomer (b. 1792)


date: May 21

text: May 21 – French government troops enter Paris to overthrow the Commune, beginning "Bloody Week" (Semaine sanglante), leading to the deaths of over 20,000 Parisians and the arrests of over 38,000 more.

source_section: Events › April–June


date: July 6

text: July 6 – Castro Alves, Brazilian poet and playwright (b. 1847)

source_section: Deaths › July–December


date: July 15

text: July 15 – Tad Lincoln, youngest son of American President Abraham Lincoln (b. 1853)


date: September 20

text: September 20 – John Patteson, Anglican bishop, missionary (martyred) (b. 1827)


date: October 4

text: October 4 – Sarel Cilliers, Voortrekker leader, preacher (b. 1801)


date: November 22

text: November 22 – Oscar James Dunn, Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana (b. 1825)


date: December 28

text: December 28 – John Henry Pratt, English clergyman, mathematician (b. 1809)


date: May 10

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: May 10 – Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States, although she is a year too young to qualify and does not appear on the ballot.

source_section: Events › May


date: May 15

text: May 15 – The New Zealand Wars end after 17 years, with the conclusion of Te Kooti's War; Maori spiritual leader Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuk crosses the Waikato River, and enters the territory of the Māori King Tāwhiao, where he is granted asylum.


date: May 22

text: May 22 – Reconstruction: U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act of 1872 into law, restoring full civil rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers.


date: July 1

text: July 1 – Thomas François Burgers becomes State President of the South African Republic.

source_section: Events › July


date: November 5

text: November 5 – 1872 United States presidential election: Ulysses S. Grant defeats Horace Greeley.

source_section: Events › November


date: November 30

text: November 30 – The first international Association football match to be recognised (retrospectively) by FIFA as "official" takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Scotland; the result is Scotland 0-0 England. Earlier international football matches have already taken place in 1870, in 1871 and again in 1872 at the Oval, London.


date: December 1

text: December 1 – Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada becomes constitutional President of Mexico.

source_section: Events › December


date: December 9

text: December 9 – In Louisiana, P. B. S. Pinchback becomes the first African-American to govern a U.S. state.


text: In the aftermath of the Paraguayan War, the new government of Paraguay makes peace with Brazil, granting reparations and territorial concessions.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


date: January 20

section: Conflict & Security

text: January 20 – The Cavite mutiny was an uprising of Filipino military personnel of Fort San Felipe, the Spanish arsenal in Cavite, Philippine Islands.

source_section: Events › January


date: February 17

text: February 17 – Filipino priests José Burgos, Mariano Gomez and Jacinto Zamora, collectively known as Gomburza, are executed in Bagumbayan Fields, Manila, Philippines by the authorities of New Spain, on charges of subversion arising from the 1872 Cavite mutiny.

source_section: Events › February


date: May 14

text: May 14 – The Battle of Mañaria, near Bilbao, Spain during the Third Carlist War (1872–1876).


date: September 1

text: September 1 – A group of Icaiche Maya under Marcos Canul attack the British garrison at Orange Walk Town in British Honduras.

source_section: Events › September


date: November 29

text: November 29 – American Indian Wars: The Modoc War begins with the Battle of Lost River.


date: March 1

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: March 1 – In the United States, Yellowstone National Park (once dubbed "Colter's Hell" after John Colter, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition) is established as the world's first national park.

source_section: Events › March


date: July 19

text: July 19 – Explorer William Gosse reaches Uluru in central Australia and names it Ayers Rock.


date: September 17

text: September 17 – Shiseido Pharmacy Shop, predecessor of Shiseido, a major worldwide cosmetics brand, is founded in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan.


date: November 7

text: November 7 – The Mary Celeste sets sail from New York; bound for Genoa, Italy.


date: December 4

text: December 4 – The now-crewless American ship Mary Celeste is found (still seaworthy) by the British brig Dei Gratia in the Atlantic.


date: December 21

text: December 21 – Challenger expedition: sails from Portsmouth, England, on the 4-year scientific expedition that lays the foundation for the science of oceanography.


text: The first Marist Brothers travel to Australia.


text: S. T. Dupont begins the manufacture of luxury leather goods in France.


date: January 12

section: Religion & Belief

text: January 12 – Yohannes IV is crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in Axum, the first ruler crowned in that city in over 500 years.


date: September 26

text: September 26 – The first Shriners Temple (called Mecca) is established in New York City.


date: December 3

text: December 3 – Assyriologist George Smith presents the first translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh, to a meeting of the Society of Biblical Archaeology in London.


date: April

section: Economy & Finance

text: April – Japan introduces its first modern paper currency (designed by Italian engraver Edoardo Chiossone) in the form of Meiji Tsuho notes. These are initially worth up to 1 yen before higher denominations are printed/released in June and August.

source_section: Events › April


date: June 14

text: June 14 – Trade unions are legalised in Canada.

source_section: Events › June


date: July 1

text: July 1 – Schenker, predecessor of DB Schenker, the worldwide logistics and freight operator, is founded in Vienna, Austria.


date: November 12

text: November 12 – Dresdner Bank is founded in Dresden, Germany.


date: November 22

text: November 22 – "Spitzeder Swindle": Adele Spitzeder's pioneering Ponzi scheme in Munich collapses.


text: Kimberly, Clark and Co. is founded in Neenah, Wisconsin, by John A. Kimberly, Charles B. Clark, Havilah Babcock and Franklyn C. Shattuck.


date: March 5

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: March 5 – George Westinghouse receives a United States patent for the "failsafe" automatic railway air brake.


date: August 22

text: August 22 – The Australian Overland Telegraph Line is completed, providing a telegraphic link between Australia and the rest of the world for the first time.

source_section: Events › August


date: December 1

text: December 1 – Responsible government is granted to Cape Colony (South Africa). Sir John Molteno, first Prime Minister of the Cape of Good Hope, forms the first Cape Cabinet which immediately plans to establish Cape Government Railways and take over the operation of all private railways in the Colony.


text: Under Japan's Meiji Restoration:


date: February 4

section: Science & Discovery

text: February 4 – A great solar flare, and associated geomagnetic storm, makes northern lights visible as far south as Cuba.


date: May 4

text: May 4 – The magazine Popular Science is first published in the United States.


date: November 27

text: November 27 – A meteor shower display of Andromedids is seen over France.


date: February 22

section: Health & Medicine

text: February 22 – The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee.


date: July 4

text: July 4 – The Society of Jesus is pronounced illegal in the German Empire.


date: October 1

text: October 1 – The Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College begins its first academic session (the university is later renamed Virginia Tech). The first case is reported in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, of the Great Epizootic of 1872 (equine influenza, or the "horse flu") which will substantially disrupt life in North America by mid-December.

source_section: Events › October


text: A conscription law, modeled on the French version, is issued.


text: Universal public schools are called for.


section: Crime & Justice

text: March 5 – The Tichborne case is decided in London against claimant Arthur Orton (who, as a result, is convicted of perjury in 1874).


date: November 5

text: November 5 – Women's suffrage: In defiance of the law, American suffragist Susan B. Anthony votes for the first time (on November 18 she is served an arrest warrant, and in the subsequent trial is fined $100, which she never pays).


date: November 13

text: November 13 – Claude Monet begins painting Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant, the painting that will give a name to Impressionism) as viewed from his hotel room at Le Havre in France.


date: March 11

section: Disasters & Accidents

text: March 11 – Work begins on the Seven Sisters Colliery in South Wales, located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain.


date: November 9

text: November 9 – Great Boston Fire of 1872: In Boston, Massachusetts, a large fire begins to burn on Lincoln Street (the 2-day disaster destroys about 65 acre km2 of the city, 776 buildings, much of the financial district and causes US$60 million in damage).


date: March 26

section: Climate & Environment

text: March 26 – The 7.4–7.9 Lone Pine earthquake shakes eastern California, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme); 27 people are killed and 56 injured.


date: February 2

section: Culture & Society

text: February 2 – The government of the United Kingdom buys a number of forts on the Gold Coast, from the Netherlands.


date: February 13

text: February 13 – Rex, the most famous parade on Mardi Gras, parades for the first time in New Orleans for Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia.


date: February 20

text: February 20 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City.


date: March 4

text: March 4 – The Boston Globe is founded in Boston, Massachusetts, as the largest newspaper of the New England region.


date: March 9

text: March 9 – Alfred B. Miller and Elmer Crockett found the South Bend Tribune newspaper in the United States.


date: March 16

text: March 16 – 1872 FA Cup Final: In the first ever final of the FA Cup, the world's oldest football competition, Wanderers F.C. defeat Royal Engineers A.F.C. 1–0 at The Oval in Kennington, London.


date: April 10

text: April 10 – The first Arbor Day is celebrated in Nebraska.


date: May 22

text: May 22 – Georges Bizet's comic opera Djamileh is premièred at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, France.


date: May

text: May – Rangers F.C., founded in March as an Association football club in Glasgow (Scotland) by brothers Moses and Peter McNeil, Peter Campbell and William McBeath, play their first ever game on the public pitches of Glasgow Green, a 0 to 0 draw against Callander.


date: June 15

text: June 15 – Thomas Hardy anonymously publishes his novel Under the Greenwood Tree in England.


date: July 4

text: July 4 – Tsukuba University is founded in Japan, as a teacher training college.


date: July 15

text: July 15 – Hochi Mail News, later Hochi Daily News, a Japanese language newspaper, is first published in Tokyo, although it changes coverage from general news to a sports newspaper from December 1949.


date: October 15

text: October 15 – Tongzhi, The 8th Emperor of the Qing dynasty marries Lady Alute (Empress Jiashun)


date: October 16

text: October 16 – University College Wales (later to become Aberystwyth University) begins its first academic session.


date: November 11

text: November 11 – U.S. government geologist Clarence King reveals the diamond hoax in Wyoming.


date: November 16

text: November 16 – The first ever Metropolitan Police strike in London.


date: December 14

text: December 14 – President Ulysses S. Grant establishes the San Carlos Apache Reservation, in southeastern Arizona.


text: Essendon Football Club is founded in Melbourne, Australia.


text: The Kolozsvári Egyetem, predecessor of the University of Szeged, is founded.


text: Summer: Swedish teacher, scholar, folklorist and museum director Artur Hazelius begins the Scandinavian-etnographic collection, which becomes the foundation to the Nordic Museum and Skansen open-air museum in Stockholm.


