Modern Era
Krakatoa Eruption of 1883: The Volcano Heard Across the World
Most of the island collapsed into a caldera; tsunamis killed an officially recorded 36,417 people and the ash and aerosols affected weather worldwide.
Era · c. 1800 – 1945
Modern Era
Industry, science and global conflict: the century and a half that built the modern world.
Modern Era
Orient Express (1883): First Journey from Paris to Constantinople
The inaugural run launched a luxury international train service linking Western Europe with the Ottoman capital, which became a symbol of glamorous travel.
Modern Era
Brooklyn Bridge (1883): The Roeblings' Steel-Wire Masterpiece
The bridge opened as the longest suspension bridge in the world and the first to use steel wire for its cables, linking New York and Brooklyn.
Modern Era
Sino-French War (1884-1885): The Struggle for Tonkin
France won control of Tonkin and Annam under the Treaty of Tianjin (1885), but the Lang Son retreat brought down Jules Ferry's government.
Modern Era
Gapsin Coup (1884): Korea's Failed Three-Day Reform Coup
The coup was suppressed by Qing troops on 6 December; its leaders were killed or fled to Japan, and Qing influence in Korea grew.
Modern Era
Siege of Khartoum (1884-1885): General Gordon and the Mahdi
Mahdist victory; Khartoum fell on 26 January 1885, Gordon was killed and the British relief expedition withdrew.
Modern Era
Berlin Conference (1884-1885): Rules for the Partition of Africa
The General Act of Berlin set rules for new claims on African coasts, declared free trade in the Congo basin and smoothed recognition of Leopold II's Congo.
Modern Era
Third Anglo-Burmese War (1885): Fall of King Thibaw's Mandalay
British forces captured Mandalay and exiled King Thibaw; Upper Burma was annexed to British India on 1 January 1886, ending the Konbaung dynasty.
Modern Era
Founding of the Indian National Congress (1885) in Bombay
Seventy-two delegates founded the Indian National Congress, which grew from a moderate annual forum into the main organisation of India's independence movement.
Modern Era
Congo Free State (1885-1908): Leopold II's Rubber Terror
International outrage over forced labour and atrocities led Belgium to annex the territory as the Belgian Congo in November 1908, ending Leopold II's personal rule.
Modern Era
Canadian Pacific Railway Last Spike (1885): Uniting Canada
The Canadian Pacific Railway main line was completed, linking eastern Canada with British Columbia and fulfilling the promise that had brought the province into Confederation.
Modern Era
Pasteur's Rabies Vaccine (1885): Saving the Boy Joseph Meister
Joseph Meister survived after a course of injections, the treatment was adopted internationally and the Pasteur Institute was founded in 1888.