Directory

1877 CE

The University of Tokyo is officially established in Japan. Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878): Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire. (May 9 O.S.) – By a speech in the Parliament of Romania by Mihail Kogălniceanu, the country declares itself independent from the Ottoman Empire (recognized in 1878 after the end of the Romanian independence war).

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 1 – Queen Victoria is proclaimed Empress of India by the Royal Titles Act 1876, introduced by Benjamin Disraeli, the prime minister of the United Kingdom .source
  • March 2 – Compromise of 1877: The 1876 United States presidential election is resolved with the selection of Rutherford B. Hayes as the winner, even though Samuel J. Tilden won the popular vote on November 7, 1876.source
  • May 16 – 16 May 1877 crisis in France: Parliament passes a no-confidence motion against the government appointed by President MacMahon.source
  • May 21 (May 9 O.S.) – By a speech in the Parliament of Romania by Mihail Kogălniceanu, the country declares itself independent from the Ottoman Empire (recognized in 1878 after the end of the Romanian independence war).source
  • September 22 – Treaty 7 is concluded between several mainly Blackfoot First Nations tribes and the Canadian Confederation, at the Blackfoot Crossing of the Bow River, settling the Blackfoot on Indian reserves in what will become southern Alberta.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 8 – Great Sioux War of 1876: Battle of Wolf Mountain – Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle with the United States Cavalry in Montana.source
  • January 29 – The Satsuma Rebellion, a revolt of disaffected samurai in Japan, breaks out against the new imperial government; it lasts until September, when it is crushed by a professionally led army of draftees.source
  • February 17 – Major General Charles George Gordon of the British Army is appointed Governor-General of the Sudan.source
  • April 12 – The United Kingdom annexes the South African Republic, violating the Sand River Convention of 1852, causing the First Boer War.source
  • April 24 – The Compromise of 1877 forces federal troops to withdraw from the Southern United States. This is the latest date disputed by historians when the Reconstruction Era ended and when the Gilded Age started.source
  • April 24 – Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878): Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire.source
  • May 5 – Great Sioux War of 1876: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada, to avoid harassment by the U.S. Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.source
  • May 6 – Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux surrenders to U.S. troops in Nebraska.source
  • June 17 – American Indian Wars: Battle of White Bird Canyon – The Nez Perce defeat the U.S. Cavalry at White Bird Canyon, in the Idaho Territory. This begins the Nez Perce War.source
  • July 16 – Great Railroad Strike of 1877: Riots by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad railroad workers in Baltimore lead to a sympathy strike and rioting in Pittsburgh, and a full-scale worker's rebellion in St. Louis, briefly establishing a communist government, before U.S. president Rutherford B. Hayes calls in the armed forces.source
  • July 19 – Russo-Turkish War: The first battle in the siege of Plevna is fought.source
  • July 30 – Russo-Turkish War: The Turkish army and its allies destroy the Bulgarian city of Stara Zagora and massacre the inhabitants.source
  • July 30 – Russo-Turkish War: The second battle in the siege of Plevna is fought.source
  • August 9 – American Indian Wars: Battle of the Big Hole – Near Big Hole River, Montana, a small band of Nez Perce people who refuse government orders to move to a reservation, clash with the United States Army. The army loses 29 soldiers, and the Indians lose 89 warriors, in an Army victory.source
  • September 1 – The Battle of Lovcha, third battle in the siege of Plevna, is fought. Russian forces successfully reduce the Ottoman fortress at Lovcha.source
  • September 5 – American Indian Wars: Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse is bayoneted by a United States soldier, after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson in Nebraska.source
  • September 24 – Battle of Shiroyama in Kagoshima, Japan: The Imperial Japanese Army annihilates heavily outnumbered rebel samurai under Saigō Takamori (who is killed), ending the Satsuma Rebellion.source
  • December 9 – The fourth battle of the Russo-Turkish War is fought, concluding the siege of Plevna.source
  • December 13 – Serbia restates its previous declaration of war against Turkey.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • June 30 – The British Mediterranean fleet is sent to Besika Bay.source

Religion & Belief

  • January 20 – The Constantinople Conference ends, with Ottoman Turkey rejecting proposals of internal reform and Balkan provisions.source
  • July – The serial publication of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is concluded, in The Russian Messenger.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • March 4 – Emile Berliner patents the microphone in the United States.source
  • March 15 – English cricket team in Australia and New Zealand in 1876–77: The first Test cricket match is held between England and Australia.source
  • June 20 – Alexander Graham Bell installs the world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.source

Science & Discovery

  • August 12 – American astronomer Asaph Hall discovers Deimos, the outer moon of Mars.source
  • August 18 – Asaph Hall discovers Phobos, the inner moon of Mars.source
  • November 21 – Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record sound, considered his first great invention. Edison demonstrates the device for the first time on November 29.source

Crime & Justice

  • June 21 – The Molly Maguires are hanged at Carbon County Prison, in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • October 22 – The Blantyre mining disaster in Scotland kills 207 miners.source

