- April 2
- George B Brayton patents gasoline-powered engine. [1]
- April 9
- Samuel R Percy patents dried milk. [1]
- April 14
- Dominion Lands Act passed in Canada. [1]
- April 24
- Volcano Vesuvius erupts. [1]
- May
- White Star Line's Adriatic sets a westward Atlantic record crossing of 7 days, 23 hours, 17 minutes. [274.11]
- May 30
- Mahlon Loomis patents wireless telegraphy. [1]
- (month unknown)
- In the Great Pyramid of Egypt, British engineer Waynman Dixon cuts through two diagonal shafts that stop 5 inches from the walls of the lower chamber, and also stop at the pyramid surface. [1618.54]
- July 18
- Britain introduces secret ballot voting. [1]
- July 20
- The US Patent Office awards the first patent for wireless telegraphy to Mahlon Loomis. [1] [5] [457]
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- August 23
- First Japanese commercial ship visits San Francisco, California, carrying tea. [1]
- September 14
- Britain pays the US $15 million for damages during Civil War. [1]
- October 19
- World's largest gold nugget (215kg) is found in New South Wales, Australia. [1] [555.30] [923.44]
- October 21
- The Treaty of Washington is signed by Canada and the USA, settling the "Pig War" of 1859, establishing the final boundary between the USA and Canada, granting the USA sole and permanent possession of San Juan Island, south of Vancouver Island. [391.32]
- November 7
- Mary Celeste ship sails from New York to Genoa, Italy; found abandoned four weeks later. [1]
- November 9
- Fire destroys nearly 1,000 buildings in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. [1]
- December 7
- HMS Challenger sets sail on 3.5-year world oceanographic cruise. [1]
- December 15
- Near Lake Chelan, Washington, USA, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake occurs. [53]
- December 31
- The casinos of Germany operate for the last time, shutting down on order of the Prussian government. [80.295] [187.199,213] [811.164]
1873
- January 6
- Pope Pius IX issues encyclical On the Church in Armenia. [1]
- January
- White Star Line's Baltic sets an eastward Atlantic record crossing of 7 days, 20 hours, 9 minutes. [274.11]
- January 22
- Britain's SS Northfleet sinks at Dungeness, England; 300 die. [1]
- February 11
- Spanish Cortes fires King Amadeus I. [1]
- First Spanish Republic is proclaimed. [1157.92]
- February 20
- University of California gets its first Medical School (University of California/San Francisco). [1]
- February 27
- Dutch socialist Samuel van Wooden demands law against child labor. [1]
- March 29
- Puerto Rican government decrees the freedom of about 29,000 slaves. [486.94]
- April 1
- British White Star passenger steamship Atlantic sinks in a storm off Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; 585 die. [1] [71.28]
- April 13
- Colfax Massacre in Grant Parish, Los Angeles (60 blacks killed). [1]
- April 18
- In Rotterdam, Netherlands, the Netherlands-America Steamship Company (Nederlandsch-Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij) begins operations. (later renamed Holland America Line) [76]
- May 1
- Emperor Franz Jozef opens 5th World's Fair in Wien (Vienna), Austria-Hungary. [1]
- May 7
- US marines attack Panamá. [1]
- May 20
- Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a US patent for "Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings", work pants reinforced with metal rivets, marking the birth of blue jeans. [5] [129]
- May 23
- The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is formed in Canada, replacing the NorthWest Mounted Police. [1] [1738.7]
- June 2
- Ground broken on Clay Steet (San Francisco, California) for world's first cable railroad. [1]
- July 1
- Prince Edward Island becomes 7th Canadian province. [1738.7]
- July 9
- German Empire introduces new Mark currency. [1185.449]
- September 20
- Panic on New York Stock Exchange as railroad bonds default and bank failures lead to ten-day New York bank holiday. [1] [437.80]
1874
- January 13
- US troops land in Honolulu, Hawaii to protect the king. [1]
- January 17
- Chang and Eng Bunker, Chinese/Thai Siamese twins, die at age 62. [1]
- January 24
- General J van Swieten conquers Kraton, Atjeh, after thousands die. [1]
- February 12
- King David Kalakaua of Sandwich Island, Hawaii, is first king to visit US. [1]
- February 21
- Benjamin Disraeli replaces William Gladstone as English premier. [1]
- May 5
- Dutch second Chamber passes child labor law. [1]
- May 9
- The first horse-drawn omnibus makes its debut in the city of Mumbai, India. [5]
- Victoria Embankment, in London, England, opens. [1]
- May 13
- Pope Pius IX issues encyclical On the Greek-Ruthenian rite. [1]
- May 29
- Constitution of Switzerland takes effect. [1]
- June 22
- Dr Andrew T Sill, of Macon, Missouri, founds science of osteopathy. [1]
- June 30
- In Chin-kuei Shan and Ming-tung Li, China, huge stones fall from the sky, crushing a cottage, killing one child. [521]
- July 4
- Social Democratic Workmen's Party of North America forms. [1]
- July 12
- Ontario Agricultural College founded. [1]
- September 1
- Sydney General Post Office opens in Australia. [1]
- September 15
- (to October 9) The first postal congress convenes in Berne, Switzerland. Representatives of 21 nations attend, to implement principles reached at Paris Postal Conference in 1863. (Agreement is reached after 24 days, to take effect July 1, 1875.) [653.69] [1135]
- October 9
- Representatives of 21 countries sign the Treaty of the General Postal Union in Berne, Switzerland. [960.16] [1004.943] [1188.241]
- October 10
- Fiji becomes a British possession. [1]
- November 3
- James Theodore Holly is elected bishop of Haiti. [1]
- November 24
- Joseph F Glidden patents barbed wire. [1]
- December 15
- First reigning king to visit US (of Hawaii) is received by President Ulysses Grant. [1]
- December 24
- Pope Pius IX proclaims a jubilee for 1875. [1]
- December 29
- Alfonso XII is proclaimed King of Spain. [1157.93]
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