Directory

1876 CE

Lars Magnus Ericsson starts a small mechanical workshop in Stockholm, Sweden (from April 27 partnering with Carl Johan Andersson), dealing with telegraphy equipment, which grows into the worldwide company Ericsson. The Ems Ukaz, a secret decree, is issued by Tsar Alexander II of Russia in the German city of Bad Ems, aimed at stopping the printing and distribution of Ukrainian-language publications in the Russian Empire. The Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco via the first transcontinental railroad, 83 hours and 39 minutes after having left New York City.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 26 – The Japanese force the Korean government to sign the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876 (having brought a fleet to Incheon, the port of modern-day Seoul), opening three ports to Japanese trade and forcing Korea's Joseon dynasty to cease considering itself a tributary of China. On China's urging, Korea also signs treaties with the European powers, in an effort to counterbalance Japan.source
  • March 20 – Through constitutional reform taking legal effect, Louis De Geer becomes the first Prime Minister of Sweden.source
  • April 12 – The Indian Act comes into force in Canada.source
  • May 1 – The Royal Titles Act 1876 in the UK Parliament confers the title 'Empress of India' upon Queen Victoria from 1877.source
  • May 16 – British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli rejects the Berlin Memorandum.source
  • May 30 – Abdülaziz is deposed by his nephew Murad V as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire on the grounds of mismanaging the economy; 6 days later, Abdülaziz is found dead at the Çırağan Palace in Istanbul and 93 days later Murad is deposed by Abdul Hamid II on the grounds of mental illness. For this reason, in Turkey 1876 is known as the 'Year of the Three Sultans'.source
  • June 19 – Jászkunság, the last remnant of Kunság within Austria-Hungary, is disestablished.source
  • July 8 – Reichstadt Agreement: Russia and Austria-Hungary agree on partitioning the Balkan Peninsula.source
  • August 1 – Colorado is admitted as the 38th U.S. state.source
  • August 31 – Murad V, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, is deposed and succeeded by his brother Abdul Hamid II.source
  • October 26 – José María Iglesias begins his disputed presidency of Mexico.source
  • November 1 – The British Colony of New Zealand dissolves its 9 provinces and replaces them with 63 counties.source
  • November 7 – 1876 United States presidential election: After long and heated disputes, Rutherford B. Hayes is eventually declared the winner over Samuel J. Tilden.source
  • November 10 – The Centennial Exposition ends in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.source
  • November 29 – Porfirio Díaz becomes President of Mexico.source
  • December 13 – New Constitution of the Ottoman Empire signed, ending Tanzimat in the Ottoman Empire.source

Conflict & Security

  • February 2 – Third Carlist War (Spain): Battle of Montejurra – The new commander General Fernando Primo de Rivera marches on the remaining Carlist stronghold at Estella, where he meets a force of about 1,600 men under General Carlos Calderón, at nearby Montejurra. After a courageous and costly defence, Calderón is forced to withdraw.source
  • February 19 – Third Carlist War: Government troops under General Primo de Rivera drive through the weak Carlist forces protecting Estella and take the city by storm.source
  • February 28 – Third Carlist War: The Carlist forces do not succeed, and the promises are never fulfilled. The Carlist pretender Carlos, Duke of Madrid, goes into exile in France, bringing the conflict to an end after four years.source
  • March 2 – United States Secretary of War William W. Belknap resigns his office in the wake of the trader post scandal.source
  • May 11/12 – Berlin Memorandum: Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungary propose an armistice between Turkey and its insurgents.source
  • May 18 – Wyatt Earp starts work in Dodge City, Kansas, serving under Marshal Larry Deger.source
  • June 17 – American Indian Wars: Battle of the Rosebud – 1,500 Sioux and Cheyenne, led by Crazy Horse, beat back General George Crook's forces at Rosebud Creek in Montana Territory.source
  • June 25/26 – American Indian Wars: Battle of the Little Bighorn: 300 men of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer are wiped out by 2,000 Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho, led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.source
  • July 1 – Serbia declares war on the Ottoman Empire.source
  • July 2 – Montenegro declares war on the Ottoman Empire.source
  • September 7 – In Northfield, Minnesota, Jesse James and the James–Younger Gang attempt to rob the town's bank, but are surrounded by an angry mob and nearly wiped out.source
  • November 25 – American Indian Wars: Dull Knife Fight – In retaliation for the dramatic American defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, United States Army troops under General Ranald S. Mackenzie sack Chief Dull Knife's sleeping Cheyenne village at the headwaters of the Powder River (Montana). The soldiers destroy all of the villagers' winter food and clothing, and then slash their ponies' throats.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • Thousands of Plains Indians in the United States travel to an encampment of the Sioux chief Sitting Bull in the region of the Little Bighorn River, creating the last great gathering of native peoples on the Great Plains.source
  • September 12 – King Leopold II of Belgium hosts the Brussels Geographic Conference, on the subject of colonizing and exploring central Africa. By the event's conclusion, a new international body named the International African Association (indirect forerunner of the modern Congo state) is established.source
  • Heinrich Schliemann begins excavation at Mycenae.source

