1880
Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century
Decades: 1830s 1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s - 1880s - 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s
Years: 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 - 1880 - 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885
Events:
- January 1 - Construction of the Panama Canal begins
- February 2 - The first electric streetlight is installed in Wabash, Indiana
- February 13 - Thomas Edison becomes the first person to observe the Edison Effect.
- July 1 - First performance of O Canada, the song that would become the national anthem of Canada.
- October - terrible winter storm in North America, the "Blizzard of 1880".
- November - James Garfield defeats Winfield S. Hancock in the U.S. presidential election
- December 30 - The Transvaal becomes a republic and Paul Kruger becomes its first president.
- Discovery of piezoelectricity by Pierre Curie and Jacques Curie.
- Completion of Cologne cathedral.
Births:
- January 6 - Tom Mix, actor (+ 1940)
- January 17 - Mack Sennett, director, producer (+ 1960)
- January 26 - Douglas MacArthur, general (+ 1964)
- January 29 - W.C. Fields, actor (+ 1946)
- January 30 - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President of the United States (+ 1945)
- February 8 - Franz Marc, painter and graphic artist, co-founder of Blauer Reiter (+ 1916)
- February 12 - John L. Lewis, labor union leader (+ 1969)
- February 21 - Waldemar Bonsels, writer (+ 1952)
- February 22 - Frigyes Riesz, mathematician
- August 22 - George Herriman, cartoonist (Krazy Kat)
- November 6 - Robert Musil, Austrian novelist (The Man Without Qualities)
- June 27 - Helen Keller, socialist, pacifist, spokeswoman for the deaf and blind
Deaths:
- January 8 - Joshua A. Norton, Emperor Norton I of the United States of America.
- November 11 - Bushranger Ned Kelly hanged
- October 4 - Jacques Offenbach, composer