- February 9
- First Japanese arrive in Hawaii. [1]
- February 12
- Carl Peters founds German East-Africa Society. [1]
- February 17
- Germany's Otto von Bismarck gives Carl Peters' firm management of East-Africa. [1]
- February 18
- Samuel Clement (as "Mark Twain") publishes his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. [1] [129]
- February 21
- The Washington Monument is dedicated, in Washington, D.C. Its height is 555 feet and 5 1/8 inches. [706.62]
- February 24
- In the North Pacific, the crew of the barque Innerwich en route from Japan to Vancouver, witnesses the sky turning fiery red, falling into the sea 50 yards away with a blast and hissing sound. Then a wave of white foam passes under the ship. [521]
- February 26
- Congress of Berlin gives Congo to Belgium and Nigeria to England. [1]
- March 3
- First US state (California) establishes a permanent forest commission. [1]
- American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T) incorporates. [1]
vvv advertisement vvv
^^^ advertisement ^^^
- US Congress passes Indian Appropriations Act (Indians become wards of federal government). [1]
- March 19
- Louis Riel returns to Canada, proclaims provisional government, in Saskatchewan. [1]
- March 20
- John Matzeliger of Suriname patents shoe lacing machine. [1]
- March 21
- Second French government of Ferry resigns. [1]
- March 26
- Eastman Film Company manufactures first commercial motion picture film. [1]
- Louis Riel's forces defeat Canadian forces at Duck Lake, Saskatchewan. [1]
- March 31
- Great Britain declares Bechuanaland a protectorate. [1]
- May 1
- Maria "Goeie Mie" Swanenburg is sentenced to life in prison for killing 27 in Netherlands. [1]
- May 2
- Congo Free State is established by King Leopold II of Belgium. [1]
- May 7
- John E W Thompson is named US minister to Haiti. [1]
- May 12
- Battle of Batoche, French Canadians rebel against Canada. [1]
- May 15
- Canadian Méti insurgent Louis Riel is captured in Saskatchewan. [1]
- May 19
- First mass production of shoes (by Jan Matzeliger in Lynn, Massachusetts, USA). [1]
- German chancellor Otto von Bismarck takes possession of Cameroon and Togoland. [1]
- June 12
- Roof collapse kills 30 at a murder trial in France. [1]
- June 17
- Statue of Liberty arrives in New York City aboard French ship Isere. [1] [5]
- June 27
- Americans Chichester Bell and Charles S. Tainter apply for a patent for the gramophone. (It is granted on May 4, 1886.) [457]
- July 2
- Canada's North-west Insurrection ends with surrender of Big Bear. [1]
- July 6
- First inoculation (for rabies) of a human being, by Louis Pasteur. [1] [5]
- August 14
- Japan's first patent is issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint. [5]
- August 29
- Gottlieb Daimler receives German patent for a motorcycle. [1]
- August 30
- 13,000 meteors seen in one hour near Andromeda. [1]
- September 4
- First cafeteria opens (New York City). [1]
- September 11
- Moses Hopkins is named US minister to Liberia. [1]
- September 15
- Jumbo the elephant is struck by a freight train and killed, in Saint Thomas, Ontario. [66.18] [1101.633]
- September 30
- Bechuanaland becomes a British protectorate. [1]
- November 3
- Tacoma (Washington, USA) vigilantes drive out Chinese, burn their homes and businesses. [1]
- November 7
- Canadian Pacific Railway is completed at Craigellachie, British Columbia. [1]
- November 10
- The North, Central, and South American Exposition opens in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. [1210.406]
- November 16
- Louis Riel, French rebel who fought against Canada, is executed at age 41. [1] [271.556]
- November 27
- Earliest photograph of a meteor shower is made. [1]
- December 17
- France declares Madagascar a protectorate. [1]
- December 22
- Pope Leo XIII proclaims extraordinary jubilee. [1]
1886
- January 15
- Weekly Herald, first Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada newspaper, publishes first issue. [1]
- January 27
- First British government of Salisbury resigns. [1]
- January 29
- Karl Benz in Karlsruhe patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile. [1] [5]
- February 9
- President Grover Cleveland declares a state of emergency in Seattle, Washington because of anti-Chinese violence. [1]
- February 12
- Second British government of Salisbury forms. [1]
- February 23
- Aluminum manufacturing process is developed. [1]
- London Times newspaper publishes world's first classified ad. [1]
- March 6
- First US alternating current power plant starts, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. [1]
- March 17
- Carrollton Massacre in Mississippi, USA; 20 blacks are killed. [1]
- March 20
- First AC power plant in US begins commercial operation, in Massachusetts. [1]
- March 26
- First cremation in England. [1]
- March 31
- The North, Central, and South American Exposition closes in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. [1210.406]
- April 6
- City of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada is incorporated. [1]
- Declaration of Berlin neutralizes Tonga. [1]
- April 29
- First public Dutch electricity opens. [1]
- May 4
- Haymarket riot in Chicago, Illinois, USA; bomb kills 7 policemen. [1]
- May 8
- In Atlanta, Georgia, USA, pharmacist (Jacob's Pharmacy) Dr John Styth Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage he calls "Coca Cola" (containing cocaine). [1] [5]
