1881
Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century
Decades: 1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s - 1880s - 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s
Years: 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 - 1881 - 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886
Events
- January 25 - Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company
- February 5 - Phoenix, Arizona is incorporated.
- February 19 - Kansas became the first U.S. state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages.
- March 4 - Rutherford Birchard Hayes is succeeded as President of the United States by James Abram Garfield.
- March 13 - Alexander II of Russia is killed near his palace when a bomb is thrown at him.
- May 12 - In North Africa, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate.
- May 21 - The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton.
- July 2 - James Abram Garfield, President of the United States is shot by lawyer Charles Julius Guiteau. He survives the assassination attempt but he suffers from infection of his wound.
- July 4 - In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens.
- July 20 - Indian Wars: Sioux chief Sitting Bull leads the last of his fugitive people in surrender to United States troops at Fort Buford in Montana.
- September 19 - James Abram Garfield, President of the United States dies due to an infected wound and is succeeded by Vice President Chester Alan Arthur.
- October 26 - Gunfight at the O. K. Corral in Tombstone, Cochise County, Arizona, USA.
- Founding of the Pali Text Society
- The United States National Lawn Tennis Association (USNLTA) is founded, and the first U.S. Tennis Championships are played.
- Founding of the Three Emperor's League
Arts, Sciences, Literature and Philosophy
Births
- January 6 - Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1961)
- January 16 - Sir Arthur Percy Morris Fleming, radio pioneer
- February 12 - Anna Pavlova, ballerina (d. 1931)
- March 12 - Kemal Ataturk, founder and first president of the Turkish Republic (d. 1938)
- March 25 - Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer.
- March 25 - Mary Gladys Webb, writer (d. 1927)
- June 17 - Tommy Burns, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion
- August 6 - Sir Alexander Fleming, British discoverer of penicillin.
- October 15 - P. G. Wodehouse, British-American writer
- October 25 - Pablo Picasso, painter
- November 14 - Nicholas Schenck motion-picture empresario (d. 1969)
- November 24 - Al Christie, early Hollywood director/producer (d. 1951)
- November 25 - Pope John XXIII (d. 1963)
Deaths
- January 21 - Wilhelm Matthias Näff, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1802)
- March 13 - Czar Alexander II of Russia
- September 22 - Solomon L. Spink, U.S. Congressman from Illinois (b. 1831)
- October 31 - George Washington DeLong, American naval officer and ill-fated explorer