date: January 23

text: January 23 – Gotse Delchev, Bulgarian revolutionary (d. 1903)

source_section: Births › January–March


date: February 5

text: February 5 – Mateo García de los Reyes, Spanish admiral and minister of the navy, organizer and first chief of the Spanish Navy submarine force (d. 1936)


date: March 23

text: March 23 – Michael Joseph Savage, 23rd Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1940)


date: May 18

text: May 18 – Bertrand Russell, British philosopher and mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (d. 1970)

source_section: Births › April–June


date: June 5

text: June 5 – Ladislas Lazaro, U.S. Representatives from Louisiana (d. 1927)


date: June 6

text: June 6 – Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse) (d. 1918)


date: August 15

text: August 15 – Sri Aurobindo, Indian nationalist, writer and mystic (d. 1950)

source_section: Births › July–September


date: September 20

text: September 20 – Maurice Gamelin, French general (d. 1958)


date: October 11

text: October 11 – Harlan F. Stone, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1946)

source_section: Births › October–December


date: October 12

text: October 12 – Ralph Vaughan Williams, English composer (d. 1958)


text: October 15 – Edith Wilson, First Lady of the United States (d. 1961)


date: November 1

text: November 1 – Louis Dewis, Belgian Post-Impressionist painter (d. 1946)


date: December 16

text: December 16 – Anton Ivanovich Denikin, Imperial Russian Lieutenant General (d. 1947)


date: December 26

text: December 26 – Norman Angell, English politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1967)


date: January 9

text: January 9 – Henry Halleck, American general (b. 1815)

source_section: Deaths › January–June


date: February 4

text: February 4 – John L. Burns, American veteran of the War of 1812, civilian combatant for the Union Army during the American Civil War. (b. 1793)


date: March 12

text: March 12 – Zeng Guofan (traditional Chinese: 曾國藩 ), Chinese official, military general and Confucian scholar (b. 1811)


date: March 20

text: March 20 – William Wentworth, Australian explorer (b. 1790)


date: April 1

text: April 1 – Frederick Maurice, English theologian (b. 1805)


date: July 18

text: July 18 – Mexican President Benito Juarez dies of a heart attack, and Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada becomes interim president.

source_section: Events › July


date: September 10

text: September 10 – Avram Iancu, Romanian Transylvanian insurgent (b. 1824)

source_section: Deaths › July–December


date: September 18

text: September 18 – Upon the death of King Charles XV and IV of Sweden-Norway, he is succeeded as King of both crowns by his brother Oscar II.


date: October 10

text: October 10 – William H. Seward, 24th United States Secretary of State (b. 1801)


date: November 6

text: November 6 – George Meade, American Civil War general (b. 1815)


date: November 23

text: November 23 – Sir John Bowring, British colonial administrator, 4th Governor of Hong Kong (b. 1792)


date: November 28

text: November 28 – Mary Somerville, British mathematician (b. 1780)


date: November 29

text: November 29 – Horace Greeley, American newspaper editor, Democratic presidential candidate (b. 1811)


text: November 29 – Horace Greeley, President Ulysses S. Grant's opponent in this year's U.S. presidential election, dies. His electoral votes are divided among several candidates.

source_section: Events › November


date: February 11

text: February 11 – The Spanish Cortes deposes King Amadeus I, and proclaims the First Spanish Republic.


date: February 12

text: February 12 – Emilio Castelar, the former foreign minister, becomes prime minister of the new Spanish Republic.


date: March 22

text: March 22 – Emancipation Day for Puerto Rico: Most slaves are freed.


date: May 23

text: May 23 – The Canadian Parliament establishes the North-West Mounted Police (which is renamed the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1920).

source_section: Events › May


date: July 1

text: July 1 – Prince Edward Island joins the Canadian Confederation.


date: July 17

text: July 17 – Richard Southey becomes the first Lieutenant-Governor of Griqualand West.


date: July 22

text: July 22 – Sir Benjamin Pine becomes Lieutenant-governor of the Colony of Natal.


date: July

text: July – The end of the war between the United Kingdom and Ghana's King Kofi KariKari, who is involved in the trading of slaves, leads to the establishment of the Gold Coast Colony.


date: August 12

text: August 12 – A peace treaty is signed between Imperial Russia and the Khanate of Khiva, making the khanate a Russian protectorate.


date: November 7

text: November 7 – Alexander Mackenzie becomes the second Prime Minister of Canada.


date: November 17

text: November 17 – Budapest, Hungary's capital, is formed from Pest, Buda and Óbuda.


text: The League of the Three Emperors is created. It links the conservative monarchs of Austria-Hungary, the German Empire and the Russian Empire in an alliance against radical movements.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


date: January 17

text: January 17 – American Indian Wars: Modoc War: First Battle of the Stronghold – Modoc Indians defeat the United States Army.

source_section: Events › January


date: April 13

text: April 13 – Colfax massacre: More than 60 to 150 black men are murdered in Colfax, Louisiana, while surrendering to a mob of former Confederate soldiers and members of the Ku Klux Klan.


date: April 15

text: April 15–17 – American Indian Wars: The Second Battle of the Stronghold is fought.


date: April 23

text: April 23 – Third Carlist War EVENTS IN MADRID, SPAIN -- Brigadier General Carmona confronts the insurgents at the Madrid bullring.


date: May 5

text: May 5 – Third Carlist War in Spain: Battle of Eraul – Carlists under General Dorregaray defeat Republicans at Eraul, near Estella.


date: May 9

text: May 9 – Third Carlist War: The Battle of Montejurra is fought at Navarra, Spain.


date: May 20

text: May 20 – In Chipping Norton, England, rioters attempt to free the Ascott Martyrs –16 women sentenced to imprisonment, for attempting to dissuade strikebreakers in an agricultural labor dispute.


date: May 28

text: May 28 – C. Laan brings order to the chaos created by the dockworker riots of Tripoli, Lebanon.


text: May 28 – The city of Khiva in Turkestan falls to Imperial Russian forces, under the command of General Konstantin von Kaufman.


date: June 4

text: June 4 – American Indian Wars: The Modoc War ends with the capture of Kintpuash (Captain Jack).


date: July 9

text: July 9 – Third Carlist War: Battle of Alpens – Campaigning in Catalonia, a government column under General José Cabrinetty is ambushed at Alpens, 15 miles east of Berga, by Carlist forces under General Francisco Savalls. After heavy fighting, with Cabrinety killed, virtually the entire column of 800 men is killed or captured.


date: September 16

text: September 16 – German troops leave France upon completion of payment of indemnity for the Franco-Prussian War.

source_section: Events › September


text: November 7 – Third Carlist War: Battle of Montejurra – Determined to recapture the key city of Estella in Navarre, Spanish Republican General Domingo Moriones advances on the Carlists under General Joaquín Elío at nearby Montejurra. After very heavy fighting both sides claim victory, but Moriones withdraws, and Estella remains in Carlist hands. Don Carlos is present in the front line.


date: December 21

text: December 21 – French official Francis Garnier is attacked outside Hanoi by Black Flag mercenaries fighting for the Vietnamese.

source_section: Events › December


date: December 22

text: December 22 – Third Carlist War: Battle of Bocairente – Campaigning in Valenica, Spanish Republican General Valeriano Weyler is attacked at Bocairente, northwest of Alcoy, by a greatly superior Carlist force under General José Santés. Weyler is initially driven back, losing some of his guns, but in a brilliant counter-attack he turns defeat into victory, and Santés is heavily repulsed and forced to withdraw.


date: December 27

text: December 27 – Third Carlist War: Siege of Bilbao (until 2 May 1874) – Campaigning in Navarre, Pretender Don Carlos VII and General Joaquín Elío besiege Bilbao, held by General Ignacio del Castillo and 1,200 men. The Carlist force is ten times this number, and includes most of the troops from Navarre, Vizcaya and Álava, although a considerable force is left in Guipúzcoa. Despite defeat at nearby Somorrostro, Republican commander Marshal Francisco Serrano, supported by Generals Manuel de la Concha and Arsenio Martínez-Campos, brilliantly breaks the siege, and Concha then marches on Estella.


date: February 20

text: February 20 – British naval officer John Moresby discovers the site of Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, and claims the land for Britain.

source_section: Events › February


date: May 1

text: May 1 – The Vienna World's Fair opens in the capital of Austria-Hungary and runs for six months, closing on October 31.


date: August 30

text: August 30 – The Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition discovers Franz Josef Land.


date: December 15

text: December 15 – Women of Fredonia, New York, march against the retail liquor dealers in town, to inaugurate the Woman's Crusade of 1873–74.


text: Liebig's Extract of Meat Company begins producing tinned corned beef, sold under the label Fray Bentos, from the town in Uruguay where it is processed.


date: February 12

text: February 12 – The Coinage Act of 1873 in the United States is signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant. Coming into effect on April 1, it ends bimetallism in the U.S., and places the country on the gold standard.


date: March 29

text: March 29 – The Rio Tinto Company is formed in Spain, following the February 17 purchase of the Rio Tinto Mine from the Spanish government by a British investment group.

source_section: Events › March


text: May 9 – Der Gründerkrach: The Wiener Börse (Vienna stock exchange) crash in Austria-Hungary ends the Gründerzeit, and heralds the global Panic of 1873 and Long Depression.


text: July 9 – The government of Otto von Bismarck in a united Germany introduces the gold mark, a unified currency to replace the various legal tender of the nation-states of the German Confederation..


date: September 18

text: September 18 – The New York stock market crashes as the Jay Cooke & Company investment firm declares bankruptcy, triggering the Panic of 1873, part of the Long Depression.


date: December 16

text: December 16 – The Heineken Brewery is founded in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.


text: The Swedish arms company Aktiebolaget (AB) Bofors-Gullspång, better known as Bofors, is founded.


text: The Married Woman's Property Rights Association is founded in Sweden.


text: Konishiya Rokubei, predecessor of the Konica Minolta worldwide imaging brand, is founded in Tokyo, Japan.


text: May 20 – Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive United States patent 139121, for using copper rivets to strengthen the pockets of denim work pants. Levi Strauss & Co. begins manufacturing the famous Levi's brand of jeans, using fabric from the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester, New Hampshire.


date: May

text: May – Henry Rose exhibits barbed wire at an Illinois county fair, which is taken up by Joseph Glidden and Jacob Haish, who invent a machine to mass-produce it.


date: August 4

text: August 4 – American Indian Wars: While protecting a railroad survey party in Montana, the Seventh Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, clashes for the first time with the Sioux, near the Tongue River (only 1 man on each side is killed).

source_section: Events › August


date: December

text: December – Major Walter Clopton Wingfield designs and patents a racquet sport, which he calls sphairistike (Greek σφάίρίστική, "skill at playing at ball"), soon known simply as Stické and an ancestor of lawn tennis, for the amusement of his guests at a garden party on his estate of Nantclwyd, in Llanelidan, Wales.


text: In Mexico, the Veracruz–Mexico City railroad is completed.


