Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century
Decades: 1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s - 1880s - 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s
Years: 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 - 1889 - 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894
Events
- January 8 - Herman Hollerith receives a patent for his electric tabulating machine
- January 22 - Columbia Phonograph is formed in Washington, DC.
- February 6 - Elmo Lincoln, actor (+ 1952)
- February 11 - Meiji constitution of Japan adopted; 1st Diet convenes in 1890
- February 22 - President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.
- March 23 - Land Run: President Benjamin Harrison opens Oklahoma to white settlement starting on April 22.
- Change of US presidency from Grover Cleveland (1885-1889) to Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893)
- The Brazilian Empire is overthrown in a military coup.
Births
- Suzanne Duchamp, Dada painter (+ 1963),
- February 11 - John Mills, American musician.
- February 11 - Vladimir Mikhaylovich Deshevov, composer.
- April 16 - Charlie Chaplin, english actor and director
- April 20 - Adolf Hitler, German politician
- May 18 - Thomas Midgley, chemist and inventor (+ 1944)
- July 5 - Jean Cocteau, writer
- July 17 - Erle Stanley Gardner, author (+ 1970)
Deaths
- January 30 - Archduke Rudolph of Austria and Baroness Mary Vetsera, at Mayerling
- February 3 - Belle Starr, outlaw
- March 12 - Emperor Johannes IV of Ethiopia
- John Ericsson - Swedish inventor and engineer
- June 15 - Mihai Eminescu, outstanding Romanian poet
- September 23 - Wilkie Collins, novelist