The cataclysmic eruption of Krakatoa in the Sunda Strait triggers tsunamis killing over 36,000 people; the explosion is heard thousands of kilometres away.
The treaty places Tonkin and Annam under French protectorate.
Britain takes Mandalay and deposes King Thibaw, ending the Konbaung dynasty and annexing all of Burma to British India.
After a failed attack on the French at Huế, Emperor Hàm Nghi flees the capital and issues an edict calling for resistance to French rule.
France creates the Indochinese Union of Cochinchina, Annam, Tonkin and Cambodia; Laos is added in 1893.
Nguyễn Sinh Cung, later known as Hồ Chí Minh, is born in Nghệ An province.
Phan Đình Phùng, leader of the Hương Khê uprising, dies, marking the end of the Cần Vương movement.