text: Coors Brewing Company begins making beer in Golden, Colorado.


text: Demonstration of an electric tram operated on Miller's line at Sestroretsk near Saint Petersburg in the Russian Empire by inventor Fyodor Pirotsky.


date: January 1

text: January 1 – Japan adopts the Gregorian calendar.


date: July 5

text: July 5 – New Rush in Griqualand West, South Africa, is renamed Kimberley.


text: Nine Pekin ducks are imported to Long Island (the first in the United States).


text: February 20 – The University of California opens its first medical school in San Francisco.


date: March 3

text: March 3 – Censorship: The United States Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" books through the mail.


text: January 1 – The California Penal Code goes into effect.


date: July 21

text: July 21 – At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James–Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American Old West (US$3,000 from the Rock Island Express).


date: April 1

text: April 1 – The British ocean liner sinks off Nova Scotia, killing 547 people.

source_section: Events › April


date: April 19

text: April 19 – In Richmond, Rhode Island, 11 people perish in a train derailment, due to a bridge washout in the village of Richmond Switch (modern-day Wood River Junction).


date: June 9

text: June 9 – Alexandra Palace entertainment venue in London is destroyed by fire, only a fortnight after its opening.

source_section: Events › June


date: October 2

text: October 2 – The British ship SS Ismailia, an Anchor Line steamer that departed from New York on September 30 with 52 people disappears while en route to Glasgow.

source_section: Events › October


date: March 15

text: March 15 – The Phi Sigma Kappa student fraternity is founded at the Massachusetts Agricultural College.


date: April 4

text: April 4 – The Kennel Club, the world's first kennel club, is founded in the United Kingdom.


date: May 23

text: May 23 – The Preakness Stakes horse race is run for the first time in Baltimore.


date: May 27

text: May 27 – Classical archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann discovers Priam's Treasure.


date: September 15

text: September 15 – The International Meteorological Organization (IMO) is established.


date: September 17

text: September 17 – The Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College, later Ohio State University, opens its doors with 25 students, including 2 women.


date: September 25

text: September 25 – Classes begin at Drury University in Springfield, Missouri.


date: November 18

text: November 18–21 – Irish Home Rule movement: The Home Government Association reconstitutes itself as the Home Rule League.


date: December 19

text: December 19 (December 7 OS) – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's fantasia The Tempest, composed between August and October, is premiered, in Moscow.


date: December 23

text: December 23 – The Woman's Christian Temperance Union is founded, in Hillsboro, Ohio.


text: Royal Montreal Club in Montreal, the first permanent golf club in North America.


text: Toronto Argonauts (football), the oldest professional sports team still playing in North America.


date: January 2

text: January 2 – Thérèse of Lisieux, Catholic saint, mystic (d. 1897)

source_section: Births › January–February


date: January 20

text: January 20 – Johannes V. Jensen, Danish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1950)


date: February 3

text: February 3 – Hugh Trenchard, British military aviation pioneer (d. 1956)


date: April 1

text: April 1 (N.S.)/March 20 (O.S.) – Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1943)

source_section: Births › March–April


date: April 10

text: April 10 – Kyösti Kallio, Prime Minister and President of Finland (d. 1940)


date: April 13

text: April 13 – John W. Davis, American politician, diplomat, and lawyer (d. 1955)


date: May 5

text: May 5 – Leon Czolgosz, assassin of U.S. President William McKinley (d. 1901)

source_section: Births › May–June


date: June 3

text: June 3 – Otto Loewi, German-born pharmacologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1961)


date: June 28

text: June 28 – Alexis Carrel, French surgeon and biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1944)


date: September 1

text: September 1 – João Ferreira Sardo, Portuguese presbyter and founder of Gafanha da Nazaré (d. 1925)

source_section: Births › September–October


date: September 8

text: September 8 – David O. McKay, 9th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1970)


date: October 30

text: October 30 – Dave Gallaher, New Zealand rugby union football player (d. 1917)


date: December 7

text: December 7 – Willa Cather, American novelist (d. 1947)

source_section: Births › November–December


date: December 30

text: December 30 – Al Smith, American politician, Democratic presidential candidate (d. 1944)


date: January 18

text: January 18 – Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, English novelist (b. 1803)

source_section: Deaths › January–June


text: January 20 – Basil Moreau, French founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross (b. 1799)


date: January 26

text: January 26 – Empress Amélie, consort of Pedro I of Brazil (b. 1812)


date: February 18

text: February 18 – Vasil Levski, Bulgarian revolutionary (executed) (b. 1837)


date: March 24

text: March 24 – Mary Ann Cotton, English serial killer (executed) (b. 1832)


date: March 31

text: March 31 – Maria Magdalena Mathsdotter, Swedish Sámi educator (b. 1835)


date: April 18

text: April 18 – Justus von Liebig, German chemist (b. 1803)


date: May 7

text: May 7 – Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1808)


date: May 22

text: May 22 – Alessandro Manzoni, Italian poet and novelist (b. 1785)


text: September 8 – Johan Gabriel Ståhlberg, Finnish priest and father of K. J. Ståhlberg, the first President of Finland (b. 1832)

source_section: Deaths › July–December


date: September 11

text: September 11 – Agustín Fernando Muñoz, Duke of Riánsares, morganatic husband of Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies (b. 1808)


date: September 17

text: September 17 – Alexander Berry, Scottish adventurer, Australian pioneer (b. 1781)


date: October 29

text: October 29 – At Dresden, Albrecht I becomes new King Albrecht I of King of Saxony, an independent state within the German Empire, upon the death of his father King Johann, who had ruled since 1854.


date: December 14

text: December 14 – Louis Agassiz, Swiss-born geologist, naturalist (b. 1807)


date: January 1

text: January 1 – New York City annexes The Bronx.


date: January 2

text: January 2 – Ignacio María González becomes head of state of the Dominican Republic for the first time.


date: January 20

text: January 20 – The Pangkor Treaty (also known as the Pangkor Engagement), by which the British extend their control over first the Sultanate of Perak, and later the other independent Malay States, is signed.


date: March 15

text: March 15 – France and Viet Nam sign the Second Treaty of Saigon, further recognizing the full sovereignty of France over Cochinchina.


date: March 18

text: March 18 – Hawaii signs a treaty with the United States, granting exclusive trading rights.


date: June 14

text: June 14 – Michel Domingue becomes head of state of Haiti.


date: July 31

text: July 31 – Patrick Francis Healy, S.J., the first Black man to receive a PhD, is inaugurated as president of Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic University in America, and becomes the first Black person to head a predominantly White university.

source_section: Events › July


date: October 9

text: October 9 – The Treaty of Bern establishes the General Postal Union, to coordinate the exchange of international mail.


date: November 4

text: November 4 – Democrats gain control of the United States House of Representatives for the first time since 1860.

source_section: Events › November


date: November 25

text: November 25 – The United States Greenback Party is established as a political party, made primarily of farmers financially hurt by the Panic of 1873.


date: December 1

text: December 1 – Iceland is granted a constitution and limited home rule from Denmark.


date: December 29

text: December 29 – General Martínez and Brigadier General Luís Daban stage a pronunciamento at Sagunto, and proclaim Isabel's son Alfonso as King of Spain. Subsequently, the Madrid garrison follows suit, and the First Spanish Republic comes to an end.


text: The House of Keys, lower house of the Tynwald, the legislature of the Isle of Man, moves from Castletown to Douglas.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


date: January 3

text: January 3 – Third Carlist War: Battle of Caspe – Campaigning on the Ebro in Aragon for the Spanish Republican Government, Colonel Eulogio Despujol surprises a Carlist force under Manuel Marco de Bello at Caspe, northeast of Alcañiz. In a brilliant action the Carlists are routed, losing 200 prisoners and 80 horses, while Despujol is promoted to Brigadier and becomes Conde de Caspe.

source_section: Events › January


date: February 24

text: February 24–25 – Third Carlist War: First Battle of Somorrostro – Determined to raise the siege of Bilbao by the Pretender Don Carlos VII, Republican commander Marshal Francisco Serrano sends General Domingo Moriones with a relief force of 14,000 men. Carlists, under General Nicolás Ollo, entrenched at Somorrostro outside Bilbao, drive back a courageous assault by General Fernando Primo de Rivera and then the entire Republican army. The republicans lose 1,200 men, and Moriones loses his nerve, demanding reinforcements and a replacement for himself. Moriones's men entrench and wait.

source_section: Events › February


date: March 14

text: March 14 – Third Carlist War: Battle of Castellfollit de la Roca – Appointed to command the Spanish Republican army in the north, General Ramón Nouvilas attempts to relieve the Carlist siege of Olot in Girona. But at Castellfollit de la Roca, in one of the Government's worst defeats, Nouvilas is routed by Carlist General Francesc Savalls, and captured along with about 2,000 of his men. Olot capitulates two days later.

source_section: Events › March


date: March 25

text: March 25–27 – Third Carlist War: Second Battle of Somorrostro – In a renewed attempt to raise the siege of Bilbao by Don Carlos VII, Republican commander Marshal Francisco Serrano himself arrives with 27,000 men and 70 cannons. However, in three days of fierce fighting, the Carlist General Joaquín Elío, with just 17,000 men, once again drives off the attack at nearby Somorrostro, and it is another six weeks before Serrano manages to relieve Bilbao.


date: May 2

text: May 2 – Third Carlist War: The siege of Bilbao is lifted.

source_section: Events › May


date: June 25

text: June 25–27 – Third Carlist War: Battle of Monte Muro – Carlist forces entrenched around Abárzuza, on the approach to Estella in Navarre, repel an attack by Isabelino/Liberal (supporters of Queen Isabella II) troops led by General Manuel Gutiérrez de la Concha, Marqués del Duero, who is killed on the third day of fighting.


date: July 24

text: July 24 – Third Carlist War: Sack of Cuenca – After Carlist forces successfully defend Estella, Don Alfonso de Bourbon, brother of the Don Carlos VII, leads 14,000 Catalan Carlists south to attack Cuenca (136 km from Madrid), held by Republicans under Don Hilario Lozano. After two days the outnumbered garrison capitulates, but Don Alfonso permits a terrible slaughter. The city is sacked. Subsequently, another republican force defeats the disorderly Catalans, who flee back to the Ebro.


date: August 11

text: August 11 – Third Carlist War: Battle of Oteiza – Two months after Government forces were repulsed from Carlist-held Estella, in Navarre, Republican General Domingo Moriones makes a fresh diversionary attack a few miles to the southeast at Oteiza. In heavy fighting Moriones secures a costly tactical victory over Carlist General Torcuato Mendíri, but the war continues another 18 months, before Estella finally falls.

