1889
| File:Decade.png ( 1880s: ) 1889 link | |
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 The front page of the first issue of The Wall Street Journal |
Events
- January 15 – The Coca-Cola Company is originally incorporated as the Pemberton Medicine Company in Atlanta, Georgia.
- January 30 – Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria and his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera commit a double suicide (or a murder-suicide) in the Mayerling hunting lodge.
- February 11 – The Meiji Constitution of Japan is adopted; the 1st Diet of Japan convenes in 1890.
- March 4 – Benjamin Harrison is sworn in, as the 23rd President of the United States.
- 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 23 – Claiming to be the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad founds the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Punjab Province (British India).
- March 31 – The Eiffel Tower is inaugurated in Paris (opens May 6). At 300 m (980 ft), its height exceeds the previous tallest structure in the world by 130 m (430 ft). Contemporary critics regard it as aesthetically displeasing.
- April 1 – Following a failed attempt at a coup, French defense minister Georges Boulanger is forced to flee the country.
- April 10 – The Hammarby Roddförening (later Hammarby IF) sports club is founded in Sweden.
- May – 1889–1890 pandemic of influenza first reported in the city of Bukhara in the Central Asian part of the Russian Empire.
- 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 111 m (364 ft), spans the longest interior space in the world at this time.
- May 28 – Rubber tire company Michelin is registered by Édouard and André Michelin in Clermont-Ferrand, France.
- May 31 - 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.
- June 3 – The first long distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running 14 miles (23 km) between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon.
- June 12 – The Armagh rail disaster near Armagh in Ireland kills 80 people.
- July 8 - The first issue of The Wall Street Journal is published in New York City.
- July 14 – International Workers Congresses of Paris open, and establish the Second International.
- August 3 – Mahdist War: Battle of Toski – Egyptian and British troops are victorious.
- 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.[1]
- October 12 – Gustaf Åkerhielm, previously Swedish Foreign Minister, replaces Gillis Bildt as Prime Minister of Sweden.
- October 29 – The British South Africa Company receives a Royal Charter.
- November 15 – Field Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca organizes a military coup, which deposes Emperor Pedro II of Brazil and abolishes the Brazilian monarchy. Deodoro da Fonseca proclaims Brazil a republic, and forms a provisional government.
- November 17 – The Brazilian Imperial Family is forced into exile in France.
- December 1 – The 1889–1890 pandemic of influenza first peaks, in Saint Petersburg, Russia.