- March 19
- Jan Matzeliger invents first machine to manufacture entire shoes. [1]
- March 20
- Unity treaty of Paris signed; protects industrial property. [1]
- April 2
- Battle at Bamako: French assault on Fabous arm forces attack. [1]
- April 12
- French troops under Lieutenant-Colonel Borgnis-Desbordes occupy Bamako, Senegal. [1]
- April 16
- Paul Kruger chosen President of Transvaal. [1]
- April 23
- John Heemskerk Azn forms Dutch government. [1]
- May 1
- Amsterdam World's Fair opens. [1]
- May 15
- Italy signs military treaty with Austria-Hungary and Germany. [1]
- May 20
- Krakatoa volcano begins erupting. [5]
- May 24
- In New York State, the Brooklyn Bridge opens over the East River, connecting New York and Brooklyn. Construction took 14 years, cost $15 million, and caused 27 deaths. With a span of 1595 feet, the Brooklyn Bridge is the largest suspension bridge ever built to date. [1] [129] (20 deaths [648.39])
- May 27
- Czar Alexander III is crowned in Moscow, Russia. [1]
- May 30
- Rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, USA, is going to collapse causes a stampede that kills 12. [1] [648.39]
- May 31
- French fleet under Pierre begins siege of Tamatave, Madagascar. [1]
- June 9
- First commercial electric railway line begins operation in the USA (Chicago El). [1]
- July 28
- In Ischia, Italy, volcano Epomeo erupts, causing a magnitude 5.6 earthquake. The thermal resort of Casamicciola is devastated, over 2,000 people killed, over 1,200 houses destroyed. [1] [53]
- August 12
- The last quagga dies at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam. [5]
- August 26
- Krakatoa erupts with increasingly large explosions; kills 36,000. [1] [5]
- August 27
- Krakatoa, west of Java, explodes with a force of 1,300 megatons. [1]
- August 29
- Seismic sea waves created by the Krakatoa eruption create a rise in the English Channel 32 hours after the explosion. [1]
- October 4
- Orient Express first runs, linking Turkey to Europe by rail. [1]
- October 20
- Treaty of Ancon, Peru cedes Tarapaca to Chile. [1]
- October 22
- Original Metropolitan Opera House (New York City) grand opening (Faust). [1]
- November 18
- Standard time zones established by railroads in US and Canada. [1]
- December 9
- New Brunswick, Canada, adopts Eastern Standard Time (until 1902). [1]
- December 20
- International cantilever railway bridge opens at Niagara Falls. [1]
1884
- January 4
- Last sighting of an eastern cougar (Ontario, Canada). [1]
- January 8
- Chrome tanning process for leather patented by Augustus Schultz. [1]
- February 1
- First volume of the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is published (covering A to Ant). [1] [5] [129]
- February 18
- General Charles Gordon arrives in Khartoum, Sudan. [1]
- February 19
- Tornadoes in Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana kill 800 people. [1]
- February 26
- British and Portuguese treaty signed in Congo by Leopold II. [1]
- March 13
- Siege of Khartoum, Sudan begins. [1]
- US adopts Standard Time. [1]
- March 17
- John Joseph Montgomery makes first glider flight, in Otay, California, USA. [1]
- March 27
- First long-distance telephone call, Boston to New York, USA. [1]
- April 2
- London prison for debtors closes. [1]
- April 10
- US Senate accepts Belgian administration of Congo. [1]
- April 20
- Pope Leo XIII issues encyclical On Freemasonry. [1]
- April 22
- US recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State. [1]
- May 13
- Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is founded. [1]
- May 17
- Alaska becomes a US territory. [1]
- May 19
- Ringling Brothers circus premieres. [1]
- June 16
- The first roller coaster in the USA opens at Coney Island, in Brooklyn, New York. The ride travels approximately six miles per hour and cost five cents to ride. [129]
- July 3
- The Customer's Afternoon Letter first publishes Charles Dow's American stock average, containing eleven railroad and industrial stocks: Chicago & North Western, Delaware Lackawanna & Western, Lake Shore, Louisville & Nashville, Missouri Pacific, New York Central, Northern Pacific pfd., Pacific Mail, St. Paul, Union Pacific, and Western Union. (This selected stock average will later become the Dow Jones Industrial Average.) [5] [228]
- July 4
- Statue of Liberty presented to US in Paris, France. [1]
- August 10
- In New York City, New York, a magnitude 5.5 earthquake occurs. The total felt area is estimated at 181,000 square kilometres. [53]
- August 28
- First known photograph of a tornado is made near Howard, South Dakota, USA. [1] [5]
- September 20
- 6.2-mile Arlberg railroad tunnel completed in Austria. [1]
- October 14
- George Eastman patents paper-strip photographic film. [1]
- November 4
- Grover Cleveland (Democrat) beats James G Blaine (Republican) for President of the US. [1]
- November 6
- British protectorate proclaimed over southeast New Guinea. [1]
- November 15
- Colonization of Africa organized at international conference in Berlin. [1]
- November 25
- John B Meyenberg of Saint Louis patents evaporated milk. [1]
- December 6
- In Washington, D.C., the monument to president George Washington, a tower of white marble with an aluminum capstone, is completed. [1] [129]
- December 9
- Levant Richardson patents ball-bearing skate. [1]
- December 16
- Great Britain recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State. [1]
- December 19
- Italy recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State. [1]
- December 24
- Austria-Hungary recognizes King Leopold II's Congo Free State. [1]
- December 27
- Netherlands recognizes Belgian King Leopold II's Congo Free State. [1]
|