source_section: Events › August


date: September 9

text: September 9 – Captain Lyman's wagon train besieged by Indians in Hemphill County, Texas.

source_section: Events › September


date: September 14

text: September 14 – Battle of Liberty Place: In New Orleans, former Confederate Army members of the White League temporarily drive Republican Governor William P. Kellogg from office, replacing him with former Democratic Governor John McEnery. U.S. Army troops restore Kellogg to office five days later.


date: September 28

text: September 28 – Texas–Indian wars: U.S. Army Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie leads his force of 600 men on the successful raid of the last sanctuary of the Kiowa, Comanche and Cheyenne Indian tribes, a village inside the Palo Duro Canyon in Texas, and carries out their removal to the designated Indian reservations in Oklahoma.


date: October 31

text: October 31 – The Quebra-Quilos Revolt starts in Paraíba, Empire of Brazil.

source_section: Events › October


date: May 27

text: May 27 – The first group of Dorsland Trekkers, a series of expeditions by Trekboere in search of political independence and better farming conditions, departs South Africa to settle in Angola, led by Gert Alberts.


text: Gold is discovered in the Black Hills.


text: March 25 – The Republic of Ecuador is consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, carried out by President Gabriel García Moreno and supported, blessed and specified by Pope Pius IX.


text: Bolton Wanderers (as Christ Church F.C.)


text: The 147 m ft-tall spire of St. Nicholas' Church, Hamburg, designed by English architect George Gilbert Scott, is completed, making it (briefly, and by 5m) the world's tallest building (a title held since 1647 by Strasbourg Cathedral).


text: The Supreme Council 33° Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of Canada is founded.


text: Schindler Group, known for escalators and elevators, is founded in Switzerland.


date: February 21

text: February 21 – The Oakland Daily Tribune publishes its first issue in California.


date: February 23

text: February 23 – Walter Clopton Wingfield patents in Britain a game called "sphairistike", more commonly called lawn tennis.


date: July 1

text: July 1 – The Sholes and Glidden typewriter, with cylindrical platen and QWERTY keyboard, is first marketed in the United States.


text: July 1 – The Bank of Spain issues the first peseta banknotes.


text: July 24 – Mathew Evans and Henry Woodward patent the first incandescent lamp, with an electric light bulb.


date: November 10

text: November 10 – John Ernst Worrell Keely demonstrates his "induction resonance motion motor", a perpetual motion machine, which eventually turns out to be a fraud.


text: The Agra Canal opens in India.


text: Charles Taze Russell and the Bible Student movement claim this year marks the invisible return of Jesus Christ to earth.


date: June 22

text: June 22 – Andrew Taylor Still starts the movement for osteopathic medicine in the United States at Kirksville, Missouri.

source_section: Events › June


text: English chemist C. R. Alder Wright synthesizes heroin for the first time.


date: November 9

text: November 9 – The New York Zoo hoax, a supposed breakout of animals from the Central Park Zoo, is perpetrated on the public.


date: May 16

text: May 16 – The Mill River dam collapses in Massachusetts, killing 139 people.


date: May 23

text: May 23 – Passenger ship British Admiral, on a voyage from Liverpool (England) to Melbourne (Australia), sinks after hitting rocks off King Island (Tasmania); only nine of the 88 passengers and crew are rescued.


date: July 14

text: July 14 – The Chicago Fire of 1874 burns down 47 acres of the city, destroying 812 buildings, killing 20, and resulting in the fire insurance industry demanding municipal reforms from Chicago's city council.


date: November 18

text: November 18 – Sailing ship Cospatrick carrying emigrants from England bound for New Zealand, catches fire and sinks in the South Atlantic with the loss of all but three of the 472 persons on board.


text: The medieval Frankish Tower on the Acropolis of Athens is demolished.


date: January 23

text: January 23 – Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria, marries Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, only daughter of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, in the Grand Church of the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg.


date: March 18

text: March 18 – The Dresden English Football Club is founded, the first association football club on the European mainland.


date: March

text: March – The Young Men's Hebrew Association in Manhattan (which will still be operating 150 years later as the 92nd Street Y) is founded.


date: April 15

text: April 15–May 15 – A group of young painters, Société Anonyme Coopérative des Artistes, Peintres, Sculpteurs, Graveurs, gives their first exhibition, at the studio of the photographer Nadar in Paris. Louis Leroy's critical review of it published on 25 April gives rise to the term Impressionism for the movement, with reference to Claude Monet's Impression, Sunrise.

source_section: Events › April


date: May 9

text: May 9 – The first commercial horse-drawn carriage debuts in the city of Bombay, plying two routes.


date: May 14

text: May 14 – First admission charge at a football game: Harvard beats University of McGill (Montreal) 3–0.


date: May 22

text: May 22 – Verdi's Requiem is first performed at San Marco in Milan, marking the first anniversary of Manzoni's death.


text: July 1 – The Universal Postal Union is established.


text: July 1 – The Philadelphia Zoo opens, the first public zoo in the United States.


date: October 9

text: October 9 – The San Diego Society of Natural History, originator of the San Diego Natural History Museum, is founded in California.


date: October 19

text: October 19 – The modern University of Zagreb is founded.


date: November 2

text: November 2 – The first issue of Japanese-language newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun is published in Tokyo, Japan.


date: November 6

text: November 6 – The University of Adelaide is founded in Australia.


date: November 7

text: November 7 – Harper's Weekly publishes a cartoon by Thomas Nast which is the first use of an elephant as a symbol for the Republican Party in the United States.


date: November 11

text: November 11 – The Gamma Phi Beta sorority is founded at Syracuse University. This is the first women's Greek letter organization to be called a sorority.


date: November 16

text: November 16 – Premiere of Alfred Cellier's comic opera The Sultan of Mocha at the Prince's Theatre, Manchester.


date: December 9

text: December 9 – Passage de Vénus is released as the oldest "film" in history.

source_section: Events › December


text: Heart of Midlothian (in Edinburgh).


text: The following Association football clubs are founded in Great Britain:


date: January 11

text: January 11 – Alfonso Quiñónez Molina, Salvadoran politician, physician, and three-time president of El Salvador (d. 1950)

source_section: Births › January


date: January 20

text: January 20 – Steve Bloomer, English footballer, cricketer and baseball player (d. 1938)


date: February 3

text: February 3 – Gertrude Stein, American writer, patron of the arts (d. 1946)

source_section: Births › February


date: March 29

text: March 29 – Lou Henry Hoover, First Lady of the United States (d. 1944)

source_section: Births › March


date: March 30

text: March 30 – Charles Herbert Lightoller, 2nd Officer of the RMS Titanic (d. 1952)


date: April 15

text: April 15 – Johannes Stark, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)

source_section: Births › April


date: May 29

text: May 29 – G. K. Chesterton, English author (d. 1936)

source_section: Births › May


date: August 6

text: August 6 – Charles Fort, Dutch-American writer, researcher into anomalous phenomena (d. 1932)

source_section: Births › August


date: August 8

text: August 8 – Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield, British-American businessman (d. 1948)


date: August 27

text: August 27 – Carl Bosch, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1940)


date: September 21

text: September 21 – Gustav Holst, English composer (d. 1934)

source_section: Births › September


date: November 15

text: November 15 – August Krogh, Danish zoophysiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1949)

source_section: Births › November


date: November 29

text: November 29 – António Egas Moniz, Portuguese physician and neurologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1955)


date: December 11

text: December 11 – Paul Wegener, German actor, film director, and screenwriter; one of the pioneers of German Expressionism (d. 1948)

source_section: Births › December


date: January 8

text: January 8 – Abbé Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, French writer, historian (b. 1814)

source_section: Deaths › January–June


date: January 14

text: January 14 – Johann Philipp Reis, German scientist, inventor (b. 1834)


date: January 17

text: January 17 – Chang and Eng Bunker, Siamese twins, sideshow performers (b. 1811)


text: February 3 – William Charles Lunalilo, last monarch of the House of Kamehameha (b. 1835)


date: February 27

text: February 27 – Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Cuban revolutionary hero (b. 1819)


date: March 8

text: March 8 – Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States (b. 1800)


date: March 11

text: March 11 – Charles Sumner, American senator, civil rights activist (b. 1811)


date: June 17

text: June 17 – Sir Stephen Glynne, British antiquary and politician (b. 1817)


date: August 14

text: August 14 – Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, African-American minister, politician (b. 1821)

source_section: Deaths › July–December


date: September 12

text: September 12 – François Guizot, Prime Minister of France (b. 1787)


date: October 23

text: October 23 – Abraham Geiger, German rabbi, a founder of European Reform Judaism (b. 1810)


date: November 17

text: November 17 – Francisco de Lersundi y Hormaechea, Spanish noble and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1817)


date: November 18

text: November 18 – Sir Henry Prescott, British admiral and colonial administrator (b. 1783)


date: December 7

text: December 7 – Constantin von Tischendorf, German Biblical scholar (b. 1815)


date: January 12

text: January 12 – Guangxu becomes the 11th Qing dynasty Emperor of China at the age of 3. He succeeds his cousin, the Tongzhi Emperor, who had no sons of his own.

source_section: Events › January


text: January 14 – The newly proclaimed King Alfonso XII of Spain (Queen Isabella II's son) arrives in Spain to restore the monarchy during the Third Carlist War.


text: February 27 – Newton Booth, 11th Governor of California, resigns, having been elected Senator. Lieutenant Governor of California Romualdo Pacheco becomes acting Governor. He is later replaced by elected governor William Irwin.

source_section: Events › February


date: March 1

text: March 1 – The United States Congress passes the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in public accommodations and jury duty.

source_section: Events › March


date: May 7

text: May 7 – The Treaty of Saint Petersburg is signed between Japan and Russia.

source_section: Events › May


date: May 20

text: May 20 – The Metre Convention is signed in Paris, France.


date: July 1

text: July 1 – The General Postal Union is established.

source_section: Events › July


date: February 3

text: February 3 – Third Carlist War: Battle of Lácar – Carlist commander Torcuato Mendíri secures a brilliant victory, when he surprises and routs a Government force under General Enrique Bargés at Lácar, east of Estella, nearly capturing newly crowned King Alfonso XII. The Carlists take several pieces of artillery, more than 2,000 rifles, and 300 prisoners. 800 men of both sides are killed (mostly government troops).


date: February 18

text: February 18 – The Mason County War begins, as a German-American mob breaks into a prison, and lynches cattle rustlers in central Texas.


date: February 25

text: February 25 – The majority of the Yavapai (Wipukyipai) and Tonto Apache (Dil Zhéé) tribes are forced by the United States Cavalry, under command of Brigadier General George Crook, to walk at gunpoint from Arizona's Verde Valley, to the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, 180 miles to the southeast. The two tribes are not allowed to return to the Verde Valley until 1900.


