1887

Years: 1884 1885 1886 - 1887 - 1888 1889 1890

Decades: 1850s 1860s 1870s - 1880s - 1890s 1900s 1910s

Events of 1887

January–March

• January 6 – `Abd-Allah II of Harar opens the Battle of Chelenqo with an attack on the camp of the Shewan army of Negus Menelik II early in the morning; prepared for the assault, the Negus orders a counter-attack which routs the enemy, a few days later resulting in the capture of Harar.
• January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the French Academy of Medicine by Dr. Joseph Grancher.
• January 20 – The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
• January 21
  • The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is formed.
  • Brisbane receives a daily rainfall of 465 millimetres – a record for any Australian capital city.
• January 24 – Battle of Dogali: Abyssinian troops defeat the Italians.
• January 28 – In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, USA, the largest snowflakes on record are reported. They are 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick.
• February 2 – In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the first Groundhog Day is observed.
• February 5 – The Giuseppe Verdi opera Otello premieres at La Scala.
• February 8 – The Dawes Act, or the General Allotment Act, is enacted.
• February 23 – The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000 along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
• February 26 – At the Sydney Cricket Ground, George Lohmann becomes the first bowler to take eight wickets in a Test innings.
• March 3 – Anne Sullivan begins teaching Helen Keller.
• March 4 – Gottlieb Daimler unveils his first automobile.
• March 7 – North Carolina State University is established as North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.
• March 13 – Chester Greenwood patents earmuffs.
• March 19 – Henry Cogswell College is established by Henry D. Cogswell.

April–June

• April 1 – Mumbai Fire Brigade was established.
• April 4 – Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.
• April 10 – The Catholic University of America is founded on Easter Sunday.
• April 21 – Schnaebele incident – French/German border incident nearly leads to war between the two countries.
• May 3 – An earthquake hits Sonora, Mexico.
• May 9 – Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show opens in London.
• May 14 – The cornerstone of the new Stanford University, in northern California, is laid (the college opens in 1891).
• June 8 – Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his punch card calculator.
• June 18 – The Reinsurance Treaty is closed between Germany and Russia.
• June 21 – The British Empire celebrates Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, marking the 50th year of her reign. [1]
• June 23 – The Rocky Mountains Park Act becomes law in Canada, creating that nation's first national park, Banff National Park. [2]
• June 28 – Minot, North Dakota is incorporated as a city.

July–September

• July 12 – Odense Boldklub, the Danish football team, is founded as the Odense Cricket Club.
• July 26 – L. L. Zamenhof publishes "Dr. Esperanto's International Tongue".
• August – The U.S. National Institutes of Health is founded at the Marine Hospital, Staten Island, NY, as the Laboratory of Hygiene.
• August 13 – The Hibernian F.C. defeats Preston North End to win the "Championship of the World" after the two teams win the Association football Cup competitions in their respective countries.
• September 5 – The Theatre Royal, Exeter, England burns down, killing 186 people.

October–December

• October 1 – The British Empire takes over Balochistan.
• November – Results of the Michelson-Morley experiment are published, indicating that the speed of light is independent of motion.
• November 3 – The Associação Académica de Coimbra, the students' union of the University of Coimbra in Portugal, is founded.
• November 10 – Louis Lingg, sentenced to be hanged for his alleged role in the Haymarket Riot bomb, kills himself by dynamite.
• November 11 – August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Michael Schwab, and Samuel Fielden are hanged for inciting riot and murder in the Haymarket Riot of May 4, 1886.
• November 13 – Bloody Sunday: Police clash with pro-Irish independence protesters.
• December 5 – International Bureau of Intellectual Property.
• December 25 – Glenfiddich single malt Scotch whisky is first produced.

Births

• January 1 - Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral, Abwehr head, and traitor (d. 1945)
• February 2 - Ernst Hanfstaengl, close friend and later betrayer of Hitler (d. 1975)
• August 17 - Marcus Garvey, Jamaican-born Black activist (d. 1940)
• August 19 - Newton Jenkins, Chicago nationalist politician (d. 1942)
• October 22 - John Reed, American journalist and communist activist (d. 1920)
• October 31 - Chiang Kai-shek, Nationalist Chinese leader, former Republic of China president (d. 1975)
• November 24 - Erich von Manstein, German military commander (d. 1973)