Historical
1865-1877: United States - Reconstruction in the United States, slavery is banned in the United States by the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
1865: United States - April 14, 1865, United States President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated while attending a performance at Fords Theater, Washington, D.C., he dies approximately nine hours after being shot on April 15, 1865
1865: United States - April 9, 1865 Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War
1866-1868: Finland - Famine in Finland
1866-1869: Japan - After the Meiji Restoration, Japan embarks on a program of rapid modernization
1866: England, United States - Successful transatlantic telegraph cable follows an earlier attempt in 1858 by Cyrus West Field, the first cable used for telegraph communications laid across the floor of the Atlantic Ocean crosees from the Telegraph Field, Foilhommerum Bay, Valentia Island, in western Ireland to Hearts Content in eastern Newfoundland, messages that took at least ten days to deliver by ship now took only minutes
1866: Germany, Austria - Austro-Prussian War results in the dissolution of the German Confederation and the creation of the North German Confederation and the Austrian-Hungarian Dual Monarchy
1867: Canada - Canadian Confederation formed
1867: Serbia, Turkey - The Principality of Serbia passes a Constitution which defines Its Independence from the Ottoman Empire, International recognition followed in 1878
1867: United States, Russia - The United States purchased Alaska from Russia
1868: United States - The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was approved
1868: United States - The Expatriation Act is approved by Congress, guaranteeing U.S. citizens the right to expatriate, coupled with the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution approved only one day later, the Expatriation Act allows U.S. citizens to renounce federal citizenship in order to regain Constitutional rights ceded by U.S. citizens as defined by the 14th Amendment
1869: Egypt - The Suez Canal opens linking the Mediterranean to the Red Sea
1869: United States - First Transcontinental Railroad completed in United States on May 10
1870-1871: France, Germany, Italy - The Franco-Prussian War results in the unifications of Germany and Italy, the collapse of the Second French Empire, the breakdown of Pax Britannica, and the emergence of a New Imperialism
1870s-1890s: Europe, United States - Long Depression in Western Europe and North America
1871-1872: Iran - Famine in Persia is believed to have caused the death of two million
1871-1914: Europe, United States - Second Industrial Revolution, also known as the Technological Revolution, a phase of the larger Industrial Revolution in the period from the last half of the 19th century until about the time of World War I
1872: United States - Yellowstone National Park is created
1873: England - James Clerk Maxwell publishes "A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism", a set of four partial differential equations describing how the electric and magnetic fields relate to their sources, charge density and current density, and how they develop with time
1874-1875: Spain - First Republic in Spain
1874: France - The Societe Anonyme Cooperative des Artistes Peintres, Sculpteurs, and Graveurs, better known today as the Impressionists organize and present their first public group exhibition at the Paris studio of the photographer Nadar
1874: India, England - The British East India Company is dissolved
1875-1900: India - 26 million in India perish due to famine
1876-1879: China - 13 million die of famine in northern China
1876-1914: United States - The massive expansion in population, territory, Industry and wealth in the United States is referred to as the Gilded Age
1876: Bulgaria - The Bulgarian revolt against Ottoman rule
1877-1878: Europe - Following the tenth Russo-Turkish War, the Treaty of Berlin recognizes formal Independence of the Principality of Serbia, Montenegro and Romania, Bulgaria becomes autonomous
1877: United States - Great Railroad Strike in the United States may have been the first nationwide labor strike
1878: United States - First commercial telephone exchange in New Haven, Connecticut
1879-1883: Chile, Peru, Bolivia - Chile battles with Peru and Bolivia over Andean territory in the War of the Pacific
1879: South Africa - Anglo-Zulu War in South Africa
1880-1881: England, South Africa - the First Boer War between England and the Dutch-speaking Inhabitants of South Africa
1881-1899: Sudan - The Mahdist War in Sudan
1881: England - First electrical power plant and grid in Godalming, Britain
1882: England, Egypt - The British Invasion and the subsequent occupation of Egypt
1883: Indonesia - Krakatau (often mispelled Krakatoa) volcano explosion in Indonesia (Java and Sumatra)
1884-1885: Africa - The Berlin Conference signals the start of the European "scramble for Africa", attending nations also agree to ban trade in slaves
1884-1885: Japan, Korea - The Sino-French War led to the formation of French Indochina
1885: United States - Singer begins production of the "Vibrating Shuttle" which would become the Model T of sewing machines
1886: Russia - Russian-Circassian War ended with the defeat and the exile of many Circassians, Imam Shamil defeated
1888: Brazil - Slavery banned in Brazil
1888: England - Jack the Ripper is believed to have begun murdering in August and murdered his last victim in November
1889: Brazil - End of the Brazilian Empire and the beginning of the Brazilian Republic
1889: France - Eiffel tower was Inaugurated in Paris
1889: India - Mirza Ghulam Ahmad establishes the Ahmadi Muslim Community
1890: United States - The Wounded Knee Massacre was the last battle in the American Indian Wars, this event represents the end of the American Old West
1891: United States - James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts, Invents basketball
1894-1895: Japan, Korea - After the First Sino-Japanese War, China cedes Taiwan to Japan and grants Japan a free hand in Korea
1895-1896: Ethiopia, Italy - Ethiopia defeats Italy in the First Italo-Ethiopian War
1896: Canada - Klondike Gold Rush in Canada
1896: Greece - Olympic Games revived in Athens
1896: Philippines, Spain - Philippine Revolution ends declaring Philippines free from Spanish rule
1897: Korea - Gojong, or Emperor Gwangmu, proclaims the short-lived Korean Empire lasts until 1910
1898-1900: China - The Boxer Rebellion in China is suppressed by an Eight-Nation Alliance
1898-1902: Colombia - The One Thousand Days war in Colombia breaks out between the "Liberales" and "Conservadores", culminating with the loss of Panama in 1903
1898: United States, Cuba, Philippines - The United States gains control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines after the Spanish-American War
1899: England, South Africa - Second Boer War begins, lasting until 1902