date: April 25

text: April 25 – Ten sophomores from Rutgers College (modern-day Rutgers University) steal a one-ton cannon from the campus of the College of New Jersey (modern-day Princeton University), and start the Rutgers–Princeton Cannon War.

source_section: Events › April


text: July 1–7 – Third Carlist War: Battle of Treviño – Advancing on the key city of Vitoria, in Navarre, Spanish Republican commander General Jenardo de Quesada sends General Tello to attack the Carlist lines just to the southwest, at Treviño. The newly appointed Carlist commander General José Pérula is heavily defeated and withdraws, and soon afterwards Quesada enters Vitoria in triumph.


date: September 7

text: September 7 – Battle of Agurdat: An Egyptian invasion of Ethiopia fails, when Emperor Yohannes IV defeats an army led by Werner Munzinger.

source_section: Events › September


date: November 9

text: November 9 – American Indian Wars: In Washington, D.C., Indian Inspector E.C. Watkins issues a report stating that hundreds of Sioux and Cheyenne associated with Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse are hostile to the United States (the Battle of the Little Bighorn is fought in Montana the next year).

source_section: Events › November


date: November 16

text: November 16 – Battle of Gundat: Ethiopian Emperor Yohannes IV defeats another Egyptian army.


date: December 4

text: December 4 – Notorious New York City politician Boss Tweed escapes from prison and flees to Spain.

source_section: Events › December


date: December 20

text: December 20 – The ICRM is renamed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).


text: British Indian Army officer Neville Chamberlain originates the cue sport of snooker at Jubbulpore (Jabalpur) in India.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


date: March 15

text: March 15 – Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York John McCloskey is named the first cardinal in the United States.


date: April 10

text: April 10 – The Arya Samaj is founded in Mumbai by Swami Dayananda Saraswati.


date: March 3

text: March 3 – The Page Act of 1875 is enacted in the United States, effectively prohibiting the immigration of Chinese women.


date: July 9

text: July 9 – Asia's first stock exchange is established as The Native Share & Stock Brokers Association (the modern-day Bombay Stock Exchange).


date: July 28

text: July 28 – Joe Borden throws the first no-hitter in baseball history versus Mike Golden and the Chicago White Stockings in his third start as a replacement for Cherokee Fisher as a member of the Philadelphia White Stockings


date: October

text: October – The Ottoman state declares partial bankruptcy, and places its finances in the hands of European creditors. It is also suffering widespread nationalist rebellions resulting in Russian intervention and Great Power tensions.

source_section: Events › October


date: January 1

text: January 1 – The Midland Railway of England abolishes the Second Class passenger category, leaving First Class and Third Class. Other British railway companies follow Midland's lead during the rest of the year (Third Class is renamed Second Class in 1956).


text: March 3 – The first indoor ice hockey game is played at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.


date: May 17

text: May 17 – Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby.


date: July 11

text: July 11 – Tanaka Manufacturing, a telecommunications factory in Ginza, Tokyo, a predecessor of Toshiba, a Japanese electromechanics giant, is founded.


date: August 25

text: August 25 – Captain Matthew Webb becomes the first person to swim the English Channel.

source_section: Events › August


date: November 26

text: November 26 – The Times newspaper in London reveals that Isma'il Pasha has sold Egypt's 44% share in the Suez Canal to Britain, in a deal secured by Benjamin Disraeli, without the prior sanction of the British Parliament.


date: September 11

text: September 11 – Egypt adopts the Gregorian calendar; replacing the Coptic/Alexandrian calendar (based on the ancient Egyptian calendar) which had been the official calendar since the Roman period.


date: April

text: April – 'Albert's swarm' of Rocky Mountain locusts begins to devastate the western United States.


text: Convent Scandal: During the winter in Montreal, typhoid fever strikes at a convent school. The corpses of the victims are filched by body-snatchers before relatives arrive from America, causing much furor. Eventually the Anatomy Act of Quebec is changed over it.


date: September 1

text: September 1 – A murder conviction begins to break the power of the violent Irish-American anti-owner coal miners, the "Molly Maguires", in Pennsylvania.


date: February 24

text: February 24 – The sinks off Australia's east coast with the loss of approximately 102 lives, including a number of high-profile civil servants and dignitaries.


date: May 7

text: May 7 – German liner wrecks on the rocks off the Isles of Scilly, with the loss of 335 lives.


date: June 18

text: June 18 – The Dublin whiskey fire in Ireland leaves 13 people dead and causes more than €6 million worth of damage.

source_section: Events › June


date: September 27

text: September 27 – American merchant sailing ship Ellen Southard is wrecked off Liverpool in England; 12 crew and life-boatmen are lost.


date: December 6

text: December 6 – The German emigrant ship SS Deutschland runs aground off the English coast, killing 157 passengers and crew.


text: December 6 – A firedamp explosion at kills 143 miners at the Swaithe Main Colliery in the South Yorkshire Coalfield of England.


date: June

text: The record-setting American clipper Flying Cloud of 1851 is burned for scrap metal.


date: January 5

text: January 5 – The Palais Garnier, one of the most famous opera houses in the world, is inaugurated as the home of the Paris Opera.


date: January 24

text: January 24 – Camille Saint-Saëns' orchestral Danse macabre receives its première.


date: March 3

text: March 3 – Bizet's Carmen is first performed at the Opéra-Comique, Paris, France, three months before the composer's death.


date: June 4

text: June 4 – Two American colleges play each other in arguably the first game of college football: Tufts University and Harvard University at Jarvis Field in Cambridge, Massachusetts.


date: June 29

text: June 29 – The Artisans' and Labourers' Dwellings Improvement Act 1875 is passed in the United Kingdom, to permit slum clearance.


date: August 6

text: August 6 – Hibernian F.C. is founded by Irishmen in Edinburgh, Scotland.


date: September 24

text: September 24 – The 1864 play Heath Cobblers by Aleksis Kivi is premiered for the first time in Oulu, Finland.


date: September

text: September – English Association football team Birmingham City F.C. is founded as Small Heath Alliance in Birmingham by a group of cricketers from Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, playing its first match in November.


date: October 16

text: October 16 – Brigham Young University is founded in Provo, Utah.


date: October 25

text: October 25 – The first performance of the Piano Concerto No. 1 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky is given in Boston, Massachusetts, with Hans von Bülow as soloist.


date: October 30

text: October 30 – The Theosophical Society is founded in New York by Helena Blavatsky, Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge, and others.


date: November 5

text: November 5 – Blackburn Rovers F.C. is founded in England by two old-boys of Shrewsbury School following a meeting at the Leger Hotel, Blackburn.


date: November 29

text: November 29 – Dōshisha English School, predecessor of Dōshisha University, is founded in Kyōto, Japan.


date: December 9

text: December 9 – The Massachusetts Rifle Association, America's oldest active gun club, is formed.


date: December 25

text: December 25 – The first Edinburgh derby in Association football is played: Heart of Midlothian F.C. wins 1–0 against Hibernian F.C.


text: The opening of Flushing High School, the oldest public high school in New York City.


text: At Wimbledon, Henry Cavendish Jones convinces the All England Croquet Club to replace a croquet lawn with a lawn tennis court.


date: January 14

text: January 14 – Albert Schweitzer, Alsatian philosopher and musician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1965)

source_section: Births › January–February


date: January 22

text: January 22 – D. W. Griffith, American film director (The Birth of a Nation) (d. 1948)


date: February 21

text: February 21 – Jeanne Calment, French supercentenarian, world's longest lived person (d. 1997)


date: March 4

text: March 4 – Mihály Károlyi, Prime Minister and President of Hungary (d. 1955)

source_section: Births › March–April


date: March 19

text: March 19 – Zhang Zuolin, Chinese bandit, soldier, and warlord (d. 1928)


date: May 2

text: May 2 – Owen Roberts, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 1955)

source_section: Births › May–June


date: June 6

text: June 6 – Thomas Mann, German novelist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)


date: July 26

text: July 26 – Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist (d. 1961)

source_section: Births › July–August


date: August 8

text: August 8 – Artur Bernardes, 12th President of Brazil (d. 1955)


date: August 26

text: August 26 – John Buchan, Scottish-Canadian novelist, historian and politician, 15th Governor General of Canada (d. 1940)


date: September 16

text: September 16 – James Cash Penney, American businessman, founder of J. C. Penney (d. 1971)

source_section: Births › September–October


date: October 12

text: October 12 – Aleister Crowley, British occultist (d. 1947)


date: October 31

text: October 31 – Vallabhbhai Patel, Indian political leader ("Iron Man of India") (d. 1950)


date: December 12

text: December 12 – Gerd von Rundstedt, German field marshal (d. 1953)

source_section: Births › November–December


date: February 7

text: February 7 – Edmund Spangler, American stagehand at Ford's Theatre (b. 1825)

source_section: Deaths › January–June


date: February 22

text: February 22 – Sir Charles Lyell, Scottish geologist (b. 1797)


date: May 17

text: May 17 – John C. Breckinridge, 14th Vice President of the United States, Confederate States Secretary of War (b. 1821)


date: May 26

text: May 26 – Victoriano Sánchez Barcáiztegui, Spanish Navy officer and hero (killed in action) (b. 1826)


date: July 8

text: July 8 – Francis Preston Blair Jr., American politician, Civil War officer (b. 1821)

source_section: Deaths › July–December


date: July 30

text: July 30 – George Pickett, American Confederate general (b. 1825)


date: August 4

text: August 4 – Hans Christian Andersen, Danish writer (b. 1805)


date: August 11

text: August 11 – William Alexander Graham, United States Senator from North Carolina, (1840–1843), Confederate States Senator (1864–1865) (b. 1804)


date: October 10

text: October 10 – Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Russian writer (b. 1817)


date: October 19

text: October 19 – Sir Charles Cowper, Australian politician, Premier of New South Wales (b. 1807)


date: November 22

text: November 22 – Henry Wilson, 18th Vice President of the United States (b. 1812)


date: November 24

text: November 24 – William Backhouse Astor, Sr., American businessman (b. 1792)


date: November 27

text: November 27 – Richard Christopher Carrington, English astronomer (b. 1826)


date: November 29

text: November 29 – Maximilian Piotrowski, Polish painter, Kunstakademie Königsberg professor (b. 1813)


date: February 26

text: February 26 – The Japanese force the Korean government to sign the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876 (having brought a fleet to Incheon, the port of modern-day Seoul), opening three ports to Japanese trade and forcing Korea's Joseon dynasty to cease considering itself a tributary of China. On China's urging, Korea also signs treaties with the European powers, in an effort to counterbalance Japan.

