- 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])
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- 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]
- Opening of World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Opened by touch of telegraphic key installed in White House, by President Chester Arthur. The exposition takes place on 245 acres of land, with main building covering 31 acres. [1210.404]
- 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]
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