What happened in 1890

30 events　Japan 4, North America 14, Europe 9, USSR / Russia 1, Latin America 2

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Highlights of 1890

Japan4

  • Apr 2Kashihara Shrine, a landmark spot in Nara Prefecture, Japan, is officially built by Emperor Mutsuhito (Emperor of Meiji).
  • Jul 1Japan's first general electionThe first election under the Meiji Constitution. Only men aged 25 or older who paid at least 15 yen in direct national taxes could vote, about 450,000 people or around 1.1% of the population.
  • Nov 29The Meiji Constitution goes into effect in Japan, and its first Diet convenes.
  • Japanese tractor and iron pipe brand, Kubota founded in Osaka, Japan.

North America14

  • Jan 25The United Mine Workers of America is founded.
  • Feb 18The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) is founded by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.
  • Mar 8North Dakota State University is founded in Fargo.
  • May 2President Benjamin Harrison signs the Oklahoma Organic Act, under which Oklahoma Territory is organized, a prerequisite for later statehood.
  • Jun 1The United States Census Bureau begins using Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine to tabulate census returns using punched card input, a landmark in the history of computing hardware. Hollerith's company eventually becomes IBM. The 1890 United States census determines the US population to be 62,979,766, an increase of 25.5 percent relative to the 1880 census.
  • Aug 6At Auburn Prison in New York, William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed in the electric chair.
  • Sep 19The University of North Texas is founded, as the Texas Normal College and Teacher Training Institute.
  • Oct 1Yosemite National Park is established in California.
  • Oct 11In Washington, D.C., the Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.
  • Dec 10The New York World Building is completed in New York City, the tallest building in the United States for 10 years at a height of 110 meters.
  • Dec 15Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull is killed by police on Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
  • Dec 24The Oklahoma territorial legislature establishes three institutions of higher learning University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, and University of Central Oklahoma.
  • Dec 29Wounded Knee Massacre: At Wounded Knee, South Dakota, a Lakota camp, the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment tries to disperse the non-violent "Ghost-Dance" which was promised to usher in a new era of power and freedom to Native Americans but is feared as a potential rallying tool for violent rebellion by some in the U.S. government. Shooting begins, and 153 Lakota Sioux and 25 troops are killed; about 150 flee the scene. This is the last tribe to be defeated and confined to a reservation as well as the beginning of the decline of both the American Indian Wars and the American frontier.
  • Emerson Electric, an American electronics industry giant, is founded in Missouri.

Europe9

  • Jan 111890 British Ultimatum: The United Kingdom demands Portugal withdraw its forces from the land between the Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and Angola (most of present-day Zimbabwe and Zambia).
  • Feb 5The worldwide insurance and financial service brand Allianz is founded in Berlin, Germany.
  • Mar 4The Forth Bridge, the longest bridge in Great Britain, on the Firth of Forth in Scotland, is opened to rail traffic.
  • May 20Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh moves to Auvers-sur-Oise on the edge of Paris, in the care of Paul Gachet, where he will produce around seventy paintings in as many days.
  • Jun 16Royal Dutch Petroleum, predecessor of Royal Dutch Shell, the major worldwide energy production and sales company, is founded in the Netherlands to develop an oilfield in Pangkalan Brandan, North Sumatra.
  • Jun 20The Picture of Dorian Gray (by Oscar Wilde) is published by Philadelphia-based Lippincott's Monthly Magazine (dated July).
  • Jul 1Heligoland–Zanzibar Treaty: Britain cedes the Heligoland islands (in the German Bight) to Germany, in return for protectorates over Wituland and the Sultanate of Zanzibar (the islands of Pemba and Unguja) in east Africa.
  • Aug 20Treaty of London: Portugal and the United Kingdom define the borders of the Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and Angola.
  • Nov 23King William III of the Netherlands dies without a male heir, and his daughter Princess Wilhelmina becomes Queen, causing the end of the personal union of thrones with Luxembourg (which requires a male heir) so that Adolphe, Duke of Nassau becomes Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

USSR / Russia1

  • Jan 15Ballet The Sleeping Beauty, with music by Tchaikovsky, is premiered at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Latin America2

  • Jul 26In Buenos Aires, the Revolution of the Park takes place, forcing President Juárez Celman's resignation.
  • Aug 23The BOVESPA stock exchange is founded in São Paulo, Brazil.