source_section: Events › February


date: March 20

text: March 20 – Through constitutional reform taking legal effect, Louis De Geer becomes the first Prime Minister of Sweden.

source_section: Events › March


date: April 12

text: April 12 – The Indian Act comes into force in Canada.

source_section: Events › April


date: May 1

text: May 1 – The Royal Titles Act 1876 in the UK Parliament confers the title 'Empress of India' upon Queen Victoria from 1877.

source_section: Events › May


date: May 16

text: May 16 – British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli rejects the Berlin Memorandum.


date: May 30

text: May 30 – Abdülaziz is deposed by his nephew Murad V as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire on the grounds of mismanaging the economy; 6 days later, Abdülaziz is found dead at the Çırağan Palace in Istanbul and 93 days later Murad is deposed by Abdul Hamid II on the grounds of mental illness. For this reason, in Turkey 1876 is known as the 'Year of the Three Sultans'.


date: June 19

text: June 19 – Jászkunság, the last remnant of Kunság within Austria-Hungary, is disestablished.


date: July 8

text: July 8 – Reichstadt Agreement: Russia and Austria-Hungary agree on partitioning the Balkan Peninsula.

source_section: Events › July


date: August 1

text: August 1 – Colorado is admitted as the 38th U.S. state.


date: August 31

text: August 31 – Murad V, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, is deposed and succeeded by his brother Abdul Hamid II.


date: October 26

text: October 26 – José María Iglesias begins his disputed presidency of Mexico.


date: November 1

text: November 1 – The British Colony of New Zealand dissolves its 9 provinces and replaces them with 63 counties.

source_section: Events › November


date: November 7

text: November 7 – 1876 United States presidential election: After long and heated disputes, Rutherford B. Hayes is eventually declared the winner over Samuel J. Tilden.


date: November 10

text: November 10 – The Centennial Exposition ends in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.


text: November 29 – Porfirio Díaz becomes President of Mexico.


date: December 13

text: December 13 – New Constitution of the Ottoman Empire signed, ending Tanzimat in the Ottoman Empire.

source_section: Events › December


date: February 2

text: February 2 – Third Carlist War (Spain): Battle of Montejurra – The new commander General Fernando Primo de Rivera marches on the remaining Carlist stronghold at Estella, where he meets a force of about 1,600 men under General Carlos Calderón, at nearby Montejurra. After a courageous and costly defence, Calderón is forced to withdraw.


date: February 19

text: February 19 – Third Carlist War: Government troops under General Primo de Rivera drive through the weak Carlist forces protecting Estella and take the city by storm.


date: February 28

text: February 28 – Third Carlist War: The Carlist forces do not succeed, and the promises are never fulfilled. The Carlist pretender Carlos, Duke of Madrid, goes into exile in France, bringing the conflict to an end after four years.


date: March 2

text: March 2 – United States Secretary of War William W. Belknap resigns his office in the wake of the trader post scandal.


date: May 11

text: May 11/12 – Berlin Memorandum: Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungary propose an armistice between Turkey and its insurgents.


date: May 18

text: May 18 – Wyatt Earp starts work in Dodge City, Kansas, serving under Marshal Larry Deger.


date: June 17

text: June 17 – American Indian Wars: Battle of the Rosebud – 1,500 Sioux and Cheyenne, led by Crazy Horse, beat back General George Crook's forces at Rosebud Creek in Montana Territory.


date: June 25

text: June 25/26 – American Indian Wars: Battle of the Little Bighorn: 300 men of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer are wiped out by 2,000 Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho, led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.


date: July 1

text: July 1 – Serbia declares war on the Ottoman Empire.


date: July 2

text: July 2 – Montenegro declares war on the Ottoman Empire.


date: September 7

text: September 7 – In Northfield, Minnesota, Jesse James and the James–Younger Gang attempt to rob the town's bank, but are surrounded by an angry mob and nearly wiped out.

source_section: Events › September


date: November 25

text: November 25 – American Indian Wars: Dull Knife Fight – In retaliation for the dramatic American defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, United States Army troops under General Ranald S. Mackenzie sack Chief Dull Knife's sleeping Cheyenne village at the headwaters of the Powder River (Montana). The soldiers destroy all of the villagers' winter food and clothing, and then slash their ponies' throats.


date: March

text: Thousands of Plains Indians in the United States travel to an encampment of the Sioux chief Sitting Bull in the region of the Little Bighorn River, creating the last great gathering of native peoples on the Great Plains.


date: September 12

text: September 12 – King Leopold II of Belgium hosts the Brussels Geographic Conference, on the subject of colonizing and exploring central Africa. By the event's conclusion, a new international body named the International African Association (indirect forerunner of the modern Congo state) is established.


text: Heinrich Schliemann begins excavation at Mycenae.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


date: May 10

text: May 10 – Major pharmaceutical brand Eli Lilly is founded in Indiana, United States.


date: September 26

text: September 26 – Global consumer goods and personal care company Henkel is founded by Friedrich Karl Henkel in Aachen, Germany.


date: December 2

text: December 2 – Chugai Economic Daily, predecessor of Nikkei Economic Daily (Nihon Keizai Shinbun), is first issued in Tokyo, Japan.


text: Adolphus Busch's brewery, Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis, Missouri, first markets Budweiser, a pale lager, as a nationally sold beer.


text: Star Oil Company, predecessor of the global Chevron energy product and sales brand, is founded in California.


date: February 14

text: February 14 – Alexander Graham Bell applies for a U.S. patent for the telephone, as does Elisha Gray.


date: March 7

text: March 7 – Alexander Graham Bell is granted a United States patent for the telephone.


date: March 10

text: March 10 – Alexander Graham Bell makes the first successful telephone call, saying "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you".


date: April 1

text: April 1 – Lars Magnus Ericsson starts a small mechanical workshop in Stockholm, Sweden (from April 27 partnering with Carl Johan Andersson), dealing with telegraphy equipment, which grows into the worldwide company Ericsson.


date: May 1

text: May 1 – The Settle–Carlisle Railway in England is opened to passenger traffic (it opened to goods traffic in 1875).


date: May 17

text: May 17 – Nicolaus Otto files his patent for the four-stroke cycle internal combustion engine.


date: June 4

text: June 4 – The Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco via the first transcontinental railroad, 83 hours and 39 minutes after having left New York City.

source_section: Events › June


date: August 8

text: August 8 – Thomas Edison receives a patent for his mimeograph.

source_section: Events › August


date: October 4

text: October 4 – Texas A&M University opens for classes.

source_section: Events › October


text: Lyford House, by Richardson Bay, Tiburon, California, is constructed.


text: Charles Wells opens his brewery, based in Bedford, England.


text: Construction of Spandau Prison in Berlin is completed.


text: Emile Berliner invents an improved form of microphone which will be adopted for Alexander Graham Bell's telephone.


date: January 1

text: January 1 – The Bass Brewery Red Triangle becomes the world's first registered trademark symbol, in the United Kingdom.

source_section: Events › January


text: American librarian Melvil Dewey first publishes the Dewey Decimal Classification system.


text: Samurai are banned from carrying swords in Japan, and their stipends are replaced by a one-time grant of income-bearing bonds.


text: Heinz Tomato Ketchup is introduced in the United States.


date: January 27

text: January 27 – The Northampton Bank robbery occurs in Massachusetts.


date: May 16

text: May 16 – German American "Napoleon of crime" Adam Worth steals Gainsborough's Portrait of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire from a London gallery three weeks after its sale at Christie's for 10,000 guineas, the highest price ever paid for a painting at auction at this time. It is not recovered until 1901.


date: May 29

text: May 29 – The United States Senate votes 37 to 29 that U.S. Secretary of War William W. Belknap cannot be barred from trial and impeachment, despite being a private citizen; however, this is far short of the two-thirds majority required and thus he is acquitted.


date: July 13

text: July 13 – The prosecution of Arthur Tooth, an Anglican clergyman, for using ritualist practices begins.


date: August 1

text: August 1 – The United States Senate votes to acquit former Secretary of War William W. Belknap of all impeachment charges relating to the trader post scandal.


date: August 2

text: August 2 – Wild Bill Hickok is murdered in Deadwood, South Dakota.


date: November 7

text: November 7 – A failed grave robbery of the Lincoln Tomb takes place this night.


date: November 23

text: November 23 – Corrupt Tammany Hall leader William Marcy Tweed (better known as Boss Tweed) is delivered to authorities in New York City, after being captured in Spain.


date: December 5

text: December 5 – The Brooklyn Theatre fire kills at least 278, possibly more than 300.


date: December 29

text: December 29 – The Ashtabula River railroad disaster occurs in Ohio when a bridge collapses, leaving 92 dead.


date: October 31

text: October 31 – The great 1876 Bengal cyclone strikes the coast of modern-day Bangladesh, killing 200,000.


text: The Northern Chinese Famine of 1876–79, which will claim 30 million lives and become the 5th-worst famine in recorded history, begins after the droughts of the previous year.


date: February 2

text: February 2 – The National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs is formed at a meeting in Chicago; it replaces the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. Morgan Bulkeley of the Hartford Dark Blues is selected as the league's first president.


date: February 22

text: February 22 – Johns Hopkins University is founded in Baltimore, Maryland.


date: February 24

text: February 24 – The first stage production of the verse-play Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen premieres, with incidental music by Edvard Grieg, in Christiania (modern-day Oslo), Norway.


date: February

text: February–March – The Harvard Lampoon humor magazine is founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts.


date: April 17

text: April 17 – Friends Academy is founded by Gideon Frost at Locust Valley, New York.


date: May 10

text: May 10 – The Centennial Exposition begins in Philadelphia.


date: May 30

text: May 30 – The Ems Ukaz, a secret decree, is issued by Tsar Alexander II of Russia in the German city of Bad Ems, aimed at stopping the printing and distribution of Ukrainian-language publications in the Russian Empire.


date: June 6

text: June 6 – The Association of Medical Officers of American Institutions for Idiotic and Feebleminded Persons, later known as the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, is founded when several directors led by Édouard Séguin, inspired by Centennial events, meet to improve the lives of those with disabilities.


date: July 4

text: July 4 – The United States Centennial Exposition is celebrated across the country.


date: August 6

text: August 6 – The first issue of Arabic language newspaper Al-Ahram is published by Saleem and Beshara Takla in Alexandria, Muhammad Ali dynasty (modern-day Egypt).


date: August 13

text: August 13 – A performance of Wagner's Das Rheingold opens the first Ring cycle at the first Bayreuth Festival.


date: August 14

text: August 14 – Prairie View A&M University, at the time named Alta Vista Agriculture & Mechanical College of Texas for Colored Youth, is founded, the first state-supported HBCU in the state of Texas.


