1889
Events
January
File:Rudolph & mary.jpg|thumb|upright|January 30: Suicide of Rudolf & Mary at Mayerling
- January 30 – Mayerling incident: Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, and his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera commit a double suicide at the Mayerling hunting lodge in the Vienna Woods.
February
- February 11 – The Meiji Constitution of Japan is adopted; the 1st Diet of Japan convenes in 1890.
- February 15 – The first issue of the Filipino liberal newspaper La Solidaridad is published in Spain.
- February 17 – The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is founded in Manchester, originally known as "The Plumage League" to campaign against the use of plumage in women's clothing.
- February 22 – President Grover Cleveland signs the Enabling Act of 1889, admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.
- February 25 – The landmark court decision in the case of The Moorcock establishes the concept of implied terms in English contract law.
March
- March 2 – The United States Congress proclaims the entire Bering Sea to be under US control.
- March 9 – Battle of Metemma: Yohannes IV, Emperor of Ethiopia, is killed; Sudanese forces, who have been almost defeated, rally and destroy the Ethiopian army. Yohannes is probably the world's last ruler ever to die in battle; on March 25 Menelik II proclaims himself as his successor.
- March 11 – The North Carolina Legislature issues a charter for the creation of Elon College.
- March 12 – Almon B. Strowger, an undertaker in Topeka, Kansas, files a patent in the United States for an automatic telephone exchange using the Strowger switch.
- March 15 – Samoan crisis: German and American warships keep each other at bay in a standoff in Apia Harbor, ending when a cyclone blows in and sinks them all.
- March 22 – English Association football team Sheffield United F.C. is formed at the Adelphi Hotel, Sheffield. They play their first match on September 7.
- March 23 – Claiming to be the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad founds the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Punjab Province.
File:Tour eiffel at sunrise from the trocadero.jpg|thumb|upright|March 31: The Eiffel Tower is inaugurated, becoming the tallest structure in the world
File:Oklahoma Land Rush.jpg|thumb|upright|April 22: Oklahoma Land Run
- April 22 – At high noon in Oklahoma Territory, thousands rush to claim land in the Land Rush of 1889. Within hours the cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie are formed, with populations of at least 10,000.
- April – British chemists Frederick Abel and James Dewar file their first patent for the smokeless propellant cordite.
- May 2 – Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signs a treaty of amity with Italy, giving Italy control over what will become Eritrea.
- May 6 – The Exposition Universelle opens in Paris, with the Eiffel Tower as its entrance arch. The Galerie des machines, at, spans the longest interior space in the world at this time. The Exposition, which marks the centenary of the French Revolution, runs until October 31.
- May 11 – Wham Paymaster robbery: An attack upon a U.S. Army paymaster and escort in the Arizona Territory results in the theft of over $28,000, and the award of two Medals of Honor.
- May 28 – Rubber tire company Michelin is registered by Édouard and André Michelin in Clermont-Ferrand, France.
- May 31
- * Johnstown Flood: The South Fork Dam collapses in western Pennsylvania, killing more than 2,200 people in and around Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
- * The Naval Defence Act dictates that the fleet strength of the British Royal Navy must be equal to that of at least any two other countries.
- May – The first case of the 1889–1890 pandemic of is reported in the city of Bukhara in the Central Asian part of the Russian Empire.
- June 3 – The first long distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon.
- June 6 – The Great Seattle Fire ravages through the downtown area without any fatalities.
- June 11 – A Neapolitan baker named Raffaele Esposito invents the Pizza Margherita, named after the queen consort of Italy Margherita of Savoy. This is the forerunner of the modern pizza.
- June 12 – The Armagh rail disaster: runaway carriages from a Sunday school excursion collide with an oncoming train near Armagh in the north of Ireland, killing 80, leading to rapid passage of the Regulation of Railways Act 1889 on railway signalling and brakes in the United Kingdom.
- June 26 – Bangui is founded in the French Congo.
- June 28 – The annular solar eclipse of June 28, 1889 is visible across the Atlantic Ocean, Africa and Indian Ocean, and is the 47th solar eclipse of Solar Saros 125.
- June 29–30 – First Inter-Parliamentary Conference held.
- June – Vincent van Gogh paints The Starry Night at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.
July
- July 6 – Several aristocrats are implicated in the Cleveland Street scandal after police raid a male brothel in London.
- July 8
- * The first issue of The Wall Street Journal is published in New York City.
- * The last official bare-knuckle boxing title fight is held : Heavyweight Champion John L. Sullivan, the Boston Strong Boy, defeats Jake Kilrain in a world championship bout, lasting 75 rounds, in Mississippi.
- July 14 – International Workers Congresses of Paris open, and establish the Second International.
- July 15 – The Emperor of Brazil, Pedro II, survives an assassination attempt in Rio de Janeiro.
- July 31 – Louise, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom, marries Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife, at Buckingham Palace in London.
August
- August 3 – Mahdist War: Battle of Toski – Egyptian and British troops are victorious.
- August 4 – The Great Fire of Spokane, Washington, destroys some 32 blocks of the city, prompting a mass rebuilding project.
- August 6 – The Savoy Hotel in London opens.
- August 10 – At the Vienna Hofburg, the grand opening ceremony is held for the Imperial Natural History Museum, begun in 1871; from August 13 to the end of December, the museum counts 175,000 visitors.
- August 14–September 15 – London Dock Strike: Dockers strike for a minimum wage of sixpence an hour, which they eventually receive, a landmark in the development of New Unionism in Britain.
- August 26 – The Prevention of Cruelty to, and Protection of, Children Act, commonly known as the Children's Charter, is passed in the United Kingdom; for the first time it imposes criminal penalties to deter child abuse.
- August 30 – The Royal Mail Mount Pleasant Sorting Office officially opens in London.
- August – The Jewish settlement of Moisés Ville is founded in Argentina.
September
- September 10 – Albert Honoré Charles Grimaldi becomes Albert I, Prince of Monaco.
- September 17 – American Civil War veteran Charles Jefferson Wright founds New York Military Academy, with 75 students on of land in Cornwall, New York.
File:Nintendo former headquarter plate Kyoto.jpg|thumb|upright|September 23: Nintendo founded as a playing card manufacturer
- September 23 – The Nintendo Koppai is founded in Japan by Fusajiro Yamauchi, to produce and market Hanafuda playing cards.
October
- October 2 – In Washington, D.C., the first International Conference of American States begins.
- October 6
- * Mount Kilimanjaro's summit is first reached, by German geologist Hans Meyer with Austrian mountaineer Ludwig Purtscheller.
- * The Moulin Rouge cabaret opens in Paris.
- October 12 – Gustaf Åkerhielm, previously Swedish Foreign Minister, replaces Gillis Bildt as Prime Minister of Sweden.
- October 21 – Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder is recorded by Adelbert Theodor Wangemann, a German associate of Thomas Edison, on wax cylinders via phonograph. The two surviving wax cylinders that are produced make von Moltke, who was born in 1800, the earliest-living human whose voice has been recorded, and the only person born in the 18th century whose voice will be heard into the 21st.
- October 24 – Sir Henry Parkes, Premier of New South Wales, delivers the Tenterfield Oration, calling for the Federation of Australia.
- October 29 – The British South Africa Company receives a Royal Charter.