The Suez Canal linking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea opens, greatly shortening the sea route between Europe and Asia.
The cataclysmic eruption of Krakatoa in the Sunda Strait triggers tsunamis killing over 36,000 people; the explosion is heard thousands of kilometres away.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish in London a pamphlet setting out the theory of class struggle, one of the most influential political texts ever written.
The first Summer Olympics of the modern era are held in Athens, organised by the International Olympic Committee.
The first Nobel Prizes are awarded on the fifth anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death; Wilhelm Röntgen receives the first Nobel Prize in Physics.
The Norwegian expedition led by Roald Amundsen becomes the first to reach the geographic South Pole.
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, drawing Europe's powers into a global war that lasts until the armistice of 11 November 1918.