date: September 5

text: September 5 – British Prime Minister William Gladstone publishes his Bulgarian Horrors pamphlet.


date: October 6

text: October 6 – The American Library Association is founded in Philadelphia.


date: November 4

text: November 4 – The long-awaited First Symphony of Johannes Brahms has its première at Karlsruhe, under the baton of Otto Dessoff.


date: December 6

text: December 6 – The first cremation in the United States takes place, in a crematory built by Francis Julius LeMoyne at North Franklin Township, Pennsylvania.


date: December 23

text: December 23 – Constantinople Conference opens.


date: December

text: December – The first American edition of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is published by the American Publishing Company; a British edition has appeared in early June in London with the first review appearing on June 24 in a British magazine.


text: The Conchological Society of Great Britain & Ireland is founded.


text: Stockport Lacrosse Club, thought to be the oldest existing lacrosse club in the world, is founded at Cale Green Cricket Club in Davenport, near Manchester in England, where they will still be playing in the 21st century.


date: January 12

text: January 12 – Jack London, American author (d. 1916)

source_section: Births › January–March


date: February 22

text: February 22 – Zitkala-Sa, Native American writer, activist, editor, educator and translator (d. 1938)


date: February 23

text: February 23 – Senjūrō Hayashi, Japanese general and politician, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1943)


date: March 5

text: March 5 – Tiburcio Carías Andino, 24th President of Honduras (d. 1969)


date: March 15

text: March 15 – Óscar R. Benavides, 67th and 76th President of Peru (d. 1945)


date: June 19

text: June 19 – Sir Nigel Gresley, English steam locomotive engineer (Flying Scotsman & Mallard) (d. 1941)

source_section: Births › April–June


date: July 19

text: July 19 – Joseph Fielding Smith, 10th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1972)

source_section: Births › July–September


date: August 25

text: August 25 – Eglantyne Jebb, English champion of children's human rights, co-founder of the Save the Children Fund (d. 1928)


date: August 29

text: August 29 – Kim Ku, Korean politician (d. 1949)


date: September 6

text: September 6 – John Macleod, Scottish-born physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1935)


date: September 29

text: September 29 – Charlie Llewellyn, first non-white South African Test cricketer (d. 1964)


date: November 3

text: November 3 – Rupert D'Oyly Carte, English hotelier, theatre owner and impresario (d. 1948)

source_section: Births › October–December


date: December 25

text: December 25 – Adolf Windaus, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)


text: December 25 – Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder, first governor general of Pakistan (official birthday; d. 1948)


date: January 15

text: January 15 – Eliza McCardle Johnson, First Lady of the United States (b. 1810)

source_section: Deaths › January–June


date: February 24

text: February 24 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts, 2-time President of Liberia (b. 1809)


date: May 8

text: May 8 – Truganini, supposed last Tasmanian Aboriginal woman (b. c. 1812)


date: June 1

text: June 1 – Hristo Botev, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1848)


date: June 7

text: June 7 – Josephine of Leuchtenberg, Queen of Sweden and Norway (b. 1807)


date: June 8

text: June 8 – George Sand, French writer (b. 1804)


date: June 20

text: June 20 – John Neal, American writer, critic and women's rights activist (b. 1793)


date: June 27

text: June 27 – Harriet Martineau, British social theorist, writer (b. 1802)


date: July 1

text: July 1 – Mikhail Bakunin, Russian revolutionary, anarchist (b. 1814)

source_section: Deaths › July–December


date: July 15

text: July 15 – Juan Pablo Duarte, Dominican revolutionary and political activist.


date: August 2

text: August 2 – Wild Bill Hickok, American gunfighter, entertainer (b. 1837)


date: September 27

text: September 27 – Braxton Bragg, American Confederate Civil War general (b. 1817)


date: November 16

text: November 16 – Karl Ernst von Baer, Estonian-German scientist, explorer (b. 1792)


date: December 29

text: December 29 – Titus Salt, English woollen manufacturer, philanthropist (b. 1803)


date: January 1

text: January 1 – Queen Victoria is proclaimed Empress of India by the Royal Titles Act 1876, introduced by Benjamin Disraeli, the prime minister of the United Kingdom .


date: March 2

text: March 2 – Compromise of 1877: The 1876 United States presidential election is resolved with the selection of Rutherford B. Hayes as the winner, even though Samuel J. Tilden won the popular vote on November 7, 1876.

source_section: Events › March


date: May 16

text: May 16 – 16 May 1877 crisis in France: Parliament passes a no-confidence motion against the government appointed by President MacMahon.

source_section: Events › May


date: May 21

text: May 21 (May 9 O.S.) – By a speech in the Parliament of Romania by Mihail Kogălniceanu, the country declares itself independent from the Ottoman Empire (recognized in 1878 after the end of the Romanian independence war).


date: September 22

text: September 22 – Treaty 7 is concluded between several mainly Blackfoot First Nations tribes and the Canadian Confederation, at the Blackfoot Crossing of the Bow River, settling the Blackfoot on Indian reserves in what will become southern Alberta.


date: January 8

text: January 8 – Great Sioux War of 1876: Battle of Wolf Mountain – Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle with the United States Cavalry in Montana.


date: January 29

text: January 29 – The Satsuma Rebellion, a revolt of disaffected samurai in Japan, breaks out against the new imperial government; it lasts until September, when it is crushed by a professionally led army of draftees.


date: February 17

text: February 17 – Major General Charles George Gordon of the British Army is appointed Governor-General of the Sudan.

source_section: Events › February


date: April 12

text: April 12 – The United Kingdom annexes the South African Republic, violating the Sand River Convention of 1852, causing the First Boer War.

source_section: Events › April


date: April 24

text: April 24 – The Compromise of 1877 forces federal troops to withdraw from the Southern United States. This is the latest date disputed by historians when the Reconstruction Era ended and when the Gilded Age started.


text: April 24 – Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878): Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire.


date: May 5

text: May 5 – Great Sioux War of 1876: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada, to avoid harassment by the U.S. Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.


date: May 6

text: May 6 – Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrenders to U.S. troops in Nebraska.


date: June 17

text: June 17 – American Indian Wars: Battle of White Bird Canyon – The Nez Perce defeat the U.S. Cavalry at White Bird Canyon, in the Idaho Territory. This begins the Nez Perce War.


date: July 16

text: July 16 – Great Railroad Strike of 1877: Riots by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad railroad workers in Baltimore lead to a sympathy strike and rioting in Pittsburgh, and a full-scale worker's rebellion in St. Louis, briefly establishing a communist government, before U.S. president Rutherford B. Hayes calls in the armed forces.

source_section: Events › July


date: July 19

text: July 19 – Russo-Turkish War: The first battle in the siege of Plevna is fought.


date: July 30

text: July 30 – Russo-Turkish War: The Turkish army and its allies destroy the Bulgarian city of Stara Zagora and massacre the inhabitants.


text: July 30 – Russo-Turkish War: The second battle in the siege of Plevna is fought.


date: August 9

text: August 9 – American Indian Wars: Battle of the Big Hole – Near Big Hole River, Montana, a small band of Nez Perce people who refuse government orders to move to a reservation, clash with the United States Army. The army loses 29 soldiers, and the Indians lose 89 warriors, in an Army victory.


date: September 1

text: September 1 – The Battle of Lovcha, third battle in the siege of Plevna, is fought. Russian forces successfully reduce the Ottoman fortress at Lovcha.

source_section: Events › September


date: September 5

text: September 5 – American Indian Wars: Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse is bayoneted by a United States soldier, after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson in Nebraska.


date: September 24

text: September 24 – Battle of Shiroyama in Kagoshima, Japan: The Imperial Japanese Army annihilates heavily outnumbered rebel samurai under Saigō Takamori (who is killed), ending the Satsuma Rebellion.


date: December 9

text: December 9 – The fourth battle of the Russo-Turkish War is fought, concluding the siege of Plevna.

source_section: Events › December


date: December 13

text: December 13 – Serbia restates its previous declaration of war against Turkey.


date: June 30

text: June 30 – The British Mediterranean fleet is sent to Besika Bay.

source_section: Events › June


date: January 20

text: January 20 – The Constantinople Conference ends, with Ottoman Turkey rejecting proposals of internal reform and Balkan provisions.


date: July

text: July – The serial publication of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is concluded, in The Russian Messenger.


date: March 4

text: March 4 – Emile Berliner patents the microphone in the United States.


date: March 15

text: March 15 – English cricket team in Australia and New Zealand in 1876–77: The first Test cricket match is held between England and Australia.


date: June 20

text: June 20 – Alexander Graham Bell installs the world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.


date: August 12

text: August 12 – American astronomer Asaph Hall discovers Deimos, the outer moon of Mars.

source_section: Events › August


date: August 18

text: August 18 – Asaph Hall discovers Phobos, the inner moon of Mars.


date: November 21

text: November 21 – Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record sound, considered his first great invention. Edison demonstrates the device for the first time on November 29.

source_section: Events › November


date: June 21

text: June 21 – The Molly Maguires are hanged at Carbon County Prison, in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania.


date: October 22

text: October 22 – The Blantyre mining disaster in Scotland kills 207 miners.

source_section: Events › October


date: May 9

text: May 9 – Iquique Earthquake and tsunami: An earthquake of at least magnitude 8.5 M s occurs on the west coast of South America, killing 2,541 around the Pacific Rim.


date: June 26

text: June 26 – The eruption of the volcano Cotopaxi in Ecuador causes severe mudflows that wipe out surrounding cities and valleys, killing 1,000.


text: March 4 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake debuts in Moscow.


date: March 24

text: March 24 – For the only time in history, The Boat Race between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge is declared a "dead heat" (i.e., a draw).


date: March

text: March – The Nineteenth Century magazine is founded in London.


date: April 10

text: April 10 – The first human cannonball act in the British Isles, and perhaps the world, is performed by 17-year-old Rossa Matilda Richter ("Zazel") at the London Royal Aquarium.


date: April 12

text: April 12 – The University of Tokyo is officially established in Japan.


date: May 8

text: May 8–11 – At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is held.


date: June 15

text: June 15 – Henry Ossian Flipper becomes the first African American cadet to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy.


date: July 9

text: July 9–19 – The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club stages the first Wimbledon Championships in lawn tennis. English cricketer Spencer Gore becomes first Wimbledon gentlemen's singles champion (the only event held).


date: November 14

text: November 14 – Henrik Ibsen's first contemporary realist drama The Pillars of Society is premièred at the Odense Teater.


date: November 22

text: November 22 – The first college lacrosse game is played between New York University and Manhattan University.


date: December 16

text: December 16 – The premiere of Bruckner's Symphony No. 3 is given by the Vienna Philharmonic. Many of the audience walk out.


