- February 28
- US Congress enacts the Bland-Allison Act (over President Rutherford B. Hayes' veto), requiring the US Treasury to buy silver at market rates and coin it as silver dollars, and authorizes silver certificates of deposit. [388.188] [471.28] [584.10] [603.56] [755.48]
- March 3
- Treaty of San Stefano is signed, the beginning of Bulgaria's liberation from the Ottoman Empire. [1] [442.92]
- March 16
- King Oskar II of Sweden sells Saint Barthelemew island to France. [7]
- March 20
- Lieutenant Lucien Napoleon-Bonaparte Wyse of French Navy signs contract for 99-year exclusive privilege with Colombia to build Panama Canal, by the Société Civile Internationale du Canal Interocéanique de Darien. [722.64]
- March 24
- British frigate Eurydice sinks; 300 people lost. [1]
- March 26
- Hastings College of Law is founded. [1]
- Sabi Game Reserve, world's first official designated game reserve, opens. [1]
- April 21
- Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Inscrutabili. [1]
- The ship Azor leaves Charleston, South Carolina, with 206 blacks for Liberia. [1]
- April 23
- First Dutch test drive of steam tram. [1]
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- May 23
- Attorney John Henry Smyth named US minister to Liberia. [1]
- May 31
- German battleship Grosser Kurfürst sinks, 284 killed. [1]
- June 4
- Cyprus ceded by Turkey to Britain for administrative purposes. [1]
- June 15
- First attempt at motion pictures (using 12 cameras, each taking one picture) done to see if all four of a horse's hooves leave the ground at the same time. [1]
- July 13
- Treaty of Berlin amends terms of Treaty of San Stefano. [1]
- October 15
- Edison Electric Light Company incorporates. [1]
- November 20
- War starts between Britain and Afghanistan. [306.162]
- December 3
- Settlers arrive at Petach Tikvah, Israel. [1]
- December 18
- French SS Byzantin sinks after collision in Dardanelles, 210 killed. [1]
- December 28
- Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Quod apostolici muneris (socialism). [1]
1879
- January 2
- British battleship Thunder explodes in Gulf of Ismid, 9 die. [1]
- The US government resumes specie payments for paper currency. [466.79] [668.104] (January 1 [646.18] [732.81])
- January 7
- Dutch King Willem II marries Emma von Waldeck-Pyrmont. [1]
- January 9
- Kirland Warbler discovered on Andros Island in Bahamas. [1]
- January 12
- British Zulu War begins: Lieutenant-General Chelmsford invades Zululand. [1]
- January 13
- In Saint Augustine, Florida, USA, a large magnitude earthquake occurs. Felt from Daytona Beach to Savannah, Georgia. [53]
- January 20
- British troops under Lord Chelmsford set camp at Isandlwana. [1]
- January 22
- Zulus attack British Army camp in Isandhlwana, South Africa. [1]
- January 30
- French President MacMahon resigns. [1]
- January 31
- In Dun-le-Poelier, France, a farmer is reported killed by a meteorite. [521]
- February 5
- Joseph Swan demonstrates light bulb using carbon glow. [1]
- February 8
- Sandford Fleming first proposes adoption of Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute. [5]
- February 10
- First electric arc light is used (California Theater). [1]
- February 12
- At New York City's Madison Square Garden, the first artificial ice rink in North America opens. [1] [5]
- February 14
- Chilean troops occupy Antofagasta. [1]
- February 18
- Arabs capture Egyptian premier Nabar Pasha. [1]
- February 27
- Constantine Fahlberg discovers saccharin (artificial sweetener). [1]
- March 1
- Bolivia declares war on Chile. [1264.98]
- March 3
- In Washington, D.C., the United States Geological Survey is established, in the Department of the Interior, with responsibilities: "classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain". [1] [53]
- April 1
- The Universal Postal Union comes into effect. [729.38]
- April 5
- Chile declares war on Bolivia and Peru. [1264.98]
- April 8
- Khedive Ismael of Egypt fires French/British ministers. [1]
- April 20
- First mobile home (horse drawn) used in a journey from London to Cyprus. [1]
- May 8
- George Selden files for first patent for a gasoline-driven automobile. [1]
- May 15
- Congrés International d'Études du Canal Interocéanique convenes in Paris, France, attended by 136 delegates from 22 countries. [722.71]
- May 16
- Treaty of Gandamak signed to set up Afghan state between Russia and English. [1]
- May 21
- May 26
- Treaty of Gandermack signed between Great Britain and Afghanistan. [306.164]
- May 31
- First electric railway opens at Berlin Trades Exposition, Germany. [1]
- June 25
- Ismail, ruler of Egypt, is deposed, sent into exile. [600.89]
- July 17
- First railroad opens in Hawaii. [1]
- September 23
- Baldwin steam motors tram first tried in Sydney, Australia. [1]
- September 28
- Sydney, Australia, innaugurates steam motor tram route. [1]
- October 8
- Chilean naval squadron captures Peruvian ironclad Huascar off Antofagasta, Chile. [1321.10]
- October 21
- In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Alva Edison succeeds in creating an electric lamp, with carbonized cotton filament, burning for 14.5 hours. [1] [55.54]
- November 1
- US patent office grants Thomas Edison patent on electric lamp. [55.54]
- November 4
- James and John Ritty patent first cash register, to combat stealing by bartenders in their Dayton, Ohio saloon. [1] [557.36]
- November 12
- In Huan-hsiang, China, a rain of stones is reported; many houses damaged. [521]
- November 29
- King Alfonso of Spain marries Maria Christina of Austria. [1157.93]
- December 5
- First automatic telephone switching system is patented. [1]
- December 18
- The Tay Bridge in Scotland blows over in a great storm, taking evening mail train to Dundee and 76 passengers and crew. [979.647]
- December 23
- Death of James Dundas by mine explosion at Sherpur near Kabul, Afghanistan; captain of Royal Engineers, recipient of Victoria Cross. [1458.10]
- December 28
- In Scotland, North British Railway's train falls as Tay Bridge collapses into the Firth of Tay, killing 75. [1] [1458.11]
- December 30
- Gilbert and Sullivan's play Pirates of Penzance premieres in Royal Bijou Theatre, Paignton, England. [1458.11]
- December 31
- Cornerstone laid for Honolulu's Iolani Palace in Hawaii. [1]
- Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time. [1] [5]
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