page_title: Timeline of the 19th century
section_title: 1880s
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of the 19th century / 1880s
context_page_description: This is a timeline of the 19th century.
context_section_description: 1880–1881: the First Boer War.
  1881: Tsar Alexander II is assassinated.
  1881: Wave of pogroms begins in the Russian Empire.
  1881: Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Sitting Bull surrenders.
  1881: First electrical power plant and grid in Godalming, Britain.
  1881: President James A. Garfield is assassinated.
  1881–1882: The Jules Ferry laws are passed in France establishing free, secular education.
  1881–1899: The Mahdist War in Sudan.
  1882: The British invasion and subsequent occupation of Egypt
  1883: Krakatoa volcano explosion, one of the largest in modern history.
  1883: The quagga is rendered extinct.
  1883: Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island is published.
  1884: First electric car produced by Thomas Parker in Wolverhampton.
  1884: Siege of Khartoum.
  1884: Germany gains control of Cameroon.
  1884: Mark Twain publishes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
  1884: Hiram Maxim invents the first self-powered Machine gun.
  1884–1885: The Berlin Conference signals the start of the European "scramble for Africa". Attending nations also agree to ban trade in slaves.
  1884–1885: The Sino-French War led to the formation of French Indochina.
  1885: Louis Pasteur creates the first successful vaccine against rabies for a young boy who had been bitten 14 times by a rabid dog.
  1885: Karl Benz produced first car with internal combustion engine.
  1885: King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo Free State as a personal fiefdom.
  1885: Britain establishes a protectorate over Bechuanaland (modern Botswana).
  1885: Singer begins production of the 'Vibrating Shuttle'. which would become the most popular model of sewing machine.
  1885: Rock Springs massacre: White miners rioted, killing at least 28 Chinese immigrant miners.
  1886: "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" by Robert Louis Stevenson is published.
  1886: Burma is presented to Queen Victoria as a birthday gift.
  1886: Karl Benz sells the first commercial automobile.
  1886: Construction of the Statue of Liberty; Coca-Cola is developed.
  1887: The British Empire takes over Balochistan.
  1887: Arthur Conan Doyle publishes his first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet.
  1888: Louis Le Prince records the Roundhay Garden Scene, the earliest surviving film.
  1888: Jack the Ripper murders occur in Whitechapel, London.
  1888: Slavery banned in Brazil.
  1888: Founding of the shipping line Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij (KPM) that supported the unification and development of the colonial economy.
  1889: The Mayerling Incident: Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and Baroness Mary Vetsera are found dead in an apparent murder-suicide.
  1889: Eiffel Tower is inaugurated in Paris.
  1889: Mirza Ghulam Ahmad establishes the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, a reform sect of Islam.
  1889: End of the Brazilian Empire and the beginning of the Brazilian Republic.
  1889: Vincent van Gogh paints Starry Night.
  1889: Aspirin patented.
  1889: Moulin Rouge opens in Paris.
caption: Thomas Edison was an American inventor, scientist, and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb.
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