What happened in 1891

20 events　World 1, Japan 2, North America 7, Europe 6, Asia 2, Latin America 1, Africa 1

Highlights of 1891

Jan 16WorldThe Chilean Civil War of 1891 breaks out.
FebAsiaThe Tobacco Protest begins in Iran.
May 11JapanŌtsu incident: Tsesarevich Nikolay Alexandrovich (the future Czar Nicholas II) of Russia survives an assassination attempt while visiting Japan.
Jul 30AfricaThe Springboks rugby union team of South Africa play their first international test match against the Lions team of the British Isles, and lose by 4–0.
North AmericaJames Naismith invents basketball in the United States.
EuropePhilips founded in Eindhoven, Netherlands, for the production of carbon-filament lamps and other electro-technical products.

May 11Ōtsu incident: Tsesarevich Nikolay Alexandrovich (the future Czar Nicholas II) of Russia survives an assassination attempt while visiting Japan.
Oct 28The 8.0 Mino–Owari earthquake strikes the Gifu region of Japan. This oblique-slip event kills over 7,200, injures more than 17,000, and creates fault scarps that still remain visible.

Mar 51st Prime Minister of Canada Sir John A. Macdonald wins a 4th consecutive parliamentary victory over the Liberal Party.
Mar 14In New Orleans, a lynch mob storms the Old Parish Prison, and lynches 11 Italians arrested but found innocent of the murder of Police Chief David Hennessy.
Apr 1The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago.
Oct 1Stanford University in California opens its doors. Stanford University opens its doors.]]
Dec 17Drexel University is inaugurated as the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry in Philadelphia.
James Naismith invents basketball in the United States.
Seattle University is established as the Immaculate Conception school.

Apr 23Chilean Civil War of 1891: Chilean ironclad Blanco Encalada is sunk at the Battle of Caldera Bay by torpedo boats. This is the first ironclad warship lost to a self-propelled torpedo.
May 15Pope Leo XIII issues the encyclical Rerum novarum, on the rights and duties of capital and labor, resulting in the creation of many Christian Democrat parties throughout Europe.
Jun 25Arthur Conan Doyle's detective Sherlock Holmes appears in The Strand Magazine (London) for the first time, in the issue dated July.
Sep 29Thyssen, predecessor of the Thyssen Krupp worldwide conglomerate, is founded in Duisburg, Germany.
Oct 1Skansen is established as the world's first open-air museum by Artur Hazelius, on the island of Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden.
Philips founded in Eindhoven, Netherlands, for the production of carbon-filament lamps and other electro-technical products.

FebThe Tobacco Protest begins in Iran.
Nov 11Jindandao Incident: The Chinese Juu Uda League in Inner Mongolia massacres tens of thousands of Mongols, before being suppressed by government troops in late December.

Sep 18The Chilean Civil War of 1891 ends with the suicide of deposed President José Manuel Balmaceda and victory for the Congressional party, beginning the country's Parliamentary Era.

Jul 30The Springboks rugby union team of South Africa play their first international test match against the Lions team of the British Isles, and lose by 4–0.