- This page is about the year 1889. For the board game, see 1889.
1889 (MDCCCLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar).
Every human recorded to have been born in this year has since passed on except for the current (as of April 15 2006) oldest woman in the world, Maria Capovilla, born on September 14, 1889.
Events
January-April
May-October
- May 2 - Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signs a treaty of amity with Italy, giving Italy control over what will become Eritrea.
- May 15 - In Samoa, three US and three German ships sink in a typhoon because the captains refuse to leave before the others - almost 200 drown. British steamer Calliope saves itself by pushing into the wind with full speed
- May 31 - South Fork Dam collapses in western Pennsylvania, killing more than 2,200 people in and around Johnstown, Pennsylvania; the Johnstown Flood.
- June 3 - The first long distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running 14 miles 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 12 - 88 are killed in the Armagh rail disaster near Armagh in Northern Ireland.
- July 8 - The first issue of the Wall Street Journal is published on July 8th.
- August 14 - The Great London Dock Strike breaks out in England.
- September 10 - Albert Honoré Charles Grimaldi becomes Reigning Prince Albert I of Monaco
- October 2 - In Washington, DC, the first international Conference of American States begins.
- October 3 - Sister Carries goes to Chicago
- October 24 - Sir Henry Parkes, Premier of New South Wales, delivers the Tenterfield Oration calling for the Federation of Australia.
November
Unknown dates
- Riverside Elementary School is opened in Wichita, Kansas
- Adelaide Medical Students' Society is founded in Adelaide, Australia
- Wisden Cricketer's Almanac publishes its first Wisden Cricketers of the Year (actually titled Six Great Bowlers Of The Year). The cricketers chosen are George Lohmann, Bobby Peel, Johnny Briggs, Charles Turner, John Ferris and Sammy Woods.
- Frederick Abel invents cordite
- Diet of Japan founded
- French defense minister Georges Boulanger attempts a coup but is forced to flee the country
- First free elections in Costa Rica
- Glele, king of Dahomey, commits suicide
- Yellow fever interrupts the building of Panama Canal
- Huge locust swarm crosses the Red Sea and destroys crops in the Nile Valley
- Ghost Dance movement
- Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed to be the Promised Messiah and Mahdi.
- Fabian Essays in Socialism, edited by George Bernard Shaw, is published.
- Capilano Suspension Bridge was founded. This is the longest suspension bridge in the world, and the park is now a favourite attraction to tourists from all over the world. It is located in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
- North Carolina Legislature issues a charter for the creation of Elon College.
- In March of 1889, a German naval force shelled a village in Samoa, and by doing so destroyed some American property. Three American warships then entered the Samoan harbor and were prepared to fire on the three German warships found there. Before guns were fired, a hurricane blew up and sank all the ships, American and German. A compulsory armistice was called because of the lack of warships.
- Sylvie and Bruno published.
Births
January-April