Explore 281 historical events from 1870–1879.
Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, was an American tap dancer, actor, and singer, the best known and the most highly paid black entertainer in the United States during the first half of th…
Bill Robinson, American actor and dancer (died 1949)
Anna Kristina Cervin was a Swedish artist, primarily known for her painting work.
Anna Cervin, Swedish artist (died 1972)
Paul Eugène Pelliot was a French sinologist and Orientalist best known for his explorations of Central Asia and the Silk Road regions, and for his acquisition of many important Tib…
Paul Pelliot, French sinologist and explorer (died 1945)
John Edward Masefield, OM was an English poet and writer. He was Poet Laureate from 1930 until his death in 1967, during which time he lived at Burcot, Oxfordshire, near Abingdon-o…
John Masefield, English author and poet (died 1967)
Samuel Dreben, sometimes misspelled "Drebben" or "Drebin", and known as "The Fighting Jew", was a highly decorated soldier in the US Army and a mercenary who fought in a variety of…
Sam Dreben, American soldier and mercenary (died 1925)
Wallace Henry Hartley was an English violinist, who became best known for his actions during the sinking of the Titanic. The bandleader on the Titanic during its maiden voyage, he …
Wallace Hartley, English violinist and bandleader (died 1912)
Anselme Payen was a French chemist known for discovering the enzyme diastase, and the carbohydrate cellulose.
Anselme Payen, French chemist and academic (born 1795)
Joseph Henry was an American physicist and inventor who served as the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He was the secretary for the National Institute for the Promot…
Joseph Henry, American physicist and academic (born 1797)
Ōkubo Toshimichi was a Japanese statesman and samurai of the Satsuma Domain. Regarded as one of the main founders of modern Japan, he was one of the "Three Great Nobles" who led th…
Ōkubo Toshimichi, Japanese samurai and politician (born 1830)
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was a British Whig and Liberal statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1852 and …
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1792)
Anna Sewell was an English novelist who is known for her only book, Black Beauty, a novel about a horse. She was born into a Quaker family in Norfolk and moved to London as a baby.…
Anna Sewell, English author (born 1820)
The Great Mill Disaster, also known as the Washburn A Mill explosion, occurred on May 2, 1878, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The disaster resulted in 18 deaths. The exp…
A dust explosion (depicted) at the world's largest flour mill in Minneapolis resulted in 18 deaths
The Salem witchcraft trial of 1878, also known as the Ipswich witchcraft trial and the second Salem witch trial, was an American civil case held in May 1878 in Salem, Massachusetts…
The last witchcraft trial in the United States opened in Salem, Massachusetts
Gilbert and Sullivan were a Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan. The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas betw…
Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H
Karl Eduard Nobiling was a German attempted assassin, who in 1878 made an attempt on the life of Emperor Wilhelm I.
Anarchist Karl Nobiling attempted to assassinate German Emperor Wilhelm I
The Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) was a conflict between the Ottoman Empire and a coalition led by the Russian Empire which included Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro. Precipitating …
Russo-Turkish War: The Russian Empire declares war on the Ottoman Empire
The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is an all-breed conformation show, held annually in the New York metropolitan area.
At Gilmore's Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens
Tsuneo Matsudaira was a Japanese diplomat and politician who served as the first President of the House of Councillors from 1947 to 1949. He previously served as Ambassador to the…
Matsudaira Tsuneo, Japanese diplomat (died 1949)
Vicente Yap Sotto, Sr. was a Filipino playwright, journalist, and politician who served as a senator from 1946 to 1950. He also served in the House of Representatives from 1922 to …
Vicente Sotto, Filipino lawyer and politician (died 1950)
Ole Evinrude, born Ole Andreassen Aaslundeie was an American entrepreneur, known for the invention of the first outboard motor with practical commercial application.
Ole Evinrude, Norwegian-American engineer, invented the outboard motor (died 1934)
The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were initially fought by European colonial empires, the United States, and briefly the Conf…
American Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army un
Crazy Horse was a Lakota war leader of the Oglala band. He took up arms against the United States federal government to fight against encroachment by White American settlers on Nat…
Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Lakota surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska
Mihail Kogălniceanu was a Romanian liberal statesman, lawyer, historian and publicist; he became Prime Minister of Romania on October 11, 1863, after the 1859 union of the Danubian…
Mihail Kogălniceanu reads, in the Chamber of Deputies, the Declaration of Independence of Romania
The 16 May 1877 crisis, or more simply the Seize Mai, was a political crisis and institutional crisis that occurred in France during the Third Republic. It pitted the President of …
The 16 May 1877 crisis occurs in France, ending with the dissolution of the National Assembly 22 June and affirming the