Economy & Finance

  • May 10 – Major pharmaceutical brand Eli Lilly is founded in Indiana, United States.source
  • September 26 – Global consumer goods and personal care company Henkel is founded by Friedrich Karl Henkel in Aachen, Germany.source
  • December 2 – Chugai Economic Daily, predecessor of Nikkei Economic Daily (Nihon Keizai Shinbun), is first issued in Tokyo, Japan.source
  • Adolphus Busch's brewery, Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis, Missouri, first markets Budweiser, a pale lager, as a nationally sold beer.source
  • Star Oil Company, predecessor of the global Chevron energy product and sales brand, is founded in California.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • February 14 – Alexander Graham Bell applies for a U.S. patent for the telephone, as does Elisha Gray.source
  • March 7 – Alexander Graham Bell is granted a United States patent for the telephone.source
  • March 10 – Alexander Graham Bell makes the first successful telephone call, saying "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you".source
  • April 1 – Lars Magnus Ericsson starts a small mechanical workshop in Stockholm, Sweden (from April 27 partnering with Carl Johan Andersson), dealing with telegraphy equipment, which grows into the worldwide company Ericsson.source
  • May 1 – The Settle–Carlisle Railway in England is opened to passenger traffic (it opened to goods traffic in 1875).source
  • May 17 – Nicolaus Otto files his patent for the four-stroke cycle internal combustion engine.source
  • June 4 – The Transcontinental Express arrives in San Francisco via the first transcontinental railroad, 83 hours and 39 minutes after having left New York City.source
  • August 8 – Thomas Edison receives a patent for his mimeograph.source
  • October 4 – Texas A&M University opens for classes.source
  • Lyford House, by Richardson Bay, Tiburon, California, is constructed.source
  • Charles Wells opens his brewery, based in Bedford, England.source
  • Construction of Spandau Prison in Berlin is completed.source
  • Emile Berliner invents an improved form of microphone which will be adopted for Alexander Graham Bell's telephone.source

Science & Discovery

  • January 1 – The Bass Brewery Red Triangle becomes the world's first registered trademark symbol, in the United Kingdom.source
  • American librarian Melvil Dewey first publishes the Dewey Decimal Classification system.source

Health & Medicine

  • Samurai are banned from carrying swords in Japan, and their stipends are replaced by a one-time grant of income-bearing bonds.source
  • Heinz Tomato Ketchup is introduced in the United States.source

Crime & Justice

  • January 27 – The Northampton Bank robbery occurs in Massachusetts.source
  • May 16 – German American "Napoleon of crime" Adam Worth steals Gainsborough's Portrait of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire from a London gallery three weeks after its sale at Christie's for 10,000 guineas, the highest price ever paid for a painting at auction at this time. It is not recovered until 1901.source
  • May 29 – The United States Senate votes 37 to 29 that U.S. Secretary of War William W. Belknap cannot be barred from trial and impeachment, despite being a private citizen; however, this is far short of the two-thirds majority required and thus he is acquitted.source
  • July 13 – The prosecution of Arthur Tooth, an Anglican clergyman, for using ritualist practices begins.source
  • August 1 – The United States Senate votes to acquit former Secretary of War William W. Belknap of all impeachment charges relating to the trader post scandal.source
  • August 2 – Wild Bill Hickok is murdered in Deadwood, South Dakota.source
  • November 7 – A failed grave robbery of the Lincoln Tomb takes place this night.source
  • November 23 – Corrupt Tammany Hall leader William Marcy Tweed (better known as Boss Tweed) is delivered to authorities in New York City, after being captured in Spain.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • December 5 – The Brooklyn Theatre fire kills at least 278, possibly more than 300.source
  • December 29 – The Ashtabula River railroad disaster occurs in Ohio when a bridge collapses, leaving 92 dead.source

Climate & Environment

  • October 31 – The great 1876 Bengal cyclone strikes the coast of modern-day Bangladesh, killing 200,000.source
  • The Northern Chinese Famine of 1876–79, which will claim 30 million lives and become the 5th-worst famine in recorded history, begins after the droughts of the previous year.source