- May 17
- Birth of Alfonso XIII Borbón; proclaimed King of Spain (rules 1902-31), with mother Queen Maria Christina appointed regent. [1] [1157.93]
- June 13
- Fire destroys nearly 1,000 buildings in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. [1]
- Deposed King Ludwig II of Bavaria is found dead of drowning at Berg Castle near Munich. [1] [1393.9]
- (month unknown)
- The Novo-Urei ureilite meteorite falls in Russia. [523.103]
- July 3
- The New York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine, eliminating hand typesetting. [1] [5]
- Karl Benz officially unveils the Benz Patent Motorwagen, the first purpose-built automobile. [5]
- July 4
- First scheduled transcontinental passenger train reaches Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada. [1] [5]
- July 10
- Eruption of Tarawera volcano destroys famous pink and white calcium carbonate hot-spring terraces (North Island, New Zealand). [1]
- August 31
- First major earthquake (7.3) recorded in eastern US, at Charleston, South Carolina. [1] [53]
- September 4
- Geronimo is captured, ending last major US-Indian war. [1]
- September 14
- George K Anderson of Memphis, Tennessee, USA, patents typewriter ribbon. [1] [5]
- September 20
- Witwatersrand district in Transvaal is declared a public goldfield. [832.161]
- October 7
- Spain abolishes slavery in Cuba. [1]
- October 10
- First dinner jacket worn to autumn ball at Tuxedo Park, New York (the tuxedo). [1]
- October 12
- Hurricane and sea surge kill 250 at Indianola, Texas, USA. [1]
- October 23
- The Statue of Liberty is presented to the US, a gift from the government of France. [648.40]
- October 28
- The statue of Liberty Enlightening the World is dedicated by President Grover Cleveland in New York Harbor. It is celebrated by the first confetti (ticker tape) parade in New York City. (The project was originally proposed as a lighthouse at Port Said, to have been called Egypt Bringing Light to Asia.) [1] [677.5] [1842.243]
- November 30
- The Folies Bergere hall in Paris, France, stages its first revue, the Place aux Jeunes. [129]
- First commercially-successful AC electric power plant opens, Buffalo, New York, USA. [1]
- December 16
- Rift at Dutch Reformed Church over "Doleantie". [1]
1887
- January 26
- Battle of Dogali: Abyssinian Emperor John IV defeats Italians. [1]
- February 2
- Groundhog Day is celebrated for the first time at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, USA. [129]
- February 16
- First newspaper convention (Rochester, New York). [1]
- February 20
- Germany, Austria-Hungary, and France end Triple Alliance. [1]
- February 21
- First US bacteriology laboratory opens (Brooklyn, New York). [1]
- February 23
- French/Italian Riviera struck by earthquake; 2,000 die. [1]
- March 3
- American Protective Association forms (anti-Catholic) in Clinton, Iowa. [1]
- March 4
- Gottlieb Daimler unveils his first automobile, which he test runs in Esslingen and Cannstatt, Germany. [5]
- March 8
- Everett Horton, of Connecticut, USA, patents fishing rod of telescoping steel tubes. [1]
- March 13
- Chester Greenwood of Maine patents earmuffs. [1]
- March 17
- The A.B. Dick Company sells the first Diaphragm Mimeograph duplicating machine. [55.52]
- March 19
- Crew of the Dutch barque J.P.A. in the North Atlantic witness two fireballs in the dark evening sky, one falling close to the ship with a roar, causing waves an a hot suffocating atmosphere, and then depositing solid lumps of ice on the deck. [521]
- March 24
- Oscar Straus is appointed ambassador from US to Turkey. [1]
- May 2
- Hannibal W Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film. [1]
- May 3
- In Sonora, Mexico, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake occurs. [53]
- May 8
- Alexander Ulyanov, brother of Lenin, is hanged for assassination of tsar. [1]
- May 9
- Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show opens in London, England. [5]
- May 23
- First transcontinental train arrives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. [1]
- May 24
- Sultan Bargash of Zanzibar grants East African Association at East African harbors. [1]
- May 25
- In France, a gas lamp at the Paris Opera catches fire; 200 die. [1]
- May 26
- Racetrack betting becomes legal in New York state, USA. [1]
- June 7
- Monotype type-casting machine patented by Tolbert Lanston, Washington DC. [1]
- June 8
- In Almaty (Vernyy), Kazakhstan (Turkestan, Russia), a magnitude 7.3 earthquake occurs. Almaty destroyed; many fissures, landslides and mudslides observed. [53]
- June 21
- Britain celebrates golden jubilee of Queen Victoria. [1]
- July 26
- First Esperanto book is published. [1]
- August 10
- Excursion train crashes killing 101 in Chatsworth, Illinois, USA. [1]
- September 16
- The first game of softball is played in Chicago, Illinois, USA. [5]
- November 29
- US receives rights to Pearl Harbor, on Oahu, Hawaii. [1]
- November 30
- First indoor softball game (Chicago, Illinois). [1]
- December 1
- Sino-Portuguese treaty recognizes Portugal's control of Macao. [1]
- December 2
- French President Grévy (age 80) resigns. [1]
- December 10
- Austria-Hungary, Italy, and Great Britain sign military treaty of Balkan. [1]
- December 28
- Sir John Layton Jarvis becomes first British race horse trainer to be knighted. [1]
|