date: December 30

text: December 30 – The premiere of Brahms' Symphony No. 2 is given by the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Hans Richter.


date: January 22

text: January 22 – Hjalmar Schacht, German economist, politician and banker (d. 1970)

source_section: Births › January–March


date: February 4

text: February 4 – Eddie Cochems, father of the forward pass in American football (d. 1953)


date: February 8

text: February 8 – Carl Tanzler, German-born radiology technologist (d. 1952)


date: February 12

text: February 12 – Louis Renault, French industrialist, founder of Renault automobile company (d. 1944)


date: March 10

text: March 10 – Pascual Ortiz Rubio, Mexican politician, substitute President of Mexico, 1930–1932 (d. 1963)


date: July 2

text: July 2 – Hermann Hesse, German-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1962)


date: August 1

text: August 1 – George Hackenschmidt, Estonian strongman, professional wrestler (d. 1968)


date: August 22

text: August 22 – Ananda Coomaraswamy, Ceylonese Tamil philosopher (d. 1947)


date: August 27

text: August 27 – Charles Rolls, Welsh co-founder of the Rolls-Royce car firm, pioneer aviator (d. 1910)


date: September 25

text: September 25 – Plutarco Elías Calles, Mexican general and President of Mexico, 1924–1928; known as Jefe Maximo ("Maximum Boss") from 1928 to 1934 (d. 1945)


date: October 21

text: October 21 – Oswald Avery, Canadian-American physician, medical researcher (d. 1955)


date: November 9

text: November 9 – Muhammad Iqbal, Islamic philosopher and poet, one of the founding fathers of All-India Muslims League (d. 1938)


date: November 17

text: November 17 – Frank Lahm, Brigadier General USAF, airship pilot, early military aviator trained by the Wright brothers (d. 1963)


date: December 20

text: December 20 – Thomas Walter Swan, American jurist and judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1926 until 1975 (d. 1975)


date: January 4

text: January 4 – Cornelius Vanderbilt, American entrepreneur (b. 1794)


date: January 20

text: January 20 – Dato Maharajalela Lela, Malay nationalist


date: March 24

text: March 24 – Walter Bagehot, British businessman, essayist and journalist (b. 1826)


date: March 31

text: March 31 – Bully Hayes, American-born Caribbean blackbirder (killed) (b. 1827 or 1829)


date: July 1

text: July 1 – An F4 tornado touches down near Gap, Pennsylvania, and moves towards Chester County. A woman is killed near Ercildoun; a man is killed near Parkesburg; and possibly a third person dies. 4 homes are destroyed at Parkesburg and 20 buildings are destroyed at Ercildoun. 10 or more homes are leveled in Chester County.


date: August 2

text: August 2 – Karl Friedrich von Steinmetz, Prussian field marshal Urdu (b. 1796)


date: August 17

text: August 17 – Isaac Aaron, English-born physician, owner of the Australian Medical Journal and secretary of the Australian Medical Association (b. 1804)


date: August 30

text: August 30 – Raphael Semmes, American and Confederate naval officer (b. 1809)


date: September 13

text: September 13 – Alexandre Herculano, Portuguese writer and historian (b. 1810)


date: October 3

text: October 3 – James Roosevelt Bayley, first Roman Catholic Bishop of Newark, New Jersey, and eighth Archbishop of Baltimore (b. 1814)


date: October 29

text: October 29 – Nathan Bedford Forrest, American Confederate Civil War General, first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (b. 1821)


date: November 1

text: November 1 – Oliver P. Morton, American politician (b. 1823)


date: December 29

text: December 29 – Angelica Singleton Van Buren, Acting First Lady of the United States (b. 1818)


date: December 31

text: December 31 – Gustave Courbet, French painter (b. 1819)


date: March 3

text: March 3 (February 19 O.S.) – Treaty of San Stefano signed between the Russian and Ottoman Empires following Russian victory in the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) provides for establishment of an autonomous Principality of Bulgaria (although not as large as originally envisaged). Russia however regards the treaty as a preliminary one only, refusing on March 25 a British proposal to lay it before a European congress, and matters are finally settled in July's Treaty of Berlin.


date: June 4

text: June 4 – Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom, but retains the nominal title.


date: June 13

text: June 13–July 13 – The Congress of Berlin convenes to discuss the Ottoman Empire.


date: June 25

text: June 25 – The Kanak people of New Caledonia revolt against the French colonial government.


date: July 13

text: July 13 – The Treaty of Berlin makes Serbia, Montenegro and Romania completely independent, confirms the autonomy of Bulgaria, makes Cyprus a British possession, and allows Austria-Hungary to garrison the Bosnia Vilayet.


date: September 17

text: September 17 – 1878 Canadian federal election: Sir John A. Macdonald and his Conservative Party are returned to power, defeating the incumbent Liberal Party, led by Alexander Mackenzie.


date: October 17

text: October 17 – John A. Macdonald returns to office as Prime Minister of Canada.


text: U.S. arbitration rejects Argentine claims to Paraguay's part of the Chaco region.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


date: January 5

text: January 5 – Russo-Turkish War: Battle of Shipka Pass IV – Russian and Bulgarian forces defeat the Ottoman Empire.

source_section: Events › January


date: January 17

text: January 17 – Russo-Turkish War: Battle of Philippopolis – Russian troops defeat the Ottoman Empire.


date: January 28

text: January 28 – In the United States:


date: January 31

text: January 31 – Turkey agrees to an armistice at Adrianople.


date: February 2

text: February 2 – Greece declares war on the Ottoman Empire.


date: February 8

text: February 8 – The British fleet enters Turkish waters, and anchors off Istanbul; Russia threatens to occupy Istanbul, but does not carry out the threat.


date: February 18

text: February 18 – The Lincoln County War begins in Lincoln County, New Mexico.


date: February 24

text: February 24 – Anti-Russian demonstrations occur in Hyde Park, London.


date: March 27

text: March 27 – In anticipation of war with Russia, Disraeli mobilizes British reserves, and calls up Indian troops to Malta.


date: May 11

text: May 11 - Hödel assassination attempt by anarchist Max Hödel targeting the German Kaiser, Wilhelm I.


date: June 2

text: June 2 – Nobiling assassination attempt by anarchist Karl Nobiling targeting the German Kaiser, Wilhelm I.


date: November 17

text: November 17 – The first assassination attempt is made against Umberto I of Italy by anarchist Giovanni Passannante, armed with a dagger. The King survives with a slight wound in one arm. Prime minister Benedetto Cairoli blocks the aggressor, receiving a leg injury.


date: November 21

text: November 21 – The Second Anglo-Afghan War commences when the British attack Ali Masjid in the Khyber Pass.


text: Otto von Bismarck abandons his Kulturkampf, and forces through legislation outlawing the Social Democrats.


text: The 10-year Nauruan Tribal War breaks out.


date: January 23

text: January 23 – Benjamin Disraeli orders the British fleet to the Dardanelles.


date: April 16

text: April 16 – The Senate of the Grand Duchy of Finland issues a declaration establishing a city of Kotka on the southern part of the islands from the old Kymi parish.


date: June 20

text: June 20 – The United States Coast Survey is renamed the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.


date: June 22

text: June 22 – Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld leaves Karlskrona on a voyage that will make him the first man to navigate the Northern Sea Route, a shipping lane from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, along the Siberian coast.


date: August 26

text: August 26 – Uyedineniya Island is discovered in the Kara Sea, by Norwegian explorer Captain Edvard Holm Johannesen.


date: January 9

text: January 9 – Umberto I becomes King of Italy.


date: February 20

text: February 20 – Pope Leo XIII succeeds Pope Pius IX, as the 256th pope. His pontificate will last for 25 years.


date: March 17

text: March 17 – Emancipated U.S. slave and Baptist minister Rev. John Jasper first preaches his sermon "The Sun Do Move."


date: December 25

text: December 25 – Stella Maris Church, Sliema on Malta becomes a parish, seceding from the Parish of St. Helen's in Birkirkara.


text: West Bromwich Albion F.C., formed as West Bromwich Strollers F.C.


text: Grimsby Town F.C., formed as Grimsby Pelham.


date: May 15

text: May 15 – The Tokyo Stock Exchange is established.


date: November 26

text: November 26 – American-born artist James McNeill Whistler's libel case against English critic John Ruskin, over a review of the painting Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket (in which Whistler is described as "flinging a pot of paint in the public's face"), is decided in the High Court of Justice in London. Whistler wins a farthing in nominal damages and only half of the costs, leading to his bankruptcy, and alienates patrons.


text: Geiger (corporation), formed as Geiger Brothers.


date: January

text: The world's First Telephone Exchange begins commercial operation in New Haven, Connecticut.


date: February 19

text: February 19 – The phonograph is patented by Thomas Edison.


date: June 1

text: June 1 – The General Postal Union is renamed the Universal Postal Union (UPU).


date: September 12

text: September 12 – Cleopatra's Needle is erected beside the Thames in London, having arrived in England on January 21.


date: December 7

text: December 7 – The United States territory of New Mexico is linked to the rest of the nation by railroad for the first time, as the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway inaugurates a newly completed line through the Raton Pass.


text: Newton Heath Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Football Club, the team that will become Manchester United.


text: Small town La Farge, Wisconsin, along the Kickapoo River.


text: E. Remington and Sons, in the United States, introduce their No. 2 typewriter, the first with a shift key, enabling production of lower as well as upper case characters.


text: Lester Allan Pelton produces the first operational Pelton wheel.


text: Kawasaki Tsukiji Shipyard, as predecessor of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, a motorbike, helicopters, rolling stock and shipbuilding concern in Japan.


date: October 14

text: October 14 – The world's first recorded floodlit football fixture is played at Bramall Lane, in Sheffield, England.


text: Yellow fever in the Mississippi Valley kills over 13,000.


date: January 24

text: January 24 – Russian revolutionary Vera Zasulich shoots at Fyodor Trepov, Governor of Saint Petersburg.


date: October 27

text: October 27 – The Manhattan Savings Institution robbery occurs.


text: In Strasbourg, Alsace-Lorraine, the much studied stele of the Roman legionary Caius Largennius is discovered.


date: March 24

text: March 24 – The British Royal Navy frigate capsizes in the English Channel; all but 2 of the 319 crew members are killed.


date: May 2

text: May 2 – The Washburn "A" Mill in Minneapolis explodes, killing 18.


text: June 1 – British clipper Loch Ard is wrecked off the Shipwreck Coast of Victoria (Australia) with the loss of 52 lives and only 2 survivors.


date: September 3

text: September 3 – Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames.


date: October 31

text: October 31 – A fire destroys the Eldkvarn gristmill in Stockholm, Sweden.