Culture & Society

  • February 2 – The National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs is formed at a meeting in Chicago; it replaces the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. Morgan Bulkeley of the Hartford Dark Blues is selected as the league's first president.source
  • February 22 – Johns Hopkins University is founded in Baltimore, Maryland.source
  • February 24 – The first stage production of the verse-play Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen premieres, with incidental music by Edvard Grieg, in Christiania (modern-day Oslo), Norway.source
  • February–March – The Harvard Lampoon humor magazine is founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts.source
  • April 17 – Friends Academy is founded by Gideon Frost at Locust Valley, New York.source
  • May 10 – The Centennial Exposition begins in Philadelphia.source
  • May 30 – The Ems Ukaz, a secret decree, is issued by Tsar Alexander II of Russia in the German city of Bad Ems, aimed at stopping the printing and distribution of Ukrainian-language publications in the Russian Empire.source
  • June 6 – The Association of Medical Officers of American Institutions for Idiotic and Feebleminded Persons, later known as the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, is founded when several directors led by Édouard Séguin, inspired by Centennial events, meet to improve the lives of those with disabilities.source
  • July 4 – The United States Centennial Exposition is celebrated across the country.source
  • August 6 – The first issue of Arabic language newspaper Al-Ahram is published by Saleem and Beshara Takla in Alexandria, Muhammad Ali dynasty (modern-day Egypt).source
  • August 13 – A performance of Wagner's Das Rheingold opens the first Ring cycle at the first Bayreuth Festival.source
  • August 14 – Prairie View A&M University, at the time named Alta Vista Agriculture & Mechanical College of Texas for Colored Youth, is founded, the first state-supported HBCU in the state of Texas.source
  • September 5 – British Prime Minister William Gladstone publishes his Bulgarian Horrors pamphlet.source
  • October 6 – The American Library Association is founded in Philadelphia.source
  • November 4 – The long-awaited First Symphony of Johannes Brahms has its première at Karlsruhe, under the baton of Otto Dessoff.source
  • December 6 – The first cremation in the United States takes place, in a crematory built by Francis Julius LeMoyne at North Franklin Township, Pennsylvania.source
  • December 23 – Constantinople Conference opens.source
  • December – The first American edition of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is published by the American Publishing Company; a British edition has appeared in early June in London with the first review appearing on June 24 in a British magazine.source
  • The Conchological Society of Great Britain & Ireland is founded.source
  • Stockport Lacrosse Club, thought to be the oldest existing lacrosse club in the world, is founded at Cale Green Cricket Club in Davenport, near Manchester in England, where they will still be playing in the 21st century.source

Births

  • January 12 – Jack London, American author (d. 1916)source
  • February 22 – Zitkala-Sa, Native American writer, activist, editor, educator and translator (d. 1938)source
  • February 23 – Senjūrō Hayashi, Japanese general and politician, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1943)source
  • March 5 – Tiburcio Carías Andino, 24th President of Honduras (d. 1969)source
  • March 15 – Óscar R. Benavides, 67th and 76th President of Peru (d. 1945)source
  • June 19 – Sir Nigel Gresley, English steam locomotive engineer (Flying Scotsman & Mallard) (d. 1941)source
  • July 19 – Joseph Fielding Smith, 10th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1972)source
  • August 25 – Eglantyne Jebb, English champion of children's human rights, co-founder of the Save the Children Fund (d. 1928)source
  • August 29 – Kim Ku, Korean politician (d. 1949)source
  • September 6 – John Macleod, Scottish-born physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1935)source
  • September 29 – Charlie Llewellyn, first non-white South African Test cricketer (d. 1964)source
  • November 3 – Rupert D'Oyly Carte, English hotelier, theatre owner and impresario (d. 1948)source
  • December 25 – Adolf Windaus, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)source
  • December 25 – Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder, first governor general of Pakistan (official birthday; d. 1948)source

Deaths

  • January 15 – Eliza McCardle Johnson, First Lady of the United States (b. 1810)source
  • February 24 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts, 2-time President of Liberia (b. 1809)source
  • May 8 – Truganini, supposed last Tasmanian Aboriginal woman (b. c. 1812)source
  • June 1 – Hristo Botev, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1848)source
  • June 7 – Josephine of Leuchtenberg, Queen of Sweden and Norway (b. 1807)source
  • June 8 – George Sand, French writer (b. 1804)source
  • June 20 – John Neal, American writer, critic and women's rights activist (b. 1793)source
  • June 27 – Harriet Martineau, British social theorist, writer (b. 1802)source
  • July 1 – Mikhail Bakunin, Russian revolutionary, anarchist (b. 1814)source
  • July 15 – Juan Pablo Duarte, Dominican revolutionary and political activist.source
  • August 2 – Wild Bill Hickok, American gunfighter, entertainer (b. 1837)source
  • September 27 – Braxton Bragg, American Confederate Civil War general (b. 1817)source
  • November 16 – Karl Ernst von Baer, Estonian-German scientist, explorer (b. 1792)source
  • December 29 – Titus Salt, English woollen manufacturer, philanthropist (b. 1803)source