| 1845–1958 | Germany [earth sciences] | German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt lays the basis of modern geography with the publication of Kosmos/Cosmos, in which he arranges geographic knowledge in a systematic fashion. |
| 1861–1870 | USA, UK, Ireland [statistics and demography] | Emigration to the USA from Britain totals 606,896; from Ireland it is 435,779. |
| 1868 | USA [information technology] | US printer Christopher Latham Sholes develops a typewriter with a ‘QWERTY’ keyboard that permits documents to be typed faster than they can be written out. The position of the keys reduces the chance of them jamming. |
| 1868 | France [anthropology] | French geologist Louis Lartet is the first to discover the skeletal remains of anatomically modern humans, in a cave near Cro-Magnon, France. They are 35,000 years old. |
| 1868 | Germany [literature and language] | The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche publishes Gözendammerung/Twilight of the Idols. |
| 1868 | France [painting] | The French artist Edouard Manet paints The Execution of Emperor Maximilian. |
| 1868 | Sweden [physics] | The Swedish physicist Anders Ångström expresses the wavelengths of Fraunhofer lines in units of 10-10 m, a unit now known as the angstrom. |
| 1868 | Germany [religious music] | The German composer Johannes Brahms completes his choral work Ein deutsche Requiem/A German Requiem. |
| 1868 | UK [roads] | The world's first traffic lights are installed in front of the House of Commons, London, England, to help pedestrians cross the street. They consist of red and green gas lamps which are alternately raised and lowered. |
| 3 January 1868 | Japan [political events] | The Tokugawa shogunate is abolished in Japan, having ruled since 1603, and the Meiji dynasty is restored under Emperor Matsuhito. |
| 23 February 1868 | USA [births and deaths] | W E B Du Bois, US sociologist, writer, and black leader, born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts (–1963). |
| 28 February 1868 | UK [administration] | The British Conservative politician Benjamin Disraeli becomes prime minister of Britain. |
| May 1868 | USA [legislation] | The US Senate twice votes 35–19 to impeach President Andrew Johnson. Both times the vote falls short of the necessary ⅔ majority. |
| 18 May 1868 | Russia [births and deaths] | Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia 1895–1917, born in Tsarskoye Selo, near St Petersburg, Russia (–1918). |
| 10 June 1868 | Serbia [political events] | King Michael III of Serbia is murdered by followers of the Karageorgevic dynasty and succeeded by his cousin Milan IV. |
| 7 July 1868 | New Zealand, UK [wars] | The Third Maori War breaks out in New Zealand between the aboriginal inhabitants and British settlers encroaching on their land. |
| 30 September 1868 | Spain [revolution] | Queen Isabella II of Spain flees to France and is declared deposed, following the Liberal revolt against her rule. |
| 11 November 1868 | USA [elections] | In the US presidential election, General Ulysses S Grant (Republican) wins 214 electoral votes over Horatio Seymour (Democrat), with 80 votes. |
| 13 November 1868 | Italy, France [births and deaths] | Gioacchino Rossini, Italian composer, dies in Passy, near Paris, France (76). |
| 3 December 1868 | UK [elections] | The English statesman William Ewart Gladstone forms a Liberal ministry in Britain after victory over the Conservatives in the general election. |
