In the Anglo-Zulu War, a Zulu army defeated a British column at Isandlwana, one of the worst defeats of the British army by an indigenous force.
The European powers reorganise the Balkans after the Russo-Turkish War, recognising the independence of Serbia, Montenegro and Romania.
Boers of the Transvaal rose against British annexation and regained self-government after their victory at Majuba Hill.
Karl Marx dies in London, where he had lived in exile and written Das Kapital.
Winston Churchill, Britain's prime minister during the Second World War, is born at Blenheim Palace.
European powers met in Berlin to set rules for colonial claims in Africa, accelerating the "Scramble for Africa" without any African representation.
King Leopold II of Belgium ruled the Congo as a personal possession; its forced-labour rubber regime caused mass deaths until Belgium annexed the territory in 1908.