Climate & Environment

  • May 9 – Iquique Earthquake and tsunami: An earthquake of at least magnitude 8.5 M s occurs on the west coast of South America, killing 2,541 around the Pacific Rim.source
  • June 26 – The eruption of the volcano Cotopaxi in Ecuador causes severe mudflows that wipe out surrounding cities and valleys, killing 1,000.source

Culture & Society

  • March 4 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake debuts in Moscow.source
  • March 24 – For the only time in history, The Boat Race between the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge is declared a "dead heat" (i.e., a draw).source
  • March – The Nineteenth Century magazine is founded in London.source
  • April 10 – The first human cannonball act in the British Isles, and perhaps the world, is performed by 17-year-old Rossa Matilda Richter ("Zazel") at the London Royal Aquarium.source
  • April 12 – The University of Tokyo is officially established in Japan.source
  • May 8–11 – At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is held.source
  • June 15 – Henry Ossian Flipper becomes the first African American cadet to graduate from the U.S. Military Academy.source
  • July 9–19 – The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club stages the first Wimbledon Championships in lawn tennis. English cricketer Spencer Gore becomes first Wimbledon gentlemen's singles champion (the only event held).source
  • November 14 – Henrik Ibsen's first contemporary realist drama The Pillars of Society is premièred at the Odense Teater.source
  • November 22 – The first college lacrosse game is played between New York University and Manhattan University.source
  • December 16 – The premiere of Bruckner's Symphony No. 3 is given by the Vienna Philharmonic. Many of the audience walk out.source
  • December 30 – The premiere of Brahms' Symphony No. 2 is given by the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Hans Richter.source

Births

  • January 22 – Hjalmar Schacht, German economist, politician and banker (d. 1970)source
  • February 4 – Eddie Cochems, father of the forward pass in American football (d. 1953)source
  • February 8 – Carl Tanzler, German-born radiology technologist (d. 1952)source
  • February 12 – Louis Renault, French industrialist, founder of Renault automobile company (d. 1944)source
  • March 10 – Pascual Ortiz Rubio, Mexican politician, substitute President of Mexico, 1930–1932 (d. 1963)source
  • July 2 – Hermann Hesse, German-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1962)source
  • August 1 – George Hackenschmidt, Estonian strongman, professional wrestler (d. 1968)source
  • August 22 – Ananda Coomaraswamy, Ceylonese Tamil philosopher (d. 1947)source
  • August 27 – Charles Rolls, Welsh co-founder of the Rolls-Royce car firm, pioneer aviator (d. 1910)source
  • September 25 – Plutarco Elías Calles, Mexican general and President of Mexico, 1924–1928; known as Jefe Maximo ("Maximum Boss") from 1928 to 1934 (d. 1945)source
  • October 21 – Oswald Avery, Canadian-American physician, medical researcher (d. 1955)source
  • November 9 – Muhammad Iqbal, Islamic philosopher and poet, one of the founding fathers of All-India Muslims League (d. 1938)source
  • November 17 – Frank Lahm, Brigadier General USAF, airship pilot, early military aviator trained by the Wright brothers (d. 1963)source
  • December 20 – Thomas Walter Swan, American jurist and judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1926 until 1975 (d. 1975)source

Deaths

  • January 4 – Cornelius Vanderbilt, American entrepreneur (b. 1794)source
  • January 20 – Dato Maharajalela Lela, Malay nationalistsource
  • March 24 – Walter Bagehot, British businessman, essayist and journalist (b. 1826)source
  • March 31 – Bully Hayes, American-born Caribbean blackbirder (killed) (b. 1827 or 1829)source
  • July 1 – An F4 tornado touches down near Gap, Pennsylvania, and moves towards Chester County. A woman is killed near Ercildoun; a man is killed near Parkesburg; and possibly a third person dies. 4 homes are destroyed at Parkesburg and 20 buildings are destroyed at Ercildoun. 10 or more homes are leveled in Chester County.source
  • August 2 – Karl Friedrich von Steinmetz, Prussian field marshal Urdu (b. 1796)source
  • August 17 – Isaac Aaron, English-born physician, owner of the Australian Medical Journal and secretary of the Australian Medical Association (b. 1804)source
  • August 30 – Raphael Semmes, American and Confederate naval officer (b. 1809)source
  • September 13 – Alexandre Herculano, Portuguese writer and historian (b. 1810)source
  • October 3 – James Roosevelt Bayley, first Roman Catholic Bishop of Newark, New Jersey, and eighth Archbishop of Baltimore (b. 1814)source
  • October 29 – Nathan Bedford Forrest, American Confederate Civil War General, first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (b. 1821)source
  • November 1 – Oliver P. Morton, American politician (b. 1823)source
  • December 29 – Angelica Singleton Van Buren, Acting First Lady of the United States (b. 1818)source
  • December 31 – Gustave Courbet, French painter (b. 1819)source